It's been quite a while since I've posted here. It seems that this blog has become a place for me to vent about political happenings. I was reading the Princeton Tory, a WAY-WAY-WAY right-wing magazine published by apparently well-educated people (being Republican and smart always seemed mutually exclusive to me, but perhaps I am "misguided"). Most of the stuff there was balderdash (the typical neo-con crap: anti-abortion, pro-religion-in-state, etc.). But there was a kernel of truth in there: they pointed out that most people in this country don't know half the people they are getting angry with. Of course, their argument stemming from that fact was complete crap, but still, that fact did bother me; mostly because it's true. Thus, my new goal, for the time between work and sleep this summer, is to a) become more educated regarding our government and b) help others do the same. Hopefully, this will enable everyone to make better choices when election time comes around.
Well, that's out of the way. Now to the real political venting. Obviously, the prisoner humiliations and the beheading are on everyone's mind right now, and rightfully so. Both show a rather disappointing side of the human psyche. However, I believe that the militants who beheaded the US citizen (Berg) were being truthful when they said it was in retaliation for the humiliations they (as a group) suffered at the hands of the prison guards (read: retarded 18 year old drunks being made to do something they were DEFINITELY not equipped to do). Terrorists might be vengeful, over-the-top, and other extreme things, but when they are brainwashed, they are probably going to say what is on their mind. So, all that BS people have been saying about the terrorists trying to pin the beheading on Abu Ghraib when they just wanted to kill is exactly that: BS. Someone I know, who shall remain anonymous, said to me: "I'd rather be humiliated like in the prisons than be executed like in the video." Now, sure, that makes sense, TO US. But has anyone consulted a Middle Easterner? Apparently not. The humiliations they were forced to bear are AS BAD IF NOT WORSE than a beheading. Being forced to perform sexual acts with others (especially for the married men) places a stigma on those men worse than death. Most of them say they can't again live in their hometowns and are being forced to move. They and their families will forever be separated from the rest of their society as the people who were humiliated at Abu Ghraib. So, in all, DON'T TELL ME THAT YOU'D RATHER BE HUMILIATED BY 18-YEAR-OLD HICKS (FROM THE UNITED STATES ARMY RUNNING A HIGH-SECURITY PRISON THAT SHOULD RIGHTFULLY BE RUN BY SOMEONE WITH FAR MORE EXPERIENCE) THAN BE BEHEADED BY TERRORISTS BECAUSE YOU HAVE NEVER BEEN FORCED TO GO THROUGH EITHER!!!! That comment really pissed me off, so I figured I'd vent here. I saw the beheading, it was extremely gruesome and TOTALLY reproachable. But that doesn't somehow make the Abu Ghraib prison torture somehow, 'less bad'. That is all. If anyone wishes to explain another point of view, feel free to post comments.