Sunday, October 29, 2006

Perverting Political Correctness

Perverting Political Correctness. I just love the topic, I don't know if I can do it justice, so this will be short.

Political Correctness tends to at its core try and do what the constitution attempts to do; which is provide equal rights for people, and ensure that one persons or group of persons actions do not infringe upon the rights of another group of people. It is important to be sensitive to other people’s feelings, and not infringe on other peoples rights. That should not be confused with being without opinion, or with being agreeable. I think that as far as that goes; it is not a bad thought. I don't believe in racial slurs or derogatory comments in general to describe a person who is otherwise unknown. Some people earn the titles they are given, but that is another topic.

I believe that perverting political correctness is a form of covering your ass, limiting choices to the degree that you can't be blamed for much of anything. There are many examples of this, and I could add to this on a weekly basis, but that might just be too much negativity.

The political correctness I am talking about is the over riding concern of what others will think. This runs the gamut from not wearing a set of socks with a Nike swoosh because it is a logo, with your tennis shoes, which all have logos on them. It makes no sense, but there you go; I watched a LTC in the 10th Mountain Division loose his bearing over a set of ankle high socks with blue on them, no logo mind you, but a blue reinforced heel. He was talking about logos, ignoring the Reebok logo on the shoes that housed the socks of the soldier he was yelling at. I really haven't figured out the sock thing, I am sure someone can fill me in, I hope it directly impacts how that soldier does on the field of battle.
We have a situation now where two factions are ready to (actually already have) picked up weapons to kill each other. Many of the weapons they have are illegal to own. We are prohibited from disarming either faction, as that would appear to be taking sides, as we can not do that simultaneously. So what we do is provide a presence to prevent an attack, kind of a buffer if you will a reason not to start shooting.

In this part of the world if Americans are in civilian clothes during Ramadan, we wear long sleeves and close toed shoes, Muslims in the area where comfortable clothing to include short sleeves and sandals. We do this because someone in the state department doesn't want to appear to be disrespecting the Muslim religion. Let me tell you, Muslims, like many other religions are certain that if you don't believe in God the way they think you should you are headed straight to hell. It really won't matter if you were short sleeved or not.

We don't drink Alcohol here, but the only alcohol I have seen or been offered has come from Muslim's. They drink it here, after it is imported. Fact not fiction. Why don't we drink? Other nations allow that, because again, we don't want to offend anyone, or / and because it fits someone’s thought process that soldiers just can't be trusted with alcohol.

AK, the man who was killed was known at all levels of the government to be the "Godfather" of the criminal and antigovernment activities in this area was also protected because he provided some stability. I have news for you, this country was far more stable under the Taliban, and had the Taliban not been stupid enough to provide aide and support to Osama Bin Laden, we would not be involved here. The Taliban would be providing a very stable and understandable form of government, although one that did not allow freedom of religion or speech. Hitler and the Soviet Union did a pretty good job of stability as well, the thing they all have in common was that they killed all who opposed them.



Enough of that.

K

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