Comments on: 2 Legs Bad, 4 Legs Good

By: Outlaw13

Outlaw13 — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 22:41:27 +0000

That was the Chief of Staff of the Army, not the III Corps commander.

By: Rufus

Rufus — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 20:14:22 +0000

That’s true too, Enbrethiliel! And I can’t really blame them. When I’ve been overseas the news coverage of America often focuses on racial issues. For those of us here they are few and far between, but other nations seem to highlight those stories when they occur. I think it is also exacerbated by a lack of frame of reference on the size of our country. My wife’s family will often call from Germany when some disaster or another is occurring here to “make sure we’re alright” even though we are typically about 1,000+ miles away from whatever their nightly news is showing.

When I am able to have some long conversations with non-Americans in other countries I’ll sometimes ask what percentage of U.S. citizens are black. I’ve never gotten an answer below 25%, many guess around 40%. Just as I’m sure we get an unrealistic view of day to day life in The Philippines based on what we see on the news, non-Americans can get a very warped view of life in these United States.

By: Enbrethiliel

Enbrethiliel — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 20:03:47 +0000

+JMJ+

Rufus, I have an American friend who would say that anyone who thinks America has a problem with racism has never traveled to America. =)

By: Rufus

Rufus — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 19:46:40 +0000

If you except Americans from the equation 99.99% of the world’s population live in homogenous places. Anyone who thinks America has a problem with racism has never traveled outside of America. Out of 300 million people do we have some racists? Sure. Last I checked Reverend Jeremiah Wright still lives here. Is there a country with more people of different geneology mixing and mingling with anywhere near the success as the U.S. of A.? Nope.

By: Enbrethiliel

Enbrethiliel — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 19:35:00 +0000

+JMJ+

I’ve never really had to think about it, since I live in one of those “homogenous” places; but, yeah, Veruckt, you’re right.

If you had a bunch of people with different skin colours and exactly the same ideas and experiences, you’d only have surface diversity–and that would be mindless.

By: JS Lawalin

JS Lawalin — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 18:37:17 +0000

You know, the Iwo Jima memorial only features Caucasians……

By: Wankette

Wankette — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 17:53:27 +0000

That was Casey.
This story reminds me of the controversy over the firefighters’ statue…the one based upon that iconic photo of them raising a flag at Ground Zero…they were all caucasian…come time for the memorial, it was suggested that other races be represented in the statue.

By: JS Lawalin

JS Lawalin — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 17:47:27 +0000

Wasn’t it the general commanding Fort Hood that stated he hoped diversity wouldn’t be another casualty of the massacre?

By: Veruckt

Veruckt — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 16:12:03 +0000

There is no word in the English language more abused than “diversity”. Diveristy is about ideas and experience, not about skin color. Are we past the tipping point on this whole issue now? Will we ever be able to restore sanity and let people be judged by their merits rather than their skin color?

By: trzupr

trzupr — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 16:11:38 +0000

Surprised? I shouldn’t be, I suppose, but I naively thought that the armed services would be above this sort of thing. It has always been my experience that high-stress situations – much less situations involving actual danger – make color/race/sex distinctions disappear of their own accord. When I was stack testing, nobody gave a damned who was leaning with you on a cheater-bar while swaying on a stack platform 200 feet in the air in the middle of January, you just needed to trust the person to do their job, have your back and not get you killed. It would have to be the same in the military, where the dangers are infinitely greater and responsibilities so much more grave – right? Actually, I’m sure it is that way in the trenches. It has to be. It’s a damned shame that some of the commanders are not worthy of those they command.