On Memorial Day, 2017, the progressive commentary website Vox published this article, attacking the U.S. Marine Corps. It is not an unreasonable article and fairly describes a real cultural issue facing theCorps as it moves into a new era. The article would be appropriate 364 days of the year, but not today. Today is the time for Americans to honor the memories and sacrifices of the more than 40, 000 Marines who lost their lives defending their country and ours.
The only way, the only way, that the editors of Vox could have failed to hear the tiniest tinkle of an ethics alarm as they prepared for publication is that no one in a management position at the publication possesses anything but contempt or ignorance regarding the Armed Services and what they have done and continue to do to protect the United States. In this, Vox is sadly representative of an especially unethical component of the American Left, a segment of that ideological group lacking historical perspective, respect, gratitude, courage, proportion, competence and the essence of citizenship. If publishing the piece today was accidental, it shows stunning ignorance. If it was intentional, a deliberate thumb in the metaphorical eye of a vital American institution, Vox’s world view and values are so warped that it forfeits credibility and trust.
Ethics Alarms 
This is a direct link to the article in question, so people won’t have to go through the twitter feed to find it: https://www.vox.com/world/2017/5/29/15619574/marine-corps-women-sexual-harassment
It details the sexual harassment scandal that the Marine Corps was recently embroiled in, and steps they are taking to try to correct it. After reading the article, the reaction to it seems a bit…overwrought, especially on Twitter. Claims of white genocide and oppression are sending people into a frenzy over what seems to be a fairly straightforward article. I can’t even consider it a hit piece or an attack. I don’t see how the memory of people who died is impugned by detailing how the Marines is correcting mistakes the institution made in the past.
It’s almost like the right wing is being triggered or something when one of their revered institutions is pretty lightly examined, instead of being blindly praised and worshipped. I don’t think Memorial Day means that we all need to fall in lockstep and gloss over the sacrifices that both our men and our women in the armed services have been asked to make, and that we are continuing to ask them to make. In fact, it seems like a prime time to analyze the conditions we put our troops in, and ways we can make it better for them.
I’m sorry for the indirect link..I’m typing on a netbook that for some reason won’t let me post links on WordPress. I’ll fix that soon.
But I don’t understand why you undermine your credibility by defending stuff like this. It’s Memorial Day. It’s a national holiday. It’s a day to honor the fallen. The sexual harassment in the Armed Services is a big problem, but an article about it could be published tomorrow, or two days from now, and nobody could object. One day, and Vox can’t have the courtesy to put aside criticism of the Marines for 24 hours? How can you defend that? Why defend that? You have valid points to make as EA Defender of the Left, and this just makes your judgment suspect.
Like I said, it doesn’t seem to be a hit piece, but a fairly evenhanded article. No, it doesn’t blindly praise the Marines, in fact detailing their struggle with harassment against the women in their ranks. But it also talks about the steps the Marines are taking to correct past misconduct.
As far as I can tell, the connection with Memorial Day is tenuous. They don’t smear any dead servicemen or talk about Memorial Day at all. I cannot agree with your notion that we should only print glowing praise of the military in general on Memorial Day, and that people are unethical if they don’t. Sometimes the best way to memorialize people is to detail the hardships and sacrifices that they go through. And that won’t always be a pretty picture. But such things are worth remembering on this day alongside the other, plentiful images of more glorious sacrifices.
It’s an attack, just not an unjustified one. If I want to write about how corrupt Christianity had become, I don’t publish it on Christmas. If I publish an accurate story about what a sick, violent bastard Muhammad was on Ramadan, it’s because I don’t respect Islam, and this is one way of expressing that.
If I want to write about how corrupt Christianity had become, I don’t publish it on Christmas.
I’ve read many a screed about how people have strayed away from Christian ideals, and that we need to “get back to the true meaning of Christmas,” invariably published around Christmas time. I guess some people could take it as an attack on Christmas, rather than urging people to perhaps cut away the excess and reflect on what the institution of “Christmas” means in this society.
I think I would have considered the article more of an attack if it just detailed the many ways that the Marines was a sexist organization, and left it at that. But it carefully outlined the many steps the organization was taking to correct itself going forward, managing to leave a rosier picture of the future as far as that was concerned. Though to be fair, I did already know about the nude picture scandal, but not how the organization was responding to it, so I came feeling a bit better about the Marines than I went in. Perhaps a person who knew nothing about the original scandal might feel differently.
I wish I could say this is a surprise to me but it isn’t. From my perspective, many people/organizations on the left don’t like this country and take every opportunity to denigrate institutions that may not be perfect, but that have greatly contributed to making this nation exceptional. You’d think that on Memorial Day that even a left leaning publication would be able to restrain itself from digging up dirt on the USMC, but I guess not.
Well the comments weren’t exactly favorable to VOX’s “toxic maculinity” post! I bet none of the weenies at the VOX website have ever serve in any branch of the military.
That’s because the most rudimentary ethics alarm could have seen what was wrong with their timing.
How about they all went on holiday and left a robot to post on “Marines”? . . . nope. That won’t cut it.
I’m not a fan of the Corps, I don’t celebrate religious holidays, and I cannot understand how you can make a triple play without the ball touching a fielder (no, don’t try to explain it: I still think the guy whose bet I lost to was making it up) — but I don’t badmouth any weird American customs.
“…I cannot understand how you can make a triple play without the ball touching a fielder…”
Speaking of baseball: Yesterday, I saw a situation which, for all the baseball I have played and watched, I had never seen occur. Two outs, runner on first; batter hits a ground ball which hits the runner on his way to second. So the ball is dead, and the runner is out. Inning (or, half-inning) over. I knew the rules that far. But THE SCORER AWARDED THE BATTER A SINGLE. That scoring threw me for a loop.
I wonder: has that always been the rule? Off to research now…this might be yet another way of admitting that “I don’t get out much,” ha-ha. (I can still hit well; most of my hits these days are line drives over the infield.)
From what I know about VOX, this is the path that VOX has trod to get clicks on their website and garner followers. Think about it, if they get 1,000,000 people to click on one of their hyper sensationalized articles maybe they can get 1%-5% to return on a regular basis. Now multiply that by a BUNCH of hyper sensationalized articles; get the idea.
Similar trends are becoming more obvious with most media outlets; hyper sensationalism sells.
You watch your timing, Jack,because you didn’t grow up a red-diaper baby surrounded by the left. Part of the lefty counterculture is trying to tear down anything that’s held up as worthy of admiration or respect, and a good way to do that, and get attention while you’re at it, is to attack it precisely at the moment it’s being held up. That’s why the left pokes the Church on St. Patrick’s Day and Easter and Christmas, pokes the military on Memorial Day and Veterans’ Day, pokes the Italians on Columbus Day, and pokes all the US stands for on July 4 and occasionally Presidents’ Day. That’s why the left insists on shooting holes in the Thanksgiving holiday each year. That’s why some on the left even say something like “the US had it coming” when we come up on September 11. It generates outrage and gets them twice the notice they otherwise would get.
That said, of course they pick and choose what to poke at depending on politics, and any references they make to MLK Day or gay pride month or Ramadan must be PROFOUNDLY serious and free of even the slightest bit of criticism.
The idea of ethics is to consider what conduct will do to others.
Then the left and its street prophets are either profoundly devoid of ethics or think only in terms of their own ethics.
“Well, I’m really sorry for pouring red paint on the Columbus statue that’s going to upset the Italian-American community and take the DPW 4 hours to clean up, but I really needed to make the point that he opened the door for the destruction of the Native American.”
And the list goes on.
When I first saw the headline that was posted by Vox, my first thought was to ignore it. In fact, I spent a lot of time off this internet yesterday. This particular holiday has special significance for me. I know dating back to WW1, my family has had someone fight in almost every major conflict our country has been a part of. Fortunately for us, none of us had died in those conflicts.
Last year about this time, I learned about my great-grandfather for the first time who served as in WW1. My mother doesn’t remember what he did, but she remembers that her grandma told her since the war, he never was the same.
My mother’s father served as a cook in the European theater. Not the most glamorous job I know, but often it was to the wounded and/or dying. He never talked about it, but I remember him always flying his flag. When I asked him about it, he just told me it was to remember.
My other grandfather was not an American by the time of WW2, but was in a German work camp on account of his fighting in the Polish army (or you know, lack of one). He always told me Hitler hated Poland because unlike the French, they did not give up. They fought with nothing, but still, they fought.
My uncle was fortunate enough to be promoted while in Vietnam to be sent home to train recruits (He had a dream of being a drill Sargent). I’m told by my aunt that not many of his friends survived.
I have another uncle who just passed away a few months ago, who served 27 years in the Navy. A good portion of that was in Saudi Arabia during the first Gulf war. My sister’s husband (who is 17 years her senior) did special ops during this time as well in the Marines.
My sister and I were among the first to go into Iraq. She went in 2002 and I went into 2003. Her battalion was the one that first took Baghdad. My time there was spent driving fuel tankers to different parts of the country. Our platoon consisted of 40ish fuelers and 15 water purification people. Our water people got split up between two different sites. I always wondered if this saved my life. You see, I volunteered to cross train to learn water purification to help the demand. After two months doing this, I learned my co-driver and his (now then co-driver) had been attacked along with the rest of the convoy. They took the worst of it. My co-driver lost his leg. My substitute lost his life two days later due to massive burns.
A few thoughts. First, I understand in some ways, this is an emotional appeal. I’m very bias when it comes to the military and people who have put their life on the line for the country. In is in this way that Dreey is right. Us right-wingers are a little starstruck when it comes to our military and we don’t like to hear criticism.
Second, every single one of these people in my family and every single one of people I served with knows the military and its various branches will tell you that the military has lots of problems. I didn’t have any body plate armor until after my friend died (not that it would have helped him). Our criticisms are voiced and voiced often. I really wish more was done about the problems that are plaguing our military. This is why I am not opposed to Trump putting more money in defense (though I understand throwing money at a problem is not a solution).
Third, there is a time and a place for everything. As Jack pointed out, the Vox article is an important issue that should be discussed. Depending on the issue you might be willing to make this case on Armed Forces Day or Veterans day (like the plight of Veterans trying to deal with the VA). But today is about honoring the sacrifice of the dead. We wouldn’t go to a memorial service and talk about the problems plaguing the company the deceased worked for, nor should we do it on Memorial day.
Fifth, I almost didn’t read the Vox article for this reason. After reading it, I would not have called the words in the article an attack on Memorial Day, but I would have called their timing on it one. There are some on the right who would have never read it because it was either a. written by Vox, or b. showed the military in a negative light. This is wrong on their part. But if Vox hopes to reach the kind of people who would address these situations (this assumes they are serious about them) then using their idea of timing is a bad way to do it.
I hope you all had a good weekend, enjoyed some time off, and took a moment to say thank you to the fallen. Today is business as usual.
I agree with Jack. That being said, one of my friends this weekend (retired Air Force and retired CIA) shared with me that she was raped while in the Air Force. One guy raped her while another stood guard at the door. She reported it and the military did nothing. She told me that sexual assault was pervasive (this was the mid-90s) and it was almost expected that this would eventually happen to you.
It’s a big, big, BIG cultural problem, and one that got even worse over the last 8 years. No question about it. The military is a uber-male culture—duh!—and resent the presence of women.
Jack Marshall wrote, “The military is a uber-male culture—duh!—and resent the presence of women.”
I was a part of the military for a good chunk of years and I have family currently in the military and I don’t agree with the statement that the uber-mail culture actually “resent the presence of women” (my bold). You have to get to the root of the perceived resentment. If you want to say that there is clear resentment that women in the military do not have to meet the same standards as men in the military I’ll agree, but to say that their physical presence is resented is pushing it.
Speaking of standards; there’s even a difference between base standards the people have to meet in different branches of the military and in some cases a higher set of standards are required for military units. All the differences in standards are necessary for job performance of specific duties and these difference in standards create resentment between branches and units but these job based differences in standards are not based on gender.
People can call me whatever they like but I am of the opinion that women should meet the exact same base standards as men in the military. I have absolutely no problem serving with women that meet the same standards, and I have served with some. The base standards are what the United States Military is built on, any person that cannot meet or maintain those base standards is separated from the military.
I have zero tolerance for rape.
Rape is rape and should always be prosecuted to the full extent of the law and anyone that participates in that rape by guarding the act or enabling the culture should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. Period.
Spartan,
Many years ago during a rotation of Basic Training & Infantry School there was a female supply SSG that was transferred into the unit towards the end of BCT just prior to the trainees beginning Infantry School and she was literally screwing some of the trainees from various platoons in the Battalion. These trainees would climb out on the roof and walk over to her window, she would let them in, get them drunk and they’d rock-n-roll in the sack. This was going on for a few weeks until a trainee went through the chain of command and reported the activity directly to the Battalion commander. The cadre confirmed the activity and when the female NCO was asked about the activity she immediately cried rape – she lied, this NCO was immediately removed from the Battalion. There were a few trainees that were recycled back to the beginning of Basic Training for their activities with this NCO and there were some other trainees that were given Article 15’s.
To be sure there are some unscrupulous men out there that are willing to rape but unfortunately we also have to remember that just because the word rape is used by a woman does not always mean that an actual rape has occurred.
Again…
Rape is rape and should always be prosecuted to the full extent of the law and anyone that participates in that rape by guarding the act or enabling the culture should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. Anyone that claims rape and they were not raped, should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. Period.
Can we even ONCE have a discussion about sexual assault without talking about the small percentage of people who false report? These are not equal problems.
Can we even ONCE have a discussion about sexual assault without you IGNORING the other things I write that are not about people who false report?
Thank God for the toxic mascunility of countless marines who have died or lost limb or ability protecting us. From a greatfull Brit.