Or in this case, 10 bad apples. The saying goes that one bad apple does not spoil the bunch. This is obviously ony true in produce. Because when soldiers are concerned the left and the MSM (I know that was redundant) think that one bad act reflects on all soldiers. There were roughly 135,000 troops serving in Iraq when the Abu Ghraib scandel broke. In all, ten soldiers were involved. The MSM and the left wing of the government had all these hearings and made it look like every soldier in Iraq was abusing prisoners. There is less furor over this and the MSM fails to mention that the military has or is in the process of punishing those who commited these crimes.
Ten out of 135,000 is not bad statistically. This is better than the crime rate in the civilian population. You would not know this by the coverage, but there are a whole lot of really good troops in Iraq. Human Events Online has a story about the treatment of the military in the media and by the left. It was written by Rabbi Aryeh Spero and he really takes the media and the left to task by pointing out that those who criticize the most are elitists who have not served and do not have close relatives or friends who have served. They sit in their cosmopolitan worlds and criticize those “rednecks” who are fighting this war.
The Rabbi gives an excellent example of how pre-9/11 men were these sensitive Woody Allen types who were not very masculine. 9/11 changed that when we again began to honor men for being heroes. We embraced firefighters, police officers, and yes, soldiers as heroes. The left even quickly jumped on the badnwagon to praise. Now that the war is on-going and there have been casualties and the Abu Ghraib scandel, the libs have reverted to their former selves.
At the beginning I said that one bad apple does not ruin the bunch. The Rabbi said one thing with which I do not totally agree:
Funny how Hollywood people, their lawyers and publicists, who profit from productions glorifying violence, sex, mud-wrestling and Ft. Lauderdale spring break wet T-shirt contests sit in condescending judgment over young pent-up soldiers letting off steam at an impromptu mud-wrestling exercise. Sainthood is demanded not from their college children on soft campuses, but, ironically, from battlefield soldiers nerve-wracked by possible imminent death. After all, it’s not their children, nor their friends’ children, serving over there in Iraq.
I will agree that it is ironic that the lefties in Hollywood will protest the war and then make films about it and make millions of dollars. It is as if they are saying, “we don’t mind making money portraying war, but we don’t want our country engaged in it.”
I am reminded of an old George Carlin bit about Mohammad Ali and his refusal to go to Vietnam because he was a pacifist, a strange position for a man who made his living beating people up. Carlin jokes that Ali said, “I don’t mind beating them up but I don’t want to kill them.” The punch line is that the government told Ali, “If you won’t kill them, we won’t let you beat them up.” This is the same hypocracy in my book.
Anyway, I do not agree with the Rabbi’s contention that soldiers participating in mud wrestling is “blowing off steam.” I agree with the premise that the left expects soldiers to be saints while allowing just about anything on college campuses. But as I posted earlier, these soldiers, by their actions disgraced their country. I think that soldiers should be a cut above the rest of society. We represent our country and this kind of behavior is not acceptable for professionals. I understand how the Rabbi can equate and rationalize and for any other group this would be a rational argument. Soldiers are not college students frolicking on a campus. They are in the profession of arms and are expected to act as professionals. In the military, one bad apple does ruin the bunch, especially in the eyes of their scelestious detractors. You can read the post if you want more on my thoughts.
The Rabbi makes some sound observations and, besides the one item with which I disagree, I found the article inspiring, thoughtful, well written and more openly truthful than what the MSM feeds us on a daily basis.