Military rapes prompt censorship

Women serving in the U.S. military are now more likely to be raped by a fellow soldier than killed in combat.

Censorship is alive and well at Facebook. I first encountered their devotion to free speech when I criticized Toyota, and starting with a recent post targeting obscene living conditions in the military, Facebook's censorship has ratcheted up considerably.

Facebook doesn't necessarily block postings outright, so you need to be informed and vigilant to determine if you're in the crosshairs. Just because a post appears on Profile and Home pages doesn't mean the post appears publicly in real-time. To see what I'm talking about, after you've posted something (assuming you've set your submissions to appear publicly), search a keyword, click Public Posts, and see if your post appears. Unless Facebook is censoring, your post should be there by the time you navigate or else appear within seconds. The bigger picture is that these postings can also be searched in other venues, such as Openbook and Bing. If you're being censored from Facebook's real-time Public Posts, you're really being censored.

Facebook's latest round of censorship started with my 9/21/2011 post, "Soulja Boy's Army style language." Addressing the verbal garbage young people are exposed to in the military and pondering its relevance to instances of rape must have set off a five star alarm. Blam. The post was blocked from real-time Public Posts, and subsequent posts, regardless of the topic, have also been blocked.

The Soulja Boy post was more explosive than I realized.  A Google search revealed that it was embarrassingly relevant to the military's continuing epidemic of rape cases, involving both male and female victims. The situation was headlined in one article as the Army's "dirty secret."    

So hey, Uncle Sam: I understand. The government's gotta be careful 'bout the truth gettin' out. Might make it difficult findin' fodder to fuel those imperialistic wars. After all, keepin' stuff quiet is how the land of the free managed to murder 58,000 of its own in the jungles of Vietnam.

Update 10/20/2011 - Facebook has blocked this post from appearing in real-time Public Posts.

Update 3/6/2017 - The latest military sex scandal involves nude, pornographic photos of Marines and veterans.

Soulja Boy's Army-style language

I enlisted during the Vietnam Era. To say the military environment has gotten worse over the years is quite an understatement. Enter a rape epidemic featuring both heterosexual and homosexual assault, generals facing charges of adultery and forcible sodomy, and the list goes on and on. Wow.

Soulja Boy sure got the military up in arms when he utterd "f" the Army, and then dared advise troops to "be your own man." Somewhat curious though, was the absence of any indignation over Soulja Boy's trademark four-letter filth. In fact, as the military rushed to ban Soulja Boy recordings, the language thing seemed to be virtually off limits. And I think I know why.

Make no mistake: The Army was the absolute filthiest environment I ever had the misfortune to be in the midst of. Granted, I was no doubt a bit naive when I enlisted, but in all fairness, I was also a teenager. Like Marine recruit Jason Tharp.

That ol' Army recruiter really had me suckered. Slick literature, warm handshakes, and cordial, seemingly earnest conversations sorta like you might expect from a Sunday school teacher. Never ever not once did he utter so much as even the mildest slang.

Right. And talk about a rude awakening. When I started basic training at Ft. Jackson, South Carolina, four-letter filth spouted by those in charge was constant ad nauseum. And the "f" word reigned supreme. From sergeants to officers, there seemed to be a deliberate attempt to keep young minds in the gutter. On one occasion, a major was directing a march, and our group was to repeat after him an obscene scenario as we marched in cadence to the words. It depicted an encounter with a girl named Mary, concluding with "and there I f'd her on the ground."

Over the years, and especially considering the Army's pornographic torture of prisoners at Abu Graib, I've come to wonder if the constant barrage of verbal garbage has an even more sinister intent than one might think. Is it aimed, perhaps, at densensitizing "the troops" to such things as contrived sexual degradation? The programming, perhaps, of a subconscious willingness to rape, literally and figuratively, those hapless inhabitants of distant lands? I've had similar thoughts regarding the gang style savagery dished out - in front of other trainees - to Marine recruit Jason Tharp.

Soulja Boy's filthy, Army style language is most certainly repulsive. Nonetheless, he apparently suffered a few rational thoughts regarding the hired guns that carry out America's imperialistic, undeclared wars, dared to exercise a bit of free speech, and got waylaid by a country that can stand most anything except the truth.

Update 6/13/2017 - Here's a link to today's excellent article, "So, Your Daughter Joined the Military," by Laurence M. Vance

Update 10/6/2011 - Facebook blocked this post from appearing in real-time Public Posts, and immediately started blocking all of my subsequent posts from appearing in that venue, regardless of the topic. This latest bout of censorship remains in effect.

Updates 5/22/2013 -
The commanding general of Ft. Jackson, South Carolina, Bryan Roberts, has been suspended in connection with charges of adultery and involvement in a physical altercation: http://www.wistv.com/story/22378270/fort-jackson-commander-facing-adultery-charges 

As mentioned above, this post met with censorship. That prompted me to publish another post, "Military rapes prompt censorship"

Update 5/5/2015 - Had to laugh regarding recent news that Christians are finally viewing the military as a "hostile work environment." Somehow, ever since reading the Sermon on the Mount, I've been unable to visualize Jesus decked out in a military uniform, intent on butchering His enemies. One of my all-time favorite literary works is Mark Twain's "The War Prayer." War is as un-Christian as anything gets.

Update 6/19/2019 via Dr. Paul Craig Roberts:"Classified: US Troops Rape Boys In Front Of Their Mothers" - more info has come out re the sexual hoorrors inflicted by American troops at Abu Graib.

Toys for Tots? How about "Guns for Gangs"?

News has it (don't miss the video) that Marines from Parris Island have been coming to South Carolina's capitol city offering assistance to local gang members. You know. Teach 'em tactical manuevers. That sort of thing. In fact, the relationship between the military and gangs has gotten so cozy that military police are warning cities all across America to be on the lookout. Not to be an alarmist, but I think this says something about our society.

Come Christmastime, maybe the Marines should start a new program to go along with Toys for Tots. They could call it "Guns for Gangs." Might not have quite as good a recruiting angle as Toys for Tots, but it would be a bit more honest. Tots, incidentally, didn't do too well at the hands of Marines in Iraq, most notably, perhaps, as the gang massacred innocent men, women, and children at Haditha.

Writing as a four-year Army veteran, Vietnam Era, I'm reminded of the kinda folks you can get thrown in with when you sign up for the military. Like the night - 'round 2 a.m. actually - when someone came in drunk, drugged, both, or whatever, picked a fight, and slashed a guy's face - in the dark - multiple times with one of those little razor-sharp knives ('bout the size of fingernail clippers) that fit on key chains.

Ah, the marvels of Uncle Sam's communal living arrangements. Its another one of those things recruiters somehow forget to mention. I could recount more "war stories," but if you haven't gotten the picture by now, it probably wouldn't do any good.

This thing about gangs in the military also reminds me of the gang-style savagery dished out to Marine recruit Jason Tharp, the teenager who wanted out of the military and then drowned during "training." Forced to tread water, Jason was surrounded by Marine swim instructors as he went under possibly six times, screamed repeatedly to be let out of the pool, finally succumbed to exhaustion and coughed, gagged, or vomitted before bobbing to the surface unresponsive.

Come to think of it, havin' military recruiters on school grounds may not be such a good idea after all.

Only one media outlet dared to publish the horrifying details of Jason's death:
http://wistv.com/global/story.asp?s=3529920&ClientType=Printable

Update 12/14/2014 - A smattering of more recent articles - such as this one - suggest that military personnel supplying guns to gangs is continuing. As word spreads about the kind of environment folks are exposed to in the military, no wonder there's a renewed interest in reviving the draft. It takes lots of fresh cannon fodder to fight ol' Sammy's never-ending, imperialistic, undeclared wars.

Update 5/4/2015 - Military personnel assisting gangs is continuing, evidenced by last month's story about Army reservists plotting to sell guns, ammo, and body armor to Mexican drug cartels. Nuthin' like the desire to lend a helping hand...