Misplaced Priorities
December 6th, 2009
By Tom Carter
The opening paragraph of Richard Cohen’s recent column in The Washington Post:
The truth is that if Maj. Nidal Hasan, the accused killer of 13 people at Fort Hood, had entered the officers club there with a nice handbag on his arm, perhaps a Gucci tote, he would have been out of the Army by the end of the week. Since he was merely antisocial, a misfit, an incompetent psychiatrist and a likely Islamic fanatic, he was retained and promoted. This says something about America. On the subject of gays, we are a tad nuts ourselves.
We need to get our priorities in order — less effort enforcing religious proscriptions against homosexuality, more effort defending ourselves against extremist Muslims.
On the one hand, we’re one of the last significant nations to prohibit gays from serving in the military, regardless of skills and qualifications. On the other hand, we’re so twisted up in political correctness that we can’t spot a real threat right under our noses.
Does discriminating against gays prevent us from defending ourselves against extremist Muslims? Of course not — but it highlights the bizarre contrast.
Nidal Hasan is the perfect example.
Articles written by Tom Carter
Tags: don't ask don't tell, extremist, gay marriage, islamist, Muslim
Categories: Military, Politics | Comments (3) | Home
3 Responses to “Misplaced Priorities”
Leave a Reply
Authors
Recent Posts
- Is Governor Romney an Edsel Republican?
- Five Steps to Positive Life Change (and the Big Payoff!)
- Murderers of the Fogel Family in Israel Are Heroes
- The Church and the Holocaust
- Auschwitz and the Holocaust
- Remembering the Holocaust
- Why Corporate Change is Difficult, But Possible
- Fatigue Is a Parent’s Worst Enemy (and Constant Companion)
- Confesssion: I Did Not Watch the SOTU Last Night
- After the State of the Union: Who Can Defeat Obama?
- Let’s All Vote for President Obama
- Five Building Blocks of Positive Life Change
- Get Ready for Higher Gas Prices
- Success Is Great!
- We need a Reasonable Everything Board (REB)
- Pros and Cons of the U.S. Higher Education System
- Enlightened Self-interest and International Relations
- Four Obstacles to Positive Life Change
- The Republican Marathon Is Distracting and Dangerous
- Should Politics and Foreign Policy Affect Our Military Justice System?
"I’ll be shocked if there’s another book this year as important as Charles Murray’s 'Coming Apart' ... that so compellingly describes the most important trends in American society. " -- David Brooks, NYT
Categories
Archives
Meta
Blogroll
- BLACKFIVE
- BlueOregon
- Booman Tribune
- Clarissa's Blog
- Crooked Timber
- Crooks and Liars
- Crossroads Arabia
- Daily Kos
- Dan Miller's Blog
- Democratic Underground
- Donklephant
- Dr. Jim Taylor
- Dr. Jim Taylor's Blog
- Earth Legacy
- EarthAirWater
- Global Voices Online
- Henry David Thoreau’s Blog
- Hot Air
- Instapundit
- Iowahawk
- Iraq Today
- Jack Jacobs
- Jan Barry
- Letters from an Ohio Farmer
- Little Green Footballs
- Matthew Yglesias
- Michelle Malkin
- Mr. Forman's Planet
- Mudville Gazette
- Newsvine Politics
- No Oil for Pacifists
- Outside the Beltway
- Pajamas Media
- Patterico’s Pontifications
- PJ Tatler
- Powerline
- Right Bias
- Talking Points Memo
- The Accidental Humanist
- The Becker-Posner Blog
- The Huffington Post Politics
- The Huffington Post Pollster
- The Long War Journal
- The Moderate Voice
- The Sandbox
- The UN Post
- The Volokh Conspiracy
- TVNewser
- Watching America
- White House Blog
- Wind Rose Hotel
- Wizbang
- Wonkette
;Recent Comments
- Tom Carter: I remember the Edsel very well, and the much maligned Studebaker, too. I guess one has to...
- Anonymous: It’s sad to see how barbaric these Islamic Palestinians really are. Even sadder is...
- bea woods: My husband served in vietnam in 1968-1969 he was diagnoised with melanoma in 1998 we filed...
- Anonymous: Very good articles. I found myself within your examples of people and their fear of change....
- Tom Carter: This was a truly horrendous mass murder, made much worse by the praise Palestinians (and...
- Tom Carter: I used to teach courses and seminars on business management, and one of the topics...
- Dan Miller: Thanks, Tom. “We report, you decide.” You say, without TOTUS we get the long...
- Tom Carter: Well done, Dan! Clearly a fair and balanced report. It’s obvious, however, that your...
- larry: Are you guys sure this isn’t some sort of deep dark conspiracy?
- Dan Miller: Tom, Caruso? Ha! His weak voice and shoddy choice of music then were as nothing compared...
- Tom Carter: I have to admit, I was disgruntled before I read this brilliant article. It gave me the...
- Dan Miller: Larry No, that would be unfair. However, I am less than totally gruntled. Dan
Absolutely with you! Great thoughts!
I think the issue with homosexuals in the military is based on the idea that all homosexuals act like flaming queens. That type would certainly be disruptive, but somehow, I don’t think flaming queens are very likely to ever join the military to begin with.
The other stereotype that would likely be disruptive would be, if you’ll excuse the analogy, the “valve-clattering diesel dyke.” Unfortunately, these hairy tarantulas do get in the military and like as not bring with them militant feminism. Worse yet is they get the support of stupid congresscritters to push them into the combat arms, for which they are absolutely not physically fit.
Fred Reed details it in article number 135 titled “Women in Combat”. Don’t know if the link will work exactly right because of the framing on his web page, so if it doesn’t, scroll down the left side until you see #135.
I tried a variety of ways, but I couldn’t get to that Fred Reed column.
I suppose my opinion is biased by 30 years of experience in the Army, to include serving with a number of people I knew to be gay. I also served with many female officers and enlisted personnel and commanded many hundreds of women at the company, battalion, and brigade levels. I’m also intimately familiar with the rules that govern assignments and military specialties. A good friend was at one time the senior female general in the Army. So, having disclosed that bias, here’s what I think:
1. I never cared whether a soldier or officer was gay, hetero, bi, or asexual. The only thing I cared about was the individual behavior and level of performance of each person. Someone who engages in unacceptable professional or social behavior should be dealt with on that basis as an individual, not as a member of some group.
2. I never met one of those “hairy tarantulas” you mentioned. In my experience, female soldiers are as normal, professional, and competent as their male counterparts. I’m actually tempted to say “better” in some respects because of fewer disciplinary problems.
3. There are some feminists in the Army, yes. There are also a few racists, a handful of druggies, some alcoholics, and a number of Republicans and Democrats. Generally the Army reflects the civilian population, except it’s a heck of a lot better in all those respects.
4. You can see a list of combat arms specialties here. Most are closed to women, and closed means closed. Doesn’t matter who, including members of Congress, might wish it were otherwise.