This is verbatim from Ms. Rina Jimenez David of the Philippine Daily Inquirer, who writes a column four or five times a week and had the following to say about soldiers, all the men and women in the armed services of any country. I am ashamed to be in the same gene pool as this idiotarian member of the local demagagosphere...Ms. David: "The truth is that soldiers never have, and never will, fight and kill for such high-flown ideals as “democracy,” “freedom,” “the government,” or even “the homeland.” They take up arms and engage in combat mainly because that is their job and that is what they trained for. But what moves them is not some abstract principle or loyalty, but rather the very human instinct first, not to get killed; and second, to protect the men and women they fight with. In an age before the military became gender-integrated, soldiers considered each other “buddies” and, throughout the centuries, a soldier’s loyalty and bravado were expended for the sake of one’s buddies, for making sure they all came out of the battlefield alive."She claims to have come by this epiphany from watching war movies. (In between huge gulps of soda pop and buttered popcorn, I guess?) Oh and you know what Rina has been saying soldiers do when they aren't busy trying not to get killed? Yup. They go on brutal gang rapes of helpless Filipino women.
Well, freedom of expression allows anyone with two-bit opinion column to blurt out whatever blithering idiocies are in their heads. But what it reveals about what is in their hearts is what depresses me. She may castigate Gloria Macapagal Arroyo for her governance, but Rina Jimenez David is no different than GMA, who doesn't attend the funerals of Filipino-American soldiers either. Or honor their memory, because Rina David essentially believes in nothing.
11 comments:
thanks for that mb,
i was really hoping it wasn't just me that feels like this. i just think she represents too many people--too many writers that I know actually do think this way, though one would never have thought they would voice it with so much unconscious callousness. No group of people opposes the war on Iraq than some Americans. I respect that. But only the worst of them are like this...those who taught it to us!
Hi, Dean and MB:
The army, as it ought to be, in George Orwell's words: "We sleep safely in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do us harm."
Ms. David’s words: high-flown ideals as “democracy,” “freedom”, “the homeland..”
Maybe it’s because those lofty ideals are hard to grasp and define, thus Ms. David opines that indeed your typical soldier recruit may not be able to comprehend enough to use them as his motivation for becoming a soldier. These ideals may be much like pornography which many will admit is difficult to define but one can recognize it when one sees it. The motives soldiers have may be more adequately reflected or exhibited on the actions they take as soldiers whether at war or peacetime. During war time we know they fight and kill. And during peace time, they are called upon to be ever ready to be counted on to protect territory, sovereignity and citizenry.
When right after high school my three sons joined the US Marines Reserve, they never mentioned by words what their motives for joining were. As kids they were not prone to violence or exposed to bellicose environments, nor were they specially devoted to war movies or the instruments of war. They were just your regular quiet kids. And they are still the same even after their stints. But their having taken law enforcement jobs may reveal a bit as to whether they have traces of patriotism in their blood or not.
"I am ashamed to be in the same gene pool as this idiotarian member of the local demagagosphere..."
What an outburst, Dean!
I read Rina's article. She didn't claim to have come by her opinion by watching war movies.
And the fact is that soldiers DO go on brutal gang rapes.
I'm not sure what your basis is for intimating that Rina has been saying that's ALL they do when not trying to get killed. It's certainly not in this article.
Nick,
In whatever town or country you live, would you post the words above in your local school auditorium or Civic Center?
Rina has led the Lynch Mob on the Subic Rape Case too, which is sub judice. She tries to make it becomes impossible to accept the verdict of the Court--no matter what it is! Because it isn't about rape, even if she is the High Priestess of Filipino Victimology. It's really about the Visiting Forces Agreement and radical intl politics.
The same thing that motivates her to say such things.
Again I ask you: would you be willing to distribute copies of Rina's column at West Point or PMA? That's where a lot of those brutal, self-preserving gang rapists are trained you know.
Or Campo Vicente Lim, maybe? (named after the soldier who was beheaded by the invading Japanese Imperial Army after the Fall of Bataan.
Maybe you can take a stroll with philosopher Rina David along the green lanes of Arlington Cemetery?
Or Libingan ng mga Bayani?
Dean, the answer to all your questions is Yes.
The people in all of those places are probably fairly bright and engaged - and I would expect available for reflective thought and discussion.
Nick,
They certainly are! For mute be they now, they already said their piece in life, so you and Rina can have the liberty to insult them if that is what you wish to do with YOURS.
have you read the latest from orson scott card, dean? re iraq, terrorism and this midterm election. galing.
http://www.ornery.org/essays/warwatch/2006-10-29-1.html
RE Rina David's 'outburst':
"The truth is that soldiers never have, and never will, fight and kill for such high-flown ideals as “democracy,” “freedom,” “the government,” or even “the homeland.”"
Where on earth did you say Rina David got this idiotic tenet?
She's out of her mind.
And what she says is really not quite true:
"The truth is that soldiers never have, and never will, fight and kill for such high-flown ideals as “democracy,” “freedom,” “the government,” or even “the homeland.”
She would be booed by members of the UK or French military if she said that to them. Extraordinary stupidity...
Obviously, on the battlefield itself, the first and foremost instinct of a soldier is to remain alive, to protect his life and that of his buddies - the poor soldier who's under fire cannot go around, thinking, philosophizing at that instant if he's doing it for his country or for a patriotic ideal. The mere fact that he's there attests to a high-flown ideal: PATRIOTISM.
Anna,
The scary thing is how many people think like her, but are not so unconscious of their speech, and what it must say about them. THIS is what I mean by "paleoliberalism"
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