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sophia-sadek.livejournal.comWhen we study martial organizations we need a way to distinguish a legitimate organization from a band of brigands. What is the essential difference between the two categories of organization? If we are not careful in how we establish the criterion we could easily wind up conferring legitimacy on a piratical organization. As we saw with the FBI, an organization with one ostensible purpose can end up supporting the opposite purpose. The American constitution guarantees equal protection to African Americans, but the federal enforcement agency acted in the interest of terrorists who subverted that guarantee.
The hazing operation conducted against Aaron Alexis gives us some insight into the piratical aspects of the American military. Hazing is used by a variety of organizations for purposes of both induction and expulsion. College fraternity hazing is probably the most publicized form of the practice. Criminal organizations practice a variety of hazing inductions and expulsions. A number of popular films have portrayed military hazing from both sympathetic and critical perspectives. One of the most distasteful military hazing induction practices is the Navy's Shellback ritual.
The hazing of Aaron Alexis fits the pattern of an expulsion hazing with earmarks that are similar to the attempted expulsion of Mikey Weinstein. Neural wave machinery was not employed in Weinstein's case, but the people responsible attempted to make him believe that the hazing was a figment of his imagination. The responsible people tried to hide behind the skirts of mental disorder like children who have been caught stealing from the neighbor's cabbage patch.
Two elements are common to the hazing cases: race and religion. If Alexis had not been of an ethnic persuasion from outside of Europe, he might have been treated differently. Had his religious affiliation been more in line with Roman tradition, he might have been treated better. There are people in the US military who espouse both racial and religious bigotry. They are vicious, brutal, and cowardly. The inability of the military to handle this problem puts their legitimacy into doubt. Cowardly racist religious bigots cannot and will not uphold the American constitution.
What criteria would you suggest for determining the legitimacy of a martial organization? Does your local organization pass the test?
Links: Carie Little Hersh on the Navy Shellback hazing ritual. Mikey Weinstein on his personal passage through military expulsion hazing. Weinstein speaks on religious bigotry in the military today.
The hazing operation conducted against Aaron Alexis gives us some insight into the piratical aspects of the American military. Hazing is used by a variety of organizations for purposes of both induction and expulsion. College fraternity hazing is probably the most publicized form of the practice. Criminal organizations practice a variety of hazing inductions and expulsions. A number of popular films have portrayed military hazing from both sympathetic and critical perspectives. One of the most distasteful military hazing induction practices is the Navy's Shellback ritual.
The hazing of Aaron Alexis fits the pattern of an expulsion hazing with earmarks that are similar to the attempted expulsion of Mikey Weinstein. Neural wave machinery was not employed in Weinstein's case, but the people responsible attempted to make him believe that the hazing was a figment of his imagination. The responsible people tried to hide behind the skirts of mental disorder like children who have been caught stealing from the neighbor's cabbage patch.
Two elements are common to the hazing cases: race and religion. If Alexis had not been of an ethnic persuasion from outside of Europe, he might have been treated differently. Had his religious affiliation been more in line with Roman tradition, he might have been treated better. There are people in the US military who espouse both racial and religious bigotry. They are vicious, brutal, and cowardly. The inability of the military to handle this problem puts their legitimacy into doubt. Cowardly racist religious bigots cannot and will not uphold the American constitution.
What criteria would you suggest for determining the legitimacy of a martial organization? Does your local organization pass the test?
Links: Carie Little Hersh on the Navy Shellback hazing ritual. Mikey Weinstein on his personal passage through military expulsion hazing. Weinstein speaks on religious bigotry in the military today.
