Short Takes

Short Takes

        The local rag periodically publishes letters from readers and will on the odd occasion headline them with something along these lines "Retired Navy Captain says ..(Insert topic, usually Far Right here)..." The most recent was a screed essentially calling James Comey a worthless piece of shit and The Cheetoh in Chief a righteous dude.

        Unless the ex Captain in question was assigned to a staff position at the FBI (not) or is a personal friend of either man (retired long enough that he was gone well before the current kerfuffle), his opinion is about as valid as the old guy living in the refrigerator carton under the overpass. Where did we get the idea that all veterans are, as a result of being ex servicemen:

1: Wise in foreign relations regardless of what they did in the military...or, knowledgeable in all matters even peripherally related to military or related affairs no matter what their duties. One personal example is the lady who, at a pot luck dinner for my wife's singing group which happened the day after the Singapore Airlines plane was lost, earnestly said, "Mike you were in the Navy, what do you think happened to that plane?" It was hard to remain casual when I told her that my experience in Submarines really left me unprepared to comment on the subject. 

2: Heroes, regardless of their actual duties. JAG was a case in point here as TV shows go, along with the execrable NCIS. Having worked closer than I care to have had to with junior students at Nuclear power School with representatives of the Navy JAG and NIS/NCIS, I can assure you of two things:

        First: any show about Navy lawyers which doesn't involve golf a good part of the time is bullshit. (Don't get all worked up, it's an exaggeration, but the implication is accurate)

        Second: There are real people who deal with terrorists and murderers, but they aren't Mark Harmon and the 4 foot nine, 72 year old Linda Hunt. She is physically NPQ and beyond mandatory retirement age, not to mention that the show's premise is bullshit. Barracks theft, pot, and drunk and disorderly conduct at the EM club would be more in line with what NIS does.

        In my experience there are genuine heroes in all walks of life, and the military is certainly no exception. That said, neither is any military group the Justice League of America. I found the attitudes and attributes of the (literally) thousands of young men I trained and those  men I served with at sea with to generally reflect the ethical makeup of much of our society. The issue here is that doing one's job and exhibiting moral behavior aren't necessarily heroic even if somewhat rare.

Next point

        Mona Charen wrote a really good (and sobering) column the other day. She is a conservative op-ed writer, but also a critical thinker who simply has been unable to, in any sense whatsoever, support the current disaster in the White House. The gist of her column dealt with the disturbing number of younger Americans who self identify as having emotional problems. Without listing the stats, suffice it to say she makes her point with real data, not opinion. She doesn't necessarily draw any  specific conclusions as to reason or etiology, so I will offer a couple of what I feel might be at least related causative agents .

        Social media: In a society in which even those whose voices preach hate and bigotry, and can do it instantly with no filters of self censorship, the concept that words can wound has never been more concrete. Regardless of source, there is no editorial restraint in play for many who write and post without considering the consequences, or even worse, simply not caring. Being adolescent and on the receiving end of some of the worst of these has got to be dreadful for those who may already have delicate psyches. In days past, kids with self image or shaky emotional issues weren't subject to the bullying of an entire electronic media spectrum as they might be today.

        A spinoff of this is the national political circus in which civility and respect for all opinions have become societal road kill. Any adolescent today, watching what passes for an orderly governmental operation, might well despair when considering what looms ahead. For the past 16 years, even though the two POTUS figures were of differing political philosophies, they were civil to the media, the public and each other. This has changed for the disastrous over the past year. Any morally focused rational young person looking to the White House for a role model is doomed to be frightened and disappointed, not to mention depressed. As a corollary to the previous statement, any amoral,  disturbed, bigoted racist kid will certainly be encouraged by the antics and attitude of the pseudo-adult occupant of the Presidency. The current POTUS has personally used social media for shaming, bullying and, in doing so, has  generally shown that even the highest office in the land cannot turn a hog's ass into bacon.