Thursday, December 4, 2014

HEAD GAMES

     A telltale sign of a failing culture is an inability to shock people.  In a post-9/11 world, so many of us have seen in Hi-def, what previous generations could have never imagined.  Our minds are jammed with sounds and images piped-in from any number of electronic devices at nearly every waking moment of our lives.  On one hand, society has more opportunities to educate itself than ever before thanks to digital media.  On the other, as we become more attached to and dependent on electronic communication, our ability to relate to each other on a human level seems to be questionable at best.
     Is it any wonder that today, when a "death cult" posts their latest beheading of another human being onto the web, the masses react with about as much anger and disdain as when their team doesn't make the playoffs?  Now that we have a self-imposed blurring of the lines between real life, and "reality TV",  we enjoy a comfortable buffer from things that should shock and horrify us to action.
     For a writer, such "action" could be to remind people of the horrors of which I speak.  Beheading has been around for about as long as recorded history can tell us.  It is the preferred method of execution of "infidels" by Muslims as prescribed by their "faith".  Although, explosives, stoning, fire, acid, wood chippers, and pavement rollers are also acceptable ways for Muslims to demonstrate how secure they are in their "faith"as well.  But, today we're going to focus strictly on beheading.
     If there is anything left of it after years of video games and hip-hop music, I will need you to use your imagination...briefly.      Imagine being held captive, while knowing that your fate is to have your head removed by a man wielding a large steel sword.  Fast-forwarding past the time that you have to contemplate how this situation came to be, and the time you have to realize that you will never see your family again, we'll just get right to it.
     For the sake of time, let's assume that your executioner's implement is razor sharp and he has the skills needed to do the job with one swift blow.  Keeping also in mind though that neither of these are a priority.  "Misses" are common, and occasionally intentional.  Sawing and gauging motions are also a typical technique.
     Regardless of your executioner's personal beheading style, the real horror comes after the physical trauma you experience as your head separates from your body. I have read that the human head can live for as much as six minutes after being detached from the body.  
     Six minutes stuck in an elevator.  Six minutes waiting for a Quarter Pounder.  Six minutes stuck at a construction zone.  A six minute lecture from your spouse.  All are unpleasant.  But imagine spending six minutes - your last six minutes - watching your body thrash and twitch reflexively as the blood gushes from the hole where your head once was.
     Try to imagine the thoughts that might race through your mind as you try to scream, but can't...because your lungs are no longer there to push air across your now-severed vocal cords.  Your brain tries desperately to signal your arms, legs, or anything to react with some sort of defensive motion...but there's nothing.  The connection is gone.  For all it's pluses and minuses, what was once your body, is now being violently beaten with sticks and rocks as you can do nothing but watch...and think.  For six minutes.
     But don't worry my fellow infidel, this is probably not your fate...probably.  Hey, what's on TV tonight?     
      
                   
             

Friday, April 4, 2014

FORT HOOD II

     There comes a time when reasonable adults step back from a given situation and assess their options.  As Americans, that time is now.  It's high time we step back and ask some tough questions.  The first being; Is it time to disband the military?  Before you assume that my prolonged absence from the blog-o-sphere has resulted in some sort of de-programming by the left, I ask that you hear me out.
     One of the hallmarks of a true conservative is a sense of pragmatism.  This goes along with our use of logic, reason, and common sense when approaching an issue.  This is also what sets us apart from the left.  That, and pants that actually fit.
     After the most recent Fort Hood shooting, I find myself questioning the logic of having a military force at all.  Think about it.  We take a fellow citizen who was gracious enough to volunteer his/her very life for the sake of others, and our government doesn't even have the decency to develop a proper way to use them.  
     We spend countless amounts of tax payer dollars to teach them how to destroy an enemy, and then we send them into a war zone with a sea-bag full of rules and regulations that prevent them from even insulting an enemy.  Of coarse the enemy sees this and exploits it to their advantage, resulting in more flag-draped coffins landing at Dover AFB.
     We elect people to positions of power who probably can't even pronounce the word victory, and go on to the further extreme of helping our enemies build their dream nation.  So our troops get to see the Muslim Brotherhood gain an entire hemisphere on one side, while watching their brothers and sisters die on the other...both sanctioned and facilitated by their own President. 
     We train them (at great expense) in the proficient use of firearms, award them pins and medals for it, and then deny them the right to carry those firearms on the same soil that they are willing to die for to protect.  This way, they can't defend themselves from "active shooters" while coming out of the PX with a quart of milk and loaf of bread.
     We lower the bar for the training process in order to be more "inclusive" and to accommodate some misguided diversity experiment, and then act surprised when some of the test subjects crack under the pressure of war.  In the old days, the weak were weeded-out in order to maintain the integrity of the whole force.  Today they are welcomed with open arms, as if the U.S. military is supposed to be some sort of halfway house for emotional pansies.
     We throw them into the meat grinder of combat and then berate them when the war doesn't poll well.       
     We subject them to this insanity, and when they finally do go insane, we throw psychotropic drugs at them and tell them to get in touch with their feelings.  By the time our government-issued therapists realize that the drugs aren't working...the bullets are already coming out of the barrel.
     It seems to me that it would almost be more humane to simply dissolve the military and let the chips fall where they may.  After all, if we're not willing to build, maintain, and use the military for it's logical intended purpose, then what's the point of having it at all?  Why put these men and women through the indignity of such vague, nebulous, and convoluted service to a nation where 50% of it's citizens have no understanding of liberty anyway?
     It's time we turn our military bases into homeless shelters and marijuana farms.  Then we can paint the Army tanks yellow and use them as school buses for Democrat-run inner cities.  Finally, we can hire the former service members to teach the civilian population how to stand in line, take orders, and eat rationed food.  We'll need to know how to do those things when Putin shows up.