Posted on 07/22/2006 4:20:05 AM PDT by Valin
When I was in the Navy, I once witnessed a bar fight in downtown Olongapo (Philippines) that still haunts my dreams. The fight was between a big oafish Marine and a rather soft-spoken, medium sized Latino sailor from my ship.
All evening the Marine had been trying to pick a fight with one of us and had finally set his sights on this diminutive shipmate of mine... figuring him for a safe target. When my friend refused to be goaded into a fight the Marine sucker punched him from behind on the side of the head so hard that blood instantly started to pour from this poor man's mutilated ear.
Everyone present was horrified and was prepared to absolutely murder this Marine, but my shipmate quickly turned on him and began to single-handedly back him towards a corner with a series of stinging jabs and upper cuts that gave more than a hint to a youth spent boxing in a small gym in the Bronx.
Each punch opened a cut on the Marine's startled face and by the time he had been backed completely into the corner he was blubbering for someone to stop the fight. He invoked his split lips and chipped teeth as reasons to stop the fight. He begged us to stop the fight because he could barely see through the river of blood that was pouring out of his split and swollen brows.
Nobody moved. Not one person.
The only sound in the bar was the sickening staccato sound of this sailor's lightning fast fists making contact with new areas of the Marine's head. The only sound I have heard since that was remotely similar was from the first Rocky film when Sylvester Stallone was punching sides of beef in the meat locker.
Finally the Marine's pleading turned to screams.... a high, almost womanly shriek. And still the punches continued relentlessly.
Several people in the bar took a few tentative steps as though they wanted to try to break it up at that point, but hands reached out from the crowd and held them tight. I'm not ashamed to say that mine were two of the hands that held someone back.
You see, in between each blow the sailor had begun chanting a soft cadence: "Say [punch] you [punch] give [punch] up [punch]... say [punch] you [punch]were [punch] wrong [punch]".
He had been repeating it to the Marine almost from the start but we only became aware of it when the typical barroom cheers had died down and we began to be sickened by the sight and sound of the carnage.
This Marine stood there shrieking in the corner of the bar trying futilely to block the carefully timed punches that were cutting his head to tatters... right down to the skull in places. But he refused to say that he gave up... or that he was wrong.
Even in the delirium of his beating he believed in his heart that someone would stop the fight before he had to admit defeat. I'm sure this strategy had served him well in the past and had allowed him to continue on his career as a barroom bully.
Finally, in a wail of agony the Marine shrieked "I give up", and we gently backed the sailor away from him.
I'm sure you can guess why I have shared this story today.
I'm not particularly proud to have been witness to such a bloody spectacle, and the sound of that Marine's woman-like shrieks will haunt me to my grave. But I learned something that evening that Israel had better learn for itself if it is to finally be rid of at least one of its tormentors:
This is one time an Arab aggressor must be allowed to be beaten so badly that every civilized nation will stand in horror, wanting desperately to step in and stop the carnage... but knowing that the fight will only truly be over when one side gives up and finally admits defeat.
Just as every person who had ever rescued that bully from admitting defeat helped create the cowardly brute I saw that evening in the bar, every well-intentioned power that has ever stepped in and negotiated a ceasefire for an Arab aggressor has helped create the monsters we see around us today.
President Lahoud of Lebanon, a big Hezbollah supporter and a close ally of Syria, has been shrieking non-stop to the UN Security Council for the past two days to get them to force Israel into a cease fire.
Clearly he has been reading his autographed copy of 'Military Success for Dummies Arab Despots' by the late Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt. Ever since Nasser accidentally discovered the trick in '56, every subsequent Arab leader has stuck to his tried and true formula for military success:
Instigate a war. Once the war is well underway and you are in the process of having your ass handed to you... get a few world powers to force your western opponent into a cease fire. Whatever you do, don't surrender or submit to any terms dictated by your enemy. That would ruin everything! All you have to do is wait it out and eventually the world will become sickened at what is being done to your soldiers and civilian population... and will force a truce. Once a truce has been called you can resume your intransigence (which probably caused the conflict in the first place), and even declare victory as your opponent leaves the field of battle. This tactic has never failed. Not once.
In fact it worked so will for the Egyptians in 1973, that to this day they celebrate the Yom Kippur War - a crushing defeat at the hands of Israel - as a military victory! No kidding... it's a national holiday over there!
President Lahoud has already begun to shriek like a school girl to the UN Security Council to "Stop the violence and arrange a cease-fire, and then after that we'll be ready to discuss all matters."
Uh huh. Forgive me if I find that a tad hard to swallow. He allowed Hezbollah to take over his country. He allowed the regular Lebanese army to provide radar targeting data for the Hezbollah missile that struck the Israeli destroyer. He has turned a blind eye while Iranian and Syrian weapons, advisers and money have poured into his country.
And now that his country is in ruins he wants to call it a draw.
As much as it may sicken the world to stand by and watch it happen, strong hands need to hold back the weak-hearted and let the fight continue until one side finally admits unambiguous defeat.
Thanks. I know the Lebanese army is no match for Israel. In fact the Lebanese army is probably no match for hezbollah.
You should read it more carefully. The fight described is entirely between Americans - one from the Marines, one from the Navy, with American bystanders. Nobody is "supporting American GI's being attacked", it is the story of a bar room fight, no doubt of the usual senseless sort, between several Americans. The point of the story is that the bystanders realize that they must let the fight continue, as much as they hate to see it -- remember these guys are friends of the two men fighting -- until one finally surrenders, thereby ending the dispute once and for all.
The analogy to the situation in the Middle East isn't so much that the individual men fighting represent the two sides of the conflict, but that the bystanders -- namely the rest of the countries in the world -- may need to let the fight play out until one side finally says "I quit", because that will finally resolve the dispute and lead to peace.
He would not..
His objection is to using a Marine to represent the "bully" in the analogy..
He would prefer that instead, the bully were represented by some other group, individual or organization..
His point is, the same example could be given using say, a construction worker and an accountant..
It is his personal opinion and belief that the characters used in the illustration were picked on purpose; that is to say, a simile, which equates American/Marine with evil, while the Latino/Sailor is equated with good..
While I do not agree with his interpretation of the intent of the story, I took the time to read the entire thread and try to understand where he was coming from..
I can honestly say I understand his objection, while disagreeing with his conclusion..
So how old is this article?
By any chance....was the Marine's name MURTHA?hahahahaha!!
7/15/06...
http://bogieworks.blogs.com/treppenwitz/
Last article on the page..
The only difference is, you don't stop the beating when arabs "give". You keep beating them untill they don't get up to fight anymore. That's the only way to make them understand. They are more thick-headed than the Marine in the story.
If I were to say to you "you have lead a sheltered life" I would be making an understatement.
Many of the people on this thread have personal experience with being on the receiving end of a bully's attention. Many have been in fear for their lives and sick with fear and rage. Many have been thoroughly beaten in such encounters.
Perhaps some (but not I) have personally experienced the well established practice of breaking both upper arms, both humerus bones, by employment of an iron bar, and then the semiconscious and helpless individual is forced head first as deeply as possible into a trash bin. When done properly the recipient cannot escape his uncomfortable situation because of the upper arm fractures. Perhaps the garbage man will come to the rescue in the morning, or perhaps, not.
Perhaps you find my attempts to communicate with you outlandish or "sick". As I read you that is a certainty. From my point of view you are a danger not only to yourself but to those who depend on you. I see you as unrelieable in difficult situations and divorced from reality. I have known many such.
The reason I've never been "bullied" is that I "fix" bullies.
LOL - good article.
hahahahaha!!
If it was Murtha it could explain a lot...including brain damage... cowardice... and registration as a Democrat.
In your dreams "Popeye"! Another squid fantacy. I spent alot of time in the Philippines (Olongapo), and can tell you, it was a "Dung-heap", a first class drunken exercise in macheseemo. Most of the clowns who spent their time and money in the ville had their brains in their pants. Of course those types have it in for marines, because the marines are the ones who enforce discipline on the base and ship, so naturally all the bar-flys have it in for them. (Kind of like COP haters in the civilian world).
However, all that aside, it is a good anology for someone with only half a brain. Get a life Jerk!
a duplicate, here's an older one:
A difficult lesson
Via email | July 16, 2006 | David Bogner
Posted on 07/21/2006 11:27:41 PM EDT by oneolcop
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1670279/posts
Perhaps his point is that there are Freepers such as myself who did not see the first posting. I am glad to have stumbled upon this as it was at the bottom of my screen and may have disappeared from view upon my next refresh. This anecdote so perfectly reflects the truth of current events that it should be posted again at some future date.
If I had known to search for such a gem of a post I would have, but I was ignorant of its existence. So how do you propose that I would have done a search for something I did not know existed? Spare me the tedious, idiotic thread nannies!
So now that you have read the 2nd edition of the article, how do you feel about it's anti Americanism?
Absolutely...
" the author's analogy doesn't work for me."
"How strange is your point of view."
I can ask you the same thing. One of the reasons' that the author's analogy doesn't work, is that Mr. Lahoud is NOT the bully. The author seems to substitute the country for hezbollah for Lahoud, when they are all different. Maybe if he stuck with hezbollah as the bully, his analogy would have worked better.
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