Abu Ghraib prisoners were brutally exposed to our pop culture

Union Leader ^ | 5/11/04 | Kathleen Parker

[kattracks]

WHEN President Bush told the world that abuses at Abu Ghraib prison do not reflect American values, he was right. The best American values, in spirit if not always in practice, respect human life, dignity and the rule of law. But some of what happened at Abu Ghraib, specifically the sexualized humiliations, may reflect American culture, especially in the instance of the naked human pyramid, which is nearly iconographic within the adolescent Zeitgeist that spawned our current generation of soldiers.

The images from Abu Ghraib, now irreversibly tattooed on the Arab brain, were every frat-house cliche magnified. The human pyramid, males mooning, masturbation, bags over heads. What we saw, at least in part, was “The Farrelly Brothers Do Baghdad.”

How else to explain the giddy photographs of young soldiers mugging for cameras and giving the thumbs-up sign beside humiliated prisoners, naked and masturbating? Another Farrelly movie, “Dumb and Dumber,” comes to mind.

I don’t want to overstate my case by insisting that the culture made ‘em do it, but we’d be missing a few dots if we didn’t admit that the culture that birthed our young soldiers has dumbed down the definition of human dignity.

The Farrelly Brothers — kings of the gross-out comedy film genre characterized by scatological humor and raunchy sex jokes — are convenient touchstones in the larger discussion about the debasing of American culture. In their side-splitter for the developmentally arrested, “There’s Something About Mary,” the male star gets his genitals stuck in a zipper. Later when he pleasures himself, he misplaces his “issue,” which subsequently becomes hair gel for “Mary.” Don’t ask. Such is what has passed for culture for many of the kids now populating our military.

[alpha-8-25-02]

YES O YES!
the culture;however who led it that way?
a american president diddling a intern with a cigar in the whitehouse?
or was it a smirk and a sideways glance at something WE knew was wrong and let go by the wayside?
for the concerns of the arab world,i frankly do not care.
i am concerned with this great land,our children who are being being made ambivilant to just this kind of behavior in the name of openess and broad acceptance of all inclusiveness.
okay i'm a old-guy,however do any of you remember the drag queen,homo of semester,or whatever in the highschool yearbook.
please this nation is more upright than those who want to make the word of God hate speech,we have far to retrace the fundamental ethics we where formed with.
however really the time and energy would be better spent rebuilding this nation than worrying about the pot calling the kettle black

[tkathy]

I would have to add that it is the leftist lilberal media spawned pop culture, where anything goes, and there any hint of personal responsibility is sneered at, and ridiculed.

[sgtbono2002]

From the headline I thought they were going to accuse Americans of playing rap music to the prisoners. I wouldnt wish that on a dog.

[alpha-8-25-02]

my dogs listen to gospel and opera,i'm with you.

[Savage Beast]

Kathleen Parker is absolutely correct.

I abhor the debasement, sexualization, and scatolization of American culture. I do not blame people of other nations one bit for recoiling in disgust and for not wanting such trends imported into their homes and thier countries.

I must add that these trends have tended to come from the Left.

The behavior of Democrat politicians and their supporters during the 1990's was morally reprehensible.

The progressive lowering of standards of decency--from the commonplace use of obsenity to the blatant sexuality and scatology in entertainment has come from Leftists in Hollywood, in music, on television, et al., demanding more and more license in the name of free speech.

The Right, however, has accepted this. Rush Limbaugh and Bill O'Reilly, for example, openly discuss subjects that were taboo only a few years ago. O'Reilly unapologitically says the word "ass", unspoken in public until just recently.

What good does it do to warn parents that a sexually charged or scatologic subject is about to be brought up? Children may be watching or listening with no adults around. Parents with children present may tune in after the warning.

I'm no puritan, and I'm not easily shocked--but American culture has been debased. Americans are responsible for letting it happen.

This obviously does not excuse prison guards (military or civilian) from abusing prisoners. There is not excuse for this.

Just as there is no excuse for committing atrocities in Viet Nam--even if you apologize afterward.

[SMARTY]

This was a long time coming. Ours is a morally dissipated culture and all the wrong people, professions, activities, etc. are glorified. Of course, since schools do NOT stress reading, all young people get their information and entertainment from big media visuals. I work in a university and I cannot believe how utterly dumb young people are, even grad students. They know NOTHING and have not even a basic, functional frame of reference for geography and language. Sad.

[Lockbar]

Expose the Iraqi prisoners to the TRUE EVIL!!

[just me]

OR....

[livius]

Good article. It suddenly made me think of the word that best describes the Abu Gharaib acts: gross. They really weren't, as many people have described them, homosexual porn or even voyeurism, because they didn't really have a sexual purpose. They were gross acts somehow considered funny and using other human beings as props, just like those depicted in many movies directed at teenage boys nowadays.

I think there's something in teenage male culture that for some reason loves grossness, but in the past, this used to be limited (in public, and in the presence of females and non-adolescent males, at any rate) mostly to making burping noises, etc. But the grossness bar has been raised, and I think that this is definitely the fault of movies and TV that have constantly been trying to outdo each other and thus attract audiences simply based on outrageousness. Another unfortunate thing is that women are now taking part in the grossness sweeps.

Oddly enough, Something About Mary was a basically romantic, happy-ending film with some good characters and some funny sight gags. The truly gross ones could have been eliminated and replaced by less disgusting ones without harming the movie in the least, because there actually was more to the movie than just adolescent grossness. But movie and television studios have now convinced themselves that they need to be "outrageous" in order to sell, and unfortunately, they have trained up an audience that expects this, and is even trying to recreate it at home.

[<1/1,000,000th%]

If it's OK for school kids to explore their sexuality, I don't why military personnel can't.

[BunnySlippers]

Bump

[cricket]

". . .but we’d be missing a few dots if we didn’t admit that the culture that birthed our young soldiers has dumbed down the definition of human dignity."

. . .no doubt about it; and I wish more parallels would be made in some of the 'speech making' done in America's defense that would speak to the truth of this.

What we see reflected back; in those pictures; while maybe not representative of Military ideals, is a reflection of the grossness of an American culture, that once again goes to the credit of Liberals themselves.

They of course, either recognizing themselves in that reflection - or not. . .immediately deflect all blame and consequence to where it will serve them best.

The same disastrous MO continues to manifest. Liberals and their values are the problem; and it is the Libs themselves who then claim to be the solution.

Enemy terrorists could not do a better job of bringing our country to it's knees.

[rageaholic]

Big deal. The Arabs hate us. The pictures from Abu Gharib will instill fear. That's a positive development.

[jrushing]

I would have to add that it is the leftist lilberal media spawned pop culture, where anything goes, and there any hint of personal responsibility is sneered at, and ridiculed.

Exactly! When I first saw the picture of the "human pyramid", I thought of the dancers at the Superbowl Halftime show with Janet Jackson! The libs were wondering what was the problem with the show.

[WestSylvanian]

"I'm no Puritan."

What's wrong with being a Puritan? We could use a little bit of Puritanism if Puritanism means more self-control, modesty, adherence to moral values, and avoidance of the scatalogical and profane.

I'm afraid these soldiers' behavior is typical of a large segment of our population. It is one of the reasons our culture is so reviled in conservative Muslim societies. I work at a university. The language used by students in everyday conversation is appalling and their clothing (or lack of it) is provocative to say the least. I grew up in the 50s so I'm not that old. The decline in people's behavior toward one another, their lack of manners, their rudeness--all of this is resulting in the coarsening of our culture. People are becoming inured to what was once considered shocking and unacceptable.

The behavior of those soldiers who should never have been in the Army is a disgrace. Unfortunately it is reflective of the degraded culture we now live in. Senate investigations and court martials isn't going to fix the problem.

[Esther Ruth]

"You can’t steep a teabag in sewage and expect it to taste like Earl Grey."

BUT we have a loving forgiving God who forgives us when we go to Him and are truly sorry and He gives us a new heart and mind and changes our heart's desires.

And we have a savior who was tempted in many ways as we are and knows what we are going through and is able to help us with these things, we then can be in the world and not of it.

[cricket]

". . .and I think that this is definitely the fault of movies and TV . . ."

And those movies and TV programs are the fault of. . .those who make them; and we know who they are and the values they represent.

And there is another aspect to this Liberal culture as well, that is promoted and celebrated that lends itself easily to some of what we see in those pictures.

Anyone have pictures of the lastest Gay Pride parade?

[cricket]

LOL for sure. . .

. . .what these Libs hate and fear is as defining as that which they love; and promote.

[just me]

If I had a small child I would not let them watch those critters...