PING!
Posted on 05/27/2006 5:53:52 PM PDT by GMMAC
Yawning over a woman's death
WorldNetDaily
May 27, 2006
By Ted Byfield
© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com
Canada lost its first woman soldier to enemy fire near Kandahar, Afghanistan, last week, and the unquestioning public acceptance of a female combat death was hailed by the Defense Department as indisputable evidence that the Canadian public has now acquiesced in the feminist vision of the fighting woman soldier.
However, conservative columnist Barbara Kay in the National Post has not in the least acquiesced in it. While commending as heroic, "manly" and admirable the quick death from a mortar shell of Capt. Nichola Goddard of the Royal Canadian Horse Artillery, she also noted that it raised none of the issues likely to excite popular misgivings about female combat troops.
"She died instantly and with dignity. Had she been captured (like American PFC Jessica Lynch in Iraq in 2003) and raped or tortured, Canadians would have experienced anguish of a very gender-specific kind."
Under successive Liberal governments, the feminist agenda was imposed on Canada's armed forces, just as it was imposed on every other department of government. Since they played no part in the Vietnam War and their role has been largely confined to "peacekeeping" activity, Canadian forces have had little opportunity to test this sociologically based innovation under actual combat conditions.
Such opportunity as there was did not turn out gloriously. When the Canadian Navy sent a small force into the Gulf War, which included a number of women sailors, the only notable casualties were cases of pregnancy. These, when word of them leaked out, reduced the whole experiment to something of a farce.
Still, the Army pushed on, and in 1997 one general predicted that by 2009 women would comprise 28 percent of the armed forces and 25 percent of front-line troops. Today, nine years into his 12-year prophecy, women comprise 14 percent, not 28 percent of the armed forces, and about 10 percent, not 25 percent, of the 2,300 Canadian troops in Afghanistan are female. Capt. Goddard was the 17th Canadian killed there.
I remember hearing a speech by an Israeli colonel, some 10 years ago, on the problems posed by female combat troops. Since the Israeli forces, unlike those of the other Western democracies, must constantly be kept at combat readiness, his comments still seem instructive.
The Israeli army had found, he said, that women were particularly effective in certain non-combat roles. Since they tended to be more fastidious than men over detail, they were more useful in certain intelligence work, for example. But the Israeli army no longer used them in combat for three reasons: First, when they are captured, they are almost always raped. Second, men behave irrationally when a female member of their unit is threatened or wounded. Third, a combat soldier is trained to kill people, and killing is incompatible with the Israeli view of womankind.
Such wisdom was lost, however, on the Canadian military, which instead conformed to media hype, instilling in female recruits that women had played a major front-line role in World War II. One recent study demonstrates this as nonsense. It found that where 300,000 American servicemen died in World War II, only 470 service women died from all causes, exactly 12 from enemy fire. Yet Life magazine in a commemorative issue 40 years after the war ended, ran a layout of war heroes, 10 males and seven females.
What's noticeable in all this is the readiness with which the modern bureaucratic mind sacrifices practical reality in the service of ideological dogma, even at the cost of danger to human life. Some fire departments, for instance, have reduced their requirements of physical strength to meet an imposed quota of women. Dragging a heavy fire hose up a steep, slippery roof requires a certain physical strength. This necessity, however, is simply ignored.
If the individual required to do the dragging lacks the strength to do it, then lives are in danger, perhaps those in the burning building, perhaps those of other firefighters. To the liberal mindset, however, there is a higher cause at stake here. The quota must be met. The social order must change.
How long, one wonders, can we run a society in defiance of physical reality and self-evident truth before it collapses out of its own absurdity? It's hard to escape the premonition of some impending and cataclysmic disaster, the direct consequence of our breaking too many rules, ignoring too many irrefragable moral necessities. Is this merely old age talking? Perhaps and perhaps not. For historically, whole civilizations have in fact collapsed, almost always from inner flaw and folly.
As far as the bell curve-- females can be very vicious. As for the rest of your argument, I agree with you. I am female and not for females on the front line. Of course, I still believe the different genders are made for different types of jobs. Doesn't mean a female can't do such a job, but they shouldn't unless they have to.
Long before the feminists were on the scene, women played an important part in World War 2, albeit in a non-combat role. However, they played roles that exposed them to grave dangers, as is evident from the careers of women such as Nancy Wake. Whatever the role, the important thing is to select the best person for the job, irrespective of gender.
Within 2 standard deviations, what an exceptional woman can do is irrelevant. This demented idea is pure leftist engineering.
So you're for making exceptions for individuals regardless of the effects on group morale and functioning?
You have missed the point.
There are times when the best qualified is not the best fit.
Like when misogyny replaces reason!
Read my tagline.
Besides the physical barriers women are a distraction and problematic to good order and discipline.
I don't see women as being physically suitable for the more physical activities. However, there are plenty of other jobs they can fulfill as well as men. Where they can perform these roles, I don't see a problem. I note that in the case of the Australian forces in East Timor at the moment, there are some women. I would imagine the presence of some women could be of great solace to the local population which includes women and children. The modern military is also about assistance after natural disasters and here women are invaluable. It's a case of horses for courses.
I must admit I have grave reservations about women in active combat roles.
Doublespeak for, " Its a good thing she died right or the true sexual /gender prejudice would have been on display for all to be ashamed of."
This femino-Nazi needs to learn some manners and patriotism for soldiers who die serving their country!
Would you look at this woman, trying to make political points over the corpse of a noble soldier? What a PIG! A prostitute for the ultra feminist liberal socialist moonbat women of Canada. GET thee to a nunnery you POS!
What a cold blooded c___Ksucker!
So do I BUT we are speaking of a soldier who made the ultimate sacrifice for her nation. The authors of this article are cold hearted Liberal Moonbat prostitutes who know no shame. How dare they sully the patriotic rsponse to this death , that Canadians feel. Shame on them!It makes her death seem meaningless, and you are OK with THAT?
Whether in combat or not, women have made great sacrifices in wartime. In World War 2, women working for the underground were captured and tortured. Whether in combat or non-combat roles, their contribution and their patriotism should never be devalued.
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