I found this pretty interesting also, as an exposition of the culture in which soldiers are trained. However, it's unattributed so I don't know how much to believe.
It sounds pretty right on with other things I've heard from ex-military men. Basic training is essentially a brainwashing process. One must train out all the things which make a person civilized in order to get them to shoot another human being on command. After soldiers get their orders to be released, the military has to put them through retraining camps in order to teach them how to behave in civilian society again, because the time they failed to do that (with the Vietnam Vets) you had a whole class of vets who are still known for their anti-social violence and inability to get along with people.
I think it is a good article, but I am a little troubled by the comparison with porn. In BDSM terms - this was the complete antithesis of "safe, sane and consensual". I like her refutation of the HORRIBLE Andrea Dworkin, though. And I have never thought women were inherently sweet and nice and incapable of the same violence men are capable of.
I don't think you can deny that many of the photos were pornographic in nature.
I don't think BDSM really figures into it. That's a completely different subject altogether due to (as you said) issues of consent. Torture, as the journalist said, is always without consent. So the two really have nothing to do with each other.
And personally, I don't see BDSM as inherently pornographic.
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Date: 2004-05-07 07:04 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-05-08 07:43 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-05-08 07:39 am (UTC)I like her refutation of the HORRIBLE Andrea Dworkin, though. And I have never thought women were inherently sweet and nice and incapable of the same violence men are capable of.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-05-08 10:03 am (UTC)I don't think BDSM really figures into it. That's a completely different subject altogether due to (as you said) issues of consent. Torture, as the journalist said, is always without consent. So the two really have nothing to do with each other.
And personally, I don't see BDSM as inherently pornographic.