Monday, May 27, 2013

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Chicken Soup has been banished from Psychology Today...

I believe this is the comment that finally broke the Kalman's back. Ever since then I get a blank, white screen whenever I attempt to leave a comment.

Some guy named Trench Reynolds banned me from his website years ago. Some people just get very insecure when someone who writes complete sentences and uses punctuation openly disagrees with them.

I am of course...crushed by rejection.

Thursday, May 16, 2013

Chicken Soup with Marine Sergeant Joshua Charles Brightman...

Nothing inspires respect for America's men in arms more than witnessing one of them throw a temper tantrum while calling a paralyzed female marine a "WHORE! BITCH! CUNT!" The main subject of the link below is Marine Sergeant Joshua Charles Brightman throwing a profanity laced tantrum and threatening to commit murder.

Before you watch what the American Family is proudly producing these days, pay close attention to the following:

Brightman's excuse for criminal behavior will of course be that he suffers from PTSD, and he'll have no shortage of supporters both in the military and in civilian society. There are a few problems with offering PTSD as an excuse for violent behavior. First, lots of people who've never served a day in the military suffer from PTSD after spending their adolescence being terrorized and abused by someone, and I don't hear the experts making excuses for their violent behavior. Second, it forces the rest of us to live in fear of being attacked by a violent, alpha male sociopath who knows he can pull out his Get-Out-Of-Jail-Free card whenever he feels like hurting someone. Third, there's never been a shortage of young men who behave as Sergeant Brightman did, not because they suffer from anything, but because they were raised to believe that they have the right to commit assault and battery in order to establish and maintain their high place in the social pecking order. Fourth, citing PTSD or Intermittent Explosive Personality Disorder, or some other questionable ailment as a root cause for violent crime creates a self fulfilling prophecy. Men who would otherwise control themselves now begin to feel confident that they can attack someone and get away with it by claiming a behavioral disability.

And there's another problem I noticed after watching the video several times. In spite of being in what appears to be an enraged state of mind and in spite of being physically strong enough, Sergeant Brightman made no attempt to break the window of the truck in order to get to his intended victim. Obviously, he knew exactly what he'd be allowed to get away with and what he wouldn't.

Most criminals at least make an attempt to avoid becoming a suspect. Sergeant Brightman paced around his victim's vehicle screaming profanities and throwing his arms up in the air like an alpha male chimpanzee. And he did this with the full knowledge that he was being videoed. He also must have been aware that all such videos end up in the public domain where his parents, his wife, his future children if he ever has any, his future prospective employers...if he ever has any, members of the law enforcement community in whatever community he settles in, and just about everyone else on the planet will be able to watch him behaving like someone whom no one in their right mind would want to live near or work with.

Sergeant Brightman did not simply want to attack his victim. Sergeant Brightman wanted his victim to step out of his vehicle and create the illusion that he was a willing participant in a contest of manliness. That's why Sergeant Brightman repeatedly insulted his victim with the words, "whore, cunt, bitch, and pussy." Sergeant Brightman was hoping that his victim would be inspired to defend his own sense of manliness by stepping outside like a man. This often happens in a culture where a socially acceptable display of depraved indifference allows almost everyone to blame bullying on the victim. Sergeant Brightman was obviously raised in a culture where the least violent, least intimidating males are considered to be legitimate targets for his abuse. He was obviously raised in a community where females need to be shown who they better service and who they better shun. Sergeant Brightman was obviously raised in America, the home of the brave. If the victim had stepped out of the vehicle, he would have been blamed by brave, bully coddling Americans for whatever injuries Sergeant Brightman imposed upon him. Sergeant Brightman tried the handle of his victim's door a couple of times, but he made no serious attempt to enter the vehicle by breaking the window. There's a good reason for this. Sergeant Brightman was not out of control. He knew exactly what he would be allowed to get away with and what he'd be punished for.

In civilian life, Sergeant Brightman is the kind of bully who creates personalities like Timothy McVeigh, Eric Harris, and Adam Lanza. In places like Afghanistan and Iraq, Sergeant Brightman is the kind of soldier who abuses and terrorizes civilians, thus inspiring them to join terrorist groups, build IED's, and kill Sergeant Brightman's fellow marines. If America was half as civilized as it so often claims to be Sergeant Brightman and so many others like him would spend a very long time in a very strong cage.

But this isn't the America that conforms to its own rhetoric. This is the America where "a woman should know better than to walk down a hallway full of drunken aviators." This is the America where violent sociopaths are widely praised and admired for their ability to harm others and are held in the highest esteem. This is the America where victims are often blamed for the behavior of violent criminals.

Don't hold your breath waiting for anyone in authority to place much of a priority on the safety of Sergeant Brightman's intended victim. While enjoying his majesty's show of manliness, consider how big, brave, Marine Sergeant Joshua Brightman would have behaved if the driver of the truck turned out to be large, physically powerful, and intimidating in appearance instead of some skinny teenager. I'm certain his majesty's PTSD symptoms would have come quickly under control.