Reply #52: my, oh my, oh my... I am putting on my fire-retardant gear here. [View All]

'If men were pissing on each other and sexually intimidating women', I would DEFINITELY have absolutely NO problem asking the same questions. I think most people (men AND women) ARE 'inherently above this kind of behaviour' and WOULD have problems participating WITHOUT being 'broken or chipped or brainwashed'. I still believe that most people are kind at heart (we all have bad days now and then, but not like this), care about others, and wish to do them no harm.

People can certainly be cruel. How they got that way, who knows? There could be a myriad of reasons. I think there are those, who for whatever reason, are just evil. Then there are those who were raised in such a way that they were taught cruelty, and have such anger in them that they lash out. Whoever is on the receiving end of their brutality doesn't really care; it feels the same. I don't think evil people need anyone's permission to be mean, all they need is the right situation. These people are drawn to situations where they can act out, and their contemptible behaviour is condoned. Perhaps this is what they found as interrogators: ample opportunity and reward for just being themselves! I don't know.

What I do think is that most normal people (men AND women) would have a REALLY hard time doing these horrible things to another person or being. To get past innate decorum, even in extreme circumstances, something would have to be re-wired in most people. Perhaps this explains why so many of the young people coming back from Iraq (like those who came back from Vietnam) are having such problems handling all that they saw and experienced. They are normal young people, and have never seen or experienced anything like this, and don't know how to process it. They are coming back with psychological and emotional problems, and need treatment. I think that is why you see such outrage in people seeing pictures of the torture and brutality, and hearing stories such as those in this thread. If all we needed was permission to participate in such behaviour, we would all be expressing glee and envy at what was going on. I don't see that happening. I think most of us are disgusted and appalled, because we have a regard for others. We also have self-respect and do not condone these detestable activities.