Survival is Serious Business. Which is why this site is zombieworkout.com - it's more comforting to cast the Boogeyman with a Zombie Face rather than anything that smacks of reality. While the bulk of this experience has been done with a wink and a smile, there are more and more moments where I think, what if? I was reading World War Z* on the plane last week, trying to choke back the lump in my throat. Because the book isn't just about survival, it's about humanity. Moments where what we need to do to survive and what we need to do to feel human are at odds.
Unless you've been living under a rock, you have probably heard about the Marine throwing a puppy off a cliff. The video on YouTube has since been taken down (and honestly, do you really want to watch it?) and the U.S.M.C. is investigating. It is not thought to be a hoax or a camera trick; a Marine picks up a puppy, smiles for the camera (as you can see in the still shot on the linked article) and throws it over a cliff to die.
Again, I have no seen the video (nor have any desire to) but I don't believe anyone makes an attempt to stop him.
I understand that it is easy for me to sit here, on my comfortable couch in my comfortable apartment, judging someone who is out there fighting for me. I'd guess that most of us are brought up to believe that killing another person is wrong, until, of course, you enter the Armed Forces and suddenly it's all animals are created equal, but some are more equal than others.
I'm lucky that I don't have to do that job. And I'm thankful that there is someone who does do that job. But I cannot comprehend the absolute, abject horror one would have to witness to get to the point where tossing a puppy off a cliff its death is funny. Or your only way to cope.
It's a nebulous thought, but one that has to be addressed in any Post-Apocalyptic World:
What's the point of fighting for humanity if we can't retain it?
*One of the best books I've read in years, it doesn't matter if you're into zombies or not.
I guess I live under a rock ... news to me.
I don't know anything about it other than what I skimmed from the linked article. However, I know of someone who was recently in Iraq as a bomb-dog handler. All handlers (at lesat at the time) are under orders to terminate all stray dogs on site. The reason for this dog-killing mandate was to stop the spread of diseases to the military dogs. I don't know if this soldier was following that order or not, but it seems that a gunshot would be far more humane than a fall from a cliff.
At any rate, just thought I'd share.
Posted by: mvtp47 | March 05, 2008 at 10:54 AM
This soldier was in Hawaii. From everything written about the video, it is clear that this is being done for the hell of it.
The Marines are investigating, from FOX NEWS:
"The video is shocking and deplorable and is contrary to the high standards we expect of every Marine," said Major Chris Perrine.""This video came to our attention this morning, and we have initiated an investigation. We do not tolerate this type of behavior and will take appropriate action."
Posted by: the slackmistress | March 05, 2008 at 11:04 AM
A better version of what I wanted to say:
http://tinyurl.com/2z4x5q
Posted by: the slackmistress | March 05, 2008 at 11:09 AM
The sick thing is, I can see this as a retaliation to the recent news story about a puppy kept by an Army squad, in Iraq, to raise the spirits of the men. It's as if to say "If you need something overt to cope, then you are weak."
Those who fight for "humanity" generally need something inhuman against which to fight. They put that face on the enemy du jour, and they are, miraculously, free of all moral costs. They make the Other Inhuman, so that they can be hard, against it, and that hardness, then, is taken for human.
And it's what we convince ourselves that we have to do to survive, so it is sanctioned, enshrined.
I'm not saying that all cases of battle are evil, but every single atrocity committed by humanity is done by those who, on some level, are doing what they feel they need to do to survive. And I don't know that that's always the case...
Posted by: Damien | March 05, 2008 at 11:20 AM
It sounds so cliche to say "this makes me sick" but there's a reason cliches become cliches. That guy should be dishonorably discharged, among having his balls cut off.
Posted by: Green | March 05, 2008 at 04:41 PM
I've actually seen the video. I found it on Youtube on Monday but it's since been taken down.
When I first heard about this I thought it was completely untrue. No way could someone really truly do that. It had to be a trick of the camera, angles, whatever.
But after seeing the video - I really have to say that I don't see how it's POSSIBLE that it's fake. It was gut-wrenching to say the least. I wanted to cry and puke when I heard the little puppy's cries after being thrown. It still gives me chills.
Don't watch it though. It's really sick and the guys that are with him only chide him for "being mean".
It was pure evil.
Posted by: Kiraa | March 06, 2008 at 08:31 AM
It takes a special person to wonder what brought someone to commit such an act, without excusing the act itself. Thanks for that.
Posted by: ChiaLynn | March 06, 2008 at 11:10 AM
Trust when I say that I want to string him up by his balls. But I am trying to make sense of it and place it into some context. One of the things I've been reading about in survival manuals is to keep a calm, clear, logical mind about things. It's difficult.
Posted by: the slackmistress | March 06, 2008 at 11:19 AM
I haven't been living under a rock, it plainly wasn't newsworthy in my country, but what happened?
Posted by: astrothsknot | March 06, 2008 at 01:50 PM
"That which does not kill us, makes us stranger."
No matter where this event took place, something happened to the perpetrator to make this seem not only acceptable but unworthy of hiding; commonplace.
The events in our lives, our upbringing and likely our genetics all to some extent shape who we are.
Doesn't excuse what happened, of course. When an animal goes rabid, you put it down. Knowing where a rabid animal comes from doesn't make dealing with it any easier.
Interestingly, it seems people have been dealing with how conflict affects them and others for some time.
"a psychiatrist who helps heal combat veterans with post traumatic stress disorder by talking about the mythological Greek warriors Achilles and Odysseus."
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=14682035
Posted by: Rus | March 07, 2008 at 06:56 PM
Actually, nothing happened to him other than growing up. He didn't do this because he is a Marine; he did it because he's a guy.
A dozen videos just like this one, if not worse, are posted to YouTube every day. None of them involve the military in any way; it's just regular old arseholes. Don't blame this on the military.
Posted by: DensityDuck | March 14, 2008 at 11:36 AM