Quote:
Originally Posted by Teufel Hunden
For the context in which that pic was used, it absolutely matters. Ring made a blanket statement talking about the nature of military training, and that statement is 100% not true anymore. We're taught to be understanding of the culture, not the opposite. The pic of the naked pile of prisoners does nothing to prove otherwise, but instead shows what happens when you have a complete failure of the command structure.
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I don't disagree regarding what is explicitly taught during training. However, it is possible that soldiers learn things during training and service that are not explicitly taught. You mentioned that the military spends a lot of effort teaching "cultural awareness" now (Certainly a good thing). Is it possible that the nature of the training and service results in "dehumanizing of the other" independent of the explicit goals of the training and service?
The effort now expended on ""cultural awareness" suggests to me that "dehumanization of the other" might be an unintended side effect that the military is trying to treat. (Again, I don't know if this "dehumanizing the other" is a side effect or if it is, whether or not it is pervasive).