I read an article a year or two ago written by a dad whose son decided not to go to the Academy after they saw the amount of evangelical influence going on there.
USAFA is overwhelming male, overwhelmingly white and middle class (you need a highly-placed government sponsor to get accepted--like governor or Senator highly-placed), and overwhelmingly Protestant evangelical Christian. Add to this the fact that the Air Force is a young service--USAFA didn't open until the 50s--so in place of tradition, it has hazing.
Because it's a military base, it has controlled entrance and exit, and cadets are under especially strict discipline regarding that. Thus, except for special occasions (upperclassmen have a bit more freedom) the cadets are trapped in a small, closed society whose damage reinforces itself.
I was a ROTC cadet there on a summer program. One of the USAFA cadets I was hanging out with looked at me and said "This place breeds social retards."
I'm not sure it's not. I mean, if it were on fire it would be one of the most classic of hate crimes. It was clearly an intent to tell the "devil worshupin pagans" that we don't want their religious tolerance in these here jesus lovin' parts. I don't know if I'd say it was a threat, but it's not too far off.
If you spraypainted a swastika on a synagogue for the purpose to discouraging Jews from doing Jewish things on "your place", how would that *not* be a hate crime?
Except that the USAF are, themselves, decades of examples: If you're not an evangelical psychotic babtist ratfuck nutjob, you not only have no place in the Chair Force, but they will work hard to ensure that you *die*.
Your headline is a bit unfair. Yeah, USAFA is a pretty screwed up place and this is completely unacceptable behavior.
The link text implies however that the cross was placed by the school itself, not by some secret evangelical freakshow as a thinly-veiled threat. Let it play out to see how the Academy leadership handle the issue. They'll probably fuck it up somehow, but so far they did the right thing by creating this place to begin with and they are "officially investigating" the incident.
I turned down an appointment there many years ago because it was a scary place. I think it is still pretty bad, but it has gotten better.
"There was no vandalism. Someone just left a giant rock painted with swastikas and 'JEW GO HOME' in six languages in the middle of the synagogue. No vandalism or negative intent THERE!"
Seriously, dude, what the fuck?
You you going to try to claim that "hate crimes legislation" are thoughtcrimes next, without addressing the mens rea is THE DEFINITION OF THOUGHTCRIME and has been a critical factor in justice for generations?
As a matter of fact, I'm going to say that calling this a hate crime feeds into the bullshit "hate crimes are thought crimes" nonsense because a hate crime is a criminal act which is committed with hate as its motivation. There was no crime here, hence there was no hate crime here. Calling this a "hate crime" is exactly the same inanity that the Pat Robertson types engage in which they assert that hate crime laws outlaw the preaching of Christianity.
What happened was that an object was left at a religious site. The examples you keep coming up with to compare that to involve actually vandalizing property.
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(no subject)
Date: 2010-02-05 09:54 pm (UTC)I read an article a year or two ago written by a dad whose son decided not to go to the Academy after they saw the amount of evangelical influence going on there.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-02-05 09:56 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-02-05 10:10 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-02-05 10:24 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-02-05 10:28 pm (UTC)Because it's a military base, it has controlled entrance and exit, and cadets are under especially strict discipline regarding that. Thus, except for special occasions (upperclassmen have a bit more freedom) the cadets are trapped in a small, closed society whose damage reinforces itself.
I was a ROTC cadet there on a summer program. One of the USAFA cadets I was hanging out with looked at me and said "This place breeds social retards."
Gorgeous location, though.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-02-05 10:30 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-02-05 10:45 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-02-05 10:46 pm (UTC)..though some caution that it's hardly destructive behavior.
FFS, if this was an analogous example against christians, they'd have an entire article on terrorists infiltrating the USAF.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-02-05 10:54 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-02-05 11:01 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-02-05 11:05 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-02-05 11:06 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-02-05 11:13 pm (UTC)The link text implies however that the cross was placed by the school itself, not by some secret evangelical freakshow as a thinly-veiled threat. Let it play out to see how the Academy leadership handle the issue. They'll probably fuck it up somehow, but so far they did the right thing by creating this place to begin with and they are "officially investigating" the incident.
I turned down an appointment there many years ago because it was a scary place. I think it is still pretty bad, but it has gotten better.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-02-05 11:17 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-02-05 11:20 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-02-05 11:24 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-02-05 11:25 pm (UTC)Seriously, dude, what the fuck?
You you going to try to claim that "hate crimes legislation" are thoughtcrimes next, without addressing the mens rea is THE DEFINITION OF THOUGHTCRIME and has been a critical factor in justice for generations?
(no subject)
Date: 2010-02-05 11:25 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-02-05 11:26 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-02-05 11:27 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-02-05 11:28 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-02-05 11:29 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-02-05 11:30 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-02-05 11:31 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-02-05 11:31 pm (UTC)