The problem with the average American civilian is that their idea of staying current on what is going on in the world is when they buy into the PC-driven-crap served up by the media during the one or two times per month that they are actually paying attention to the news. Even with our nation fighting two wars and still in the midst of the worst economy in three generations, the average American civilian still has it so good that they can find the time to participate in ridiculous crusades like the one that relieved Captain Owen P. Honors of his command for the content of his XO Movie Night intro videos that were made to boost morale and provide a bit of humor to the sailors under his command that spend months away from home in America's war zones.
I just finished watching a 12-minute, partially-bleeped out version of the video that the Virginia-Pilot compiled for viewing on YouTube, and honestly, while the humor in it is juvenile and crude, I can honestly say that I was not offended, especially when I think on the context in which these videos were made.
Imagine that you are spending months on end away from your family, stuck on an aircraft carrier, continually working and continually aware that at any moment, the wars that America is fighting could be at your door step. So, to try to keep your mind off of things and give you a couple of hours away from it all, the closed-circuit TV on the ship runs a movie. To try to boost the humor and enhance the "movie-going" experience, further taking your mind off of war, duty, and work, the ship's XO, who in addition to his long list of responsibilities, is charged with keeping up the morale of the sailors on the ship, recruits some of his fellow sailors and throws together what he and his cohorts believe are funny little pieces of humor.
The XO gets to seem more personable and approachable, the sailors helping create the movies get a bit of a break and get to have some fun and everyone watching gets a laugh. It is clear when you are watching this video that the intention of the XO Movie Night intro videos created by Captain Honors was to boost morale and be funny, to add some levity to the very serious work that the sailors of the U.S.S. Enterprise undertook each and every day during his stint as XO.
It also becomes very clear that it was not his intention to alienate, discriminate, or do anything more than poke a little fun. America, you have forgotten how to laugh! You are too concerned with the possibility of hurting someone's feelings and adhering to a ridiculous PC standard that none of us can have any fun anymore.
The problem that media sources had with these videos, as is stated in the articles I read, were that the videos were "lewd and homophobic". I will give you that they are a bit lewd, and of course, more lewd to some of the more sensitive souls in America, but they were shown on-board an aircraft carrier during a tour of duty on which everyone was an adult who was there of their own free will.
Watching the XO's intro videos was also not mandatory. Anyone who might have been offended was free not to watch. Have we gotten so PC that looking away and not watching is no longer an option? Are we simply left with nothing being able to even exist anymore? Everyone is not going to like everything all of the time.
As for the videos being "homophonic", I think I honestly went into watching this video thinking that the "gay" jokes would be a lot worse than they were. I think I have seen and heard far worse on just any normal cable channel out there. There is definitely nothing in this videos that you cannot see during prime time network television on any given night.
After having watched the video, I really find it a stretch to call it "homophobic". The videos have same-sex couples in the ship's showers with what the people who made the movies honestly thought was funny commentary, and every once in a while then-XO Honors calls his meeker alter ego (played by himself) "gay" or "faggot".
If the simple use of these two words offends you, then you might not like the video, but is that enough to cost a career Navy man who has led tour after tour year after year his job? I am sorry, oh sensitive American souls, but I just don't think so. If these videos were so bad, how in the world are we just hearing about them now, years after they were made? This is nothing more than years-after-the-fact PC political wrangling.
The video has the word "fuck" in it a lot, which I understand can also be offensive to some, but to say that I have never heard that very word at ANY of the jobs that I have ever had would be quite a ridiculous statement. In my personal opinion, sometimes the situation just calls for that particular word over all others.
You might not agree, but what makes me wrong and you right? In Honors' defense, the video that is out there shows a montage of the use of the word "fuck" over the course of years crammed into a minute or so. Again, if the word "fuck" offends you, I apologize, but to scapegoat one person for it's common use in American society today, regardless of their position, is completely ridiculous. I also say the same goes for the use of the word "gay". I say "gay" all the time and you can freely go ask any of my gay friends how homophobic they think I am.
I also find it very fishy (how offensive to fish!) that this is all happening right after the repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell. I'm not saying that homophobia doesn't exist in the military, but I just do not think that these videos are an example of it. I think that the press and the navy couldn't find a good post-repeal story to show that they are championing the cause and settled for the persecution of Captain Honors instead.
It is so sad to see such a prestigious and respected organization as the U.S. Navy, an organization that I have always held in such high regard, bow to the ridiculous pressure of a few people that found these videos offensive in the face of an overwhelming majority that obviously did not.
For Captain Honors to be reprimanded for these videos, given the centuries-long tradition of humor just like what is depicted in these videos within the U.S. Navy, and given the man's years of dedicated service and leadership, is not only hypocritical, a prime example of overly-PC-thugery, but also, in accordance with what I said earlier about there sometimes only being one word that can described something, quite gay.
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