How many of us here have expressed a desire to desecrate Fred Phelps grave? I see to recall a thread on the old board where quite a few people came up with rather creative ways to give Fred a nice little post mortem 'fuck-you, you piece of shit' message when the time comes.
Fred is just a troll that most, if not all of us, really only know by reputation. Those marines on the other hand, have actually fought the Taliban; they actually have a reason to hate them.
Is it right?
No, but it is human nature. And for that reason I can't get overly annoyed at the marines. What annoys me is that they are compromising the mission. They should have known better. (i.e. not got caught)
Well there's saying and doing.
Yes. Many of us talk about committing acts of violence that are physically impossible. Just because I have the urge to castrate Phelps with the spur of a platypus doesn't mean I could actually do it. Even if we could, most people have the ability to conduct ourselves despite our urges. That's what distinguishes us from a crab or a spider or something else that relies on instinct and not actual thought.
What Smurfette said.
Though I may say something that doesn't necessarily mean I'll do it. I may hate some people with the fire of a thousand suns but that doesn't mean I'd go thru with my idle fantasies. They're just that, idle fantasies.
But, that thought
is in the back of your mind. That's the problem. Humans are civilized, not domesticated. Take away the things that make us (or at the very least allow us) to play nice, and we don't. History has shown us time, and time, and time, and time (ad nauseum) again that we are nasty little pieces of work.
We ask these men to kill for us and we train them to do it damn well. Unfortunately, part of that effectiveness comes from dehumanizing the enemy, and when you do that, shit like this can happen.
My irritation is reserved for the system that put these men in this situation since this is hardly the first time we have seen the rules of war utterly disregarded with, lets face it, presidential approval. If we're not telling them to play nice and are in fact demonstrating the opposite, how can we expect them to?