History Repeats Itself

[Dan_ref]

Originally Posted by rainmaker

Rape is a much more personal and dehumanizing assault that mugging or even (strangely) killing. Think of war, where soldiers who are encouraged to kill are always punished for raping (at least if they're caught, they are). Thus the accusation of rape is a more serious charge and is far less acceptable. Whacking a coach for this accusation is automatic in my book.

Whoa. Hold on here a second. Just stop.

Soldiers are NOT encouraged to kill. They are trained to kill *the enemy* if necesary. In fact there's a thing called rules of engagement that defines for soldiers under what circumstance they can engage (read try to kill) the enemy. Further, there is only 1 US branch where every member is given some rudimentary training in "killing", in the others most are there in a support role. Above that, you might have heard of the Geneva Conventions which states in no uncertain terms who a soldier of any nation may and may not intentionally kill in combat. You might even have heard that some soldiers have recently been brought to trial and been found guilty of illegally killing in combat zones. All that said in today's climate the only people who are "encouraged to kill" by their leaders and educators in fact are not soldiers but the armed non-uniformed enemy they face.

Is rape a terrible crime? Yes.

Does this entitle you to broadly insult an entire population of honorable people who go to great lengths to serve their country?

No it does not.