SNAGS in the New World Order
Military strategists have long understood the importance of rigorous psychological training for the formation of an efficient and disciplined fighting force. Indeed, inculcation of a deep-seated and unquestioning obedience within a rigidly hierarchical chain of command has been central to military training, especially of armed forces serving colonising powers, and has been developed and refined over centuries of military history.
In the United States — where, although the military is not currently conscripted, a large proportion of its ranks "join up" out of economic necessity — such techniques are vital. This is particularly so in the context of today's "New World Order" in which the US military enforces a foreign policy irrelevant, or even inimical, to the interests of working-class US citizens — whence the majority of its ranks are drawn.
But the US military has hit a few SNAGS in the 90s. Sensitive New Age Generals that is.
The military version of the dreaded SNAG is, like his mainstream counterpart, concerned about "women's issues". Rather than hold forth on the topic at mess, however, military SNAGS prefer to issue memos. The latest of these is a one-page directive designed to eliminate sexual harassment within the US Navy.
Resolving Conflict: Following the light of personal behaviour is a colour-coded guide to sexual harassment for unreconstructed US naval personnel. It identifies three categories of behaviour — acceptable, sometimes acceptable and never acceptable — and, as an aid to memory, assigns them colours — green, amber and red respectively.
Examples of "acceptable" or "green" behaviour in the guide are: placing a hand on someone's elbow; making observations about appearance — but only if related to uniform; and making such remarks as "Hello, how are you?",
or "Did you have a good weekend?"
The guide also clarifies, for those who were unsure, that rape and other sexual assaults are "not acceptable", or "code red" behaviours, and as such should be avoided.
When indulging in amber-coded behaviours, such as "off colour" jokes, leering, staring and "violating personal space", navy personnel are warned to "be ready to stop on red".
Presumably there will be some kind of educational program to accompany the guidelines, enabling perplexed personnel to clarify with their SNAG superiors the meaning of "off colour" and obtain some guidance as to how one can tell it is time to stop leering.
Even with such supplementary briefing, however, one wonders whether the traffic light guide to becoming a SNAM (Sensitive New Age Marine) will counteract the years of dehumanising conditioning designed to create an ISIF (Insensitive Invading Force) programmed to "kick ass" (sounds like an amber-code phrase to me!) for the New World Order.
By Karen Fredericks