Michael Coren on Women in the Armed Forces

Michael Coren makes a good point; men and women are essentially different from one another. Of course, difference doesn’t preclude equality; what difference does is render men and women equally good at different things. While I agree with the underlying argument of Coren’s piece, I can see why many wouldn’t. A dialogue in the West does need to begin about the views that have become so entrenched we are afraid to publicly discuss whether such thinking is reasonable or even beneficial as a society; because of this viewpoint-internalization, however, most people will react defensively to even the gentlest questioning of the status quo; provocation and incautious use of the word “equality” might be one more reason the discussion is delayed.

“So Canada sacrifices another victim on the altar of equality.

Last week a young girl dressed up as a soldier died in the increasingly futile and pointless war in Afghanistan. She was 21 years old, had been in the country for two weeks on her first tour of duty and probably weighed a little over 100 pounds.

Please know that I mean no disrespect to Karine Blais or to her family and I grieve for her and them. But what on earth was she doing in such a place and in such a job?Look at the photograph of this beautiful girl. Look at the innocence, the gentleness, the grace. All of them precious aspects to the human character. So when I say that she was “dressed up as a soldier” I mean it as a compliment. I’ve known soldiers all of my life and I have an invincible respect for them. I’ve seen their courage, integrity and sheer decency.

I’ve also seen their capacity for controlled and righteous violence, which is absolutely essential for any fighting man. Yes, man. Because there are few if any women who have the skills required to serve as a front-line combat trooper.” Click here to read more.

This entry was posted on April 19 2009 at 17:15 and is filed under Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.