4 ms·
"US border guards are primarily ex-military." Ex-military, like everyone else in the world, are individuals. Being in the military doesn't turn you into an ass
by a_a_r_o_n 15y ago
"US border guards are primarily ex-military."
Ex-military, like everyone else in the world, are individuals. Being in the military doesn't turn you into an asshole, although it could amplify that tendency if you went in with it. Military and ex-military are not exotic aliens, they're us, nothing more and nothing less.
I think it's more likely that poor treatment at the border is institutional.
- harshreality 15y agoThe Stanford Prison Experiment seems to contradict your claim that normal people can't/won't be conditioned to develop hostility in "us vs them" scenarios.
- a_a_r_o_n 15y agoI don't claim that normal people can't or won't be conditioned to develop hostility in us vs them scenarios. I also don't claim that being in the military doesn't change people. Everything changes people, and the change in the military can be profound; in my opinion that change will most often be positive. I am biased, being ex-Navy. What I'm saying is that the military doesn't produce assholes to the extent that you can reliably explain that behavior as a result of having been in the military. They're individuals.
- scott_s 15y agoYou agree with him, but you apparently don't realize it. What you said is another way of saying that the poor treatment is probably institutional.
- harshreality 15y agoI do not agree that a military, ex-military, border agent, or other law-enforcement agent's inherent personality can be separated from his personality "on the job". All sorts of executive-branch military or law enforcement posts seem to encourage "us vs them" thinking, while shifting the bright line in the "us" direction. Accepted norms become narrower, while "the other" becomes correspondingly broader. That change is not confined to on-the-job attitudes and behaviors.