Kewl.

by Little Miss Attila on April 4, 2009

Something for everyone: the men will check out the girls with guns, and the women will wonder whether they would have what it takes to move from being a support person to participating in firefights.

We don’t need to debate the “women in combat” issue right now, but I assure you that the maternal instinct is, at its base, an ability to kill without feeling any emotion at all.

The one time I felt something like it, it scared the hell out of me.

{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }

Americaneocon April 4, 2009 at 7:20 pm: Very interesting, Joy. I’d like to see the whole thing.

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John April 5, 2009 at 12:19 am: A little clarity is in order for this definition of “maternal instinct” to have any meaning. Does it include killing spiders and bugs, or only other members of the H. sapiens species? If the former, well, I have changed more diapers than, say, Michelle Obama (although one diaper may be enough on that score), so maybe the definition is all right.

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tyree April 5, 2009 at 7:18 am: I have had many long discussions with my girlfriend about the “morality of war”. She kept insisting that taking a human life was wrong and she would never do it. To which I answered, “Unless someone was threatening your son?” To which she answered, “well, that’s different”.

Thanks to all of the soldiers who keep us safe from those who would threaten our children.

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Little Miss Attila April 5, 2009 at 10:46 am: John: Can you help me out on the spiders and bugs vs. diapers thing? I’m confused. I’ve always done the spider/bug killing (or relocating, when we’re in a Buddhist mood) around here. In my last relationship I was in charge of dead-bird disposal (neighborhood cat).

Those are actually pretty gender-neutral acts, unless you want to argue that women who behead chickens so they can make dinner for their families are somehow unfeminine.

I haven’t changed a lot of diapers. Once I asked my nephew, who was a toddler, if he’d pooped. He told me “no,” so I chose to believe him—the evidence of my senses notwithstanding.

His mother, upon returning, did not buy my argument that to question his report of the situation would have bruised his young ego and damaged him forever.

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John April 6, 2009 at 5:34 pm: Sorry, forgot to fill in, with words, the mental gaps. I have the ability to kill without feeling any emotion, but only for things like bugs. I have engaged in some maternal behaviors (ie, diaper changing), and so I was wondering if that low level of cold-blooded killing is merely one form of my possibly low-level maternal behavior. Or not.

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Darrell April 7, 2009 at 1:06 am: “I felt like the Gestapo.”

Funny how PBS can make ‘fair’ sound like anything but.

Lionesses are necessary in a culture that doesn’t allow males to lay hands on females, in most cases, much less talk to them. The same cultural sensitivity on our part makes Iraqi females an attractive hiding place for weapons of “bad actors.” As the Marines say, males are responsible for the pride’s security, while the females are charged with hunting for prey. It’s a circle; they both need each other to accomplish the mission. A matter of pride, in every sense of the term.

PBS might want to do a little documentary on the Geheime Staatspolizei–“Secret State Police”. Given what is taught in the schools these days, seems that most people on this Earth aren’t aware any more. Might help to remind Americans what to watch out for, as well, given how far we have come in just a few weeks of iron-fisted one-party rule. They could use a little of that “Stimulus Money.”

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