Magdi Jacobs@magi_jay
In 2019, seven years ago, when he was 34-years-old, Graham Platner logged into reddit and posted a response to a video of an American soldier being shot by the Taliban.
Platner wrote:
"This video never gets old. Dumb motherfucker didn't deserve to live. At least his stupidity and fat ass wheezing are available for all future infantrymen to witness and hold in contempt. Poor marksmanship on the Taliban's part is the only reason this mouthbreather made it home, he managed to make every possible shit decision possible when it comes to small unit combat."
Think about each line. "This video never gets old." Platner's implying he's watched the video several times and enjoys it. "At least his stupidity and fat ass wheezing are available for all future infantrymen to witness and hold in contempt."
That's what Platner thinks about his fellow Americans at war. If they're not good at killing or broader tactics, he has contempt for them. He displays no empathy. The opposite, in fact.
The man that Platner is commenting on, by the way, is Pfc. Ted Daniels, who was a 37-year-old father of two serving in Afghanistan at the time of the incident (2012). The bad tactic Platner enjoys mocking? Daniels stepped into the open deliberately to draw Taliban fire away from his fellow soldiers so his squad could get to safety.
Daniels was shot four times in this video and, ultimately, earned a Purple Heart.
When the video was initially released (2013), Pfc. Daniels was critical of himself in interviews, saying, "It wasn't the most tactically brilliant thing to do." He described that he was embarrassed by the video; that people could hear him screaming for help. But, also, he said: "I put my ass on the line for other guys."
Then, we have, again, Graham Platner, logging into reddit, in 2019, to comment: "Dumb motherfucker didn't deserve to live."
For all those who say, "That's just how Marines talk," I'll tell you: Platner's comment got downvoted by the military community. Even if it didn't: We're not talking about the military anymore. We're talking about a 34-year-old man, years after service, logging in to mock another man who's being shot on video. We're also talking about the U.S. Senate, not boys-will-be-boys or Marines-will-be-Marines.
We're always told to view Platner as a changed man. 2013, when he made the rape apologia comments, was the "darkest point in his life," or so we have been told. So what was going on in 2019, such that Platner enjoyed watching a video of a man getting shot and mocking him? How many arcs of change are there in Platner's life? Was there a specific point where he discovered human empathy?
I couldn't help but think of that specific reddit comment while watching the video below. "Still sending young Americans to die thousands of miles away from home," Platner says. Didn't he log in to reddit seven years ago to say, "Dumb motherfucker didn't deserve to live" ?
I don't like being lied to.
