It Will Likely Continue

What is it about celebrities? I see where Angelina Jolie is pressing the U.N. Security Council to stop rape in war. Here's a quote:

"If the ... council sets rape and sexual violence in conflict as a priority it will become one, and progress will be made. If you do not, this horror will continue."

Whatever they do, set a priority (as Ms Jolie demands/requests) or not, rape during war will continue. She talked about the Security Council having witnessed 67 years of wars and conflicts since it was established but the world has not taken up rape during armed conflict as a serious priority. Does she know that 67 years is a brief moment compared to the thousands of years of conflict history?

I applaud her good intentions but the UN is impotent. The Geneva Convention outlawed rape. Not explicitly but close enough. Here's a link which talks about it. Rape has been used by armies since the first armed conflicts, I am fairly certain. And it is not limited to any one ethnic group. We see it in virtually every conflict everywhere in the world.

How can it be stopped? I have no idea. We execute war criminals (which some jaded folks simply call "the losing generals and other officers") which does not deter war crimes very much but has created some huge cover-ups and interesting defenses for those exposed.

We have sexual assault laws in every country (some common sensical, some pretty inane) yet rape in society continues. Some say it is a growing problem. Currently, we are seeing sexual assaults and sexual harassment throughout our own military. I suspect our military is not alone in this, that other countries have the same problem.

But, for some reason, celebrities think that if they make it "their" issue, it will be stopped or at least reduced to almost nothing. In the meantime, all soldiers are being viewed as potential (if not actual) sexual predators. That is one of the problems that comes with publicity and celebrities generate publicity.

I don't mean to sound like I am saying, "Hush up, nothing can be done about it." What can be done is to get serious in prosecuting those caught, both in the military and in society. And the punishment was once severe (it once was a capital crime) and is now relatively light. Longer prison terms might be a good start. But the main thing is creating a truly civil society. And that comes about from creating a solid moral center, not a fractured one. I don't know how to do that either. I once thought I did but no more. And, perhaps, that solid moral core really didn't exist, perhaps it was ignored by way too many. And too few of us adhered to it to matter. Or maybe we have created societies based on shifting and ethereal values that mean nothing. Or maybe we are breeding out that thing we call a conscience.

I wish you luck, Angelina, but where were you ten years ago?