Disappointed

Talked with a few of my buddies still on Active Duty, some are still in Command. This thing is ugly and only going to get worse before it gets better.
 
It is wise to remember that news outlets often sensationalize stories to boost their following. Not to say these charges are true or false, but you may not be hearing the whole story.
 
Here's the original article that opened up this sorry state affairs, and the author has had death threats as well as threats against his daughters:
https://www.revealnews.org/blog/hun...gated-for-sharing-photos-of-naked-colleagues/

Just as bad are the comments in this article absolving the posters who uploaded photos of ex-girlfriends and surreptitiously photographed women without their consent:
https://www.marinecorpstimes.com/ar...l&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer
Maplerock brings up an always valid point about context, but it is hard to see what else there may be to this story - it's a bunch of jerks posting photos of ex-girlfriends, posting photos taken without consent, people asking for photos of specific women at specific bases, and misogynistic comments from posters about what they'd like to do to the women.
Worse yet is that it's apparently getting worse, including people from the original Facebook group who immediately put all of the photos from the FB page up on a Dropbox account so that the photos could still be shared:
http://www.businessinsider.com/nude-photo-marine-corps-pentagon-scandal-2017-3
 
This has not been a good week for the Military when it comes to these types of incidents.

These facebook pages and those that participate in them are disgraceful, and the fact that they just move to a different site once they are discovered is even worse, not to mention the comments directed at those that are investigating. This problem goes from the top to the bottom and doesn't show much sign of ending.

You get a real ugly snapshot of the way some people think when you read just a handful of the comments from any of these reports.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/10/us/ray-mabus-facebook-marines-scandal-cnntv/index.html

http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/08/politics/marines-united-photos-investigation/index.html

Disappointment is an understatement.
 
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That is disgraceful, far beyond disappointing.
 
The numbers involved is the astonishing part. Also, reports coming out that all services were involved, not just Marines.

Sad.
 
As mom of a DD, I'm struggling, as I'm sure are others. My dad was 28 years in the Army - he was a noble and honorable man, and unless we had our heads in the sand, we never would have imagined him behaving in either of these manners. It seems that everyone on this forum is equally disturbed and outraged.

So how/why do these things happen? I have unofficially linked alcohol use to the various reports of sexual assault that have surfaced during the 2+ years that DD has been in her SS/SA application process, but it seems neither of these cases is directly linked to alcohol. Further, the second scandal is pervasive - and seemingly determined to continue. I understand that the media has unearthed the most shocking posts to publicize, but it is still very disturbing that this culture is present at all.

Any words of reassurance - or even a stiff reality check - would be appreciated.
 
As mom of a DD, I'm struggling, as I'm sure are others. My dad was 28 years in the Army - he was a noble and honorable man, and unless we had our heads in the sand, we never would have imagined him behaving in either of these manners. It seems that everyone on this forum is equally disturbed and outraged.

So how/why do these things happen? I have unofficially linked alcohol use to the various reports of sexual assault that have surfaced during the 2+ years that DD has been in her SS/SA application process, but it seems neither of these cases is directly linked to alcohol. Further, the second scandal is pervasive - and seemingly determined to continue. I understand that the media has unearthed the most shocking posts to publicize, but it is still very disturbing that this culture is present at all.

Any words of reassurance - or even a stiff reality check - would be appreciated.


The ease and ability of people today to take pictures and transfer information instantly due to the advance technology available to everyone is a cause. Also, the disconnect they feel doing it electronically instead of in person.

There are many more people in the world today. More people equals more bad people, more stupid people, more defiant people, more victims.

Bad people were around when your father was being honorable, but the technology wasn't. Had it been, people probably would have been doing the same stupid and defiant things they are today. They probably did horrible things then too, they just weren't doing it on social media.
 
Also, the disconnect they feel doing it electronically instead of in person.

I have seen this evident in the kids I coach. They are one person in front of their parents, teachers, and coaches, but online it's like they are completely different people. This double life is difficult to understand, and it seems like it would be difficult to live, but they are becoming masters at it.
 
I think what's disturbing is that the issue involving the Marine FB page, as well as others it seems, is a covert problem rather then out in the open. Systems that are in place that are meant to deal with sexual harassment are geared toward open acts of harassment, what it doesn't deal with is the behind the scenes harassment like that seen on these FB pages. Once a site like this is started it becomes a mob mentality where they feel they can jump on board without any repercussions, hidden away from the mainstream.

I would assume that most of those that take to these boards may never cross over from covert to overt harassment, but the longer these sites are tolerated that could easily change. The disturbing result of this is that these sites now allow a window into the minds of many people, allowing people to see and hear what they are really thinking beyond how they portray themselves when among real people. As QA1517 mentioned above, these thoughts are probably not new, it's just that now they have a way to make them known to everyone through the technology of social media. Before social media this was discussed in small private groups and rarely saw the light of day, now it's out there for everyone to read.

I'm not sure how that will ever be changed and that's the sad part. It's one thing to be able to deal with direct harassment, it's another to have to deal with something you can't see on a day to day basis.

Social media has opened the world to what a lot of people think and feel the need to share those thoughts with all of us. At least now it more in the open, doesn't make it better just more transparent. I've already got the question from a few people "Do your sons see this where they are stationed?" This is going to paint a broad dirty brush across the military and I hope the investigation is just as broad and with a big hammer, one that starts at the top and continues to the bottom.
 
Outrageous? Deserving of condemnation? Yes.

Surprised? No.

Technology & instant communication & impulsiveness = bad decisions.

Hell, we have a president whom "tweets" lies almost daily. Then doesn't want to discuss it when the suns rises. And he's 70!

Are we surprised that 20-year old US Marines, with access to technology their parents could not even imagined, misuse it?

When the Abu-Ghraib prison in Iraq scandal first occurred in 2003, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld didn't understand the concept of digital photography and "uploading" of them into the internet. Total mystery.

Are the majority of US Marines, past and present, whom are sharing these pictures and videos sex criminals? I don't think so. In 20 years, when they are fathers of teenage girls, they will undoubtedly regret the decisions they've made. Most will have led upstanding lives in the interim.

Once more, as I've noted on this forum before, I express my pleasure to haven risen to adulthood in a more technological backward, more forgiving society in the early 1980s. Our drunken & immature actions, words, etc were mostly forgotten when the sun rose.

For women, too, the mistakes of a bad relationship or a night of too much tequila, would not be documented for eternity to a global online audience.

The 21st century is much more difficult.
 
Totally disgusted. What is most nauseating is they apparently put out specific requests for photos too....female's name, rank, class year etc. ...like they are trading baseball cards or something. Stomach-turning!
 
I'm amazed at the numbers involved. Terrible for the Corps.
 
Talked with a few of my buddies still on Active Duty, some are still in Command. This thing is ugly and only going to get worse before it gets better.
Wait you're telling me that the service whose leaders have unabashedly fought against opening jobs to women has a problem with how it treats women? Well, I am SHOCKED.
 
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