Beards & Turbans in the United States Army

You knew it had to come, sooner or later.

The Sikh community is challenging the US Army's policy that beards and turbans, amongst other items and practices, cannot be worn, an article from LawOfficer.com says:

The Sikh community is hopeful it will win the policy appeal; in an April 29 letter to the Sikh Coalition, the director of the Army's Human Resources Policy Directorate said senior leadership was aware of the issue and was gathering information to make a decision. Toni Delancey, a spokeswoman for Army personnel, said the appeals are under review.

Our army is not the Sikh army, nor any other. American soldiers have their own tradition of shaved hair in training and "high and tight" in service. This doesn't just affect the seemingly paltry external and visible elements mentioned, it ultimately affects discipline, pride, identity, efficiency, the ability to carry out the mission of our military forces -- not "just" a politically correct application of outward appearance issues.

Additionally, please understand that there are two issues at work here. One involves the simple disagreement with current military standards regarding facial hair and headwear on males.

The second issue involves the forced relaxation or outright change of standards in general in our culture, to be sacrificed on the altar of alleged diversity and solely for the sake of diversity.

Let's stop there just for a moment. I would refer you to the Culturism blog of John Kenneth Press, an adjunct professor and doctoral student at NYU. He has an entire book and numerous websites regarding culturism, which he defines and references as this:

Culturism holds that majority cultures have a right to protect, promote and guide themselves. All non-western cultures are culturist. We have a right to be culturist as well.

We are losing the rhetorical debate. Injecting culturism and culturist into our vocabulary will help protect the West.

This is how culturism counters the words multiculturalism, racism, and individualism:

Multiculturalists say the West is just a random assemblage of different cultures from around the world. Culturism recognizes that western nations have unique traditional core cultures to protect, guide and promote. Multiculturalists ask us to "celebrate diversity." Culturists don't think they take cultural diversity seriously enough. At heart multiculturalists think all cultures are interchangeable and only refer to food, festivals and fashion. Culturism, the book, looks at the Aztecs and headhunters to show how diverse cultures can be. But 9/11 should have put the West on notice that not all cultures believe in democracy, individualism, the value of individual lives, the Protestant work ethic, female rights, gay rights, the relative separation of church and state or other parts of western culture. Unlike multiculturalists, culturists think the West has a core culture, think it requires protection, and take cultural diversity very seriously.

Charges of racism are used to silence all of those who would talk about the negative parts of cultural diversity. Worrying about racism makes some sense. But immigration concerns are not about race, they are about culture. Racism is stupid and dangerous. But if diversity is real, culturism is necessary.

Individualism is the third word. Culturism seeks to promote individualism realistically. If the West does not survive, individualism and individual rights will be discontinued. Individual rights being used to protect anti-social behavior can go to destructive extremes. Individual rights are now used to defile our airwaves, claim asylum and avoid culturist profiling. Being a citizen means sometimes considering what is best for the society you purport to love.

Culturism's definition holds that majority cultures have a right to guide, protect and promote themselves. Multiculturalism has told us that the West has no majority culture to guide, protect and promote. They have also told us to stick up for it is racist. Furthermore, they seek to undermine the West iin the name of indivudal rights. To survive, the West must must be as culturist as other nations.

Protect the West, fight abuse of the word racism, stop multiculturalism, and safeguard individualism.

Don't be fooled; this challenge by Sikhs isn't simply about some hair and a hat. And do what I call the "logical extension" as well.

If approved and overturned, the acceptance of beards and turbans will negatively affect other standards, trickle down to every other government agency and assure only to embolden Islamists -- or anyone else seeking to enforce their culture on ours.

That oft-used and famous Teddy Roosevelt quote comes now to mind:

"In the first place we should insist that the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equity with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace or origin. But this is predicated upon the man's becoming an American and nothing but an American. There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American but something else also, isn't an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag, and this excludes the red flag which symbolizes all wars against liberty and civilization, just as much as it excludes any flag of a nation to which we are hostile. We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language. . .and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people."

Teddy Roosevelt was correct in 1907 and is correct in 2009.

BZ