General Discussion

whenever the military ends up stationed outside of the United States, I think. Particularly in Asian countries.

In the Philippines, Korea, and Vietnam, all at different times, the extremely ugly word, "Gook" was used widely as a general name for the people who lived in those regions. Even in Turkiye, when I was stationed there, many US Military people called the Turkish people "Kruts." It was something that made me angry every time I heard the word used.

I understand that it's a way of dehumanizing the "others," despite ourselves actually being the others in those countries. Why? I don't know, but it always seemed to me to be a way of excusing poor treatment of those who actually inhabited countries where we were stationed. And, while leadership spoke out against such language, it was a half-hearted objection.

It's a part of human nature that I despise. It happens everywhere, and helps to feed racism and other prejudices. I don't know how we can stop doing that, but we really should work harder at it.