Crusaders and Pillow Fights

Published in Die Presse
(Austria) on 5 September 2015
by Thomas Vieregge (link to originallink to original)
Translated from by Ron Argentati. Edited by Bora Mici.
Gun enthusiasts in the United States — in the Bible Belt, also known popularly as God's Own Country — prefer to hold onto the Old Testament principle of “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.” That's the only explanation possible for the name given to a new assault rifle on the market: the Crusader. The weapon is engraved with the Knights Templar cross and the Bible verse: “Blessed be the Lord my strength, which teacheth my hands to war, and my fingers to fight” (Psalms 144:1).

The irony in this smoldering cultural war has become passé in many places since the World War II era, when folksinger Woody Guthrie pasted a sticker on his guitar reading “This Machine Kills Fascists.” Gun culture and brutalization now run rampant. Even at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, the nation's elite, the annual pillow fight — a tradition following the long weeks of arduous training — has turned into a real battlefield. Some cadets now put helmets into their pillowcases, causing bloody noses, concussions and other similar injuries.

Violence — often committed in the name of God — has long since found its way into the heart of American society.


Kreuzritter und Kissenschlachten
Die Gewalt – oft dazu noch im Namen Gottes – hat in den USA längst in der Mitte der Gesellschaft Einzug gehalten.

05.09.2015 | 18:28 | Thomas Vieregge (Die Presse)

Waffenfreunde in den USA, im „Bibelgürtel“, landläufig auch als God's Own Country bekannt, halten sich eher ans Alte Testament und das Prinzip „Auge um Auge, Zahn um Zahn“. Nur so ist zu verstehen, dass nun ein Sturmgewehr namens Crusader (Kreuzritter) auf dem US-Markt ist, versehen mit eingraviertem Kreuz und dem Bibelvers „Gepriesen sei der Herr, mein Fels, der meine Hände unterweist zum Kampf, meine Finger zum Krieg“.

Passé ist in dem vielerorts schwelenden Kulturkampf die Ironie, als Folksänger Woody Guthrie zu Zeiten des Zweiten Weltkriegs auf seine Gitarre das Etikett „This Machine Kills Fascists“ klebte. Waffenunkultur und Brutalisierung greifen um sich. Selbst an der US-Militärkademie West Point, der Kaderschmiede der Nation, artete die alljährliche Polsterschlacht – eine Tradition nach harten Trainingswochen – zur wahren Schlacht im Schlafsaal aus. In die Kissen hatten manche Novizen Stahlhelme gestopft, und so holten sich viele blutige Nasen, Gehirnerschütterungen und andere Blessuren.

Die Gewalt – oft dazu noch im Namen Gottes – hat in den USA längst in der Mitte der Gesellschaft Einzug gehalten.

("Die Presse", Print-Ausgabe, 06.09.2015)
This post appeared on the front page as a direct link to the original article with the above link .

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