Abu Ghraib Everywhere
Laura LaFay, writing in the latest Southern Exposure, draws a revealing parallel between the Abu Ghraib scandals and similar abuses in Southern prisons. The recently-convicted ringleader of the "bad apples" in Iraq, Ivan "Chip" Frederick, was in civilian life a Virginia prison guard, and the men hired to run the Iraqi detention system were prison officials themselves tainted by prisoner-abuse scandals in the U.S. We exported a lot more than freedom, it seems.
The other night I happened to catch Comedy Central’s Designated Red State Comedian, Jeff Foxworthy, as he launched into a half-hearted riff on why men try to avoid prison (not the most promising comic premise), the answer being that they don’t want to become their cellmate Bubba’s love slave (to paraphrase from memory).
Yes, there’s a connection here. Before Abu Ghraib disappears entirely down the memory hole, it might pay to think about the role played by the now-pervasive sense in American society that prisoners (any prisoners) deserve whatever happens to them behind bars, that torture, humiliation, and abuse are merely informal and extralegal (but perfectly justified) forms of societal payback.
This gets richly manifested in the trope of prison rape, which has become the most irritating staple of tough-guy talk in American pop culture. It’s as ubiquitous in male standup comedy as mother-in-law jokes were a couple generations back, and has extended its dominion everywhere: cop shows, soap operas, 7-Up commercials. Bubba the rapist cellmate becomes everybody’s avenger, the sweaty, tattooed specter that scares you straight (in more ways than one) and promises the bad guys a fate truly worse than death.
The baroque homophobia of the Abu Ghraib scenarios, as well as American interrogators’ obsession with Muslim men’s sexual self-respect, surely derive much of their energy and logic from this apparently deeply-felt and society-wide yearning for the righteous visitation of homosexual violence on evil-doers. It has certainly made its way into correctional practice in the United States itself; a Human Rights Watch report concludes that prison authorities condone and even encourage prisoner-on-prisoner sexual abuse.
Isn’t this just the other side of gay-bashing? And what kind of culture fears gay marriage but savors the thought of homosexual rape?
NOTE: Minor edit for style 10:09 a.m. 2-18-05
The other night I happened to catch Comedy Central’s Designated Red State Comedian, Jeff Foxworthy, as he launched into a half-hearted riff on why men try to avoid prison (not the most promising comic premise), the answer being that they don’t want to become their cellmate Bubba’s love slave (to paraphrase from memory).
Yes, there’s a connection here. Before Abu Ghraib disappears entirely down the memory hole, it might pay to think about the role played by the now-pervasive sense in American society that prisoners (any prisoners) deserve whatever happens to them behind bars, that torture, humiliation, and abuse are merely informal and extralegal (but perfectly justified) forms of societal payback.
This gets richly manifested in the trope of prison rape, which has become the most irritating staple of tough-guy talk in American pop culture. It’s as ubiquitous in male standup comedy as mother-in-law jokes were a couple generations back, and has extended its dominion everywhere: cop shows, soap operas, 7-Up commercials. Bubba the rapist cellmate becomes everybody’s avenger, the sweaty, tattooed specter that scares you straight (in more ways than one) and promises the bad guys a fate truly worse than death.
The baroque homophobia of the Abu Ghraib scenarios, as well as American interrogators’ obsession with Muslim men’s sexual self-respect, surely derive much of their energy and logic from this apparently deeply-felt and society-wide yearning for the righteous visitation of homosexual violence on evil-doers. It has certainly made its way into correctional practice in the United States itself; a Human Rights Watch report concludes that prison authorities condone and even encourage prisoner-on-prisoner sexual abuse.
Isn’t this just the other side of gay-bashing? And what kind of culture fears gay marriage but savors the thought of homosexual rape?
NOTE: Minor edit for style 10:09 a.m. 2-18-05
8 Comments:
Excellent post, thanks. And belated congrats to ISS on the launching of the blog!
Go, Chris (and everyone else)!
Thanks Lanya ... we're trying. Congrats on the great Social Security organizing -- I think they got the message!
So, I saw where they stacked the naked prisoners high at "Boo-Boo Grabb" prison. Why don't they just tear the freaking thing down and build a more humane facility? The investigation has probably gone as far as it is going to go.
Too many people getting each other pregnant and scratching each others backs... Let's take a look at GITMO. It is closer to home and more do-able.
Given the topic of this article, I think we can get even closer to home than Gitmo.
Although I disagree with your assesment of the story on Abu Ghraib. I think we're seeing a single story emerge on that front -- torture sanctioned by the US administration. Abu Ghraib, Gitmo, other sites that US forces are in charge of, exporting of suspects to torture-friendly countries. I see this story growing, not sinking.
I agree with Modern Carpetbagger that the Abu Ghraib-Gitmo-"extraordinary rendition" story is building up some steam (although apparently not enough to prevent Alberto Gonzalez from being promoted to Attorney General). But I think we need more analyses like this post to *link* these "overseas" torture stories to what's happening in US prisons--and to the "moral values" of our country in general.
On a (somewhat) related note: I just heard on NPR that PBS is freaking out over a Frontline story that shows US soldiers cursing during a firefight in Iraq. The stations are afraid that the footage may violate the FCC's decency standards (for the cursing, not for the killing). I say we start a citizen's campaign to file indecency campaigns against prison rape jokes instead.
A related story: Around September 2004, I overheard a Democratic strategist say that the reason they didn't make a bigger deal about Abu Ghraib in the 2004 elections is because it polled badly. Basically, for reasons along the lines of what Gary argues, the U.S. public didn't seem to care. It's war. They're prisoners. Treat 'em however you like.
But clearly the world community remains outraged, and horrified that we'd validate torture via the Gonzalez confirmation.
I'm not sure what it'll take for this to get more traction in the U.S. public debate, but I'm guessing it'll take some combination of moral/values arguments (that torture is unacceptable, international law is important) and also practical (we can't have credibility in the world if we're viewed as torturers, and the hatred this generates makes us less safe).
Around September 2004, I overheard a Democratic strategist say that the reason they didn't make a bigger deal about Abu Ghraib in the 2004 elections is because it polled badly.Stories like that drive me nuts. I believe in realpolitik to a point, but when do people just stand up and say "This is wrong. This is not what the US is supposed to be"?
Appalshop in Whitesburg, KY has been following the story of prison abuse in Virignia through a media project called Holler to the Hood. They have a clip of their soon to be released documentary, which exposes abuse in American prisons. Here is a link to the trailer.
www.appalshop.org/h2h
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