Despite the fact that its been proven that Benjamin Colton Barnes, the veteran when he was the subject of a manhunt after he murdered a park ranger in Mount Rainier National Park on New Years Day has been proven to be a fobbit who never set foot outside the wire or heard a shot fired in anger during his tour in Iraq, CNN is bound and determined to scare the living shit out of people with his image (above) and blaming Barnes’ behavior on his combat experience. They also throw in Marine Cpl. Itzcoatl Campo to bolster their smear on returning veterans.
A man opens fire in a national park, killing a ranger who was attempting to stop him after he blew through a vehicle checkpoint.
A second man is suspected in the stabbing deaths of four homeless men in Southern California.
Both men, U.S. military veterans, served in Iraq — and both, according to authorities and those who knew them, returned home changed men after their combat service.
Yeah, the CNN article doesn’t mention that both were terminated from the military for their behavior in uniform. The military doesn’t train the troops to shoot cops or stab homeless people. Both had been out of the military for more than a year, their families talk about how they had “changed” since they came home, but did nothing to get them help before they commenced their crime sprees.
CNN doesn’t mention that the media said Barnes had extensive survival training, but was found dead of hypothermia in a stream. The media was wrong about that, just like they’re wrong about so much. Normal people who are proven wrong time and again usually shut the fuck up, but I don’t think we can count on the media to admit they’re wrong.
It’s important to note, experts said, that the two cases represent the extreme end of a spectrum of behavior signifying difficulties faced by returning troops, and some experience little difficulty, if any.
“What we don’t want to do is stigmatize veterans by saying they’re walking time bombs,” said Elspeth Ritchie, chief clinical officer for the Washington, D.C., Department of Mental Health and a former U.S. Army colonel. “They’re not.”
But CNN has no problem stigmatizing veterans, painting them with a broad “crazy” brush.
But study after study has highlighted the struggles faced by troops returning home, including substance abuse, relationship problems, aggression or depression, she and others noted.
You know what studies DON’T exist? Studies on veterans who work through their problems on their own, or with the camaraderie of fellow veterans – because all of the therapists are locked out of paychecks when the most effective methods are used.
There are no studies that tell the public that veterans are mostly normal and that the Campos and Barnes are aberrations not indicative of most veterans. They won’t admit that the Barnes and Campos were behaviorally bent before their military service. Because it doesn’t fit the types of stories that the media wants to print.
