By Ann Jones: Rape is Rape, and Domestic Violence is o

Plain old violence. Picture this. A man, armored in tattoos, bursts into a living room not his own. He confronts an enemy. He barks orders. He throws that enemy into a chair. Then against a wall. He plants himself in the middle of the room, feet widespread, fists clenched, muscles straining, face contorted in a scream of rage. The tendons in his neck are taut with the intensity of his terrifying performance. He chases the enemy to the next room, stopping escape with a quick grab, and thrust , and body block that pins the enemy, bent back,against a counter. He shouts more orders: His enemy can go with him to the basement for a "private talk", or be beaten to a pulp right here. Then he wraps his fingers around the neck of his enemy, and begins to choke her. No, that invader isn't an American soldier, leading a night raid on an Afghan village, nor is the enemy an anonymous Afghan householder. This combat warrior is just a guy in Ohio named Shane. He is doing, what so many men find exhilarating, disciplining his girlfriend with a heavy dose of the violence we render harmless, by calling it "domestic." It's easy to figure out from a few basic facts, that Shane is a skilled predator. Why else does a 31 year old man, lavish attention on a pretty 19 year old, with two children, ages four and two, the latter an equally pretty and potentially targeted little female? And what more vulnerable girlfriend could he find, than this one, named Maggie, a neglected young woman,, still a teenager, who for two years, had been raising her kids on her own, while her husband fought a war in Afghanistan? That war had broken the family apart, leaving Maggie with no financial support, and more alone than ever. But the way Shane assaulted Maggie, he might just as well have been a night raiding soldier, terrorizing an Afghan civilian family, in pursuit of some dangerous Talib, real or imagined. For all we know, Maggie's estranged husband or soldier, might have acted in the same way, in some Afghan living room, and not only been paid, but also honored for it. The basic behavior is quite alike. The goal, to control the behavior, the very life, of the designated target. The mind is set: A sense of entitlement, when it comes to determining the fate of a subhuman creature. The dark side, the fear and brutal rage of a scared loser, who inflicts his miserable self on others. As for that designated enemy, just as American exceptional fortune asserts the superiority of the United States over all countries and cultures on Earth, and even over the laws that govern international relations seems to inform so much in the United States these days!