Taking cues from Klinger?
Re: Canadian military to review uniforms, March 17 When I heard that the Canadian military was looking to redesign its uniforms in order to be more “inclusive” and “allow dress appropriate to one’s gender identity,” one name immediately sprang to mind: Klinger.
Corp. Max Klinger, you may recall, was the cross-dressing character in 1970s TV series MASH who, in a desperate bid to flee the madness of the Korean War, took to wearing Scarlett O’Hara-like hoop skirts and other outlandish, ultra-feminine outfits. In those less “inclusive” times, a man who had a hankering to dress like a woman wasn’t seen as army material, which is why Klinger, who was bucking for a Section 8 — an official ruling that he was crazy and therefore unfit for military service — took to dressing that way.
It’s so heartening to know that these days, when “diversity” has become a top priority, not only would Klinger’s wardrobe choices not be seen as eccentric, they might actually be embraced by Canada’s inclusivity-minded armed forces. Mindy G. Alter, Toronto
Has the Canadian military lost its way completely by going off on a bizarre tangent of politically correct “inclusiveness?” How many more letters and numbers will it add to the LB- GTQ2 alphabet soup designation of variables in society?
The word “uniform” in the strictest sense implies “sameness,” not diversity, and by trying to be all things to all people is the antithesis of what is required in a rigidly structured military organization. One can see already the onslaught of human rights complaints brought forth by those who feel that their “sensibilities” were not adequately accommodated by this bizarre proposal. Common sense run amok! Morton Doran, Fairmont, B. C.