You can take the congressman out of the Navy…
March 10th, 2010 | Congress Life at Sea Washington | Posted by Phil Ewing
His Royal Majesty King Neptune Rex, Ruler of the Oceans and Patron of the Order of the Golden Shellback, prepared the cleanse the destroyer Farragut of its slimy pollywogs in July, 1928 // NavHistHerCom
…but you can’t take the Navy out of the congressman, former Rep. Eric Massa told Glenn Beck in his already-infamous interview yesterday. Massa, who spent his career as a surface warfare officer, including service aboard the battleship New Jersey, blamed his years in the Navy for the salty language and allegations of inappropriate touching that struck him like a thunderbolt last week.
At one point in the interview, Massa produced what appeared to be a cruise book from his time on active duty, which he said showed a crossing-the-line ceremony full of outrageous behavior outlawed today — which, Massa seemed to be saying, had skewed his perspective on what was acceptable and what wasn’t.
“Can you imagine transporting back to this today?” Massa asked. “It looks like an orgy in Caligula!”
Beck, who was reviewing the images live during the interview, pronounced them unfit to display to Fox News viewers. But Scoop Deck readers, especially the saltier ones, probably remember what it was like when they made the glorious transition from slimy pollywogs to trusted shellbacks, and entered the honorable service of His Royal Majesty King Neptune. Pollywogs typically had to crawl, drenched, through a lot of unpleasantness, lap water out of hook points on the deck, and — blargh — kiss the boatswain’s belly. At least.
These days, crossing the line often takes the form of a more innocent steel beach picnic.
So what do you think? Could the raunchy crossing-the-line ceremonies of yesteryear have thrown a person’s perceptions so out of whack that he didn’t know what was appropriate in his conduct toward others?
Comments
-
Maggie Says:
March 14th, 2010 at 1:30 amOk, I’ve never been in the Navy or crossed the equator. Still, I think I can safely say the only thing “out of whack” in this story, is Massa.
When does he go away???
-
The Scoop Deck – At the court of King Neptune Says:
June 29th, 2010 at 2:29 pm[...] it crossed the Equator, to personally oversee that the ship was purged of slimy wogs and that only trusted shellbacks entered his briny [...]