MOAB--I find it beyond disgusting that penis-shaped weapons of destruction are called Mother

[niyad]

[BSdetect]

1. Totally agree, its the msm grabbing on to stupid acronyms.

They thrive on sound bites and BS like this.

Cretins.

[delisen]

2. calling bombs mother disgusts me too.

It disgusts me too. Shows what they really think of their mothers. It's like Saddam Hussain talking about the mother of all wars.

The old saying that you become what you fight sees to be true.

[guillaumeb]

3. And...........

they are called earth penetrators.

Dr. Freud, meet the war makers.

[TheBlackAdder]

4. The bomb was called MOAB in response to Saddam Hussein's "Mother Of All Wars" comments.

[LittleBlue]

7. This is DU after all

We drop largest subatomic bomb and the concern is about the bomb having a feminine name. You can't make it up.

[Amishman]

18. I have to agree there

The military has a long history of assigning instruments of war feminine personas, from calling ships 'she' to GIs giving rifles girls names.

Would it be more offensive if military tradition insisted that weapons of war could never be associated with a female identity?

[LittleBlue]

42. I thought that came from ancient Roman times

The word for ship is feminine in Latin as given by ancient mariners, possibly because the symbolism of a ship as a womb that preserves life. It carried into the other European languages when warships were developed, and the convention has stuck to this day.

[niyad]

47. you know, people on this board are capable of having many thoughts. and the sexism

so rampant in the military is a pretty damned important thing, and more ongoing than the dropping of one oversized phallic symbol.

[LittleBlue]

66. How would changing the bomb to a male name combat sexism in the military?

And your obsession with phallic shapes and penises is bizarre. It makes DU look weird.

The bomb is shaped that way due to aerodynamics, the engineers weren't obsessed with dicks.

[niyad]

67. my obsession? wow. a real stretch there. but thanks for giving me so much credit for

du's look.

sexism is rampant in the military, and everywhere, yet, apparently, we are not to discuss it here, because that makes du look "weird". absolutely amazing.

[LittleBlue]

69. You posted about penises in the original thread in LBN and now here.

2. and FUCK calling these penis-shaped death dealing instruments "MOTHER"

https://www.democraticunderground.com/10141753088#post2


You know it's shaped that way due to aeronautical engineering principles, right? The bomb's engineers aren't running around their laboratories obsessed with cocks. What in the world are you thinking posting this stuff on DU? Some things should remain thoughts.

[niyad]

70. so something was posted in two different threads. oh dear. . . how. . .

but thanks for playing.

[LanternWaste]

50. Right? It boggles our lazy minds that people can have more that one concern at any given time...

Right? It boggles our lazy minds that people can have more that one concern at any given time... though we'll certainly rationalize it something else, and of course it will be made up.

[HAB911]

5. Just for you, The Father of all Bombs

http://www.businessinsider.com/heres-the-father-of-all-bombs-russias-answer-to-the-moab-2017-4

[cloudbase]

25. I thought that was Ishtar. n/t

[Orrex]

48. Heaven's Gate.

[EL34x4]

6. Massive Ordnance Air Burst

I'm not sure where "Mother Of All Bombs" came from.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

22. Both have the same acronym MOAB. . . . nt

[MousePlayingDaffodil]

8. Well, actually . . .

. . . the acronym stands for Massive Ordnance Air Blast. The "Mother" thing is just a stupid nickname.

[Rollo]

9. Would it be as effective if it were shaped like a teapot?

[matt819]

10. SMH

Ok.

What does this bomb cost?

Who made the recommendation?

Why was this recommendation made?

What was the target, and what was the result?

It almost doesn't matter because, as other DUer observed earlier today, you just can't believe what anyone in this administration says. Slight caveat - unless it's about the further erosion of the social contract and the destruction of American society. Then I'll take them at their word.

[HAB911]

13. I read 1 costs $314M

[sarisataka]

15. $314 m is the cost

Of the entire development program per the Fiscal Times. Estimated unit it cost is slightly below 16 million.

[HAB911]

17. sounds more like it

[Orrex]

55. Killing 36 people for just $444,444 a piece!

At prices like that, how could we afford not to bomb them?

[petronius]

11. Fair enough. Then if I am ever in direct communication with you about the GBU-43/B,

i.e. in a reply to you, or in a thread/sub-thread you've started, I will avoid the nickname.


(Which I would likely do anyway, since I've always been slightly irked that the moniker evokes the name of a truly beautiful western landscape...)

[world wide wally]

12. WTF?

Is this a first strike against Afghanistan?

I thought that war was over a long time ago. Now the Prez (even an insane one) can just go around bombing countries with no outside input from places like Congress or anything?

[EX500rider]

19. "I thought that war was over a long time ago."

Why ever did you think that?
You thought the Taliban surrendered or ceased to exist?

[Alea]

21. get outta here with your facts!!!

[world wide wally]

23. Did we remove our troops?

[EX500rider]

24. Nope...just lowered the number in country

[former9thward]

46. Just because the anti-war movement went to sleep for 8 years

because a Democrat was the CIC does not mean the multiple wars stopped.

[snooper2]

14. Would Jim Morrison have called it Mother or Father?

Father, yes son, I want to kill you

Mother, I want to.....

[linuxman]

16. Man, I love good satire.

Bravo.

[LanternWaste]

51. I love an irrational mind that is unable to process the concern of others

I love an irrational mind that is unable to process the concern of others and trivializes for better self-validation.

Charlie.

[linuxman]

56. I love your self-righteous blathering.

Oh no! The dick-bomb is called mommy!!!!

[Mosby]

20. interestingly, "mother of all..." is an arabic expression from the Koran.

Sadaam Hussein may have popularized it in modern usage when he called the gulf war "the mother of all battles".

[Warren DeMontague]

33. Exactly. I'm sure that's the origin of the name.

[malaise]

26. The Con will probably be selling miniature

souvenirs at the Easter Egg Roll. Bombing the world will be the closest he gets to an erection in eons.

[QC]

27. It's even worse than bombing the moon. n/t

[retrowire]

28. Russia calls their version Father of all bombs.

Happy?

No?

Let's just agree bombs suck.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Father_of_All_Bombs

[Codeine]

29. What a completely stupid thing to worry about.

As dumb as the moon bombing baloney from back in the day.

[WinkyDink]

30. I hate that a maternal name is associated with weaponry of death for any reason whatsoever.

[cwydro]

31. The names of the atomic bombs we used on Japan were Little Boy and Fat Man.

I find war and the weapons used to wage it disgusting.

Who gives a goddamn what they call them?

[Warren DeMontague]

32. It would be just as deadly if it was shaped like Hello Kitty or a piece of pizza.

[Major Nikon]

34. Never underestimate the power of the penis of doom

https://www.democraticunderground.com/11149546

[Warren DeMontague]

35. How about a mother-shaped bomb called "Penis"?

[Major Nikon]

37. You got the name all wrong

[beam me up scottie]

40. But would they be able to bomb the moon with one that looks like Hello Kitty?

Maybe if those patriarchal monsters at NASA had used a bomb shaped like a vagina our menstrual cycles wouldn't be all screwed up.


Link to the now infamous moon bombing thread:

https://web.archive.org/web/20151006222842/http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x6712126

[Warren DeMontague]

43. also, whose penis is actually shaped like this...

Marvin the Martian's?

[beam me up scottie]

45. Slugs have translucent blue penises but I'm not aware of any species that sports giant green ones

As always the comments are the best part:

http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2006/06/27/slug-love/#comments


No Terran species anyway - they must have used Marvin as a model.

[JTFrog]

36. K&R! nt

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

38. Who's are you comparing it to? Optimus Prime?

Mine doesn't have control surfaces.

[walkingman]

39. It's getting hard to find a reason to be proud of America these days.

[MicaelS]

41. Oh, FFS.

What does the shape have to do with anything? Does the military need to make a bomb shaped like female genitalia to please you? Truly, one of the dumbest posts I have read in a while. I wish we still had Unrec.

[MindPilot]

44. Are you bothered by motherboard, mother ship, or motherlode as well?

[onecent]

54. Or Mother Nature??

[erinlough]

49. I agree. Just another way to manipulate the way Americans view war.

[Ace Rothstein]

52. LOL

[Act_of_Reparation]

53. Hm.

[Orrex]

57. To be fair...

Vagina-shaped ordnance creates more complex challenges re: aerodynamics.

[niyad]

58. vaginas are always a challenge!!

[Orrex]

60. That's why Republicans legislate them more strictly than semi-automatic rifles.

[niyad]

63. true.

[AtheistCrusader]

59. I find it beyond ridiculous that the MOAB is compared to a penis shape.

That's clearly an Ogive shaped nosecone. I've seen a lot of penises. Never seen one with an Ogive tip.

There's some penises with something close to a Short Elliptical nosecone, but it's rarer on air-drop ordnance since it has a higher drag coefficient (usually but not always undesirable), and it's still not really like a homo sapiens sapiens penis tip.


Sometimes a low drag coefficient aerodynamic shape is just a low drag coefficient aerodynamic shape, and comparisons to human genitalia (Which does not normally experience anything like aerodynamic drag) is projection.

[Orrex]

61. Let me tell you about my projection

Wait... Wrong forum.

[AtheistCrusader]

62. .

[niyad]

64. you nearly owed me a keyboard!!

[AtheistCrusader]

65. Right? What did that desert ever do to anyone?

[Amishman]

68. Not everything is a phallic symbol

Took an art class in college. I quick came to the conclusion that everything is a phallic symbol. But by the end of the course i came to a different conclusion; while most things can be a phallic symbol, some things are just penises.

[Lordquinton]

71. It's very forward thinking of our military

To be trans inclusive with their ordnance.

[niyad]

72. excellent point.