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Savagery and Silence in the First World
In America -- in my country -- I fear we are losing the battle for our humanity. Some say we have already lost it.
Deep down I think they may be right.
Such is the level of violence, voyeurism and detachment displayed this October in Richmond, California, when at least two dozen students cheered, laughed or simply stood by and watched as a 15-year-old girl was repeatedly raped, beaten and brutalized by an "unknown number of assailants."
This horrific act of terrorism took place in the parking lot of Richmond High School, just yards away from where the school was holding its annual homecoming dance.
One school administrator told a reporter that, "the dance itself was successful."
It seems the perpetrators of the crime had also staged a "successful" event. The assault reportedly went on for between two and three hours. During the entire time, everyone was cool, no one freaked out, no one called 911.
Some of the onlookers took photos with their cell phones. Others were composed enough to text their friends. Still another had the presence of mind to take the victim's wallet before leaving the scene of the crime.
An officer at the scene could barely contain himself as he spoke to reporters. "They treated [the rape] as if it were something to be viewed," he said. "Like an exhibit."
"She was raped, beaten, robbed and dehumanized by several suspects who were obviously OK enough with it to behave that way in each other's presence," another patrol supervisor in the city's Northern Policing District in Richmond said. "What makes it even more disturbing is the presence of others. People came by, saw what was happening, and failed to report it."
We Like to Watch
"Being an American has become a spectator sport," wrote Bob Herbert recently in his column for the New York Times.
Herbert was right.
The savage nature of the rape at Richmond High is horrific enough on its own, yet at least as alarming is the national pandemic of ‘violence as spectator sport.'
The passive voyeurism of those who stood by cheering and laughing like an audience at some macabre sideshow while their classmate was being ruthlessly dehumanized is only one of many such incidents making news recently. This phenomenon further demonstrates how complacent Americans have become even in the face of unspeakable crimes and real life inhumanity.
Coincidentally, the cowardly act of terrorism that took place in Richmond, California came virtually on the heels of a less publicized, but equally disgusting display of soullessness. This one however, was perpetrated not by thugs in a Richmond schoolyard but by 30 Republican Senators in the Hallowed Halls of the US Senate when, in early October they opposed an amendment to close a legal loophole denying employees of private defense contractors the right to sue if sexually abused or gang raped while on the job.
The amendment, sponsored by Senator Al Franken (D-Minn.), was inspired by the brutal gang rape of KBR employee Jamie Leigh Jones in 2005 by her fellow employees. It passed on October 21 by a vote of 68-30 over the vehement objections of Department of Defense, who lobbied the ‘Gang of 30' Republicans relentlessly. In a transparent attempt to justify their unjustifiable position, DOD wrote in a memo to the Senate that, "Enforcement would be problematic."
The Savagery of Silence
American youth have garnered an arguably well-deserved reputation for being lazy, self-absorbed and detached from reality, a phenomenon that may well be (at least in part) the result of too much television and gaming and not enough natural and social contact. To be sure, television marked the beginning of the ‘spectator mentality,' and there is little doubt that the high-tech industry, with its relentless hype of texting and tweeting on trendy, over-priced toys has taken this spectatorship to a dangerous new level.
Here in the US, most people understand that (if we have not already reached it) we are approaching critical mass -- not only with respect to our ‘spectator mentality' or our detached indifference to violence, but with respect to almost everything. The problem isn't that we don't know what is wrong. The problem is that we fail to act -- or to speak out -- even when we do. This was no more apparent than when the mother of one of the alleged perpetrators in the Richmond attack told police, "My son wouldn't do that. He knows better."
I often read the comments of readers, many of whom express feelings of hopelessness and despair over the degree to which American culture is disintegrating or the state of the world in general. Others have nothing but contempt for anyone with a shred of idealism or who (god-forbid), still believe the American political system -- or Democracy itself -- can be salvaged. Still others seem to be falling into darkness. I recall in particular one reader who asked, "What good are all of your eloquent words? No matter what you or anyone else says, America is hopelessly lost."
Those who make such comments might be interested to know that I actually agree with most of them - - or at least with their basic sentiments. But I've long since accepted that being an activist and a writer, futile though it may be, is who I am. The ship may be going down, but like the orchestra on the Titanic, I keep playing.
To those who content themselves with sitting in the bleachers heckling rather than doing or sneering rather than speaking out, I would submit that the process of de-humanization is a slow and stealthy one. Like the incident at Richmond High School or the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan or over-consumption waste and greed, de-humanization requires at least some degree of complicity.
One click and it can cross over.
263 Comments so far
Show AllI guess -- if this can be taken as "symbolic" - in a country that glorifies all kinds of symbols: the cross, flags every 2 blocks, pins, lapels, "fashion symbol", "lifestyle symbol", "symbol of ownership", "myspace" symbol of personal space, Humvee symbol of power and bigness, etc. etc. etc. - of not just a tolerance for violence but even a certain addiction to it...
it could also be taken as the Symbol of a country that , like Emperor Nero supposedly,
"FIDDLES while Rome Burns".
Well said......
" in a country that glorifies all kinds of symbols"
Are you against all symbols and symbology or something?
To simply condemn the savagery and apathy appears inadequate. One must understand the processes that allow such savagery and apathy to become so commonplace. Certainly the increasingly militaristic nature of US society is a factor, but I believe a larger factor is the complete loss of a feeling of solidarity among the members of the US population. The corporatists certainly obtain short-term benefits from destroying solidarity and the political predators will take advantage of and exacerbate divisions whenever they see an opportunity. But even many of those who self-label as "progressives" or "the left" engage in promoting division through the repeated use of identity politics. It seems that everyone is throwing gasoline on the fire and the author asks why do we tolerate such a blaze.
I'd strongly agree that condemnation is inadequate, and that we badly need to understand what's going on.
But it seems to me that the root of the problem is prior to (and causes) identity politics: imposed social atomisation. Divide et impera. As long as the ruling class can enforce a zero-sum game, where they take 90% of what we produce and force us to fight over the scraps while they propagandise us with a non-stop anti-social drumbeat, it's logical that (a) we'll be too busy to sit back and think about what's happening, and (b) that we will posterise the situation and try to make common cause with those who seem most like us in immediately-visible ways.
No?
I agree that the social atomization is in part intended by the corporatists (above I made the claim that the corporatists intentionally do what they can to destroy solidarity) and the identity politics is a response. But the action-response-action-response chain is neverending and it evolves over time. I was trying to argue here that the left has inadvertently created a symbiotic relationship with the corporatists in feeding the beast, in aiding the corporatists in creating division. I believe it is unhealthy and ultimately self-destructive for the left.
A study of the many published scientific dissertations of the 'Subconscious Mind' has, over the past fifty years revealed much more than was even imagined by science in the past; and is becoming more apparent as time passes. Violence and criminal behavior is a deeply rooted, 'subconscious trait' that America and Americans have exhibited from their beginning; and pass along to their children who pass it along to theirs and so on.
That the incident in California, among teenagers no less, is such a surprise to the 'public' is to me a 'surprise'.
Americans as a whole are mean vicious blood thirsty vengeful people as a result of their culture and their history. That they repeat their mistakes regularly and often expanding and expounding upon them is undeniable. That they teach their future leaders a 'revisionist' 'right leaning' history is a direct result of their repetitions of the many mistakes. The 'religious right' having the 'moral high ground' still has not 'disowned' the history of slavery, and genocide, and broken treaties and duplicity of their own history, much less that of their nation.
The 'loosely termed' 'liberal far left' has been silent on the same subjects, with a few exceptions, because of the 'control' of the conservative right and their penchant for revenge.
So now, their society is collapsing around their very feet, with their economy in the same condition. The world has collectively disregarded the American dollar in a very well planned and calculated move to protect themselves against the Americans; who have the worst reputation of any other nation in history. Some may argue that last statement; but no other nation has constantly made themselves the 'high example' while at the same time exhibited such hypocrisy and duplicity. It is no wonder that the USA has more than 2 million of its people in prisons or in one of several 'probationary programs'---most often for property crimes, or drug charges. Then, rapists and kidnappers such as the California man who kept one of his victims a captive/concubine for 19 years; all while on parole for a conviction for rape. His parole officers had visited his residence, 'but never saw his victim or the children he had sired' who lived with him and his 'wife'.
Now the USA has their former President and members of his staff who have publicly admitted to many crimes that the USA stood in judgment of others for just 60 years ago; giving television interviews and 'motivational speeches' for pay. Yet, few if any are clamouring for the justice they would demand of other nations if the situation were reversed.
There is so much more that I could mention but time does not allow it.
One thing I think is assured however, the USA is poised to experience so many incidences of blatant criminal behavior that could and may make the 'gang rape' in California seem 'pale in comparison'--unless they make some very serious changes; very soon.
The Americans from their beginning have been a lawless and dangerous people; to themselves and to everyone they have made contact with. They have shown by their history that they are the greatest threat to themselves, and they are most likely on the verge of making their 'Civil War' of the the 19th century seem like 'Sesame Street' in comparison.
'If the USA were another nation the USA would invade the USA to keep the world safe; and they would be justified."
As beautifully written and lucid as usual NativeSon. You are a master at describing the dark side, and i usually enjoy your well deserved attacks on America. How ever i am curious if your clarity is based on intense experiences of love, beauty and compassion, that sets up an intense contrast between light and dark? Or is your clarity just an unknown karma or gift? For a person of your intensity It would be interesting to read an account of personal or cosmic beauty.
t_g
Well written and very interesting comments. I have enjoyed and dreaded reading it. It is a condemnation of a society that is the leading example (through their media and music) all around the world to our young people.
"Native Son"? Are you an Indigenous American? If so, I thoroughly understand your negative slant on your countrymen...
Greetings from Down Under!
Sioux Rose
NATIVE SON: Everything you state is quite true, and yet what we call "American" at its outset consisted of a collection of Europeans. That Europe largely overcame its martial inclinations as a result of feeling firsthand the scars and awful terror of war, shows that America and its citizens are capable of catharsis on a massive scale, too. I, for one, truly hope this lesson in humanity does not come to us through another nation's (or renegade "terrorist" people's) direct attack... I do feel the shift is inevitable. Would the rest of the world allow its monetary system to be gutted, hinged to ersatz determinations of worth much longer? And while too many other lands line up to purchase weapons made in the U.S., one wonders if this pattern will last much longer as the oil begins to dry up, the very cause for seeking the fuel to run the engines of war presenting its own catch-22 scenario.
The US is a patchwork quilt of many groups who were once at the bottom of the proverbial totem pole. Where I grew up in New York many changed their names so they would not be known as Jews in order to obtain jobs with promising corporations or universities. The blacklist targeted some of Hollywood's best writers of conscience. The alien and Sedition acts went against citizens, as did the McCarthy hearings, as have recent events of a more covert sort (under the guise of protecting the nation from terrorists). Almost every ethnic group has had the dubious privilege of at one time being a target.
If you've watched children, at least in America (in large part due to the ethos of competition they're raised within), they can be very cruel to "other," someone who seems different. This shaming of the outsider leads to conformity often to inane or cruel standards. Many go along because they fear being shunned, left outside "the circle" even when its mandate is corrupted.
My main motive in this post is relating that human nature is a product of many things; and it is organic, and thus capable of change, rebirth even. THAT is what is required, and yet I'm sure you'd admit that: between faux food filler passing for sound nutrition, an economy that pits one against another in a fight to secure necessities against rising costs, added to an absolutely diabolically dishonest mainstream media, atop the very poor conditioning from many religious institutions (in consigning hate or prejudice to those outside their ranks), this necessary awakening is not being given the support that would allow it to flourish. The work before all Lightworkers is immense, and sometimes just maintaining our own spirits in the face of so much darkness, becomes its own work! In times of deception, speaking truth constitutes the key heresy. Peace, "cuz."
USA founded and financially enrichened on indigenous genocide and slavery has always been savage.
Also there have always been citizens oppossing the horrors of conglomerates and corporations even unto sacrificing their lives.
Now with compulsory miseducation, television, macrabre video games,ubiquitous medications, the MIC practically the only non outsourced industry and leaders who approve of war crimes and holocausts and escalate war continuously, the humanity of children is so thoroughly obliviated to the gain of corporate wealth that only strong parental role models can overcome the dominant demonic culture.
If you click around the TV at night, for 2 seconds per channel, just about every other image is an image of violence and death.
Chris Hedges did a piece that really speaks to this, on monday.
And one of the really sick things in this culture is that the violence and death is perfectly acceptable in our media and exposure to youth and each other, yet any showing of a breast or tender love-making is cause for huge uproars and demands of censorship and punishment. Following a showing of Nightmare on Elm Street recently, there was a news report of the huge controversy over another news report attempting to show women how to do a breast exam without showing a breast. The angst and embarrassment shown by the reporters and actually making the showing of a breast an affront to decency was what was "NEWS" rather than the important and lifesaving information that could be provided by helping women to detect a potentially life-threatening symptom. Though it may be an extreme example of what has and is happening in the culture, the movie "Soldier" starring Kurt Russell is spot on about the conditioning to violence and disgust/distrust for loving, compassion and tenderness. I continue to hope that our culture can turn this around but it just seems to be accelerating and nothing short of a huge smack-down from elsewhere is going to change it.
Yup, and you can blame Capitalism and it's wholly-owned, seamless, media thought-and-desire control machine.
So of course compassion and tenderness are discouraged! They're bad for business!
t_g
Yes, I have always wondered, why the US films are generally violent and show gory details of death and the dead? As for the "love scenes": I think there are plenty of them in US films as well - but maybe not so "tender" as say in a French film...
When did it become acceptable, even compulsory to show sickening death scenes, with blood and gore everywhere?
Yes, as it appears that at least once a week on the Encore channel one can find the movie Die Hard with its glorification of violence and the different ways that a victim can die.
This tragic event is just a symptom of a wider social sickness.
The evidence is a blind acceptance of the 'necessity' of the brutal occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan. Of the series of torture porn movies like 'Saw' an 'Hostel'. Of the multiplicity of TV shows that depict greed as good, deceit as a required social skill, and murder and death as entertainment.
What about the news? Irrelevant fluff, detail-less meanderings about the economy, and airbrushing of the real deaths and suffering worldwide as a result of US foreign policy and corporate malfeasance.
This is exactly the thing Marshall MacCluen warned about when he said of TV: "The medium is the message."
Very astute and true!
so true.
that's why I am not of the mind that believes that americans's tolerance for the USA wars and imperialism is just out of "ignorance" only - or mere "misinformation".
they are THAT too - but it does not need more than a FEW impossible to ignore or miss instances - even if they are just "rumors" - in this modern world where americans are surrounded by information - to KNOW that something IS wrong when a country : theirs - keeps wrapping its own national dialogues with concerns about "the troops abroad fighting for us".
if americans can be surrounded by THAT - even were they NEVER to have seen news about "that" - that is ENOUGH for a CULTURE to QuESTION what "that" is.
that americans do NOT in a collective sense, despite countless ways that it should have entered their minds and consciences to behave more inquiringly about "that" and in a true sense of honesty with themselves ask "WHY?" "what ARE we doing over there all these many decades?"
- they would NEVER answer such questions to themselves with "they attacked because of our freedoms".
this points to only one thing:
it is a CULTURAL sickness of tolerance for violence that allows americans to PRETEND as IF they didn't KNOW BETTER.
as an unknown american poet said:
"WE AMERICANS CAREFULLY NURTURE AN ATTITUDE OF DETACHED INDIFFERENCE TO THE SUFFERING OF OTHERS........EVEN IF *WE* ARE THE CAUSE OF IT".
this to me - DEFINES america's "cultural" thinking and mindset.
americans do NOT like to take responsibility for the suffering of others even if THEY and THEIR lifestyles are the CAUSE of it...because it would mean GIVING UP their lifestyles which has been acquired at the price of the suffering of others and americans WILL have to confront the reality that THEY are
NOT "such good people" after all. and so - it is better to AVOID reality at all costs, even if its staring them in the face...through distractions such as entertainment of no real meaning or usefulness or inherent value..or games that are warlike, or "social mobility" concerns, or "self-improvement" concerns...anything at all - except to confront what SIGNS are telling them from the sides , like so much writing on the wall ....
that the USA goes abroad launching wars and fomenting instabilities - and americans HEAR of them as "support the troops"...or their consequences or related matters translated as "chinese slave laborers" (not recognizing it's THEIR own shopping that feeds it) ...or "those barbaric taliban" not recognizing HOW they came to be so powerful because of american meddling decades ago....
and so - americans HEAR these things but CHOOSE to PRETEND "hear no evil, see no evil"
ini order to go back to their "usual business" which is to "be american"....
not recognizing that being american has come to be a PRETENDER that they are NOT responsible for much of the world's ills elsewhere that is also blowing back on them.
this is why I do not think americans are entirely "innocent" as they like to pretend. they know..they know what's going on , deep in their conscience...they KNOW that their lifestyles has MORE consequences across the globe ...where a nomad or goatherd family in kenya or the congo can not possibly have such access to a "connected lifestyle" whose actions can not possibly compare in its breadth of consequences to the rest of the world as americans' lifestyle would.
so there is really NO EXCUSE for americans to PRETEND to be "innocent" of these consequences spread out BECAUSE of americans' "way of life" - which is largely one of endless consumption - most of it worthless and simply ego-driven and whose real contribution to the wellbeing of nations and cultures is FAR LESS compared to its CONSUMING ability.
but they CHOOSE to "not know".
to me - this is almost like a
well-fed boy sitting at dinner - eyeing and then grabbing his smaller brother's food - and then pretending to not have done it at all.
american culture seems to be one about "spreading itself" where it can EAT much ...but is intellectually and morally , an isolationist, if it comes to OWNING UP to the act of grabbing and eating more than its share.
BAN "REALITY T.V." NOW!!!
Absolutely!!!!
Incidences such as this rape did not happen before the advent of reality TV?
Ban REALITY TV? Bullshit. Ban ALL television. Completely and totally. It is not THE root cause of this behavior, but it is a major contributing cause. The reason it will not happen is, in part, because most American men are addicted to it. There are evolutionary reasons for this, which need not concern us here. The addiction, however, remains. American 'homes' are no more than chapels with every seat arranged to view the electronic prophet. Addiction. Like any other drug. The other reason it won't happen is that it is the world's most effective propaganda device and the corporations who use it need it to keep the population sedated. I know this sounds whacko, but it is the truth.
"Ban ALL television."
Don't you really mean that you think people should consider getting rid of their TVs? Just trying to see where you are coming from.
Jske, good point. I don't watch much television myself but I don't see how banning it will help any. They could always take it to the Internet and privatize it so that their video goes smooth. I would call for reforming the television line up. I once sent a letter to my cable company asking them to add one of the fitness channels to the basic plan instead of leaving it in the premium plans but they refused and said that most people don't watch it. I was surprised that they would say that given that we're not going to get health care reform from our officials and that more people want to try various forms of exercise to fight obesity.
Thanks for your reply. I don't know if I would be for any more than some education perhaps. I know I would like to have some of my TV time back but it's gone. I suppose to that the suggestion of an outright ban was done with just a little too much passion or with tongue in cheek.
Jennifer, it is true that the fitness channels such as FitTV are not watched by most people. That is why they are usually available on the more expensive plans.
I agree with the gist of this article to the extent that something must be done about the criminal behavior and that the root causes must be addressed. To ignore the problem is, in a sense, being complicit. How to exact change in human behavior, especially anti-social criminal behavior is the real question. Most people would not favor a return to days in which crimes were punished in a straighforward manner such as a give no mercy, public display of hanging, firing squads, or worse. This would not be "civilized" although it would certainly attract the attention of the public and future criminal perpetrators. Of course the description of the events that occurred outside of the high school in California would also not be considered as "civilized" by most peoples of the world. The break-down of social order, the dissociation brought about by endless viewing of television, movies, the internet, the lack of anything approaching "shame" for one's actions has indeed come about slowly. I suspect that until corporations develop a sense of responsibilty for the products they produce and the economic system is re-ordered to value humans over the bottom line, such crimes will continue. It is hard to be optimistic about positive change regarding anti-social criminal behavior given the deep entrenchment of market capitalism in our society. If one is truly interested in determining the root causes and solutions to the problem of anti-social criminal behavior all potential causes must be assessed and considered in an objective, apolitical manner. My suggestions above that severe punishment or a change in our economic system may affect positive change regarding anti-social criminal behavior in American society should be taken for what they are, ideas, something to be considered in light of rampant social decay. This is not a blame game, it is an earnest commentary on the social ills we face.
It isn't just one click. It's been developing over the last 50 years. No one paid attention to the slow creep of dehumanization on every level of American society.
I was a teenager in the 50's, when my parents were toying with the idea of emigrating to the States. I was terrified then of the possibility. I had heard about the bullying and youth gangs and "rebels-without-a-cause", "the blackboard jungle", juvenile delinquents, etc., that seemed to populate neighbourhoods and schools.
Musicals and movies romanticized gang violence (West Side Story), while parents seemed ignorant, powerless, or overly indulgent of their children's behaviour.
This disconnect, this lack of compassion/empathy is an alarming development. Find the cause. The Morlocks of Wall Street and the Capitol don't care if the Eloi watch each other being brutalized (Eloi are pretty, but dumb and passive).
We can bemoan the sad state of current society, or find the causes and correct them. Teen-on-teen violence reflects the dehumanization rampant in the rest of society. Someone posted a piece on the endemic violence and hatred being trained into every aspect of US society.)
What also needs to be examined is if this event took place over 3 hours, where the hell were the teachers? There's no way that could have happened unnoticed. Odd that teaching staff will act aggressively - like prison guards - to punish a 6-year-old for carrying a plastic knife, or a teenage girl for sharing an aspirin, or another for hugging a friend, but this horrendeous act goes unremarked? And aren't there police on every campus now? Where were they?
We have the ultimate criminals giving motivation speeches, or criticizing the president on TV. War is the ultimate crime. Torture is ALWAYS A CRIME. Why should any person in this Land of Lawless Rich Criminals obey ANY Laws?? Every jury should find every defendent innocent as long as Bush and Cheney are not in prison. Our treasury has been looted by criminals who are still in the current administration, or still CEOs of their evil MEGABANKS!! And you wonder why we are plagued with lawlessness? Our leaders are criminals. We are just playing follow the leader.
Ever since George W. was installed, there has been an increased velocity toward this ......Soulessness?
This hellishness. "Hell is the place where nothing connects with nothing." t.s elliot.
I have sensed, literally, what i have been calling a 'metallic grey atmosphere'. It is palpable. And
Torture is acceptable for heaven's sake.
It is beyond disconnection, though. It is rage and despair. Rage at life itself. A kind of mass depression that, i believe, goes beyone anything we have known, as a race. If , for no other reason. Because of our technology and ability to 'know'. To see it all reflected back to us. Mirrored and quickly ingested.
It grows and grows. We need a change of consciousness. We neeed to realize our own power to *create*. I think we are facing the challenge of all times. I really do.
I feel grateful for this forum right now.
Very truthful comment. This is the discussion that must take place. Not endlessly attempting to fix the broken parts but a total shift in the collective consciousness. There are no more grey areas to retreat to. This is the moment that our species has been faced with time and time again. The opportunity to wake up to our essence of love without object and compassion as what we are, not what we 'should' feel or do. The difference to the past and now is that in the past there was available time and space in which to escape back into ignorance. We are now, out of time and there is no more available space/land in which to start a new round of reformed denial. i truly believe we are in a wake up fully or perish scenario.
Thank you and this is so true!!!
I am a psychologist-therapist. But i work on a deeply intuitive level. That is what i have developed. There is so much more to humanity - our inner abilities - than we have realized.
We need to go beyond our primitive belief systems - 'original sin', for example.
I am not an atheist, but i do believe that our 'religions' do much more harm than good. And they have taught us to distrust our true natures. "No problem can be solved by the consciouness that created it". Einstein, of course, said this.
But it is the essence of where we find ourselves now. It is the time. We do create our own reality through our beliefs about our own natures. I feel we need to re-consider what it does mean to be Human.
Only a person who is free can be creative. Creating is ultimate power. We definitely have the power to create an alternative world. We created this one.
It is like being a great painter who paints death and despairing scenes. He has his own reasons for painting these subjects. But he is still a brilliant artist (like Goya). So, we humans create our world. We learn through experience.
Maybe it is time to create different 'landscapes'? That means 'seeing' ourselves differently.
I know, though. It does feel like 'all bets are off' now. We need a breakthrough in mass consciousness. But it can only happen one consciousness at a time.....
"Maybe it is time to create different 'landscapes'? That means 'seeing' ourselves differently. "
Do you mean artistically as with the Goya example or something else? Different "real" landscapes perhaps?
'Fathers and teachers, I ponder "what is hell?" and I answer, "It is the suffering of being unable to love""...F. Dostoevsky
Excellent. Thank you for this quote.
It is similar, really. Connection is the essence of love, and love is the connecting principle, i believe.
I will keep the intellectual jargon to a minimum but as a high school teacher and the UFT representative for my school I would hold every single adult, staff member and administrator in that school accountable for what occurred at that school building. I believe that while that law recently passed was disgraceful and a blow at women's rights I cannot agree with the author, this is not a national problem but a disturbing and disgusting isolated incident. Living in New York City and working in a low-income community with high crime I have witnessed instances where average citizens, here in the south Bronx, that have intervene to help one another when they were being assaulted and nearly rapped and the perpetrator was actually beaten and forced to flee. I do not respect this new ideology that many journalist, authors, pundits etc... are trying to convey of fear and apathy. I believe that people feel overpowered and overwhelmed by our current social, economic, political atmosphere but the humanity is still there. I even started a virtual forum with my students where we read and discuss these social issues and post comments and I have been amazed by the responses that the students have had to these issues, further proving to me that people are not as apathetic or inhumane but maybe confused on what steps to take to remedy the current situation.
the teenagers are like that - regardless of gun laws or not - because they see the world around them in the USA TEACHING them how to LOVE violence.
domestically - it comes in the form of glorifying "POLICING" - and the glorifying of the STATE MONOPOLY on violence which just happens to be there for the sake of "keeping order" which is really for the purpose of keeping the RULE of the higher powers intact - and keeping ordinary people from expressing displeasure at what are ineherently a VIOLENCE of economics against them -
and therefore keeping them from 'acting out' ....
with the POLICE ON HAND to keep that so - and using the occasional criminals of the street as EXAMPLES of how effecitve that is "in keeping EVERYONE SAFE"
when in reality - THAT is a TEACHING MOMENT for americans to
GLORIFY VIOLENCE so long as it's "in uniform"
and THEN
when teenagers get out of hand - they COPY the violence they see
whichy has been TAUGHT TO THEM through glorification in the "personhood" of the POLICING and "law enforcement"
BUT THAT itself is really just a vestige of a CULTURE that LOVES to MAKE WAR upon other countries - in order to make it palatable to americans and the YOUTH to GLORIFY
WAR.
and THENsociety is incensed that the teenagers are "violent"
the teenagers LEARNED it from their elders all across the spectrum of american society.
the teenagers are the domestic example and reflection , down in the "school level" of what the NATIONAL ETHOS is
WAR which is VIOLENCE.
the mistake of teenagers being what they ARE is simply that they ENACT their violence in the way they do -- but in reality - they are COPYING the VIOLENCE taught to them in the form of POLICING and "Punishing" ...
which of course hides the REAL violence done TO americans BY their OWN rulers! who are even teh ONES who SELL violence to them :
through "patriotism" and "war"....
one can not teach the SAME THING in two different forms and say they are DIFFERENT.
one can not say "WAR is noble and patriotic" and a form of Punishing other people for being DIFFERENT
and then say "rape is not noble"
even if teaching WAR and PUNISHING under uniform
is really VIOLENCE as easily as rape by teenagers who have no "authority to rape".
americans are such a confused society . they think they are against violence while espousing it.
they think they are being law abiding even if they are actually just CHOOSING between one form of violence against another.
they think they are being conscientuous even if their own conscience is limited to what they consider "patriotic" but not "other" kinds of violence.
and THEN they are horrified when they see violence that their society just happens to have declared "uNLAWFUL"...
but don't bat an eyelash at the VIolence that is "lawful" - such as wars and the "lawful" punishing culture that they have created.
of COURSE the teenagers and some disturbed and vulnerable minds are going to end up committing atrocious acts out of the
different forces that pull them apart - all of which are forces of VIOLENT THINKING and CULTURE taught BY american society to its own members!
even teh TEACHING words of americans are so rife with VIOLENCE>
they say "emPOWERment".
in football - they call these overgrown children breaking bones - "american HEROES" who are actually behaving as if they are prison rapists raping their fellow prisoners to "empower" themselves...
they have Police using "FORCE" - driving cars with their shining lights to incarcerate people who would be better off being helped or given an ECONOMY that is more equitable rather than using them as fodder for a prison system for PROFIT which is ITSELF a violence that americans LOVE to see being built all across the country to make themselves FEEL superior and righteous and "law abiding" .
and these are just a FeW examples of how american society ITSELF is responsible for creating and maintaining and glorifying
nothing else BUT VIOLENCE.
even their religious leaders INTONE words from teh bible , selectively - that TEACH violence. such as "march to glory"
"march to VICTORY"
"conquering"
"the LORD and MASTER"
"KINGDOM COME on EARTH"...
and more and more emphasise violence.
they are SURPRISED that mere TEENAGERS express themselves in VIOLENCE?
society MADE them that way.
"television and gaming and not enough natural and social contact. To be sure, television marked the beginning of the ‘spectator mentality,' and there is little doubt that the high-tech industry, with its relentless hype of texting and tweeting on trendy, over-priced toys has taken this spectatorship to a dangerous new level. "
If tweeting and texting are not social contact, then neither arewriting letters or talking on the phone. If tweeting and texting is accelerating the spectator mentality, then so is writing letters and talking on the phone.
Well said. It is how one uses these mediums of communication that matters. If situations improve, much credit will be given to these "high-tech" forms of communication. In fact, they are probably our best ally.
I will keep the intellectual jargon to a minimum but as a high school teacher and the UFT representative for my school I would hold every single adult, staff member and administrator in that school accountable for what occurred at that school building. I believe that while that law recently passed was disgraceful and a blow at women's rights I cannot agree with the author, this is not a national problem but a disturbing and disgusting isolated incident. Living in New York City and working in a low-income community with high crime I have witnessed instances where average citizens, here in the south Bronx, that have intervene to help one another when they were being assaulted and nearly rapped and the perpetrator was actually beaten and forced to flee. I do not respect this new ideology that many journalist, authors, pundits etc... are trying to convey of fear and apathy. I believe that people feel overpowered and overwhelmed by our current social, economic, political atmosphere but the humanity is still there. I even started a virtual forum with my students where we read and discuss these social issues and post comments and I have been amazed by the responses that the students have had to these issues, further proving to me that people are not as apathetic or inhumane but maybe confused on what steps to take to remedy the current situation.
New York City.
Kitty Genovese.
Look it up.
The incident under discussion is NOTHING NEW!
The average person in the US doesn't want to 'get involved'. That's why Corporations can run roughshod over the populous, polluting and killing with impunity. That's why politicians can manufacture lies to start wars over a dwindling resource. It's the cause of the mindset of 'You can't fight City Hall'.
We are reliving the dying days of the Roman Empire. But it is very unlikely there will be a second renaissance after the coming dark age.
Hopelessness is a hideous thing. Even if it is true that the nation is too far gone to save, does that mean we should roll over and take it without a fight? There are two things everyone can do: The first is to take action locally to do SOMETHING to make your neighborhood or community a better place. [Of course, that DOES mean missing your favorite TV programs, but you might just discover how irrelevant those programs are ....]. The second is to harrass the shit out of your elected reps to do the right thing, and promise to campaign against them if they do not. And then follow up on it. Call your senators right now and tell them to support Sanders single payer insurance bill which he will introduce for the first vote ever in our nation on this subject. Be harsh. Be honest. Follow up. And never give up. You are not alone. If you are a vet, join Veterans for Peace, a nation wide group which is becoming VERY politically active. Join us.
Politicians didn't manufacture lies to start wars over resources 50 years ago? 100 years ago? No atrocious rapes and murders happened 50 years ago? 100 years ago?
"But it is very unlikely there will be a second renaissance after the coming dark age."
If the US empire ends, a dark age is coming. I'm sure that non-Americans all over the world share those sentiments.
Thanks Pablo for some hopeful words from the front lines. (My hat is off to anyone with the courage and stamina to teach high school in the South Bronx!)
pablo30
I know you are correct. And I applaud your sentiments, of course I would because they match mine.
My kindest regards and respects to you, keep your kids learning and hoping. The defeatist ideology pushed by this author and others is passing as we speak.
"I would hold every single adult, staff member and administrator in that school accountable for what occurred at that school building."
Two questions: *How* exactly would you hold them accountable? And what about parents? Thank you.
Sioux Rose
PABLO: Thank you for your post. I am glad there are pockets that retain their humanity in spite of the direction of our warrior culture, and how porn makes the female cheap, and an easy target.
what do we expect when we live in a country so enamored with war, torture and the libertarian concept of "what's good for me is great - screw everything else".....
The USA is like a cancer in the earth.....where we spend more money on the military - which equals death and destruction and profits at any cost - than ALL OTHER countries in the world. Our main exports are now greed, cruelty, death, torture, war and destruction - all for a short term buck!
Jefferson would be proud!