More Violence Here at Home
I watched some of the Sunday morning news shows and the latest mass shooting was a abuzz with the shows. Guns were blamed. Politicians were blamed. The internet was blamed. Hate was blamed. What, interestingly enough, wasn’t blamed is the pathological expression of the US government in its foreign policy support of imperialism and how it is directly reflected back here in the homeland in violent acts, chiefly by the young, and aimed at a specific group of people different that the shooter.
I kept screaming at the TV to tell what’s happening in Ukraine is the same thing, more or less, thats happening here. The shooter apparently closely followed the Christchurch shooter’s ideology which happened a few years ago in New Zealand. The neo-Nazi ideology of both shooters is unmistakable. The US and NATO are in full support of the neo-Nazis that are terrorizing Russian speaking Ukrainians in Ukraine. Peace could be had if the west wants it. Remember that as the newest $80B by Congress goes towards death and destruction in Ukraine. $80B could end hunger in the US for over a year, maybe longer; my math skills aren’t what they were when I passed calculus in college back in ‘72-’73.
From my vantage point it is just a matter of scale. Individual vs. large groups with the same warped view that they are better than the ‘identified’ out-group. And it doesn’t matter if they are blacks, Muslims, atheists, Jews, any stripe that isn’t inclusive of the individual or the group. One must lose empathy first to single out an individual or group to be able to direct extreme violence toward said group. Philosopher Judith Butler calls this phenomenon the ungrievable. We don’t feel sorry for the deaths or other violence against the ungrievable group. It’s how soldiers behave in a war setting. It’s how torture is used by the torturer. The victim is objectified first, that is, they become an object losing their humanity in the process.
What I find most perplexing is that most of this behavior is taught. We are taught that Russians are bad. Or blacks, or Muslims, or Palestinians, or whites, or….We become part of the propaganda narrative that’s directing us to behave in a certain way. And it is very powerful for its influence on citizens. No one wants to take the actual blame for the overt, toxic, behavior. Especially if the US government is involved.
I found a few good items to back up some of my claims. These items were in short supply in watching the Sunday ‘funnies’ on Disneyland’s news shows this AM. The news was markedly one-sided. There was lots of blame without any analysis to support the blamed parties, nor the blaming news correspondents, or the guests themselves. So I will leave with some links in support of my arguments. Links below\/
War in Ukraine; Updates
https://www.unz.com/ishamir/ukraine-war/
https://southfront.org/ukraines-spending-on-war-and-difficult-situation-on-front-lines/
Flailing Empire
http://thesaker.is/the-us-wants-to-keep-its-status-as-a-superpower-at-any-cost/
Fin—The End
Remember, kindness is infectious, get someone infected today. Hate is the antithesis of kindness. Also, the opposite of love isn’t hate, it is no affect—a blank, non-feeling of emptiness. Inoculate yourselves against hate. A vaccine that actually works. Find some love. Stay safe all.
Peace, The Ol’ Hippy
Image~~Pixabay