Another day, another mass shooting, Indianapolis this time. Another flag at half-staff. Another mayor grimly facing the media expressing solidarity with the families of the dead. Another description of a young man “with a submachine gun of some sort, an automatic rifle, and he was firing in the open,” according to a witness at the scene. Another body count: ten this time, four wounded. Another grim statistic: this is the third mass shooting in Indianapolis this year. Five people were killed in January, including a pregnant woman; three people were killed only a month ago, on March 15. And another bloody number: there were 46 mass shootings in this country in the last month alone.
Not often I disagree with you Lucian, but I think you're missing the main point here. The politicians are doing their job, they're representing the will of their constituents. The problem isn't Cruz or Cotton, it's the people who elected them, who want it this way. Sadly, a significant number of your fellow citizens are delighted that the the police resemble, and act like, an army of occupation. They don't care about black people being shot and killed. In fact I suspect that a lot of them are in favor of it. What I don't know is what we do about that or how we change it.
This will not last. Even numb societies get fed up. Cruelty and indifference to suffering nourish the seeds of reaction and in a few years Americans will rise up and cashier the Republicans and they will be out of power for decades. There’s a young generation out there and they are no numb or oblivious. In 1965 even hardcore bigots were outraged by Selma. The Republicans have rigged the system but a fury will come and unrig it. History shows the wheel keeps turning and America will change. It horrible to watch this dark season but it will end.
An work acquaintance of mine posted a poster of an old man dozing with a fishing pole dangling from his lap into water, alongside his furry companion also dozing. The caption read, "I miss the America I used to know." The character was white, and the person who posted it is also white. I couldn't help but think that she's one of those people who wish that we'd revert back to the old Jim Crow laws and be a 'white America' again. That's the kind of person who supports the politicians who are rolling back voting rights for POC because they're not happy sharing the right to vote with anyone else who is not white. It's called systemic racism and it's been running our country since it was founded by slave owners. It has been better but since DT gave them permission to be racists, it's not been the same since. It's tragic.
Excellent assessment. We’re a sick nation and change to gun laws or ridding us of those in Congress who aren’t worthy of their positions is imperative.
This is simple. About 10 or so years ago Donald Trump enrolled his racist birthers, then followed with a presidential run highlighted by his two main character defects:
No empathy for others
No personal integrity
Those two dovetailed nicely with the NRA's bought and paid for Republicans in the House and Senate.
The majority of Americans have no say, based on results.
I've been thinking about this for awhile. The last time I felt that sick in the pit of my stomach upset was Sandyhook. I've noticed my lack of reaction to horror upon horror. George Floyd's murder right before my eyes brought it back but different, it gave me rage. Yes, I'm becoming numb. No one wants to live like this, it's like a voodoo curse on the nation.
Let us not forget Moscow Mitch and Lindsey Graham. Those men's souls (if there ever was one to begin with) shriveled up and died long ago. The party which lost its collective soul serves only to ingratiate itself with its donors and racist base and remain in power. Locked inside its self-aggrandizing bubble, safely removed and away from the general populace, bought and paid for by corporate donors, the members of that tribe have no connection to the real world or to ordinary people. Isolation from reality inures them to a soulless and heartless "fake" world of excess. Until we toss them on the junkheap of political oblivion to which they belong, we're stuck. Has anyone tried writing to one of them? Try writing to someone of the ilk of Cruz or Cornyn and see what comes back to you in the form of a response. It's hopeless and pathetic.
Totally agree, Lucian! Our ability to empathize with others has slowly diminished over the last 50 years. Raised on the teat of Ayn Rand, the rugged individualist images of John Wayne, the Marlboro Man and Rambo coupled with the disillusionment of The Vietnam War, the Baby Boomer generation turned inward. As the WWII-caused economic boom died, marked by our nation’s balance of trade turned from very black to increasingly red under the Nixon Administration, many of us became obsessed with keeping our own wealth and finding ways to take the wealth of others. The increasing prowess of our Ad Men helped this movement along. The Powell Memo from the 1960’s was embraced by one political party and it guided its rise in power in our political system. All of this has resulted in the nation that you have so well described. So sad to see what we have lost because we no longer seem to be able to walk in another person’s shoes!
Precisely what I was thinking...this country will not survive if “Citizens United” remains in place. The People no longer have power. For example, look at Nebraska. Governor Pete Ricketts, whose father (formerly of TD AMERITRADE) poured billions into the KKKoch Gang of Fascist corporate heads. Yet his son —in a couple of weeks’ time—proclaimed Nebraska some sort of “2nd Amendment bastion” AND! He refused to take any refugee children, citing that Nebraskan dollars were for Nebraska’s children. His Facebook punchlines are a string of religious platitudes and “blessings.” The hypocrisy fucking hurts.
The more I think about it, the more I see it as a real-world resurgence of the values of the Confederacy, which were inadequately subdued after 1865. 🤔😉😊
Not often I disagree with you Lucian, but I think you're missing the main point here. The politicians are doing their job, they're representing the will of their constituents. The problem isn't Cruz or Cotton, it's the people who elected them, who want it this way. Sadly, a significant number of your fellow citizens are delighted that the the police resemble, and act like, an army of occupation. They don't care about black people being shot and killed. In fact I suspect that a lot of them are in favor of it. What I don't know is what we do about that or how we change it.
This will not last. Even numb societies get fed up. Cruelty and indifference to suffering nourish the seeds of reaction and in a few years Americans will rise up and cashier the Republicans and they will be out of power for decades. There’s a young generation out there and they are no numb or oblivious. In 1965 even hardcore bigots were outraged by Selma. The Republicans have rigged the system but a fury will come and unrig it. History shows the wheel keeps turning and America will change. It horrible to watch this dark season but it will end.
An work acquaintance of mine posted a poster of an old man dozing with a fishing pole dangling from his lap into water, alongside his furry companion also dozing. The caption read, "I miss the America I used to know." The character was white, and the person who posted it is also white. I couldn't help but think that she's one of those people who wish that we'd revert back to the old Jim Crow laws and be a 'white America' again. That's the kind of person who supports the politicians who are rolling back voting rights for POC because they're not happy sharing the right to vote with anyone else who is not white. It's called systemic racism and it's been running our country since it was founded by slave owners. It has been better but since DT gave them permission to be racists, it's not been the same since. It's tragic.
Excellent assessment. We’re a sick nation and change to gun laws or ridding us of those in Congress who aren’t worthy of their positions is imperative.
This is simple. About 10 or so years ago Donald Trump enrolled his racist birthers, then followed with a presidential run highlighted by his two main character defects:
No empathy for others
No personal integrity
Those two dovetailed nicely with the NRA's bought and paid for Republicans in the House and Senate.
The majority of Americans have no say, based on results.
I've been thinking about this for awhile. The last time I felt that sick in the pit of my stomach upset was Sandyhook. I've noticed my lack of reaction to horror upon horror. George Floyd's murder right before my eyes brought it back but different, it gave me rage. Yes, I'm becoming numb. No one wants to live like this, it's like a voodoo curse on the nation.
Let us not forget Moscow Mitch and Lindsey Graham. Those men's souls (if there ever was one to begin with) shriveled up and died long ago. The party which lost its collective soul serves only to ingratiate itself with its donors and racist base and remain in power. Locked inside its self-aggrandizing bubble, safely removed and away from the general populace, bought and paid for by corporate donors, the members of that tribe have no connection to the real world or to ordinary people. Isolation from reality inures them to a soulless and heartless "fake" world of excess. Until we toss them on the junkheap of political oblivion to which they belong, we're stuck. Has anyone tried writing to one of them? Try writing to someone of the ilk of Cruz or Cornyn and see what comes back to you in the form of a response. It's hopeless and pathetic.
Totally agree, Lucian! Our ability to empathize with others has slowly diminished over the last 50 years. Raised on the teat of Ayn Rand, the rugged individualist images of John Wayne, the Marlboro Man and Rambo coupled with the disillusionment of The Vietnam War, the Baby Boomer generation turned inward. As the WWII-caused economic boom died, marked by our nation’s balance of trade turned from very black to increasingly red under the Nixon Administration, many of us became obsessed with keeping our own wealth and finding ways to take the wealth of others. The increasing prowess of our Ad Men helped this movement along. The Powell Memo from the 1960’s was embraced by one political party and it guided its rise in power in our political system. All of this has resulted in the nation that you have so well described. So sad to see what we have lost because we no longer seem to be able to walk in another person’s shoes!
Precisely what I was thinking...this country will not survive if “Citizens United” remains in place. The People no longer have power. For example, look at Nebraska. Governor Pete Ricketts, whose father (formerly of TD AMERITRADE) poured billions into the KKKoch Gang of Fascist corporate heads. Yet his son —in a couple of weeks’ time—proclaimed Nebraska some sort of “2nd Amendment bastion” AND! He refused to take any refugee children, citing that Nebraskan dollars were for Nebraska’s children. His Facebook punchlines are a string of religious platitudes and “blessings.” The hypocrisy fucking hurts.
The more I think about it, the more I see it as a real-world resurgence of the values of the Confederacy, which were inadequately subdued after 1865. 🤔😉😊