Resident Scholars of the A.P.I.
Virginia Tech - Violence and Hypocricy
Violence begets violence. America is a very violent country that profits mightily from violence and liberally employs violence or the threat of violence to further its global ambitions.
Americans are not problem solvers. They are solution destroyers. Discussion and diplomacy have been left in the dust by those who favor b-grade, movie-styled, cowboy justice. Get up a posse. We'll flush 'em out! Don't talk about it - shoot it out instead. Bomb 'em back to the stone age! Take 'em out and do it preemptively. Bully, terrorize, its your right, you are an American.
Americans are not problem solvers. They are solution destroyers. Discussion and diplomacy have been left in the dust by those who favor b-grade, movie-styled, cowboy justice. Get up a posse. We'll flush 'em out! Don't talk about it - shoot it out instead. Bomb 'em back to the stone age! Take 'em out and do it preemptively. Bully, terrorize, its your right, you are an American.
The shootings at Virginia Tech were horrific and tragic. That so many promising young lives were cut short by the violent act of one individual made powerful by the possession of a gun, is a cruel demonstration of American values at work. The shock felt by our public, stems primarily from the fact that this violent incident occurred here, on American soil.
Iraqis would not find this type of senseless death shocking - in Iraq, this kind of death happens every day. George W. Bush lied to bring this type of violence and death to the Iraqi people four years ago. He has not offered his condolences to Iraqi families.
Americans do not memorialize the thousands of Iraqi lives lost. Children, grandparents, mothers, fathers, and yes, college students, have all been senselessly murdered in Iraq. In the US, we avoid burning candles for those who have suffered "death by America". Americans are too far removed, and profiting too much from their handiwork, to care. Empathy and justice are not wasted on others. Tears are shed, rightly so, but only for "our own".
My heart is breaking for the families who have lost their loved ones at Virginia Tech. My heart is also broken for the families of the American troops and Iraqi citizens who have been vicitms of Bush's War. Perhaps if CNN endlessly read names, televised photos, and reported stories about Iraqi individuals who were shot or bombed to death, Americans would learn that human pain and suffering is the same for every human being around the globe. Maybe then, the citizens of this country would be moved to stop the violence.
We willingly fund wars and privatized armies of gun wielding thugs like Blackwater, but refuse to support mental health care, or the medical care our veterans, and citizens deserve. Cho Seung-Hui, the shooter at Virginia Tech, was suffering from mental illness. Would the proper mental health care and monitoring have prevented him from committing mass murder?
Cho Seung-Hui's actions were symptomatic of a system riddled with the disease of violence.
What can we do to affect a cure?
Would that we deem violence intolerable.
How about Virginia Tech's budding engineers and their professors research and develop an automobile engine that does not require oil or oil products. We could stop wasting money on the weapons necessary to wage oil wars and save lives, too.
Could this terrible mass murder be turned into something positive? Imagine a center at Virginia Tech dedicated to non-violent methods of conflict resolution. Let's pour money into to such a venture and deny money to the developers of weapons that kill and maim. What better way for Americans to lead, than by example, while embarking on a path to peace?
Honor the dead by limiting the news about the victims to less than 24 hours per day. Sacrifice the ratings to both honor the dead and prevent future incidents.
Finally, keep the damn War President, and his fighter jet security entourage, in their cages.
VIOLENCE BEGETS VIOLENCE
.....Kitchen Window Woman.....
Iraqis would not find this type of senseless death shocking - in Iraq, this kind of death happens every day. George W. Bush lied to bring this type of violence and death to the Iraqi people four years ago. He has not offered his condolences to Iraqi families.
Americans do not memorialize the thousands of Iraqi lives lost. Children, grandparents, mothers, fathers, and yes, college students, have all been senselessly murdered in Iraq. In the US, we avoid burning candles for those who have suffered "death by America". Americans are too far removed, and profiting too much from their handiwork, to care. Empathy and justice are not wasted on others. Tears are shed, rightly so, but only for "our own".
My heart is breaking for the families who have lost their loved ones at Virginia Tech. My heart is also broken for the families of the American troops and Iraqi citizens who have been vicitms of Bush's War. Perhaps if CNN endlessly read names, televised photos, and reported stories about Iraqi individuals who were shot or bombed to death, Americans would learn that human pain and suffering is the same for every human being around the globe. Maybe then, the citizens of this country would be moved to stop the violence.
We willingly fund wars and privatized armies of gun wielding thugs like Blackwater, but refuse to support mental health care, or the medical care our veterans, and citizens deserve. Cho Seung-Hui, the shooter at Virginia Tech, was suffering from mental illness. Would the proper mental health care and monitoring have prevented him from committing mass murder?
Cho Seung-Hui's actions were symptomatic of a system riddled with the disease of violence.
What can we do to affect a cure?
Would that we deem violence intolerable.
How about Virginia Tech's budding engineers and their professors research and develop an automobile engine that does not require oil or oil products. We could stop wasting money on the weapons necessary to wage oil wars and save lives, too.
Could this terrible mass murder be turned into something positive? Imagine a center at Virginia Tech dedicated to non-violent methods of conflict resolution. Let's pour money into to such a venture and deny money to the developers of weapons that kill and maim. What better way for Americans to lead, than by example, while embarking on a path to peace?
Honor the dead by limiting the news about the victims to less than 24 hours per day. Sacrifice the ratings to both honor the dead and prevent future incidents.
Finally, keep the damn War President, and his fighter jet security entourage, in their cages.
VIOLENCE BEGETS VIOLENCE
.....Kitchen Window Woman.....
posted by Kitchen Window Woman at 11:37 AM
2 Comments:
Good post Sister. I did one pretty close to what you said here, only I tried to present a comparison and hoped people would draw their own conclusions.
Jersey Guy over at Alternate Brain asked for a temporary Moratorium on posts on this subject, at least for a few days. I respectfully disagree. Posts like yours and mine are not only appropriate, but timely in that we are addressing a serious situation at a time when most Americans should be able to relate to our arguments.
To wit: our nation is shocked and outraged at the senseless murder of 32 of our children in a single day, yet we remain totally disconnected with the fact that in 2006, an average of 93 Iraqi's were similarly killed each and every day!
Where is the outrage and shock over that?
d.
deuddersun...
I didn't know that a moratorium had been called. It just came out. I wrote more based on outrage. I agree with you that situations like this need to be addressed - especially at a time when they are fresh in people's minds.
If Americans could learn to relate to Iraqis, and whoever else we target around this planet, as humans deserving of respect and caring just like themselves, maybe we could stop the senseless loss of life.
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