Lately,
every time I get an idea for a blog posting, something else happens that forces
me to re-think what is needed! Here I am
again, having written something previously that now seems irrelevant, given the
events of this past week. Responding to them is difficult and therefore my
thoughts may seem somewhat disordered and disconnected partly because they are
responses to questions that come to mind in a random manner. I must say that further discussion of issues
raised by these events seems unavoidable.
But first, let me express my condolences to
the families and friends of the victims of the synagogue shootings. I plan to attend a memorial at a local
synagogue tomorrow to join others from our local area communities in
remembering and revering those precious lives taken and those devastated by
this tragedy.
The subject
of today’s post is related to the threats that surfaced in the form of pipe
bombs delivered to persons known as continuous critics of Donald J. Trump, and
to the Saturday, October 27, 2018 domestic terrorist shootings at the Tree of
Life synagogue in Pittsburgh’s Squirrel Hill area. Both events add to the urgency of the moments
leading toward perhaps the most critical off-year election in modern history.
With all
that has happened to inflict fear and death upon innocent victims and their families,
leaving many people of good will with uncertainty and anxiety, there are
several intricate and complicated issues to consider. I will address just two of them in this Blog
post: (1) constant lying matters because
words have power; (2) violence and fear-mongering are tools of terrorists and
extremists. I will refrain from
enumerating details of the incidents themselves, believing that most of those
details have been thoroughly broadcast.
Let us proceed,
keeping in mind one basic question: How
can a constitutional democracy address extremist terrorism that threatens the
very existence of the Republic? While
some of my answers may simply reinforce the obvious, it is a matter of pure
necessity for all of us to engage in a serious discussion of the implications
of these incidents of domestic violence and terror.
1) A democratic society must condemn and repel propaganda andBigLies, along with the falsity of cover-up of
facts and wrong-doing. Why? Because lying or false witness undermines
the credibility of a culture, its religious and ethical base, and people’s individual
lives. Lying and fear-mongering are so
potent in their power that whole communities and nations can be destroyed in
terms of their ability to deal with the reality of the world if false witness
is allowed to flourish. Untruth, including the purveyance of invented scenarios
of frightening circumstances, the politicizing of every event and issue, is the
true “enemy of the People.” In all its forms, false witness or untruth
undermines the ability to trust, to engage and to support one another.
This is not just a religious
concept. It is a truth of community life. It is the reality of living in a corporate
entity rather than in a disconnected world of individuals who fail to recognize
their interdependence and mutual responsibility for one another as human beings,
regarding each other as “suspicious,” or as threats or as less-than- human.
Why is lying so powerful? For many
reasons, such as;
a) Lying rips apart a trust that must
exist between people to order life and to enhance our community life, as well
as our common humanity. Sharing truth, honesty and veracity is what provides a
foundation upon which we build communities of peace and cooperation rather than
a hateful suspicion of the ones who are not of our tribe and do not understand,
appreciate or accept other’s cultural beliefs and customs.
b) The tendency of human beings to bear
false witness about “the others” (those who are different) in terms of
stereotypes, biases and prejudices leads to the cancer-like growth of tribal
divisions, suspicions, discrimination and hate that tears at the fabric of our
culture.
c) lies told by politicians to gain
election and keep special privileges greatly diminishes the role and the
ability of government to function on behalf of the People
d) Lying leads to more lying and
covering up the damage that has been done;
e) lies lead to violence to back up
one’s ideology or narrative, to escape responsibility for miscreant behavior,
or to put on a display of strength
f) Lies bring us to a point where government
is not only compromised, but stymied from acting to enhance lives, government
itself, governing standards and the good purposes of our institutions and organizations. We fail over and over to solve problems that
affect many of our citizens because the Big Lies and false narratives prevent
government from functioning at a level that provides universal improvements. The purposeful benefits of government are
stymied mainly because the foundation of Trust between government and the
people is corrupted by untruths, hypocrisy, discrimination and the falsity of
politicizing pressing issues and exaggerating non-essential diversions.
What can we
do about it? Not a lot unless attitudes
about lying are directed toward condemnation and prevention. The awful truth is that our society leans
toward tolerance rather than condemnation.
I’ll offer some thoughts that might engender attitude reversal:
1. strengthen laws and regulations that
demand truth in advertising and product contents
2. upgrade penalties for lies,
withholding of facts and cover-ups by corporations, public officials and
governmental agencies
3. reject or boycott products, services
or organizations that present themselves or their products and services falsely
to the public; praise and reward those who act truthfully and fairly
4. demand proof from all candidates for
office for every claim, statistic or charge they make in written word or
technological broadcast medium and allow for rejection by public media officers
of all advertisements that cannot be backed-up by factual substantive
documentation; re-institute the concept of “equal time” so that the exposing of
untruths will not be costly.
5. stop the covert attack upon consumer
protection boards and councils; we cannot keep tabs on government and private
agencies without watchdogs, appeal boards and advisory councils; we must have
such groups everywhere that fraud and falsity are potential means of hurt and
harm to people
6. use the right to vote to send a
definitive message to every politician who uses false propaganda, made-up
conspiracies and outright lies to maintain his or her position and access to
special interest money;
7. act to provide for recall from office of any
politician who puts special interests, political expediency, monetary gain or
self-aggrandizement above the needs and will of local constituents; start this
on Nov. 6, 2018.
(2) Violence and Fear-mongering are
antithetical in a democracy built upon equal rights, freedom, equal justice
under the law, and equal opportunity to pursue happiness and well-being. Just how does that work?
Inventing scenarios and instilling made-up fears in people results in the following:
Inventing scenarios and instilling made-up fears in people results in the following:
1. voters intimidated by fear of certain
groups (like immigrants from Islamic countries, Mexico, Central and South
America), or traditional fear of “others” like Jews and African Americans, are tricked
into believing that any form of opposition to such groups is acceptable and
therefore doable without consequences
2. those scape-goated by the words and
actions of discrimination, unequal and elongated incarceration, or being kept
out of the mainstream of society are treated and seen as worthless and a burden
to society
3. the talents, skills and ideas of an
enormous number of maligned people are lost to a society that never considers
them as viable or valuable; billions of dollars in advancement and
inventiveness, as well as taxes paid to governments and profits earned for
industrial producers, are lost forever;
it is one of the penalties we pay for sacrificing the contributions of certain
groups by making them objects of fear and loathing
4. the nullification of other citizens
in terms of their “unworthiness” tends to kill their incentive and motivation
to fight a life-long abnormal battle for their rights and better opportunities;
persons in poverty, LGBTQ persons, people of color, minorities, persons
challenged either physically or mentally – these and more represent many of
those who have given up on our institutions -- like government, schools and even
providers of services -- rarely becoming involved with any of them
5. hate speech carries these losses and
abnormal consequences to another level, for such speech is a form of violence
in that it does physical and mental harm to its recipients; because of its
potential to do harm and injury, it is illegal; or, to put it another way, it
is unprotected speech subject to legal penalties because it is against the law
6. violence in all its forms is always destructive
of democratic values and norms; it is a despotic tool by which democracy and
human rights are attacked and destroyed.
It is therefore intolerable, and must be opposed in any of its forms,
whether physical, psychological, ideological, or political.
Violence is always destructive in
some way; it is never justified when used to gain advantage, loyalty, riches,
power or control from or over others.
Whether or not there is such a thing as acceptable violence in war
against evil and destructive forces is an open question not intended to be
addressed here – in any case, even something declared as ‘justified war’ is
destructive of some aspect of democracy and of societies
7. Violence such as bombs sent through
the mail to critics of current political policies and philosophy, or using guns
to kill a hated group built up in someone’s warped mind, both are detrimental
to our form of government, and antithetical to what we are meant to stand for.
What can we
do about it? There are plenty of
suggestions and movements already floating around out there, but we seem not to have the will
to take any bold steps to change the unethical acceptance of violence of many
types. We believe a myth that 2nd
amendment rights extend to guns as well as people. We accept the killing of innocent church,
synagogue and mosque worshipers who happen to be present for worship when some
person takes it upon him (or her?) self to kill people not of their kind. We have come to accept the structured
restriction and discrimination built into many of our institutions like
universities and the justice system. The
killing of innocent black young men by police is simply not acceptable in a
democracy, yet juries still acquit blatant police shootings of innocent victims. It is equivalent to domestic terrorism.
Restrictions
or removal from voter rolls imposed upon voters of certain characteristics is a
form of violence done to persons who have the absolute right to vote as long as
they are registered to do so. The use of
mistakes on registration forms or lack of an invented “proper” ID is a form of
violent removal of an absolute right to vote.
The intended lack of resources, polling places, places to register, even
the change of location of polls without proper notification of voters, is a use
of hurdles that violently reduce the ability to vote.
Forms of
violence against others in violation of our Constitution even extends to (and
from) the current occupier of the oval office who has supported violence (body-slamming,
punches to the face, roughing-up protesters, voter suppression, hate speech,
foreign hacking and other interventions), as an acceptable means of dealing
with protesters, liberals, democrats and children of immigrants seeking
asylum. His personal denigration of
anyone who bugs him, irritates him, criticizes him or does not show enough
loyalty to him is a use of violence that demoralizes and even destroys his
enemies. His conduct of acceptance of
the violence “on all sides” or of “nationalism” is a signal to all hate groups
that he is their leader and supporter.
In my anger
and frustration, I have some thoughts on what we need to do about this, but it
cannot be taken as a full answer because that can only come forth when Donald
Trump is removed from office.
1. on Nov. 6th vote out of
office every Republican who has pledged loyalty to Trump, has practiced
violence that has the potential to harm citizens especially children or has
passed any of his legislation or budgets, or has not spoken against his many
forms of violence
2. support impeachment of Trump
3. support term limits for legislators
and judges
4. remove all special privileges and
waivers of legislative requirements so that Congressmen must obey whatever
they impose on the rest of us
5. condemn violence in any form wherever
it appears, including the public market
6. insist on more volunteer citizens being
involved in the inner workings of government as a check on all forms of
violence, fraud and violation of standards
7. refuse to allow members or supporters
of hate groups or of any form of violence to ever be a candidate for public
office; we must begin to prevent extremists of Left or Right from ever getting on the ballot in the first
place because their views are anti-law, anti-constitution, anti-democracy. In other words, their speech, ideology, and
methods are automatically destructive of democracy and therefore have lost the
privilege of running for office. Such
people are ineligible to run because they cannot truthfully take an oath of office that
contains a promise to support the Constitution.
8. expose every form of violence
wherever we find it
9. stand with others to support their
hurt and pain; give positive feed-back to every person who deserves a
pat-on-the-back; act to support community efforts to address human needs and
flaws; give a hand-up to someone who needs it; speak up when any form of
violence or degradation toward another human being or their heritage stares you
in the face; give allegiance to people’s well-being rather than to symbols,
myths, false narratives, political talking points, or to leaders who use
violence, hate speech, ridicule, lies and exaggeration to create and maintain a
parallel but false reality in which they can control an entire society and its
people.
10. reject leaders who say that only they
can solve problems or make government work;
who claim to know more than the scientists or the experts; who reject
the will of the people in favor of their own judgment; who bully and intimidate
to get their way; who promise one thing and do another; who view others in
terms of their loyalty and usefulness to him or her; who turn standards and
norms upside down in order to advance their own agenda; who posit most
everything on the power of strength, winning victories, greatness, brute force
and negativity
In light of
the horrendous events of this past week, it should be obvious that I do not
fully agree with some of my fellow Democrats (or Republicans) who say we must
simply ‘reduce the rhetoric,’ lower our ‘tone’, and work across the aisle’ to
resolve our problems of division and tribalism.
Such is not a panacea for resolving our divisions. I am in favor of continuing protest of the
violence, neglect and built-in discrimination that exists throughout our
legislative, executive and judicial processes.
We must be vigilant and call out every example of de-constructive action or hate speech that does violence to our form of government.
On the other
hand, I am in favor of bringing back something called (from the Big Band era) –
“accentuate the positive; eliminate the negative, latch-on to the affirmative and don’t mess with Mr.
In-between!” We are currently engaged
with accentuating the negative, eliminating the positive, minimizing the affirmative and ignoring the
moderate middle. Let us end on that note
with the promise that a fuller explanation of that old lyric will be
forthcoming soon!
