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Rolla Peace News July 19, 2016 |
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================================= Dear Friends:In this newsletter is: 1. NOON VIGIL FOR PEACE: THIS WEEK, THURSDAY, JULY 21, 2016 2. CRIME AND PUNISHMENT 3. SOCIOPATH IN WOMEN'S CLOTHING 4. THE MISFIT MATHEMATICIAN (Tom's column, http://tomsager.org) Longer and Stronger: the Arc of Instability Grows
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We vigil for peace in front of the Rolla Post Office THIS THURSDAY, JULY 21, 2016, (and all subsequent Thursdays until peace is established) from Noon to 1:00 PM. Please try to join us. The temperature is predicted to be in the 90s. If you do not feel comfortable standing with us in front of the Post Office, please consider driving by and showing your support for our message by honking your horn and flashing a peace sign. 2. CRIME AND PUNISHMENT This very thoughtful article by Sarah Cate explores the issue of punishment for sexual crimes versus solving the social problems that create the environment for sexual crimes to be more likely. The case in point is that of wealthy college student Brock Turner, who received a very light sentence for raping a passed-out woman, and the outrage and demands for harsher punishment by feminists and left-leaning liberals. Ms. Cate believes that the focus on increasing penalties for privileged perpetrators will lead to increased penalties for all sexual perpetrators, most of whom are not wealthy white men, and she makes a good case for more leniency down the line, coupled with attention to the problems of poverty, poor education, lack of opportunity, and the culture of violence that people are bombarded with from toddlerhood on, via the mass media. The concept of punishment itself, whatever the crime, is way overemphasized, not only in the U.S., but worldwide. It's not so much the cause of war (which we all know is power and greed), but the way the powerful get people to support war. It's how we teach children to solve problems with violence by hitting them when they do something “wrong.” It's a way for prisons-for-profit to ensure repeat customers, by traumatizing and stigmatizing first-time offenders so that they feel ostracized and shut out of normal human activity. What we are doing isn't working; maybe we should start thinking outside of the crime/punishment box. 3. SOCIOPATH IN WOMEN'S CLOTHING There's not much to say about this event, except “WHAT???? REALLY????” In a House of Commons debate on whether to renew Britain's nuclear weapons system (Trident), new Prime Minister Theresa May was asked, “Are you prepared to authorize a nuclear strike that could kill hundreds of thousands of men, women and children?” Her one-word reply: “Yes.” Apparently, for a female politician to be exalted to the ranks of the powerful, she must be willing to relinquish all traces of the milk of human kindness. Theresa May joins Hillary Clinton, Margaret Thatcher and Madeline Albright in the Heartlessness Hall of Fame. When challenged by an MP (also a woman), May accused her opponent of “defending our country's enemies,” a typical tactic to discredit people who don't agree with the establishment. 4. THE MISFIT MATHEMATICIAN (Tom's column, http://tomsager.org) LONGER AND STRONGER: THE ARC OF INSTABILITY GROWS: “I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary; the evil it does is permanent.” —Mahatma GandhiGavin Long, who allegedly killed three police officers in Baton Rouge, was, like Micah Johnson, who allegedly killed five policemen last week in Dallas, a veteran of our wars in the greater Middle East. Long declares in this video: “100 percent of revolutions—of victims fighting their oppressors, from victims fighting their bullies—100 percent have been successful through fighting back. Through bloodshed. Zero have been successful just over simply protesting. It has never worked and it never will. You've got to fight back. That's the only way a bully knows to quit. He doesn't know words. He can't understand words. I promise you. He doesn't understand protest. If you all want to keep protesting, do that. But the serious ones, the real ones, the alpha ones, we know what it's going to take. It's only fighting back or money. That's all they care about. Revenue and blood, revenue and blood, revenue and blood, nothing else. Don't even think about it.” (2:40)There are plenty of counter examples: most recently the Turkish people who (the ensuing government violence not withstanding) non-violently put down an attempted military coup this week. US coalition forces have just killed 77 civilians in Syria, including at least 11 children. How many Micah Johnsons and Gavin Longs were created? Everything is connected. Atrocities we commit “over there” come home and haunt us. Now go back and reread Helen's article on Crime and Punishment. We need to get beyond the violence and revenge mindset. Our lives depend on it. ================== Rolla Peace News is distributed by email once a week on Tuesday evenings (except on rare occasions) and is posted on the web at http://tomsager.org (click on Grassroots Rolla: top of rightmost column).If you don't wish to get notices of peace events in the Rolla area, let me know and I'll take you off this list. If you want to be added to this list, let me know. Wage peace, Helen helenm (at) fidnet.com ### |