Daily Topics - Monday January 10th, 2011
By shawnt56
Truthout is proud to bring you an exclusive series from America's No. 1 progressive radio host, Thom Hartmann. We'll be publishing weekly installments of Hartmann's acclaimed new book, "Rebooting the American Dream: 11 Ways to Rebuild Our Country." We invite Truthout readers to join us as, chapter by chapter, we explore these groundbreaking ideas for national transformation.
Hour One: Why is the right more inclined to violence than the left? Thom talks with Mark Potok, Director-Intelligenc Project at the Southern Poverty Law Center - www.splcenter.org
Hour Two: Gabrielle Giffords attack and the SarahPAC connection - Lee Fang, Reporter/Blogger-Think Progress.org will be here - www.thinkprogress.org
Hour Three: Gabrielle Giffords outspoken against "Brewercare" - Zaid Jilani, Reporter/Blogger-Think Progress.org will be here - www.thinkprogress.org; Plus, Environment of Hate...then and now - Thom talks with JFK historian/author Lamar Waldron - www.legacyofsecrecy.com
Comments
#2
I heard VP Biden is in Afghanistan right now, and I suddenly wondered what country we fly over to get there. Is can't be Iran, so is it Pakistan? Or Turkey-Azerbaijan-Armenia-Turkmenistan?
#3
The gun law thing is a real loser for Democrats. The Nation wrote that gun laws were a "Democrat Killer." Republicans have been very successful in using this issue because they don't care if I have an Armalite M15 with 30 round magazines. They have Blackwater, Triple Canopy, CCA, the National Guard, and the US Military, AND Bush signed the repeal of Posse Comitas in 2006. They'd only be concerned if I showed up with the same forces.
Even if the 1994 ban on magazines was still in effect, there were already plenty of 16 round magazines still available for Beretta 92 and like pistols. There were plenty of 30 round magazines available for Kalashnikov rifles.
My friend, an American who lived with her husband in Mexico for 15 years, noted while personal ownership of firearms was illegal, abiding with the law was insane.
Weapons are things. We have a problem with behaviours, and it seems that we aren't quite ready to do that sort of heavy lifting.
#4
Not having sensible gun laws aren't really helping the victims much, worrying about how it effects a political party first seems pretty cynical at best. You can't say laws are pointless because some people will ignore them and/or figure out how to get around them. I mean, realistically, I'm not against people owning guns, but if an individual can't pass a mental evaluation, well I'm against that person owning any weapon. There are a lot of holes in the system, and a right to bare arms doesn't mean I have a right to juggle grenades in town square for kicks.
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#5
There have always been sensible restraints regarding weapons possession and use. It seems that passing more laws in the face of evidence to their ineffectiveness requires that we look for other approaches to dealing with the natural problems inherent in our increasingly crowded and imbalanced social systems.
Humans have the evolutional advantage of memetics in that we can implement institutionalized and societal education across generations. We seem to be a bit slow on the uptake; we keep getting suckered into listening to the loudest. Those who know the least seem to know it the loudest.
The right wing implemented a plan generations ago: take over school boards and shape the minds of the next generations. Don't teach people how to think; tell them what to think.
Douglas Adams said, "Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so."
#6
Little late to issue a word of caution in the midst of high emotions over the weekend's events.
One thing we should have learned from Bush and 911 is that we had the sympathy of the whole world after 911, but Bush squandered it by going on the offensive.
It's not exactly the same but I would have gone that opposite way regarding this weekend, but after hearing Stephanie's show and yours, it appears the ship has sailed.
The Michael Moore analogy of a Muslim targeting people and then another killing one of the targets is also a stretch. I adore Moore, but that would be like a person targeting people for death and then another killing based on that vs the reality which was targeting election seats regarding an election and one without the pressence of mind to understand that taking it literally as targeting the person for death. If the Muslim was implying that muslims need to get out and vote and the targets were political races, then maybe, but I don't think the Moore analogy allows for that.
If the following website is true, democrats have also used images with targets during elections.
http://www.verumserum.com/?p=13647
I loath Palin, but I would again, recomend moarning the victims before jumping on the vitriol bandwagon.
If one feels the need to do so, there are the more blatant events to look at such as;
http://proarizona.blogspot.com/2011/01/flashback-gifford-opponents-had-m16.html
Regarding your statement about talking to your neighbors, a look at any of the target maps shows that my neighbors were all in blue states. (I now live in Germany) The big problem is regional, imho. Rural, provincial, conservative areas are usually devoid of large percentages of academics and academic instituitons and full of propanganda bombardment and the icing on the cake, huge influence by authoritarian right wing religious institutions that I find anything but Christian, and that indoctrinate kids from a young age.
I think more liberals don't want their children growing up in that atmosphere and move out of those areas asap. Attempts of prosilitation to these types is usually met with disbelief. It would be like you convincing Gainor that hes wrong.
I don't really have any solutions for this.
History unfortunately shows that if people don't learn from the past and take the path of knowledge and solidarity over fear and authoritarianism, as they have in much of Europe, then the path of change is usually through chaos and catastrophe.
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I have to say this in all seriousness. The left has been predicting this type of result from the ratcheting up of violent language from right wing political leadership. But taunting the right with "I told you so" isn't going to resolve anything. I know its pretty tempting to just jump all over the leadership on the right, but what is the end game of that? Limiting free speech even more? Instead of talking about the gun laws and revisiting that issue, since that fight is too hard and daunting, and lets face it not as fun, the left will attack the right and just add more fuel to their fire.
In the long run will this help Palin... you betcha!
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