We need to talk about—and reflect on—the violent horrors revealed yesterday. First is the soul-crushing video of the brutal beating and murder earlier this month of Tyre Nichols, an unarmed Black man, by five jacked-up Memphis cops after what seemed to have been a routine traffic stop—and after Nichols tried over and over and over to comply to their excessive and depraved use of force. Also, earlier in the day, video was released of the attempted murder with a hammer of Paul Pelosi, the husband of the former House Speaker. These grim acts come at the end of a week that included three mass shootings in California that left 25 of our fellow humans dead. That’s three of 42 mass shootings in just this first month of 2023, as tallied by the Gun Violence Archive, which defines these horrible acts as four or more people killed or injured.
While it’s reasonable to think any question about all this must be rhetorical—Is there really anything we can we do amid such unhinged police brutality and so many acts of violence?—it’s necessary to remember that these police actions are part of a system of policing and mass shootings happen in a culture of violence where it’s easier to buy a gun than adopt a puppy. And even though this day’s question focuses on the American culture of violence, which I contend is distinct in its scale and nature, it’s also necessary to note (tragically) that yesterday’s release of video was on Holocaust Remembrance Day and at least seven people were murdered near a Jerusalem synagogue. That, and Vladimir Putin’s genocidal war in Ukraine is nearly one year old.
So I ask, after so many innocent lives are cut short because our culture of violence permits this deadly, daily drumbeat in our collective life, what can be done? Can we ever change our culture of violence? Or are we left to merely fret, over and over, about man’s inhumanity to man? This is a big question, I know, and perhaps you’d like to answer one particular piece of it—about guns, about toxic masculinity, about murder-filled popular entertainment, about leaders that are modeling cruelty and promoting violence, about an unusually stressful time in history that may motivate people to act out violently. Sadly, this is a topic that we must come back to again and again.
Jan 28, 2023·edited Jan 28, 2023Liked by Steven Beschloss
Part of the Culture of our Violence, are the things that "ENABLE" the violence.
Guns, without question, absolutely are Cause #1. Absolute evidence shows Strict Gun Law states and Countries have both Lower gun Homicides and Suicides.
So - how to change. This is obviously hard. But be not proud. Learn from the Anti-Abortion campaign:
A. Show vividly the actuals Deaths from guns. Gruesome sells in today's America
B. Hold gun owners and 2A absolutionists to Account - Make THEM feel Guilty. Make them OWN the deaths and bloodshed. It is all on them. On the NRA.
C. Attack the irrationality of the 2nd Amendement. - Defeat the idea that "this 2A"part of the Bill of Rights is "god-given" -- Many think Moses came down and gave 2A to Madison. Reject these arguements - loudly.
D. FOCUS -- We live in a clearly Partisan, Arbitrary Judical system. Personal preferences matter more that Judical history and decisions. The Conservative Supreme Court Justices entire philosophical foundation rests now on one principal ---- They are SMARTER than every other Justice before them. They have been given "divine" interpretation of the exact same words in the Constitution, but overturn dozens and hundreds of dumber prior Supreme Court Justices.
E. FOCUS on Gun Control at the ballot box. It will take 10 or 20 years.
F. Elect Democrats (ie not Sinema), who will when in power, pass the Judcial Act of 2026, 2028, 2030, that increases the Supreme Court size again - to have a majority of gun restricting Justices - again.
I immediately focused on ‘jacked up cops’... honestly, those guys were not only on a mission to claim a body, but they seemed high. They should have been subject to drug tests. It was inhuman. It was unconscionable. The fire department didn’t even render aid? I hope this investigation will be deep and thorough. My heart breaks for Tyre and his loved ones. And NONE of those officers should be out on bail. I put my faith in Chief Davis to get to the bottom of this. More women should be in positions of leadership. I will say this until the end of time. Thank you for the opportunity to respond, Steve.
A major problem with law enforcement is they are recruited from the military. The role of the military is to have an Us. vs Them mentality. The military has a direct enemy who they are fighting. They are trained to have a 'warrior mentality'. It gives them a survival method. It is ingrained. Police should not have this mentality. But they do. They see civilians as the enemy against whom they must protect themselves and property. There is a specific training course that adheres to this. At this moment I don't recall the name of they guy who promotes it but it is used widely in the US. There is a reason the majority of people fear the police. They even look more like military than police. There also needs to be better psychological training to weed out people who are not suited to be cops. Qualified immunity needs to go. Have the lawsuits paid out of the police budget or pension and you will see a huge difference. Lastly, gun availability to the public is a major problem in this country. When you see someone all armed up just to go to Wal-mart, you have to ask yourself, what is that person afraid of? Most of these issues are the result of decades of step by step changes by select groups (ex NRA) towards their own goals. I fear it is going to take a horrendous event for any change to start.
Your question this morning fills me with despair, mostly because even attempting such a sea change requires concerted energy and concentrated will power that we lack. When slaughter of innocent young children at school isn’t enough”; when an armed insurrection against our government isn’t enough; when the brutality of police who are sworn to protect and serve isn’t enough, I don’t know what ever will be. Where to even start? How about a remake and return to what police once were? Allies and trustworthy authority figures to whom we could turn for help and who were a part of the community, not sequestered in their own safe environment. They need to be demilitarized as well. Sadly it goes so much deeper with the demonization of those who “aren’t like us”. Different races, forgetting we all descend from the same gene pool out of Africa. LGBTQ+ because we believe they are sinners or whatever other lies we tell to justify marginalizing them. The poor, immigrants seeking a safer life. . .the list goes on. There is a major recalibration of the human story that needs to occur. How do we accomplish this? Regrettably I have only issues confronting us to catalogue. It takes the concerted and organized effort of each of us to create this massive cultural change.
Jan 28, 2023·edited Jan 28, 2023Liked by Steven Beschloss
Thank you for your ongoing writing, ideas, and vision for American democracy! They are deeply appreciated! Responding to your question of today: Perhaps one thing almost all of us could do ~ as citizens, writers, journalists, neighbors ~ is to help "Redefine liberty to include freedom from violence." The idea comes from John Tirman, the late author, researcher, and man of conscience who wrote:
"Preventing gun violence will entail disrupting gun culture — redefining liberty to include freedom from violence, insisting that citizen safety is implicit in the Second Amendment, and scripting gun-free versions of Hollywood heroism. A tall order, but in April, one opinion poll asked, "Would you definitely vote for or definitely vote against a candidate for Congress who wants stricter gun control laws?" Sixty percent said “yes” to a stricter-law candidate. A cultural transformation? It just may be happening."
— John Tirman, author and longtime director of the MIT Center for Int'l Studies
Read his full 2018 commentary on reducing gun violence at:
While our country’s as well as our world’s history bear out its’ inherent nature of man’s inhumanity to man, does not mean that we should at least try to continually lessen this carnage. New approaches must be tried. One could be introducing in all levels of schooling, courses that teach students alternative ways to resolve conflicts and learning about other religions and ethnicities highlighting the similarities not just the differences.
Let there be a counterbalance for students who only hear the negatives at home.
Why haven't we enacted better laws to control guns and gun violence? Because not enough people voted for politicians who would write and pass those laws. Why are the police so brutal? Because our local leaders allow it, and we don't vote them out. The question is why the apathy on the part of the public? Have these things become so commonplace that we ignore them? I see examples of police violence in my town, but the City does nothing to stop it, and the public doesn't demand it. I don't demand it, even though it outrages me. Why?
Thanks for a great article and ask. The free and unfettered access to guns of all sorts is insanity, and only action by the majority of the folks in this country to unleash its power to create the necessary rules - making assault rifles illegal without a strict vetting processes; creating nationwide regulations and licensing requirements, including mental health checks, of all owners/collectors of any firearms, along with measures they must follow for gun safety as a part of the rules - will this insanity stop. Common sense must prevail, which I believe it will, especially after recognition of the fiasco occurring in our House of Representatives finally is understood by not only the majority, but many of the MAGAs who will finally understand that these idiots are going to destroy the goose laying the golden eggs, thus their way of life. It was fun for them thinking they could destroy everything - but they are beginning to understand the consequences of such actions. Unfortunately, not all of them will, but we are still a nation supposedly led by the majority. My optimism says the majority will overcome this and be allowed to move on.
Jan 28, 2023·edited Jan 28, 2023Liked by Steven Beschloss
Thank you for a poignant piece.
Absolutely we can, Mr Beschloss. We have crises of despair and nihilism infecting our culture and our enemies foreign and domestic exploit this.
We need better education as a culture and more reverence for the spiritual, less for commercial interests. The almighty dollar has become too almighty. We need to place that reverence back on humanity, as our founders did. But our system is badly corrupted by immoral greed for money and power. The human condition - but one so much of modern humanity so hubristically ignores, religious dogma so obviously blown out by rational observation.
The teachings of Joseph Campbell offer a way forward, an answer to Nietzche’s famous rationalization that “God is Dead.” That God inside all of us is certainly not, we just need some new, convincing and fitting mythologies to bring that morality and spirituality to a more fundamental place in our society. American Evangelical Christianity is failing us especially.
Otherwise the Hitlers Putins and Trumps of the world will eventually rule over over us.
Steve, thanks for this. I hate to use cliches, but where there’s a will, there’s a way. We can definitely end the violence culture if we really wanted to and we’re willing to give it our all and persist. The national will needs to be strengthened.
The violence we are experience is a byproduct of our current “politics of division”. As long as these events happen to “others” there will be no change. Communities traditionally self-police for belonging to a community means there is a barrier to entry and rules (created by the community) that must be followed remain in the community. Until a critical mass is reached and the community says no there will not be meaningful change. Sigh
Republicans seem to thrive on violence. It’s disappointing and disgusting that our justice system hasn’t dealt with everyone including the ring leaders and Trump regarding the events of January 6.
First we need to clean up our government so our elected officials truly represent the will of the people, not of corporations. Also stop giving Cops paid leaves for killing people.
As a female I have never felt safe, in public and at home. Toxic, violent, male behavior is what needs to be changed first to stop this pandemic of violence. Men need to re-train men. The rest of us are just on the receiving end in a game of Russian Roulette.
I am not holding out any hope. People actually put the gun humpers in charge of our House just two months ago. Whatever it was that was passed last year was largely symbolic. One other observation, if these were white cops I doubt they'd a been charged so quickly. And we all know iit.
It's the damn guns, first and foremost. Then it is the mentality of many in law enforcement. Here in Boise, Idaho we have a scandal of an officer who pretended to be offended by the former chief who later resigned. Then it came out that he was slated to speak at a white nationalist conference. Needless to say, the chief was Asian from Portland. I knew when he was interviewed by a local NBC affiliate that he was lying then, my instinct was spot on about him.
So, it is not only guns but the mentality of many people that own guns (not all of course). Longer and better background checks first and foremost. Age 21 and older, no compromise. I feel firearms should be licensed and have insurance policies. We have that just to drive a vehicle, why not guns and rifles?
Are people good or bad? This ? is as old as time. The answer is both. John Gotti who could murder people and then, go eat dinner, was loved by hundreds in his Queens neighborhood for the parties he threw for them and for "taking care" of anyone who robbed or looted them. Judas followed and worked miracles with Jesus for three years before betraying him for 30 pieces of silver. A policeman can have a mother, wife, children, go to church, cross himself and sponsor orphans, yet go to work and kick,cripple, kill, then plead not guilty.
I don't know how many people read/comment on this column, but we can pontificate, sermonize, propose all the answers possible to fix the problems, but they remain. Yes, we should ban guns, train police, gripe about those in power, but to what end? As Cher would say, the beat goes on. The only protesting I can think of that ever brought anything to fruition were the ones for civil rights led by MLK.
George Floyd-2020 protests. Tyre Nichols-2023 protests. The next one is right around the corner, and it just keeps finding new corners.
The only answers I can think of are voting and education. It should be intelligent, sane, compassionate leaders standing on the soap boxes. Vote for them......in numbers;don't miss one chance. And if, like Ron DeSantis, those in power interfere with teaching the truth, vote them out and hire teachers who are readers, forever students, motivators, upright, who even tho paid paltry sums, give their working lives to make better, more informed citizens to be.
(True about puppies. I know of a woman who wished for the company of a mistreated, rescued dog. , She was all of 70 years old and they said no, too old ! )
Any analysis that does not look at the common denominator - males - is incomplete. It stares us in the face yet reporters and those interviewed about violence and mass shootings just ignore this fact!
As to guns, it is men's fetish with guns/toxic masculinity that is at the root of why we haven't been able to change this insane epidemic.
Only when those who’s default behavior is violence are taught, then begin to recognize and see a violent path does not lead to solutions to our differences..The lessons used to do the teaching will be the key..They may very well have to be in the form of Desperate Measures..After all, we are in Desperate Times..
The well heeled gun lobby roams the halls of Congress, the Congressional leaders unwilling to enact gun registration laws, their fear of losing campaigns should they outlaw automatic weapons, a segment of society that holds dear the antiquated well armed militia” amendment and an uneducated belief system that condones violence and retaliation handed down by generations. I don’t have the answers to society’s ills. I do know that our nation is in trouble.
Some of the problems lie obviously with the SCOTUS and their ludicrous 2nd amendment interpretation. And since our present SCOTUS is corrupt, above the law, and in place for years to come, the only way to fix this is to increase the number of justices, giving Biden the opportunity to nominate six more justices which would all be confirmed by our present democratic Senate. This is doable. It just takes political will on the part of the president. If he does this by EO, it *might* destroy his campaign for 2024, but having 15 justices in place would greatly outweigh the benefits of having him serve a second term. And what a legacy it would be! Is there anyone who could make this argument to him successfully?
No, we cannot change our culture of violence because it is not innate to American culture it is innate to human nature and thus to virtually all cultures to one degree or another. Humanity hasn't evolved as much as we'd like to think over the last 3000, 4000 years. We're still largely primitive creatures that want to destroy the person in the other tribe.
Good question as always Steve: let's start with what we can accuately accomplish as voters--in other words "politics" rather than "culture" which is far more elusive: 1) Inasmuch as the fanatics are currently in charge of the House, I suggest that they will burn their own House down in the next 21 months and it will greatly benefit Democrats' opportunity of wining a very strong majority of twenty seats or more (CA and NY alone could flip 10 seats)! While of course we will have difficulty in the Senate, the only two seats in real trouble are Montana (Tesla) and of course WVA. But, inasmuch as the crazies are in the Senate too, there may be an opportunity to gain one or two seats as well as win Montana as Tesla is a strong retail campaigner. Therefore, adopt Doug's very precise approach in the next Congress:
"F. Elect Democrats (ie not Sinema), who will when in power, pass the Judcial Act of 2026, 2028, 2030, that increases the Supreme Court size again - to have a majority of gun restricting Justices - again."
It's interesting to me that we as a society freely share videos of people being beaten to death by police, but we never share videos of gun violence.
From what I've heard, the kids at Sandy Hook literally had their heads blown off. I don't know if gun violence needs to be shown, since nothing is happening in terms of police reform, but we may need a parent to share an image like this, much like Emmett Till's mother did.
In terms of police reform, we need police to pay lawsuits out of their own pensions. These beatings and shootings will stop right quick.
In terms of gun reform, we need licensing, training, insurance, fines if your gun is stolen and not reported and is then used in a crime, and jail for parents whose kids use their guns. Also, ammo should cost a LOT.
Part of the Culture of our Violence, are the things that "ENABLE" the violence.
Guns, without question, absolutely are Cause #1. Absolute evidence shows Strict Gun Law states and Countries have both Lower gun Homicides and Suicides.
So - how to change. This is obviously hard. But be not proud. Learn from the Anti-Abortion campaign:
A. Show vividly the actuals Deaths from guns. Gruesome sells in today's America
B. Hold gun owners and 2A absolutionists to Account - Make THEM feel Guilty. Make them OWN the deaths and bloodshed. It is all on them. On the NRA.
C. Attack the irrationality of the 2nd Amendement. - Defeat the idea that "this 2A"part of the Bill of Rights is "god-given" -- Many think Moses came down and gave 2A to Madison. Reject these arguements - loudly.
D. FOCUS -- We live in a clearly Partisan, Arbitrary Judical system. Personal preferences matter more that Judical history and decisions. The Conservative Supreme Court Justices entire philosophical foundation rests now on one principal ---- They are SMARTER than every other Justice before them. They have been given "divine" interpretation of the exact same words in the Constitution, but overturn dozens and hundreds of dumber prior Supreme Court Justices.
E. FOCUS on Gun Control at the ballot box. It will take 10 or 20 years.
F. Elect Democrats (ie not Sinema), who will when in power, pass the Judcial Act of 2026, 2028, 2030, that increases the Supreme Court size again - to have a majority of gun restricting Justices - again.
I immediately focused on ‘jacked up cops’... honestly, those guys were not only on a mission to claim a body, but they seemed high. They should have been subject to drug tests. It was inhuman. It was unconscionable. The fire department didn’t even render aid? I hope this investigation will be deep and thorough. My heart breaks for Tyre and his loved ones. And NONE of those officers should be out on bail. I put my faith in Chief Davis to get to the bottom of this. More women should be in positions of leadership. I will say this until the end of time. Thank you for the opportunity to respond, Steve.
A major problem with law enforcement is they are recruited from the military. The role of the military is to have an Us. vs Them mentality. The military has a direct enemy who they are fighting. They are trained to have a 'warrior mentality'. It gives them a survival method. It is ingrained. Police should not have this mentality. But they do. They see civilians as the enemy against whom they must protect themselves and property. There is a specific training course that adheres to this. At this moment I don't recall the name of they guy who promotes it but it is used widely in the US. There is a reason the majority of people fear the police. They even look more like military than police. There also needs to be better psychological training to weed out people who are not suited to be cops. Qualified immunity needs to go. Have the lawsuits paid out of the police budget or pension and you will see a huge difference. Lastly, gun availability to the public is a major problem in this country. When you see someone all armed up just to go to Wal-mart, you have to ask yourself, what is that person afraid of? Most of these issues are the result of decades of step by step changes by select groups (ex NRA) towards their own goals. I fear it is going to take a horrendous event for any change to start.
Your question this morning fills me with despair, mostly because even attempting such a sea change requires concerted energy and concentrated will power that we lack. When slaughter of innocent young children at school isn’t enough”; when an armed insurrection against our government isn’t enough; when the brutality of police who are sworn to protect and serve isn’t enough, I don’t know what ever will be. Where to even start? How about a remake and return to what police once were? Allies and trustworthy authority figures to whom we could turn for help and who were a part of the community, not sequestered in their own safe environment. They need to be demilitarized as well. Sadly it goes so much deeper with the demonization of those who “aren’t like us”. Different races, forgetting we all descend from the same gene pool out of Africa. LGBTQ+ because we believe they are sinners or whatever other lies we tell to justify marginalizing them. The poor, immigrants seeking a safer life. . .the list goes on. There is a major recalibration of the human story that needs to occur. How do we accomplish this? Regrettably I have only issues confronting us to catalogue. It takes the concerted and organized effort of each of us to create this massive cultural change.
Thank you for your ongoing writing, ideas, and vision for American democracy! They are deeply appreciated! Responding to your question of today: Perhaps one thing almost all of us could do ~ as citizens, writers, journalists, neighbors ~ is to help "Redefine liberty to include freedom from violence." The idea comes from John Tirman, the late author, researcher, and man of conscience who wrote:
"Preventing gun violence will entail disrupting gun culture — redefining liberty to include freedom from violence, insisting that citizen safety is implicit in the Second Amendment, and scripting gun-free versions of Hollywood heroism. A tall order, but in April, one opinion poll asked, "Would you definitely vote for or definitely vote against a candidate for Congress who wants stricter gun control laws?" Sixty percent said “yes” to a stricter-law candidate. A cultural transformation? It just may be happening."
— John Tirman, author and longtime director of the MIT Center for Int'l Studies
Read his full 2018 commentary on reducing gun violence at:
https://shass.mit.edu/news/election-insights-2018-john-tirman-reducing-gun-violence
We are a society without a safety net for those who fall through its cracks.
We are a society that treats health care and education as commodities rather than human rights.
We are a society that eschews common sense in favor of the American myth of individualism.
We are a society where the answers to our problems are glaringly obvious (the strict licensing of guns, for example).
But we are a society that is in thrall to unfettered capitalism and lacks the courage to enact real change.
While our country’s as well as our world’s history bear out its’ inherent nature of man’s inhumanity to man, does not mean that we should at least try to continually lessen this carnage. New approaches must be tried. One could be introducing in all levels of schooling, courses that teach students alternative ways to resolve conflicts and learning about other religions and ethnicities highlighting the similarities not just the differences.
Let there be a counterbalance for students who only hear the negatives at home.
Why haven't we enacted better laws to control guns and gun violence? Because not enough people voted for politicians who would write and pass those laws. Why are the police so brutal? Because our local leaders allow it, and we don't vote them out. The question is why the apathy on the part of the public? Have these things become so commonplace that we ignore them? I see examples of police violence in my town, but the City does nothing to stop it, and the public doesn't demand it. I don't demand it, even though it outrages me. Why?
Thanks for a great article and ask. The free and unfettered access to guns of all sorts is insanity, and only action by the majority of the folks in this country to unleash its power to create the necessary rules - making assault rifles illegal without a strict vetting processes; creating nationwide regulations and licensing requirements, including mental health checks, of all owners/collectors of any firearms, along with measures they must follow for gun safety as a part of the rules - will this insanity stop. Common sense must prevail, which I believe it will, especially after recognition of the fiasco occurring in our House of Representatives finally is understood by not only the majority, but many of the MAGAs who will finally understand that these idiots are going to destroy the goose laying the golden eggs, thus their way of life. It was fun for them thinking they could destroy everything - but they are beginning to understand the consequences of such actions. Unfortunately, not all of them will, but we are still a nation supposedly led by the majority. My optimism says the majority will overcome this and be allowed to move on.
Love the way you write. Your recent articles have been spot on and speaks to exactly where we’re at as a community and citizens. Thank you
Thank you for a poignant piece.
Absolutely we can, Mr Beschloss. We have crises of despair and nihilism infecting our culture and our enemies foreign and domestic exploit this.
We need better education as a culture and more reverence for the spiritual, less for commercial interests. The almighty dollar has become too almighty. We need to place that reverence back on humanity, as our founders did. But our system is badly corrupted by immoral greed for money and power. The human condition - but one so much of modern humanity so hubristically ignores, religious dogma so obviously blown out by rational observation.
The teachings of Joseph Campbell offer a way forward, an answer to Nietzche’s famous rationalization that “God is Dead.” That God inside all of us is certainly not, we just need some new, convincing and fitting mythologies to bring that morality and spirituality to a more fundamental place in our society. American Evangelical Christianity is failing us especially.
Otherwise the Hitlers Putins and Trumps of the world will eventually rule over over us.
https://radmod.substack.com/p/thus-answered-joseph-campbell
Steve, thanks for this. I hate to use cliches, but where there’s a will, there’s a way. We can definitely end the violence culture if we really wanted to and we’re willing to give it our all and persist. The national will needs to be strengthened.
The violence we are experience is a byproduct of our current “politics of division”. As long as these events happen to “others” there will be no change. Communities traditionally self-police for belonging to a community means there is a barrier to entry and rules (created by the community) that must be followed remain in the community. Until a critical mass is reached and the community says no there will not be meaningful change. Sigh
Let’s hope we reach the tipping point soon.
Republicans seem to thrive on violence. It’s disappointing and disgusting that our justice system hasn’t dealt with everyone including the ring leaders and Trump regarding the events of January 6.
If fear not without some catalyzing event, which given all the has happened in the last 10 years, is too disturbing to envision what that might be.
First we need to clean up our government so our elected officials truly represent the will of the people, not of corporations. Also stop giving Cops paid leaves for killing people.
As a female I have never felt safe, in public and at home. Toxic, violent, male behavior is what needs to be changed first to stop this pandemic of violence. Men need to re-train men. The rest of us are just on the receiving end in a game of Russian Roulette.
End #CitizensUnited & therefore, the GOP stranglehold on Dem Voters Voices!
I am not holding out any hope. People actually put the gun humpers in charge of our House just two months ago. Whatever it was that was passed last year was largely symbolic. One other observation, if these were white cops I doubt they'd a been charged so quickly. And we all know iit.
It's the damn guns, first and foremost. Then it is the mentality of many in law enforcement. Here in Boise, Idaho we have a scandal of an officer who pretended to be offended by the former chief who later resigned. Then it came out that he was slated to speak at a white nationalist conference. Needless to say, the chief was Asian from Portland. I knew when he was interviewed by a local NBC affiliate that he was lying then, my instinct was spot on about him.
So, it is not only guns but the mentality of many people that own guns (not all of course). Longer and better background checks first and foremost. Age 21 and older, no compromise. I feel firearms should be licensed and have insurance policies. We have that just to drive a vehicle, why not guns and rifles?
Are people good or bad? This ? is as old as time. The answer is both. John Gotti who could murder people and then, go eat dinner, was loved by hundreds in his Queens neighborhood for the parties he threw for them and for "taking care" of anyone who robbed or looted them. Judas followed and worked miracles with Jesus for three years before betraying him for 30 pieces of silver. A policeman can have a mother, wife, children, go to church, cross himself and sponsor orphans, yet go to work and kick,cripple, kill, then plead not guilty.
I don't know how many people read/comment on this column, but we can pontificate, sermonize, propose all the answers possible to fix the problems, but they remain. Yes, we should ban guns, train police, gripe about those in power, but to what end? As Cher would say, the beat goes on. The only protesting I can think of that ever brought anything to fruition were the ones for civil rights led by MLK.
George Floyd-2020 protests. Tyre Nichols-2023 protests. The next one is right around the corner, and it just keeps finding new corners.
The only answers I can think of are voting and education. It should be intelligent, sane, compassionate leaders standing on the soap boxes. Vote for them......in numbers;don't miss one chance. And if, like Ron DeSantis, those in power interfere with teaching the truth, vote them out and hire teachers who are readers, forever students, motivators, upright, who even tho paid paltry sums, give their working lives to make better, more informed citizens to be.
(True about puppies. I know of a woman who wished for the company of a mistreated, rescued dog. , She was all of 70 years old and they said no, too old ! )
Any analysis that does not look at the common denominator - males - is incomplete. It stares us in the face yet reporters and those interviewed about violence and mass shootings just ignore this fact!
As to guns, it is men's fetish with guns/toxic masculinity that is at the root of why we haven't been able to change this insane epidemic.
Only when those who’s default behavior is violence are taught, then begin to recognize and see a violent path does not lead to solutions to our differences..The lessons used to do the teaching will be the key..They may very well have to be in the form of Desperate Measures..After all, we are in Desperate Times..
The well heeled gun lobby roams the halls of Congress, the Congressional leaders unwilling to enact gun registration laws, their fear of losing campaigns should they outlaw automatic weapons, a segment of society that holds dear the antiquated well armed militia” amendment and an uneducated belief system that condones violence and retaliation handed down by generations. I don’t have the answers to society’s ills. I do know that our nation is in trouble.
Some of the problems lie obviously with the SCOTUS and their ludicrous 2nd amendment interpretation. And since our present SCOTUS is corrupt, above the law, and in place for years to come, the only way to fix this is to increase the number of justices, giving Biden the opportunity to nominate six more justices which would all be confirmed by our present democratic Senate. This is doable. It just takes political will on the part of the president. If he does this by EO, it *might* destroy his campaign for 2024, but having 15 justices in place would greatly outweigh the benefits of having him serve a second term. And what a legacy it would be! Is there anyone who could make this argument to him successfully?
No, we cannot change our culture of violence because it is not innate to American culture it is innate to human nature and thus to virtually all cultures to one degree or another. Humanity hasn't evolved as much as we'd like to think over the last 3000, 4000 years. We're still largely primitive creatures that want to destroy the person in the other tribe.
Good question as always Steve: let's start with what we can accuately accomplish as voters--in other words "politics" rather than "culture" which is far more elusive: 1) Inasmuch as the fanatics are currently in charge of the House, I suggest that they will burn their own House down in the next 21 months and it will greatly benefit Democrats' opportunity of wining a very strong majority of twenty seats or more (CA and NY alone could flip 10 seats)! While of course we will have difficulty in the Senate, the only two seats in real trouble are Montana (Tesla) and of course WVA. But, inasmuch as the crazies are in the Senate too, there may be an opportunity to gain one or two seats as well as win Montana as Tesla is a strong retail campaigner. Therefore, adopt Doug's very precise approach in the next Congress:
"F. Elect Democrats (ie not Sinema), who will when in power, pass the Judcial Act of 2026, 2028, 2030, that increases the Supreme Court size again - to have a majority of gun restricting Justices - again."
It's interesting to me that we as a society freely share videos of people being beaten to death by police, but we never share videos of gun violence.
From what I've heard, the kids at Sandy Hook literally had their heads blown off. I don't know if gun violence needs to be shown, since nothing is happening in terms of police reform, but we may need a parent to share an image like this, much like Emmett Till's mother did.
In terms of police reform, we need police to pay lawsuits out of their own pensions. These beatings and shootings will stop right quick.
In terms of gun reform, we need licensing, training, insurance, fines if your gun is stolen and not reported and is then used in a crime, and jail for parents whose kids use their guns. Also, ammo should cost a LOT.
Nuff said! I do agree.