JJ's World Views

Tag: Anger

  • People Who Hate

    Last week I was out in the smoking area at school, we were having a lively discussion about whether it is appropriate to hit someone if they do a NAZI salute or use racial slurs.   There were a couple of people who said “If they saw someone doing the NAZI salute and saying ‘sieg heil’ or ‘blood and soil’ they would clock them.”   I was trying to explain to them, that if you do through the first punch, you make yourself and others who also find bigotry offensive look almost as bad as the people you are standing up against.  You fan the flames of hatred and it becomes a powerful force against a positive movement.

    I know that some might think this attitude is naive or even cowardly.  To me it takes a lot of strength to hold back that anger, when I hear stuff like that, not to just clock the person.  I severely dislike bigotry  and hatred, but I know the moment I give in to my feeling of disgust, I give them power over me.  They want people who think like me to resort to violence to prove their point.  It is like in “Batman The Dark Knight Returns” when the Joker is trying to get Batman to commit murder to bring him down to the Joker’s level.  In this analogy of course the Joker is ultra violent and murderous, where as in the scenario I stated in the first paragraph using speech as a way to bring us down to their level.  Unless the other person who is saying the vial and nasty things actually physically assaults me, I will not lift a finger to harm them physically.

    See in the battle of ideas, this is a battle of words and of the mind.  Those with the best ideas will rise to the top as long as they do not resort to violence.  I will argue all day with a racist and try to show them the error of their thinking.  Let’s be honest if i had to argue all day about the subject with that person, there is likely nothing I or anyone would say that could change their mind.  Just like I could not convince this other person that kicking the crap out of a bigot is not the best way to trying to change their mind.  I had help trying to convince the person too about 6 others tried to convince him as well.   Some people just can not be reasoned with.

    This is the same issue on a much larger scale that we have had with extremist in the Middle East.  The U.S. has been trying to force our beliefs through violence and regime change.  If we want to bring the region into the 21st century we are going to have to change our approach to the situation.  First off STOP SELLING WEAPONS PERIOD, TO OTHER COUNTRIES!  Second pull all our troops out of the region making sure we collect all the weapons we have brought over there.  Third close down Guantanamo bay and make that if we try anyone there that it is done fairly and due diligence.  For those we release we should try and help make sure that those people are taken care of, if they are innocent, they have been held there for a long time without trial and they deserve some sort of compensation.  Four gradually as the tensions start to die down try and get food and medical supplies to the civilians.  Though it will take a long time to earn the trust of the people in the region.  This would be just the beginning of the healing process.

    In order for us to have a lasting peace on this planet we must rise against the violence.  We can not defeat an idea with violence it only strengthens their position eyes of those who would follow them.  As I said before and I will say it again the only way to defeat an idea is with a better one.  If you have to resort to violence to support your idea it probably is not worth a damn.

  • A call for calm

         In this historically trying time where people are scared, angry, and hateful. We must remember who we are as a species. We have a tendency to let our emotions get the better of us. Without really trying to find out what caused these situations. This goes for both sides of the Isle and I admit I have let my emotions get to me as well. We must each take some time to look inside ourselves and do a critical analysis. No one is perfect because there is no such thing as perfection. if there were this would be a pretty dull place. Everyone has their own ideas and opinions but before we go out there and committing acts of violence on one another and before families become so far damaged that they can not be repaired let us take a few minutes to reflect on ourselves. this is something most of us do not do or even know how to do.
              We all feel the pain of our current economy. We are all struggling. This is just like in the 60’s and 70’s when protesters would spit on vets and call them baby killers. Which was wrong.  Just like back then the elitist class with which both Clinton and Trump are a part of are pitting us against ourselves so they can control us with our own fears and hate. Why? Because it is easy to do when we are all distracted with family issues, working long hours, and just trying to get by. it has been like this for thousands of years. There is one thing that is different now than in the past our level of Technology.
           Look at what the possibilities we have the power to change this world for the better if we just have the will to do so.  The rich are not always the smartest people in the world.  Some of them just inherited their wealth, some worked for it and others have stolen it from honest hard-working people.  We give more help to the big corporations that give huge bonuses to their CEOs for maximizing profits by underpaying those they need to run their businesses like: Cashiers, cooks and stock people.  We the citizens of this world need to focus on bring the power to the people.  Not the elites.  We know whats best for us not people who have not spent much time in the failing economy that we are in.  We are the ones with the real power that most of us don’t realize we have.  I do not condone violence in any way.  This is why here in America we have the first Amendment.  As a reminder here it is.  “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion; or prohibition the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, press; or the right of the people to peaceably assemble, and to petition the Government for redress of grievances .”  
         The the right to Peaceably assemble if the right to protest which has been used so much over the Past One Hundred or so years.  Martin Luther King used it to fight the Jim Crow laws and the right to vote as a full human,  Women used it to get the right to vote and to have control of their own bodies, and LGBT used it to get the right to marry.  We now need to use this again so that we may have a fair and free society and to keep the peace.  This is going to be a huge hurdle for us to climb but we can do it if we work together as one.  We must set aside our differences to focus on this goal.  We need to hold our leaders feet to the fire and makesure they are doing what is best for all of us not just the privileged few.
    This is our time to shine and rise to the Occasion.
    We have the power and the brains to make this possible.
    Otherwise this civilisation will go the way so many before have gone and collapse in on itself.
    Peace be with you all