Saturday, January 12, 2013

Murder in all degrees



     The argument goes that Americans as a whole are violent murderous people, and to that end we are. But what causes our violent actions? Why are there more and more mass killings, single homicides, malicious attacks and a general disregard of human life? As we sit and watch the news media’s coverage of school shootings and mall shootings, as we open our city’s and town’s newspaper we see story after story of murders and attacks on individuals, retribution killings, brutal attacks and bullying in our schools, hospitals, parks, workplaces and homes, what does it all mean and how do we stop it. Why when we see an attack by individuals on others do we have feelings of hate and anger but yet we are taught that the soldier of our military is immune from these feelings because he or she is there to do a job and it is for the safety of all others. In my mind murder is murder regardless the presence of a uniform or suit or whatever else the victim or perpetrator is wearing.
          
     I had a conversation with a person a while back where I told them that I feel that the US government had committed murder against Osama Bin Laden and that those responsible should be brought to justice. A murder is a murder regardless of uniform or contract with government agencies. In my mind the murder of just one individual regardless of his or her crime should not be committed unless in the case of self-defense. And if you are wondering, no I do not believe the murder of Bin Laden was in self-defense, it was a cold blooded taking of a human life by another human being.
    
     The attacks on The Branch Davidians In 1993, Ruby Ridge in 1992, to the countless wars, operations and downright murder of innocents perpetrated by our US government, we have as a country been led to believe that we are the greatest nation on earth, yet I disagree. As a nation we perpetrate some of the worst crimes against humanity and animals on earth, we indoctrinate the youth using a pledge of allegiance to a flag soaked in the blood of billions of innocent lives, we disgrace the meaning of the word peace by using the burden of peace as a token to advance our wars, we have in the time since we won our independence found a new dependency, it is the blood of others. How can a country’s leader call on its citizens to behave in a manner that the leader does not portray? How can that leader call on the police of this country to disarm its population in an effort to reduce crimes that they themselves commit, how can the people of this country stand to be slaves to tyranny once again. The violence problem does not come from the ability to protect oneself from harm, whoever is perpetrating it. The violence comes from watching what the so called leaders do and mimicking them to a T.
     
     The violence in this country is an area of great concern and needed relief, but what can we do about the actions if the mindset of society is construed to believe that the actions of individuals are far worse than those of its own government. What follows is a post I had made to my personal Facebook wall…. “Were their children not worth as much as those in CT? Were they not just as innocent as those in CT? How can you be outraged at CT but allow the carnage of wars, both on foreign soil and our own. How can you take the grounds that some people, humans, are worth more than others? Do you want to know what's wrong with society, do you want to know why kids go to schools and kill innocent people, and do you want to know why people kill other people? Because of people like those who believe the children who died in Waco in 1993 were not equal with those that died at Oklahoma City in 1995, and those who died in CT were above those killed in Pakistan the same year. It is society’s perception of value of life that has bred individuals to massacre others, to destroy the sanctity of life in so many ways; it is a government who kills indiscriminately in the blasphemous name of homeland security and preservation of peace. It is the citizens who allow this type of behavior and encourage it year after year. Do you really want to place blame where it belongs, just look into the mirror and recite your pledge of allegiance, take your blood soaked flag and wave it high and proud, it is because of you that the tears of mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters, friends and families flow forever onward until the destruction of this rock we call earth.”  This doesn’t provoke feelings of mistrust with a lot of people, it doesn’t call to their attention the fact that so many murders have been committed by the government, the same government that call for its citizens to disarm and to refrain from the violence it is committing on a far smaller scale.
    
      For the sake of this country and of humanity as a whole I hope that we can learn lessons from past transgressions of violence and can in time resort to a more peaceful approach to handling with disputes. I hope that in time more and more people see the fallacy in killing one another; I hope that we can become one unified species and can contribute to this world something great.
 #LiveFree

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