Logically, the next best deterrent against violation of the right to assemble is to get the police to weigh the risks they incur by choosing to use violence. Oddly enough, I have seen quite a few people over the years who are very convinced that open carry of firearms during a protest is going to cause all sorts of problems. Every time I have seen this idea put forward, tons of people come out of the woodwork warning the rest of us of the doom that awaits, or at the very least, how it “won’t make any difference.”
The fact that police in the United States have grown increasingly militarized over the last 40 years, and almost no politician or pundit ever took notice at all, is sickening. Nevertheless, isn’t it good that they are finally dealing with reality, even if it is late in the game?
Yes and no.
“YES,” because when it comes to social ill, any public attention is better than no attention at all.
And “NO,” because many people aren’t actually dealing with the problem: they’re dealing with the symptoms.
What would the situation look like if the state of Israel didn’t exist?
What if instead, there was just a land called “Anarcho-Levant” (or whatever people decided to call it), and cities in that land, like Tel Aviv, Gaza, etc. In this land, there are no “Israelis” or “Palestinians,” there are just people. Some of these people are Jewish, some Muslim, others are Christian; there are Bedouins, Arabs, French immigrants…
According to some, such as Harvard professor Steven Pinker:
“Believe it or not…violence has been in decline over long stretches of time, and we may be living in the most peaceful time in our species’ existence.”
Pinker sees the decline of violence as progressing in four stages, the first of which he calls the “Pacification Process.” For Pinker, this process corresponds directly with the rise and development of the first states…
By the numbers, the most extensive and devastating incidents of “anti-Semitic attacks” are actually being wrought by the state of Israel upon the civilians of Gaza. That’s the simple truth.
The overwhelming majority of the people inhabiting Gaza are Semitic.
The “forbidden question” is usually the thing that should demand our attention the most, because it is deemed “forbidden” for a reason. Criminals, perverts, con artists and all sorts of depraved people have a few things in common, and one of them is that they do not want, under any circumstances, for an open, no-holds-barred examination of what they are doing.
Food and drink flow generously; fireworks set the skies alight; rousing songs are played at teeth rattling volume; speeches are given by officials; it is the time when U.S. citizens celebrate their ancestors’ political secession from Britain: “Independence Day,” July 4th.
At least that is the ostensible reason for all the ruckus.
I totally disagree with the notion that the people who are laboring, who are creating the products, moving the products and providing the sheer sweat driving the economy are doing so only because they are too “mediocre” to be the managers of others. Many people simply want to earn a living doing something that they love to do, or have invested years of training learning to do. And no one should disparage them. No one has basis to disparage them: they are the foundation of the entire system…
Stay Connected!
Follow on Twitter, get RSS feed, or check out the Google+ and YouTube pages