"We," Americans were responsible for post-World War II prosperity, put on a man on the moon, invented the i-phone, Marilyn Monroe (who?), Michael Jackson, Lady Gaga...
but we did not invent freedom and democracy. It took centuries...and moments...and other nations.
Many if not most of us have experienced bullying before or live in fear of it. We have known the feeling in the pit of our stomachs, in the muscles of our neck, the way we contract or freeze, the clenched jaw.
No, we did not invent freedom from bullying or violence.
(And yet we believe that our American freedom is something absolute and immutable, perfect, superior, and eternal).
Bullying and "games" of domination and submission may be part of human nature, but to believe to deny their existence at all levels of society is to not understand the nature of violence.
* * * * *
Individual freedom, the freedom of the individual to think freely and to express his opinions and communicate his observations to others is not something Americans in 2013 particularly respect.
One has only to look at online chat forums where people with dissenting opinions are frequently heckled and disrespected--in essence, to force a hasty retreat.
The law of the mob prevails. Majority rules, and not only that, the majority opinion imposes itself to the extent that those with dissenting opinions become afraid to express them, to even think them. Auto-censure becomes the rule, not so different, in essence, from the Inquisition of the 15th century in Europe, which strenuously sought to instill by fear to circumscribe even what people thought.
Now we have fear by ridicule, humiliation, and bullying--a new form of tyranny.
Those who "lose it" and commit acts of horrific gun violence: I wonder if anyone ever really listened to what they needed to say at least one person.
On the other end of the chain is the conventional wisdom whereby everyone needs to listen to African-Americans and the litany of sins committed against them rehashed, re-framed, and rewritten about. As if half a century (from the early '60's, with To Kill a Mockingbird and A Raisin in the Sun onward) were not enough and as if no American had not had the memory of Dr. Martin Luther King impressed into his conscience for the entirety of his or her life.
How many more witch-hunts do we need to conduct or justifications for the most egregious acts of physical violence by reference to the past?
* * * * *
Maybe it is time to listen to a new class of "victims." To be open to other realities impinging on the one that has been taught and recited ad infinitum by schools, media, community, and government.
but we did not invent freedom and democracy. It took centuries...and moments...and other nations.
Many if not most of us have experienced bullying before or live in fear of it. We have known the feeling in the pit of our stomachs, in the muscles of our neck, the way we contract or freeze, the clenched jaw.
No, we did not invent freedom from bullying or violence.
(And yet we believe that our American freedom is something absolute and immutable, perfect, superior, and eternal).
Bullying and "games" of domination and submission may be part of human nature, but to believe to deny their existence at all levels of society is to not understand the nature of violence.
* * * * *
Individual freedom, the freedom of the individual to think freely and to express his opinions and communicate his observations to others is not something Americans in 2013 particularly respect.
One has only to look at online chat forums where people with dissenting opinions are frequently heckled and disrespected--in essence, to force a hasty retreat.
The law of the mob prevails. Majority rules, and not only that, the majority opinion imposes itself to the extent that those with dissenting opinions become afraid to express them, to even think them. Auto-censure becomes the rule, not so different, in essence, from the Inquisition of the 15th century in Europe, which strenuously sought to instill by fear to circumscribe even what people thought.
Now we have fear by ridicule, humiliation, and bullying--a new form of tyranny.
Those who "lose it" and commit acts of horrific gun violence: I wonder if anyone ever really listened to what they needed to say at least one person.
On the other end of the chain is the conventional wisdom whereby everyone needs to listen to African-Americans and the litany of sins committed against them rehashed, re-framed, and rewritten about. As if half a century (from the early '60's, with To Kill a Mockingbird and A Raisin in the Sun onward) were not enough and as if no American had not had the memory of Dr. Martin Luther King impressed into his conscience for the entirety of his or her life.
How many more witch-hunts do we need to conduct or justifications for the most egregious acts of physical violence by reference to the past?
* * * * *
Maybe it is time to listen to a new class of "victims." To be open to other realities impinging on the one that has been taught and recited ad infinitum by schools, media, community, and government.
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