A Brockporter commenter brags about more assault rifles in Brockport

The following comment was left on The Brockporter Online News Magazine on 12/28/12 at 5:50 PM:

Michale Moore is nothing but a loud mouth shill for the Democrates and left wings whacks.

President Obama should be awarded with the "Gun Salesman of the year award" I have picked an AK 47, three firends have purchased "assult weapons" and another two will be placing their orders over the weekend. None us would have thought of buying these guns if not for the pending ban.

So all you liberals who breath the smoke Dave is blowing up you rear just know in the Brockport area there are 3 and soon to be 5 brand new high powered rifles with larg mags. Just makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

Why would people in Brockport feel a need to arm themselves with assault rifles? What are they afraid of? What makes people so afraid of "liberals" that they feel they need to arm themselves? There are many people in the Brockport area who do not live in fear and do not believe that their ultimate safety depends on violence perpetrated with instruments of death.

Fear begets fear and fearful people attack people they perceive as threatening them perpetuating the cycle of violence. As Jesus taught us, the antidote to fear is love. He told us to put away our swords and to love our enemies. Those who have the ears to hear, may they hear. Those who do not have the ears to hear will arm themselves and attack their neighbors whom they perceive as threatening them emotionally, mentally, and/or physically. We hope that the fearful in Brockport will find peace to replace their distress. The Amish have found a way to do this as have the Quakers, the Unitarian Universalists, some Buddhists, Pax Christi,  and other people of faith who have understood that violence is not the salvation for humanity.

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The Brockporter Book of The Week - Children and Fire by Ursula Hegi

I have always been fascinated by the question of how the holocaust could occur in a Christian country in the cradle of Western Civilization? How is it that the Germans could methodically kill 6 million people and gain the complicity of many other European nations as well?

In fiction, Ursula Hegi gives us some understanding of answers to these questions. Her first book in the Burgdorf cycle (referring to the fictitious village where her characters live and the action occurs), Stones From The River, begins the story of how fascism fueled by fear and propaganda can insinuate itself into a population and turn them to extreme evil which becomes so common place and widely accepted that it becomes banal.

The setting for the fourth book in the Burgdorf cycle is February 27, 1934, the first anniversary of the staged burning of the Reichstag, the Parliament building in Berlin, Germany. Similar to 9/11 in the United States, this event gives the Nazi government, the excuse it needs to begin its burning of books, its propagandizing the youth, its increasing demonization and discrimination against its Jewish citizens, and its increasing militarization.

The story is about Thelka Jansen who becomes the teacher of 10 year old boys in a Catholic Parochial school. Her young students, whom she tries to protect from the consequences of these misguided policies, become recruited to serve in Hitler's Nazi youth program the "Hilter-Jugend". Thelka justifies her cooperation thinking that Hitler's regime is only a temporary phenomenon and he will pass from power as quickly as he came into power.

As the story continues, Thelka, the result of an out of wedlock pregnancy, learns that her biological father is Jewish. As she has to produce a family geneology she stumbles across the fact that her father is her adoptive father who married her mother to save her from the stigma of being an unmarried mother and having to give up her child to adoption.

Thelka struggles with her ethical sensibilities in the face of societal pressures towards evil policies and the seduction of her students, whom she genuinely loves, into acting out dynamics which those policies not only encourage, but require, in order to avoid significant censure.

The narrative reminded me of Brockport where we have Hometown Heroes banners hanging from our light poles extolling the virtues of the community's young people who have become not only pawns but the agents of immoral policies of torture, pre-emptive invasion, and killing of people demonized as "terrorists" for political purposes advancing the agenda of capitalistic corporations whose bottom line has become more important that human lives and sustaining and promoting a civilization on values of peace, liberty, and justice.

Hegi's books in the Burgdorf cycle are not only enjoyable fiction, but stories with important lessons about how good people do bad things.

I highly recommend Children and Fire by Ursula Hegi which is available at the Lift Bridge Book Shop in downtown Brockport and on the Brockporter Amazon book carousel in the right hand column.

The Brockporter Book Of The Week is a regular feature of the Brockporter Online News Magazine and appears most Fridays.

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Brockporter Film Of The Week - Django Unchained

Director Quentin Tarantino is known for his violent films. The violence is a caricature of vengeance. It is as if Mr. Tarantino is making fun of the human penchant for vengeance by making the violence so violent that it startles and repulses the viewer. This seems to be his schtick in Django Unchained which is a film about Dr. King Schultz, a dentist, who makes his money as a bounty hunger in the pre-civil war south. Schultz finds a slave who can help him identify his next targets and in return for the slave's help promises him not only his freedom but is assistance in locating his wife who was sold to a different slave owner as punishment when Django and his wife attempted to run away. The movie is one violent altercation after another with enough sickening scenes to give every holiday vengeance junkie his fix.

After viewing this film with its constant depiction of violent vengeance as the antidote for injustice, it helps me understand at a deeper level how Newtown and Webster can occur in our society. We are a society that not only easily turns to violence as the response to injustice but revels in it with a sadistic joy reminiscent of the orgasm Americans had with "shock and awe" when U.S. troops obliterated Bhagdad in self-righteous justification for the myth that the Iraqis had perpetrated 9/11. At the moment of "shock and awe" the rational reality check no longer held sway, it was the sadistic emotional arousal Americans were after.

It is films like Django which validate this sadistic joy in violent vengeance which is so much a part of the American culture that I am sure Django will be a big hit and already is nominated for multiple awards.

If you like cinematic depiction of graphic violence such as dogs tearing apart a screaming run away slave, white plantation owners betting on their slaves beating each other to death in their gaming rooms for the sport of it, and multiple scenes of geysers of blood spouting from gun shot bodies, then Django is the best pornographic film of the season available for your viewing pleasure right here in Brockport's downtown Stand theater.

As you might guess by now, I don't recommend it, and certainly don't recommend it for children, adolescents, and young adults who have chips on their shoulder and a penchant for solving their morose problems with violence. It is this kind of "entertainment" which is the backstory if we are searching for understanding of how violence occurs in our society.

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Root problems for gun violence in the United States - Michael Moore's ideas

From the Huffington Post 12/24/12, Michael Moore, Celebrating the Prince Of Peace In The Land Of Guns:

While we are discussing and demanding what to do, may I respectfully ask that we stop and take a look at what I believe are the three extenuating factors that may answer the question of why we Americans have more violence than most anyone else:

1. POVERTY. If there's one thing that separates us from the rest of the developed world, it's this. 50 million of our people live in poverty. One in five Americans goes hungry at some point during the year. The majority of those who aren't poor are living from paycheck to paycheck. There's no doubt this creates more crime. Middle class jobs prevent crime and violence. (If you don't believe that, ask yourself this: If your neighbor has a job and is making $50,000/year, what are the chances he's going to break into your home, shoot you and take your TV? Nil.)

2. FEAR/RACISM. We're an awfully fearful country considering that, unlike most nations, we've never been invaded. (No, 1812 wasn't an invasion. We started it.) Why on earth would we need 300 million guns in our homes? I get why the Russians might be a little spooked (over 20 million of them died in World War II). But what's our excuse? Worried that the Indians from the casino may go on the warpath? Concerned that the Canadians seem to be amassing too many Tim Horton's donut shops on both sides of the border?

No. It's because too many white people are afraid of black people. Period. The vast majority of the guns in the U.S. are sold to white people who live in the suburbs or the country. When we fantasize about being mugged or home invaded, what's the image of the perpetrator in our heads? Is it the freckled-face kid from down the street -- or is it someone who is, if not black, at least poor?
I think it would be worth it to a) do our best to eradicate poverty and re-create the middle class we used to have, and b) stop promoting the image of the black man as the boogeyman out to hurt you. Calm down, white people, and put away your guns.

3. THE "ME" SOCIETY. I think it's the every-man-for-himself ethos of this country that has put us in this mess and I believe it's been our undoing. Pull yourself up by your bootstraps! You're not my problem! This is mine!

Clearly, we are no longer our brother's and sister's keeper. You get sick and can't afford the operation? Not my problem. The bank has foreclosed on your home? Not my problem. Can't afford to go to college? Not my problem.

And yet, it all sooner or later becomes our problem, doesn't it? Take away too many safety nets and everyone starts to feel the impact. Do you want to live in that kind of society, one where you will then have a legitimate reason to be in fear? I don't.

For more click here.

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Letter to the editor - Parity for coverage of mental health

Dear Editor:

As people think about the numerous mass shootings across the country this Fall, one of the reactions has been to talk about the importance of improving the Mental Health system.  This is essential to the health and well being of all Americans.

Acknowledging that mental heal problems are real, that they have consequences, and that they can be treated is an important first step.  The next step is to move toward parity between mental and physical illnesses.

Medicare should cover mental health diagnoses the same way it covers medical diagnoses.

Insurance companies should be required to cover mental health diagnoses the same way they cover medical diagnoses, and with the same co-pays as for primary care visits.

In New York, Timothy's law does provide some protection but many still find mental health care unaffordable.  In most of the rest of the country, and for those on Medicare, it is often out of reach.

Please reach out to your legislators to make this a top priority.

Sincerely,

David M. Newman, MD
Evergreen Family Medicine

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Christmas Sermon - Oh ye of little faith, will you believe?

Today is the day we celebrate the birth of Jesus of Nazareth. Contrary to the perverted belief that he came to save us, by dying on the cross, for our sins, he came to show us how to live. His instruction is widely ignored especially by those who claim to be the most devout believers. Gandhi once said that he would become a Christian if he ever found a church which actually followed the teachings of Jesus.

The birth of Jesus signifies, according to most Christians, that God so loved the world that he became incarnated in human flesh in the person of Jesus. As a Unitarian Universalist, I believe that God has become incarnated in human flesh in all human beings. As  Unitarian Universalists we covenant to affirm and promote the inherent worth and dignity of every person.

Now that the insane belief that the world was coming to an end on 12/21/12 did not come to pass and that we as humans will have to go on living on this planet, a planet we are slowly destroying,  it is time for us to covenant and promote a respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part. As Jesus tells us this includes the least among us: the sick, the poor, the incarcerated, those who mourn, and the meek. Jesus tells us to love our enemies, and he clearly tells us that the way to the Kingdom is "to love as I have loved."

Christmas is the one time of year that we remind ourselves that Jesus was born to encourage us to do difficult things and to manage ourselves in loving ways and to take care of each other and the earth as God would have us do. He also told us that just saying "Lord, Lord" is not enough. We must act right, live right, and if we do so we can justifiably have great hope that we will all arrive in the Kingdom together.

As we ponder the meaning of Sandy Hook and Webster, we will miss the lesson if we focus on gun control and mental health, the violent acting out are symptoms of a spiritual disease which is destroying us. It has metastasized throughout our society. It is the disease of pride, greed, selfishness, and violence. We have seriously ignored the lessons which Jesus came here to teach us and we have totally misconstrued the meaning of his life which ended violently at the hands of the Romans in a horrendous torture and crucifixion which had little to do with Jesus' life and what he taught. (If you want to understand Jesus, read the Sermon On The Mount)

As Americans we have a long history believing in torture and violence as a means to creating safety. This belief cannot save us from ourselves. The belief in redemptive violence is insane and has done tremendous harm to the world. Jesus never taught such a thing and we are reminded at this time of year that Jesus was not born to die a terrible death to save us from our sins, but rather he was born to live a life of love to teach us how to love. We have been terrible students. Perhaps with the celebration of his birth this year, and reflection on the meaning of his life, we can develop a new and more beneficial understanding of what Jesus of Nazareth, who we proclaimed the Christ, life's lessons really are.

Jesus has blessed us with the lessons. Are we ready to learn them or will more have to die? This Christmas let us reflect on what Jesus taught - a world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all based on a loving kindness which surpasses the understanding of our reptilian brains. Jesus' life calls us to become our better selves and as he said repeatedly, "Oh ye little faith, if you only knew how much your father loves you.

We are loved. Jesus told us. This is our gift. Jesus was born to tell us, and show us. If we only had the faith that we are loved unconditionally, we could move mountains.However, we arm ourselves, are the major exporter of weapons around the world, and believe, just based on our military budget, that we live in an insecure world where we are hated and will be taken advantage of unless we can get our enemies before they get us. What kind of a world is this that we have created for ourselves? Jesus taught just the opposite that this is a loving world and the way to the kingdom is through loving kindness not through weapons. There are those that promote a view of his torture and crucifixion as his legacy. There are those that teach that their God demands this kind of sacrifice. This is not Jesus' god and he didn't come here to teach this. The idea of redemptive violence is a radical perversion of Jesus' message of God's love for us.

At this Christmas season we hear the rhetoric which proclaims that the way to safety is to turn our schools into armed fortresses and that the way to light and peace is to arm ourselves with automatic weapons. The world has gone insane because of its fear. May the teachings of the Prince of Peace find their way into your hearts.

May the loving peace of Jesus true message be your gift this season and throughout the year.

Amen

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Third World America by Chris Hedges

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