Restoring Dignity After War

Many bad things happen in war - it's just the destructive nature of war. For civilians it's not the nature of war that is important, it's the nature of the human beings caught up in war.

There's a science to waging war that civilians know very little about. There are schools with professors, venerable war colleges, well-educated alumni and elite thinkers on how to wage better wars.

It seems strange to say better wars. Better is a funny word to use when describing wars. Better wars are less expensive, kill less civilians, cause less physical damage, but by nature war is still destructive and chaotic - a combination of the controlled and uncontrolled circumstances. And we hear about the mistakes that happen in war, but as we say, that's war.

The affects of war on civilians begins in the time well before; in the time leading up to war. Preparing a nation for war is a systematic process in which we're introduced to the opponent; in which we're taught to marginalize and dehumanize them. This process is necessary because at the deepest level we feel empathy for others and find it difficult to inflict suffering, but we're trained with an onslaught of press releases and media coverage about the evil nature of the opponent. All of this effort leading up to war is designed to desensitize us and override our natural tendencies not to fight.

In the mental preparation leading up to war material is circulated to educate us about who is good and who is evil. We're taught that the opponent is not good, that their policies are not good, that their lifestyle, their manner of speaking, dress, color of skin, culture, religion and just about anything else that is different - is not good. This process leads us down a path to dismiss our opponent's humanity, something we need to do as humans in order to accept killing other humans.

After the battle, or war, this mindset is not easily altered back. We continue to view the opponent as less human. We may engage in systematically stripping our opponent of their cultural identity in an attempt to replace what was theirs with what is ours - an attempt to replace the old with the new.

It's not clear whether the recent incident in Bagram Afghanistan where American troop burned the Muslim holy book was an act of aggression, but it is quite likely that this was a result of a great deal of disregard for the old. Although the burning may not have been carried out with malicious intent and it was probably the result of carelessness, it was nevertheless likely related to a decade of disregard toward the opposing culture.

The trouble we face now is that there's no effective means to change such long term ingrained attitudes within ourselves. After waging war for a decade it's become natural to disregard the enemy. In this incident, yet another in a string of embarrassing incidents, America may finally realize it's been engaged in war for too long and that the resultant disregard for others is not and should not be characteristically American. Simply put, the wars have gone on for too long, put too many American troop at risk and presented too many opportunities for mistakes. Now more than ever it seems right to say, "America, it's time to put wars behind and put to work to restoring dignity."

A Sad Story Plays Again, Again, Again,...

A story breaks across the news boards. In a California Federal officers; agents trained and duly authorized to carry weapons and then something goes tragically wrong.

It's a sad story and these were Federal employees required, authorized and trained to carry weapons , but here we will go again with another round of discussion about guns and how wonderful it is to carry one. The bottom-line is that guns are deadly weapons and humans, whether professionals, average citizens or criminals, are fallible - that part of human nature is very well documented.

Put a gun in the hands of a human being and you've got a bigger risk - a much bigger risk, of a deadly outcome than if there was no gun. This is really simple stuff, but we keep going back to our right to bear arms as if that makes any difference to those who've suffered at the wrong end of the trigger. Guns have purpose, but most people shouldn't have one because their purpose is not compelling enough to outweigh the risk that they'll suffer a momentary bout of depression, anger or miscalculation.

A bullet travels with purpose to its target and it can't be taken back - it is the final solution - it can't be taken back. And that's really a critical point, because so much of our human interaction is flawed and we so often find ourselves apologizing for something we'd said or done at a weaker moment, but with the bullet there's no going back unless you believe in a second chance in the life hereafter.

For Constitutionalists a better effort would be to defend life.

MLK In Our Hearts

There's a special place in our hearts for the man, Martin Luther King, Jr. The man who gave so much of himself to us.

MLK, as he has come to be known, was a man with big ideas. He spoke of mountain tops and valleys evoking messages of biblical proportions. His words rang through our souls.

There it is. Martin Luther King, Jr spoke words to enlighten humanity. He spoke of a timeless and tireless dream - words of inspiration.

On the grounds of the Nation's Capital rests a monument among many monuments to commemorate MLK, not so much to a man, but to the words. We shouldn't forget the words are more powerful than any man. Nearby is a similar monument to FDR. There again, a monument to the words.

The question is what makes the words and what brings forth such words from some one? Where did the words come from? Was it divine intervention?

As in MLK's time, there's a new day dawning around the globe. There is unrest and there are protests around the globe responding to imbalances of power and wealth. It's too bad MLK isn't here today to share his wisdom, to console the masses, to counsel in the doctrine of peace and resistance to tyranny and to help us find our way forward to become a better society.

It's sad that MLK is gone; that he had to go. Was it his destiny? Was it really his time to go? And why does he remain in our hearts with such splendor? Is it the man that we love and cherish, or the words?

The legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr lives today and forever not only because he was a great man, but because of the power of his words - words that will never grow stale, because the establishment never seems to learn the lessons of history - that money and power and greed are on the wrong side of history - that you can kill, but the words will live on forever.

Celebrate the words of MLK today and forever.

Occupy Movement: The Riddle

Occupy is a necessary political process and Anonymous is a brilliant means of pushing back on the forces of tyranny, but is there a riddle in its connection to Vendetta? Is there a hint of anarchism or even violence?

The Occupy movement began as a quiver of energy spun off from uprisings in North Africa and the Middle East. It's an important political process, but dangerous. As with any movement it runs along the margins of societal tolerance. By nature the establishment will only tolerate so much change and the movement will press on for more. The greatest risk is that the movement presses even when the wheels of progress are beginning to turn in their favor. When that happens the movement is actually in the way, acting merely to make a name for the itself and running the risk of loosing sight of its cause -- the cause to progress society.

There have been brilliant moments in the Occupy movement. Moments when protesters have pushed back intelligently almost as if a high-level consciousness had taken over. Whenever that happens the result is that the protesters appear more civilized and more intelligent than those who confront them.

It's undeniable that what's been done within Occupy is powerful and draws our attention to the brilliant ways of Ghandi, King and Mandella. We should be reminded that there's no connection between any of these brilliant movements and anarchism.

Warriors and Humanity: A Struggle With Evil

Are we surprised by the recent video of U.S. Military Personnel pissing on corpses? Surprised by pictures of Abu Ghraib prison guards playfully abusing prisoners? Should we venture to guess what fun and games were played out behind closed doors during water boarding sessions?

There's a story unfolding here and the U.S. Military doesn't want to talk about it. In reality it's a fallacy to call it rouge behavior, because the troop behavior really is the result of a mindset being passed down through the ranks - that the enemy are not human. After so many years of floating these sentiments all throughout the rank and file you can expect to see this kind of behavior. Let's face it the U.S. troop are tired and frustrated by a mission obviously gone on too long and going nowhere. They've seen or heard of comrades wounded or killed and they really no longer believe in the mission.

Part of the problem is circumstantial and the other part is poor leadership from the top command. The result is a mean-spirited armed forces and any notion that these were the actions of warriors in the "heat of the battle" overrun by a blitz of emotions is just bunk. No, these were actions perpetrated in times of relative calm, for fun and with nothing but evil intentions. Evil intentions and evil outcomes.

Nonviolent Resistance 101

History at UC Davis. The Occupy Movement is taking an important "one small step...one giant step" moment. This video is an important lesson for Occupy protesters everywhere - how to effectively engage without violence. Of course nonviolence is not a new concept, but it's so well executed here. You'll see how the police engage in tactical intimidation and force, but the group responds with a chorus of "Shame On You." What the chanting has done is remind the police that they are human. It's visceral and that's significant because the police are trained to act as a unit while suppressing their individual empathy - in other words they're not allowed to make a human connection with demonstrators. But the reprimands continue with repeated chanting and the police appear disoriented. Deep in the brain are subconscious channels which promote human feelings such as empathy and that's when they're vulnerable to making a human connection - an oh what have I done moment.

Highlighting this video is not really about the police at all. It's about a phase change in the Occupy Movement. It's about a learning moment for the movement.

It can't be overstated that protesting is a dangerous business. In this video you'll notice that at times the police appear disoriented and fearful. Fear and weapons can lead to tragedy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjnR7xET7Uo with YouTube credits to Uploaded by OperationLeakS on Nov 18, 2011.

Goodbye Andy Rooney

Andy Rooney has died. It was Andy's honesty and signature from the gut style that won him notoriety and deserves our attention. He was a champion of free speech; a brave soul. Thank you Andy.