Pope Francis lost a historical opportunity to truly set his legacy apart from previous popes. Alas, for him, too, political expediency trumped all else. In his visit to Burma (Myanmar) on November 27, he refrained from using the word ‘Rohingya.’
But what’s in a name?
Google-owned YouTube, which has been under fire for allowing kids programming to get out of control with violent and exploitative content, finally responded to public indignation and promises to implement filters to block violence and adult-themed material from videos targeting children and families - no date given for this move, however. YouTube did shut down the notorious Toy Freaks channel that had ten million subscribers. It features a father who played pranks on his daughters, which many people saw as the legitimization of abuse.
“Quit resisting.”—Cops yell at compliant young man who was thrown to the ground, beaten, arrested and hospitalized for severe injuries to his face and arm, allegedly in retaliation for “resisting arrest” by driving to a safe, well-lit area before submitting to a traffic stop for a broken tail light
We’ve all been there before.
Let’s just start of with the base assumption that “violence is bad.” This is a truism, of course, but in embracing what is a self-evident truth, we often loose sight of what violence means when discussing violence within the wider scope of human expression and political framings.
Baltimore has the highest homicide rate in the United States. Officials blame the violence and crime on poverty, however, drug use (financed by welfare), the media narrative of entitlements, and lack of law enforcement are not considered. Earlier this year, Mayor Catherine Pugh, called in the Federal Government in hopes to restore order. Most people are looking forward to martial law. {Study this scenario carefully. It is the model that is planned for all America.] [...]
It is dangerous to be a Trump supporter because the left believes the use of violence is justified against anyone who opposes them. The goal of the haters is to normalize hate and incite violence from those beyond their own ranks. National chaos is what they want as an excuse for martial law, which is the endgame. [...]
In an attempt to distract attention from unprecedented protests and widespread discontent, the Ethiopian Government has engineered a series of violent ethnic conflicts in the country. The regime blames regional parliaments and historic territorial grievances for the unrest, but Ethiopians at home and abroad lay the responsibility firmly at the door of the ruling party who, it’s claimed, is manipulating events.
We have a gun lust. Guns make us (especially men) feel empowered, even when we are mostly weak. Guns make small men feel they are someone to be reckoned with — and I’m not referring to physical stature. Guns give impotent (sexually or existentially) men vitality and make them feel formidable.
Ha, ha! keep time: how sour sweet music is,
When time is broke and no proportion kept!
So is it in the music of men’s lives.
— Richard II’s lament from Act 5, Scene 5 of Shakespeare’s eponymous tragedy
The massacre at the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs was, to put it simply, effective and spectacular. It also had the resonances of the primeval, ignoring the sanctity of the church in favour of murder within it. The alleged assailant managed to do less God’s work than his own, slaughtering 26 and injuring 20 others.
