My Last Reasoning on the Root of Our Violence Culture

The first thing I have noticed is that every side of the debate is blaming every other side instead of doing any self-inspection. Perhaps if some of the energies and efforts being applied to deflect any responsibility for the documented recent violence in our society, it might be better invested by turning it inward and seeking what each of us and every segment of our society can accomplish to repair the broken people and the broken societal functions that have collapsed rather than stand and deflect the problem. The first hint is that Government is not going to repair this as they may be at the real root of the problem with their replacement and funding of a Nanny State which has taken over the functions in society by replacing parents with childcare and school systems, replacing religious assistance with Government programs, replacing youth organizations with after school activities, and replacing the one stay at home parent, be they the father or the mother, with almost a forced need for two salary families through high taxation and the encouragement of a consumer based society instead of a value based society. But what about the different groups and what part do they really play?

The ever so blamed and presumed evil gun lobby is always the first to be brought to the fore whenever there is one of these tragedies. Their defense that guns do not kill people, people kill people is as valid a point as any given by any of these groups to excuse any responsibility they may carry. I will grant that it would make firearms more expensive initially but there is a solution that would make the handgun or rifle nothing but a club if stolen or attempted to be used by any unauthorized individual. What I am talking about is the smart gun which has a bio-reader built in to the trigger which is keyed to only those approved by the owner to be able to fire the weapon. The argument that no such function can be installed into firearms that would survive the impacts of firing the firearm is ridiculous. When we can send vehicles to Mars and bounce them onto the surface or fire military rounds with cameras and guidance systems which work after the shock of being fired or launched but we cannot build into a firearm a trigger system, really?

The movie and entertainment industry is another and let’s leave video games out for special consideration later in the article. We will simply talk about movies and, ever more often, television shows, especially on cable and satellite. The excuse we often hear is that they have made numerous movies which are explosion and violence free and they always completely fail. I would be willing to bet that they fail in the theaters but do quite well once they make it on to HBO, pay for view, Netflix, or other mass distribution venues. One reason behind this is that the vast majority of movie goers are teens and young adults and not so much young families. One of the reasons for this is the price forces families to take the less expensive view at home option while by watching it at home they do not have to view violent previews. The other truth is that the road to the levels of violence we have witnessed is also influenced by these movies and television shows with a reality factor that makes it indiscernible from actual real world events. If Hollywood is to return to what is often referred to as a more moral and nonviolent fare, it will take at least the same amount of time, possibly longer. The warning to Hollywood is that you may not continue to be forever in with the politicians in Washington or in the State Capital. There may come a day when the politicians will no longer be enamored with you and may finally listen to the public who will still be demanding responsible limits to be placed on the entertainment industry. Trust me when I tell you that you would be much better served to manage yourselves and not continue to push a larger segment of the population than you appear to realize to finally demand actions to force change and limits on your industry.

The video games industry is quite possibly in a difficult position because it can likely be proven that first person shooter games if made too real-life-like depictions of violence, killing, and general mayhem actually do desensitize vulnerable individuals who may have other problems and are far more impressionable making them particularly susceptible to such influences turning them into stark raving mad murderous lunatics. Granted that the average youth can play these games, possibly endlessly, and never have even the slightest urge to go out and shoot up the neighborhood or whatever. But, as is often said, it only takes one out of a million to really ruin your day if that individual is set off near you. The problem is that these first shooter games are using a proven method which has been utilized by the Military and law-enforcement personnel to desensitize their numbers so that when the time comes, they will be less likely to freeze and instead will react taking shooting a person and equating it with shooting silhouettes as they have been trained. Perhaps the video game industry could adopt some alteration to the first person shooter games which would remove a measure of the real feel and graphics such that there is a disconnect between the video shooting victim and a real world shooting victim. Many of the first person shooter games now have such high definition and extensive algorithms that they can approach realistic visuals even to the point of allowing for differences between each shot and other such minutia which add to the real feeling of the game. Such detail is not necessary for the function or scoring of the game but has been driven by a demand for more realism. Perhaps the makers can decide among themselves before they are forced by the heavy hand of Government to take a step back and make an alteration or substitution that allows for just that amount of unrealistic depiction that it removed the ease of linking the game to reality.

Lastly, the real root of the problem which is seldom considered the role of Government. The largest factor which has changed from the supposed times before these mass murders were seemingly almost a common and repeated problem is that we no longer have as many live and work at home parents. The loss of an at home parent does make a difference and there are endless studies which have measured numerous different deficiencies and problems resultant from the two working parent family. The people who point out that a large part of the problem is due to our consumer lifestyle are not entirely on target as with newer technologies the consumerism has become affordable or at least more affordable at levels much higher than simply fifty years ago. The largest and most damning of the stay at home parent has been the cost of Government. All one needs to observe is the tax rates from then and now. Taxes, fees and licensing were well under twenty percent of an employee’s salary when everything is taken into consideration. Even if you pay no income tax and just pay all the other forms of tax, such as FICA, and have to pay sales taxes, property taxes, licensing, fees, and other miscellaneous money snatching mechanisms that fund our over-bloated Government, your payments to fund government is still very likely close to double that of your grandparents paid. By comparison to the investment, as the politicians like to euphemistically refer to their robbery, your ancestors paid; you are very likely paying so much more that a second income is necessary for you to earn a comparable salary and have equal purchasing power as your ancestors.

Further proof of this symptom that has altered our society and allowed for Government to become a full partner in parenting can be found in numerous studies which have been published and then ignored over the last fifty plus years. That is another part of the voiceless conspiracy that has made the demands of affording government and raising a family so demanding that who has time to notice much of anything, which is exactly the point. Perhaps we would be better off with far less government and having those in need of our society again be cared for by volunteers and not by a Government licensed employee. Just maybe things were better when those who cared for the special needs of our neighborhoods and communities were from among those neighborhoods and communities and not sent by Government with a briefcase and a thousand forms which mostly were used to prove that the government employee was necessary. Has surrendering our freedoms to care for those among us to the Government really proven to work that well? The fact we are asking the questions after tragedies at a disturbing rate is all the proof we need.

Beyond the Cusp

Guaranteed Supporters for Any anti-Zionist or anti-Israel Standing

There are two groups of supporters who will join with any organizations, individuals, governments, groups, or academics who originate from two vastly different sources with one commonality; they are both made up of Jews. One of these groups is a closely knit, strictly religious Jews who belong to the Orthodox Jewish Neturei Karta that believe that Israel is not to be founded by man but instead must await the coming of the Moshiach, the Messiah. Their feelings are so ardent that some of their actions in the past have drawn serious criticisms from Jews from all sides, beliefs, politics, religiosity, and whether they are Zionist or not. One such activity was when a delegation of Neturei Karta Rabbis attended the October 27, 2005, Iranian conference named, “A World Without Zionism or America” which was held in Tehran, Iran. They gave Iranian President Ahmadinejad a public relations coup as he had numerous pictures showing him with these obviously religious Jews laughing and with the speeches given the conference by the representatives from Neturei Karta’s leading rabbis present. Where the members of the Neturei Karta sect of Judaism are to be permitted their beliefs and thoughts about the ideas and ideals of Zionism and the existence of Israel, they should, at the very least, refrain from giving such a media coup to somebody like Iranian President Ahmadinejad, the Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei or others whose final aim is the extermination of every last Jew not only in Israel but in the entire world, including the members of Neturei Karta.

The other groups of Jews who are facilitators for anti-Zionist or anti-Israel groups and organizations are extreme leftist secular Jews such as Professor Noam Chomsky; the Holocaust denier Norman Finkelstein; the leadership of extreme anti-Zionist NGOs such as Peace Now and B’Tselem; many other far-left academics; and many Jews who have replaced their personal performance of the Mitzvah of Tikkun Olam for voting for big government programs and leftist secular-humanist groups, organizations and NGOs supporting causes such as environmentalism, saving endangered animals, human rights, and especially pro-Palestinian and other anti-Israel NGOs. The Jews who take such stands are most often non-religious and have replaced religion with alignment with liberal, secular-humanist organizations, causes and NGOs which replace religion in their lives. These are their inspiration and give them definitions of what is right and just and what is wrong. These causes and groups supply their adherents with definitions for right and wrong, good and evil. They most closely resemble the Greek Hellenist Jews who spoiled the Holy Temple in Jerusalem by installing heathen Cyrenaic-Greek idols and performing sacrifices to the foreign idols. They, like the Hellenized Jews, often find great faults and stand in opposition of the strictly religious Jews. The really fascinating parallel is that the Hellenist Jews lived mostly along the coastal areas west of Jerusalem as well as within Jerusalem and ended up opposed and fighting against the Maccabees who were led by the Hasmonean family of Priests headed by Mattathias and who resided in Judea located east of Jerusalem while the modern secular Jews today fight against and oppose the Jewish communities built in the same Judea and are mainly religious Jews who are on the front line of defending the Lands of Israel just as did the Hasmoneans and the Maccabees. Sometimes the modern events and challenges facing the Jews residing in Israel parallel the ancient history of the original Jews, the Hebrews of historic lands which make up the current day modern Israel and Judea and Samaria. Another similarity is the fact that the modern Israeli religious Jews worst enemies are secular Jews while in ancient Israel the religious Jews were opposed by the Hellenized secular Jews. The more things change, the more they remain the same.

Beyond the Cusp

Did Israeli Soldiers Choose to Shoot Down or Retreat From Palestinians?

At the end of the article there will be a link to a video which showed how Israeli soldiers armed with M-16 rifles reacted when facing a rock throwing mob of Palestinians ranging in age from early tens to adults likely in their thirties. These soldiers reacted exactly the way their standing orders instruct them to act when facing such a threat. We will want you to think how you might react in a similar situation. These soldiers had been set upon by a small number of youths throwing rocks and they gave chase to arrest them. What these Israeli soldiers did not expect was the large group of Palestinians hiding around the corner waiting to ambush the soldiers. Then these well-armed Israeli soldiers reacted exactly as their standing orders command that they do when confronted with such a threat. There is no need to go into minute details as according to the vast majority of articles and editorials I have read over the years from almost every country in the world and the studies released about these Israeli soldiers and their treatment of Palestinians by numerous NGOs concerned with human rights, the rights of the Palestinians, and other summaries which have critiqued the responses by Israeli soldiers for years now all point to their disregard for the lives and safety of those Palestinians who throw rocks or protest in other manners the soldiers consider violent or out of control. I have seen endless videos and pictures of Palestinian victims of these Israeli soldiers actions just following orders. Sure, some have been claimed to be debunked by the IDF as purely made up staged shows with Palestinians and their leftist friends supposedly playing the part of Israeli soldiers. But what would one expect from the IDF, they certainly cannot be counted on to admit the truths about their soldiers’ reactions.

Reading the comments on You Tube is exactly what one might suspect to come from both sides of this issue. The Palestinian friendly posters seem to have little regard for these very well-armed Israeli soldiers and their actions when faced with simple, relatively small group of Palestinians armed only with rocks. The Israeli reactions are exactly what anyone familiar with the reality of these situations would expect and the end results need to be put on You Tube and shown to the whole world so that everyone can see how the mean Israeli soldiers react when attacked by nuisance rock throwers. Another article I read on this described a rather severe reaction by Palestinians and their supporters to the extent that the IDF have opened an investigation into this incident and may adapt the standing rules of engagement to assure a more controlled and measured response should IDF soldiers find themselves facing a similar situation. The IDF has reacted and noted that the soldiers’ actions were less than ideal IDF expectations. The IDF intends to institute training so that the next such incident has more measured reactions and the situation is kept under better control and the results will be different. They stressed that the soldiers had limited choices under the circumstances which is why this confrontation resulted the manner in which it did. The IDF is hoping to learn from this incident and find a measured and more evenly controlled reaction by IDF soldiers in such incidents. So, if the IDF is able, their intent is to find a manner to react and solve such confrontations in such a way that the situation does not get out of control, there are no or as few casualties as can be managed, and everybody is respected on both sides and such situations can thereby be reduced in number and order kept.

As promised, here is the <a href=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=d8bf4DYjX1c target=blank>video of the incident.</a> Please, once again may we invite you to watch the reactions of the IDF soldiers in this rock throwing incident and remember this when you see the videos that show up every few months showing IDF soldiers murdering people for less provocation that they faced in this situation and know that the IDF soldiers orders are to preserve life whenever possible and use deadly force only if no other option is feasible to prevent their own severe harm.

Beyond the Cusp