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Christian Right Uses Elementary School Massacre to Attack Secular Schooling
Sandy Hook: Beyond the Spin of the Capitalist Politicians (Part 1)
By Steven Argue
This is Part 1 of a series of three articles on the root causes of the Sandy Hook Elementary School Massacre. On December 14th, twenty year-old Adam Lanza murdered his mother and then went to Sandy Hook Elementary School and proceeded to kill 6 adults and 20 young children between the ages of 6 and 7.
The shock and horror of Sandy Hook naturally causes everyone to ask “why?” and look for solutions. Yet, the corporate media and capitalist politicians are failing to give us the facts, let alone give useful theories of “why?” and what to do about it.
Part 1 in this series deals with how the Christian right is using this tragedy to argue for Christianity, attack atheists, and argue against the separation of church and state. Part 2 takes up the questions of gun control and violent movies. Part 3 presents evidence that it is the pharmaceutical industry, union busting, and alienation under the failing system of capitalism that are fundamentally responsible for creating the epidemic of mass shootings.
By Steven Argue
This is Part 1 of a series of three articles on the root causes of the Sandy Hook Elementary School Massacre. On December 14th, twenty year-old Adam Lanza murdered his mother and then went to Sandy Hook Elementary School and proceeded to kill 6 adults and 20 young children between the ages of 6 and 7.
The shock and horror of Sandy Hook naturally causes everyone to ask “why?” and look for solutions. Yet, the corporate media and capitalist politicians are failing to give us the facts, let alone give useful theories of “why?” and what to do about it.
Part 1 in this series deals with how the Christian right is using this tragedy to argue for Christianity, attack atheists, and argue against the separation of church and state. Part 2 takes up the questions of gun control and violent movies. Part 3 presents evidence that it is the pharmaceutical industry, union busting, and alienation under the failing system of capitalism that are fundamentally responsible for creating the epidemic of mass shootings.
[Photo: Truck targeting abortion doctor George Tiller two days after his murder. (Steve Hebert/Atlas Press for The New York Times)]
Christian Right Uses Elementary School Massacre to Attack Secular Schooling and the Separation of Church and State
By Steven Argue
Lacking any information about the motives of Adam Lanza in his senseless human slaughter of children, leaders of the far-right are quick to apply their religious fanaticism to the Sandy Hook massacre. Two who have done so are Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee and fascist political pundit, Pat Buchanan.
Governor Huckabee declares that the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre happened because "We've systematically removed God from our schools, should we be so surprised that schools would become a place of carnage?"
So Huckabee’s solution is one of ending the separation of church and state by imposing religious teachings and school prayer on poor unsuspecting children. But did Adam Lanza’s early education really lack an indoctrination into Christianity? No. To the contrary, in middle school Adam Lanza actually was subjected to religious schooling at St. Rose Catholic School in Newton, Connecticut.
Huckabee then went on to attack the morality of atheists. Huckabee claims, “We’re not just going to have be accountable to the police if they catch us, but one day we stand before a holy God and judgement, if we don’t believe that, we don’t fear that.” Pat Buchanan made similar claims that it was Adam Lanza’s lack of fear in God that caused him to carry out the massacre.
Did Adam Lanza’s lack of fear for “eternal damnation” really cause him to commit mass murder? Was Adam Lanza actually an atheist? Despite Huckabee and Buchanan’s bold assertions, my extensive search of the internet found absolutely no evidence that Adam Lanza was an atheist.
According to Pat Buchanan, Mike Huckabee, and many other Christians, Adam Lanza must be an atheist because Christians don’t commit mass shootings. This is false. For instance, Anders Breivik is a Norwegian Christian extremist who wants to expel Muslims from Europe and who blames feminism for eroding the fabric of European culture. In 2011 he shot 179 people at a youth camp, mostly teenagers, killing 69 and injuring 55 seriously. That same day he set off a bomb that killed 8 people and injured 209. He said he was fighting for “our Christian cultural heritage.” Apparently he had no fear of eternal damnation, despite his faith in Jesus.
Does The Bible even teach us not to commit mass murder? Actually, the Bible is full of incidents where God supposedly wiped entire peoples off the face of the Earth. Far from stopping mass murder, those stories actually could serve to inspire genocide. In addition, the Bible calls for killing people for many harmless activities, everything from lying with another man to worshipping another god. Example:
“If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They must be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads.” (Leviticus 20:13)
In fact, Shirley Phelps-Roper of the Westboro Baptist Church declared after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting that Adam Lanza was sent by God to punish Connecticut for their same-sex marriage law. Here’s another example of how the Bible incites mass murder:
“If you find out a city worships a different god, destroy the city and kill all of its inhabitants... even the animals.” (Deuteronomy 13:12-15)
“Foul” cry some Christians, that is the Old Testament of the Bible, not the new one. Jesus, we are told, preached love and freed us from the teachings of the Old Testament. Actually, according to the New Testament, Jesus himself says it’s OK to kill people for the flimsiest of reasons. Here’s an example of Jesus from the New Testament:
“Those enemies of mine who did not want me to be king over them -- bring them here and kill them in front of me.” (Luke 19:27)
Truth is, Charles Manson was inspired by Jesus. So was Dena Schlosser, who, in 2004, cut her baby’s arms off when ordered to do so by God. The baby died the next day. Dena Yates was found not guilty by reason of insanity and released in 2008. Dena Schlosser was a roommate with Andrea Yates, a woman who in 2001 drowned her five children in a bathtub to protect them from Satan.
In the name of Jesus, religious fanatics have been regularly carrying out terrorist attacks on doctors and abortion clinics in the United States. This is a one sided holy war against women’s rights. The murder of doctors has made abortion unavailable in many places, causing some women to need to travel out of state to receive an abortion. Meanwhile, some state governments have passed laws making it illegal to travel to receive abortions in other states.
The FBI and local police are looking the other way as the God nuts carry out their terror. One example was Scott Roades, the killer of abortion Doctor George Tiller. Scott Roades twice carried out a federal crime by gluing the doors shut at the abortion clinic where George Tiller worked. The FBI was informed of these activities, but they refused to act, claiming that a Grand Jury had to convene in order to take action. The cops and FBI have no such restrictions when carrying out their “zero tolerance” policies against the general public, especially the left. Yet, they simply sat and watched as Scott Roades escalated his illegal activities from vandalism to murder.
The FBI’s lack of action to defend the safety of abortion doctors from religious nuts has a parallel in the Greensboro massacre of 1979. Textile workers, who were members of what would become the Communist Workers Party, organized coworkers in a rally against the KKK. The KKK responded to the rally by driving up to it and shooting into the crowd, killing five people and leaving one permanently paraplegic. Leading the day’s terrorist operation was Edward Dawson, a federal agent of the ATF who had infiltrated the KKK. Synchronized with this ATF / KKK terrorist attack was the local police who were called away for lunch just before the KKK pulled-up and started shooting.
The Ku Klux Klan itself is composed entirely of white Christians who believe that their race and religion are superior to people with different colors and religions. They believe in a literal interpretation of the Bible and regard it as their number one source of knowledge. The KKK is a terrorist outfit that seeks to impose their outlook through direct action including murder. For many decades they successfully did so in America’s south. Working hand in hand with the police and Democratic Party, the KKK imposed, and policed, semi-fascist rule in America’s south through murderous terror.
Many credit the Civil Rights movement for ending Jim Crow segregation, winning the right of Blacks to vote, and greatly weakening the power of the KKK. In reality, it wasn’t until Blacks became armed that the Federal Government took notice and sent Federal Troops into the south. Yet, today, we are told to trust that same government that helped impose almost 100 years of KKK terror as politicians attempt impose big restrictions on the right to bare arms (more on that in Part 2).
The KKK is a terrorist outfit that is still alive, still promoting fear and racism while opposing the separation of Church and State. This can be seen in the following 2012 Christmas statement from Cole Thorton, the Imperial Wizard of the United Northern and Southern Knights of the Ku Klux Klan:
“We also stand for Christianity. The proof is in the pudding. …. IF the Christians were to unite and stop arguing over who has the right system of beliefs, or the right hymns, or the right choir robes then we might just be able to squash the evil influence hindering our beliefs. Once again in history the Christians are coming under severe persecution and it will only grow worse under the guise of separation of church and state".
To these fanatics, it is the Christians who are oppressed in America. The fact that atheists, Jews, and others aren’t forced to pray or learn their religion in school is seen by them as oppression against Christians. Likewise, they think that equal rights between Blacks and whites amounts the oppression of white people.
The ideas of Mr. Huckabee actually don’t stray far from those of the KKK. His desire for a Christian state that imposes Christian education is obviously the same. As a mainstream politician in this political period, he can’t openly avow his other agreements with the KKK, but he’s left some pretty big hints. One of these was in 1993 when he sent a video taped address to the annual convention of the white supremacist Council of Conservative Citizens (CCC). The speech was reported as “extremely well received”. The CCC is descended from the White Citizens Council and is the largest openly white supremacist group in the United States. The CCC says in their statement of principles:
"We also oppose all efforts to mix the races of mankind, to promote non-white races over the European-American people through so-called "affirmative action" and similar measures, to destroy or denigrate the European-American heritage, including the heritage of the Southern people, and to force the integration of the races."
Huckabee’s speech was well received at the convention. Anyone with anything worthwhile to say to such a group would obviously have been booed and shut down. The CCC also says in their statement of purpose:
“We believe that the United States of America is a Christian country, that its people are a Christian people, and that its government and public leaders at all levels must reflect Christian beliefs and values. We therefore oppose all efforts to deny or weaken the Christian heritage of the United States, including the unconstitutional prohibitions of prayers and other religious expression in schools and other public institutions.”
So there you have it. Mike Huckabee is preaching the same morality and the same unity of church and state as the KKK and CCC. Such unity of church and state, he argues, is needed to stop mass murder like what occurred at Sandy Hook.
Yet, far from stopping people from committing mass murder, Christian governments have often been the reason for it. A few examples include the “Holy” Crusades, Inquisition, many genocides against Native Americans, burning of witches, the Pope’s support for the Holocaust, Orthodox Christian Serb genocides against Catholic Croats and Muslims, as well Catholic Croatian genocides against Jews, Serbs, and Muslims. These are but a few examples. History is littered with the corpses of innocents who were put to death under Christian governments.
One of the major gains of the American Revolution was the separation of church and state. It was a move that greatly reduced the potential for people being killed by the government in the name of God. It was also a step forward that helped eventually advance the sciences as well as the rights of Blacks, women, and other oppressed minorities.
Yet, the United States is a violent and angry country. This flows naturally from its history of slavery, semi-fascism in the south, and genocide against Native Americans. It continues on through an extreme and growing differentiation between the standard of living of the working class and those of the capitalists, police brutality, imperialist wars that have murdered many millions of people, the death penalty, and the mass incarceration of the poor (with of over 2 million people in prison mostly for drug offenses).
The fact that the presidents of this nation are all Christians certainly has done nothing to curtail the brutality and murder of the capitalist state. The Christianity of President Barrack Obama is no deterrent from him carrying out acts of mass murder, including drone attacks that have murdered large numbers of families, including children, or other acts like overthrowing the democratically elected government of Honduras to impose a death squad government. The emotion Obama showed regarding the children murdered at Sandy Hook rings hollow when one considers the fact that Obama has murdered far more children, yet has failed to show any remorse for his victims.
We need answers to move forward into a future where we can stop tragedies like the Sandy Hook massacre from happening. Likewise, we must adamantly oppose those who say the problem is the separation of church and state, atheism, and removing Christian religious indoctrination from public schools.
Don’t miss the next two articles in this series, subscribe free to Liberation News:
https://lists.riseup.net/www/info/liberation_news
Christian Right Uses Elementary School Massacre to Attack Secular Schooling and the Separation of Church and State
By Steven Argue
Lacking any information about the motives of Adam Lanza in his senseless human slaughter of children, leaders of the far-right are quick to apply their religious fanaticism to the Sandy Hook massacre. Two who have done so are Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee and fascist political pundit, Pat Buchanan.
Governor Huckabee declares that the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre happened because "We've systematically removed God from our schools, should we be so surprised that schools would become a place of carnage?"
So Huckabee’s solution is one of ending the separation of church and state by imposing religious teachings and school prayer on poor unsuspecting children. But did Adam Lanza’s early education really lack an indoctrination into Christianity? No. To the contrary, in middle school Adam Lanza actually was subjected to religious schooling at St. Rose Catholic School in Newton, Connecticut.
Huckabee then went on to attack the morality of atheists. Huckabee claims, “We’re not just going to have be accountable to the police if they catch us, but one day we stand before a holy God and judgement, if we don’t believe that, we don’t fear that.” Pat Buchanan made similar claims that it was Adam Lanza’s lack of fear in God that caused him to carry out the massacre.
Did Adam Lanza’s lack of fear for “eternal damnation” really cause him to commit mass murder? Was Adam Lanza actually an atheist? Despite Huckabee and Buchanan’s bold assertions, my extensive search of the internet found absolutely no evidence that Adam Lanza was an atheist.
According to Pat Buchanan, Mike Huckabee, and many other Christians, Adam Lanza must be an atheist because Christians don’t commit mass shootings. This is false. For instance, Anders Breivik is a Norwegian Christian extremist who wants to expel Muslims from Europe and who blames feminism for eroding the fabric of European culture. In 2011 he shot 179 people at a youth camp, mostly teenagers, killing 69 and injuring 55 seriously. That same day he set off a bomb that killed 8 people and injured 209. He said he was fighting for “our Christian cultural heritage.” Apparently he had no fear of eternal damnation, despite his faith in Jesus.
Does The Bible even teach us not to commit mass murder? Actually, the Bible is full of incidents where God supposedly wiped entire peoples off the face of the Earth. Far from stopping mass murder, those stories actually could serve to inspire genocide. In addition, the Bible calls for killing people for many harmless activities, everything from lying with another man to worshipping another god. Example:
“If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They must be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads.” (Leviticus 20:13)
In fact, Shirley Phelps-Roper of the Westboro Baptist Church declared after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting that Adam Lanza was sent by God to punish Connecticut for their same-sex marriage law. Here’s another example of how the Bible incites mass murder:
“If you find out a city worships a different god, destroy the city and kill all of its inhabitants... even the animals.” (Deuteronomy 13:12-15)
“Foul” cry some Christians, that is the Old Testament of the Bible, not the new one. Jesus, we are told, preached love and freed us from the teachings of the Old Testament. Actually, according to the New Testament, Jesus himself says it’s OK to kill people for the flimsiest of reasons. Here’s an example of Jesus from the New Testament:
“Those enemies of mine who did not want me to be king over them -- bring them here and kill them in front of me.” (Luke 19:27)
Truth is, Charles Manson was inspired by Jesus. So was Dena Schlosser, who, in 2004, cut her baby’s arms off when ordered to do so by God. The baby died the next day. Dena Yates was found not guilty by reason of insanity and released in 2008. Dena Schlosser was a roommate with Andrea Yates, a woman who in 2001 drowned her five children in a bathtub to protect them from Satan.
In the name of Jesus, religious fanatics have been regularly carrying out terrorist attacks on doctors and abortion clinics in the United States. This is a one sided holy war against women’s rights. The murder of doctors has made abortion unavailable in many places, causing some women to need to travel out of state to receive an abortion. Meanwhile, some state governments have passed laws making it illegal to travel to receive abortions in other states.
The FBI and local police are looking the other way as the God nuts carry out their terror. One example was Scott Roades, the killer of abortion Doctor George Tiller. Scott Roades twice carried out a federal crime by gluing the doors shut at the abortion clinic where George Tiller worked. The FBI was informed of these activities, but they refused to act, claiming that a Grand Jury had to convene in order to take action. The cops and FBI have no such restrictions when carrying out their “zero tolerance” policies against the general public, especially the left. Yet, they simply sat and watched as Scott Roades escalated his illegal activities from vandalism to murder.
The FBI’s lack of action to defend the safety of abortion doctors from religious nuts has a parallel in the Greensboro massacre of 1979. Textile workers, who were members of what would become the Communist Workers Party, organized coworkers in a rally against the KKK. The KKK responded to the rally by driving up to it and shooting into the crowd, killing five people and leaving one permanently paraplegic. Leading the day’s terrorist operation was Edward Dawson, a federal agent of the ATF who had infiltrated the KKK. Synchronized with this ATF / KKK terrorist attack was the local police who were called away for lunch just before the KKK pulled-up and started shooting.
The Ku Klux Klan itself is composed entirely of white Christians who believe that their race and religion are superior to people with different colors and religions. They believe in a literal interpretation of the Bible and regard it as their number one source of knowledge. The KKK is a terrorist outfit that seeks to impose their outlook through direct action including murder. For many decades they successfully did so in America’s south. Working hand in hand with the police and Democratic Party, the KKK imposed, and policed, semi-fascist rule in America’s south through murderous terror.
Many credit the Civil Rights movement for ending Jim Crow segregation, winning the right of Blacks to vote, and greatly weakening the power of the KKK. In reality, it wasn’t until Blacks became armed that the Federal Government took notice and sent Federal Troops into the south. Yet, today, we are told to trust that same government that helped impose almost 100 years of KKK terror as politicians attempt impose big restrictions on the right to bare arms (more on that in Part 2).
The KKK is a terrorist outfit that is still alive, still promoting fear and racism while opposing the separation of Church and State. This can be seen in the following 2012 Christmas statement from Cole Thorton, the Imperial Wizard of the United Northern and Southern Knights of the Ku Klux Klan:
“We also stand for Christianity. The proof is in the pudding. …. IF the Christians were to unite and stop arguing over who has the right system of beliefs, or the right hymns, or the right choir robes then we might just be able to squash the evil influence hindering our beliefs. Once again in history the Christians are coming under severe persecution and it will only grow worse under the guise of separation of church and state".
To these fanatics, it is the Christians who are oppressed in America. The fact that atheists, Jews, and others aren’t forced to pray or learn their religion in school is seen by them as oppression against Christians. Likewise, they think that equal rights between Blacks and whites amounts the oppression of white people.
The ideas of Mr. Huckabee actually don’t stray far from those of the KKK. His desire for a Christian state that imposes Christian education is obviously the same. As a mainstream politician in this political period, he can’t openly avow his other agreements with the KKK, but he’s left some pretty big hints. One of these was in 1993 when he sent a video taped address to the annual convention of the white supremacist Council of Conservative Citizens (CCC). The speech was reported as “extremely well received”. The CCC is descended from the White Citizens Council and is the largest openly white supremacist group in the United States. The CCC says in their statement of principles:
"We also oppose all efforts to mix the races of mankind, to promote non-white races over the European-American people through so-called "affirmative action" and similar measures, to destroy or denigrate the European-American heritage, including the heritage of the Southern people, and to force the integration of the races."
Huckabee’s speech was well received at the convention. Anyone with anything worthwhile to say to such a group would obviously have been booed and shut down. The CCC also says in their statement of purpose:
“We believe that the United States of America is a Christian country, that its people are a Christian people, and that its government and public leaders at all levels must reflect Christian beliefs and values. We therefore oppose all efforts to deny or weaken the Christian heritage of the United States, including the unconstitutional prohibitions of prayers and other religious expression in schools and other public institutions.”
So there you have it. Mike Huckabee is preaching the same morality and the same unity of church and state as the KKK and CCC. Such unity of church and state, he argues, is needed to stop mass murder like what occurred at Sandy Hook.
Yet, far from stopping people from committing mass murder, Christian governments have often been the reason for it. A few examples include the “Holy” Crusades, Inquisition, many genocides against Native Americans, burning of witches, the Pope’s support for the Holocaust, Orthodox Christian Serb genocides against Catholic Croats and Muslims, as well Catholic Croatian genocides against Jews, Serbs, and Muslims. These are but a few examples. History is littered with the corpses of innocents who were put to death under Christian governments.
One of the major gains of the American Revolution was the separation of church and state. It was a move that greatly reduced the potential for people being killed by the government in the name of God. It was also a step forward that helped eventually advance the sciences as well as the rights of Blacks, women, and other oppressed minorities.
Yet, the United States is a violent and angry country. This flows naturally from its history of slavery, semi-fascism in the south, and genocide against Native Americans. It continues on through an extreme and growing differentiation between the standard of living of the working class and those of the capitalists, police brutality, imperialist wars that have murdered many millions of people, the death penalty, and the mass incarceration of the poor (with of over 2 million people in prison mostly for drug offenses).
The fact that the presidents of this nation are all Christians certainly has done nothing to curtail the brutality and murder of the capitalist state. The Christianity of President Barrack Obama is no deterrent from him carrying out acts of mass murder, including drone attacks that have murdered large numbers of families, including children, or other acts like overthrowing the democratically elected government of Honduras to impose a death squad government. The emotion Obama showed regarding the children murdered at Sandy Hook rings hollow when one considers the fact that Obama has murdered far more children, yet has failed to show any remorse for his victims.
We need answers to move forward into a future where we can stop tragedies like the Sandy Hook massacre from happening. Likewise, we must adamantly oppose those who say the problem is the separation of church and state, atheism, and removing Christian religious indoctrination from public schools.
Don’t miss the next two articles in this series, subscribe free to Liberation News:
https://lists.riseup.net/www/info/liberation_news
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For those of us who can easily remember the civil rights movement of the 1960s, it certainly was NOT guns that made possible the end of legal segregation, although de facto segregation, poverty and racism remain today because we still have the capitalist profit motive that benefits from all of these. The civil rights movement was based on the comparative wealth produced by the labor movement of the 1930s-1940s, and the anti-racist theme of World War 2. The various non-violent struggles, from sit-ins to mass marches, were widespread in both the North and South. Here are some memories and notable achievements which may seem insignificant today but were extraordinary in the 1960s: My upper middle class high school in the Bay Area (where I was one of the few workingclass students), had set aside one classroom where clothes were collected to deliver to Selma, Alabama with the teachers, all white, who joined the Selma to Montgomery march of 1965. Just to collect the clothes for poor blacks in the South in a lily white small town was a major breakthrough in overcoming racism. Viola Liuzzo, a white woman, who traveled to that march from Detroit with a check from the Teamsters union for the civil rights organizations in Alabama, was killed by the Klan. The story is here:
http://www.teamster.org/content/civil-rights-martyr-viola-liuzzo
To this day, it still seems extraordinary to me to see blacks on TV, fashion models in stores, being asked by whites to take a picture of them at some tourist site, being treated as equals on the job. The federal troops were brought in to save face for the Democratic Party, then known as the Dixiecrats in the South as the segregationists were all Democrats. They changed registration by 1970 to Republican. The San Francisco Bay Area was home to a huge support network of lawyers who went to the South to enforce federal law to end the poll taxes and segregation. We also ended discrimination here with a huge demonstration on Van Ness, then San Francisco's auto row, demanding blacks be hired above the level of janitor. We won that struggle, and I won a great group of new songs to sing at demonstrations as I was among the thousands of picketers at the various auto showrooms, who were joined by black civil rights workers from the South. At the same time, there were sit-ins at the hotels, in particular the Sheraton Palace, to demand blacks be hired above the level of janitor or maid. We also had the various ethnic studies struggles at San Francisco State University and UC Berkeley. We had mass movements, picketlines, marches, major meetings and conferences all across the nation with people of very level of income contributing their ideas and labor to end discrimination and racism. We suffered through assassinations and setbacks, but for a child growing up in that era, we developed a sense of achievement based on mass struggle that stays with us forever. The civil rights movement became the larger peace movement to end the war in Vietnam and end the draft, and the civil rights movement for blacks developed into also a civil rights movement for women and gay people. When you have a sense of mass struggle, you look up the gun nuts as the lunatics they are.
As Martin Luther King said, VIOLENCE IS ALWAYS A DOWNWARD SPIRAL. The goal of all of us who are socialists must be to demand complete abolition of guns, for private use, as well as by police, prison guards and for the abolition of the military. Private ownership of guns results mostly in the death or injury of the owner of the guns or someone they love. Rarely is there any self-defense. We solve our political problems with mass struggle, in particular labor organizing for a general strike to put an end to the profit motive that is killing us all. There is no self-defense with any of these weapons. As to the lunacy of militias, since the 45% of American adults who own guns never bothered to defend us against American fascism, in particular the Patriot Act, the indefinite detention act, the drones that are taking over our air space, the daily police brutality and drug wars, they are not serious about militias at all. They are nothing more than criminally insane, and the same is true of the 3% of American adults who are hunters for "sport." The Second Amendment merely allows for an American military to defend itself against foreign powers, the British at the time. It has nothing to do with 45% of Americans being armed to the teeth, endangering their own and everyone else's lives. By the way, the discussion is over the right to bear arms, meaning to carry guns. Socialists must demand the elimination of all guns, real and toy, in all homes. Whatever you do, please do not rewrite history. Guns were always very common in American society, both in the South and in the North. It is shameful that no socialist organization has come out in support of banning all guns, real and toy, in civilian hands and in the hands of the war machine and police, both of which should be abolished.
http://www.teamster.org/content/civil-rights-martyr-viola-liuzzo
To this day, it still seems extraordinary to me to see blacks on TV, fashion models in stores, being asked by whites to take a picture of them at some tourist site, being treated as equals on the job. The federal troops were brought in to save face for the Democratic Party, then known as the Dixiecrats in the South as the segregationists were all Democrats. They changed registration by 1970 to Republican. The San Francisco Bay Area was home to a huge support network of lawyers who went to the South to enforce federal law to end the poll taxes and segregation. We also ended discrimination here with a huge demonstration on Van Ness, then San Francisco's auto row, demanding blacks be hired above the level of janitor. We won that struggle, and I won a great group of new songs to sing at demonstrations as I was among the thousands of picketers at the various auto showrooms, who were joined by black civil rights workers from the South. At the same time, there were sit-ins at the hotels, in particular the Sheraton Palace, to demand blacks be hired above the level of janitor or maid. We also had the various ethnic studies struggles at San Francisco State University and UC Berkeley. We had mass movements, picketlines, marches, major meetings and conferences all across the nation with people of very level of income contributing their ideas and labor to end discrimination and racism. We suffered through assassinations and setbacks, but for a child growing up in that era, we developed a sense of achievement based on mass struggle that stays with us forever. The civil rights movement became the larger peace movement to end the war in Vietnam and end the draft, and the civil rights movement for blacks developed into also a civil rights movement for women and gay people. When you have a sense of mass struggle, you look up the gun nuts as the lunatics they are.
As Martin Luther King said, VIOLENCE IS ALWAYS A DOWNWARD SPIRAL. The goal of all of us who are socialists must be to demand complete abolition of guns, for private use, as well as by police, prison guards and for the abolition of the military. Private ownership of guns results mostly in the death or injury of the owner of the guns or someone they love. Rarely is there any self-defense. We solve our political problems with mass struggle, in particular labor organizing for a general strike to put an end to the profit motive that is killing us all. There is no self-defense with any of these weapons. As to the lunacy of militias, since the 45% of American adults who own guns never bothered to defend us against American fascism, in particular the Patriot Act, the indefinite detention act, the drones that are taking over our air space, the daily police brutality and drug wars, they are not serious about militias at all. They are nothing more than criminally insane, and the same is true of the 3% of American adults who are hunters for "sport." The Second Amendment merely allows for an American military to defend itself against foreign powers, the British at the time. It has nothing to do with 45% of Americans being armed to the teeth, endangering their own and everyone else's lives. By the way, the discussion is over the right to bear arms, meaning to carry guns. Socialists must demand the elimination of all guns, real and toy, in all homes. Whatever you do, please do not rewrite history. Guns were always very common in American society, both in the South and in the North. It is shameful that no socialist organization has come out in support of banning all guns, real and toy, in civilian hands and in the hands of the war machine and police, both of which should be abolished.
[Photo: Robert Hicks, leader of the armed Deacons for Self Defense and Justice that played a major role in defeating Jim Crow segregation.]
The corporate media lies today and they were lying in 1960s. There was never a big proclamation that Blacks were armed in the south and the U.S. government were shitting their pants. But that was what happened. It was that arming that forced the U.S. government to send in the troops.
Today, the myth is propagated that King’s liberal pacifist program of moral persuasion worked. Yet, as Stokely Carmichael pointed out, moral persuasion can only work against an enemy with a conscience, and that was a problem because the U.S. government has no conscience. It was only when Black people armed themselves in a major way, and never before, that troops were sent in. The federal government feared armed Black people carrying out their own program of self-defense and for desegregation, for the right to vote, and against KKK and police terror.
That's my short response, maybe I'll respond further when I have more time.
The corporate media lies today and they were lying in 1960s. There was never a big proclamation that Blacks were armed in the south and the U.S. government were shitting their pants. But that was what happened. It was that arming that forced the U.S. government to send in the troops.
Today, the myth is propagated that King’s liberal pacifist program of moral persuasion worked. Yet, as Stokely Carmichael pointed out, moral persuasion can only work against an enemy with a conscience, and that was a problem because the U.S. government has no conscience. It was only when Black people armed themselves in a major way, and never before, that troops were sent in. The federal government feared armed Black people carrying out their own program of self-defense and for desegregation, for the right to vote, and against KKK and police terror.
That's my short response, maybe I'll respond further when I have more time.
I certainly remember the Deacons for Defense and that had nothing to do with ending legal segregation. They were body guards for people like Martin Luther King. We literally shut down Van Ness in San Francisco with mass pickets at the dozen or so auto showrooms in the 1960s. I can still see in my mind's eye Tracy Sims and Dr. Nathan Burbridge standing on a flatbed truck in front of the Cadillac store, now a movie theater, at Van Ness and O'Farrell, announcing our victory that day that the auto showrooms would hire blacks as sales people. To this day, we still have de facto segregation not because of lack of guns but because of a lack of a labor movement capable of carrying out a general strike to end the profit motive. Here is more on the history of the San Francisco Civil Rights Movement:
http://userhttp://www.sfsu.edu/afrs/history.html
My reference to music above was not casual. Our mass movement was also a cultural enrichment and renaissance. The labor movement and the black churches gave us our music to which we wrote new words for the civil rights struggle. A people's movement is based on supporting culture. I noticed that on KPFA, to which I have been listening for over 57 years (since early childhood), there is such contempt for classical music that when Project Censored had a beautiful Vivaldi piece as a musical interlude, they felt they had to announce that KPFA was not NPR. That is insulting. And they never played any classical music again. The only classical music we get on KPFA is Sunday morning from 5 a.m. to 9 a.m. Classical music was once broadcast in our public schools. I remember in 6th grade, 1961, we heard the New York Metropolitan Opera on loudspeakers in our classroom. Now, probably neither the teachers nor the parents have any concept of classical music. It is culture that makes us human and provides us with a community spirit necessary for mass struggle to end the profit motive that is killing us.
Michael Moore had some thoughts on the criminal insanity of gun promotion that exists in this backward country. From:
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/mike-friends-blog/celebrating-prince-peace-land-guns
"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."
"I'm not saying it's perfect anywhere else, but I have noticed, in my travels, that other civilized countries see a national benefit to taking care of each other. Free medical care, free or low-cost college, mental health help. And I wonder – why can't we do that? I think it's because in many other countries people see each other not as separate and alone but rather together, on the path of life, with each person existing as an integral part of the whole. And you help them when they're in need, not punish them because they've had some misfortune or bad break. I have to believe one of the reasons gun murders in other countries are so rare is because there's less of the lone wolf mentality amongst their citizens. Most are raised with a sense of connection, if not outright solidarity. And that makes it harder to kill one another."
****
To the list of missing militias listed above, where are your militias defending women who are raped? Here is what Michael Moore says about the attacks on women:
"We are a country whose leaders officially sanction and carry out acts of violence as a means to often an immoral end. We invade countries who didn't attack us. We're currently using drones in a half-dozen countries, often killing civilians."
"This probably shouldn't come as a surprise to us as we are a nation founded on genocide and built on the backs of slaves. We slaughtered 600,000 of each other in a civil war. We "tamed the Wild West with a six-shooter," and we rape and beat and kill our women without mercy and at a staggering rate: every three hours a women is murdered in the USA (half the time by an ex or a current); every three minutes a woman is raped in the USA; and every 15 seconds a woman is beaten in the USA."
*****
This writer is an atheist, a lifelong socialist, a staunch feminist and opposed to the Democrat-Republican Parties. What we have is White Male Killer Syndrome endangering all our lives. That is why we have no progress in this gun-crazed country. The good news is that the American people are apparently fed up with all of you gun nuts. We need to build on that and promote mass labor struggle. Without a labor movement, there is no future. Organize the unorganized for a labor general strike.
http://userhttp://www.sfsu.edu/afrs/history.html
My reference to music above was not casual. Our mass movement was also a cultural enrichment and renaissance. The labor movement and the black churches gave us our music to which we wrote new words for the civil rights struggle. A people's movement is based on supporting culture. I noticed that on KPFA, to which I have been listening for over 57 years (since early childhood), there is such contempt for classical music that when Project Censored had a beautiful Vivaldi piece as a musical interlude, they felt they had to announce that KPFA was not NPR. That is insulting. And they never played any classical music again. The only classical music we get on KPFA is Sunday morning from 5 a.m. to 9 a.m. Classical music was once broadcast in our public schools. I remember in 6th grade, 1961, we heard the New York Metropolitan Opera on loudspeakers in our classroom. Now, probably neither the teachers nor the parents have any concept of classical music. It is culture that makes us human and provides us with a community spirit necessary for mass struggle to end the profit motive that is killing us.
Michael Moore had some thoughts on the criminal insanity of gun promotion that exists in this backward country. From:
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/mike-friends-blog/celebrating-prince-peace-land-guns
"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."
"I'm not saying it's perfect anywhere else, but I have noticed, in my travels, that other civilized countries see a national benefit to taking care of each other. Free medical care, free or low-cost college, mental health help. And I wonder – why can't we do that? I think it's because in many other countries people see each other not as separate and alone but rather together, on the path of life, with each person existing as an integral part of the whole. And you help them when they're in need, not punish them because they've had some misfortune or bad break. I have to believe one of the reasons gun murders in other countries are so rare is because there's less of the lone wolf mentality amongst their citizens. Most are raised with a sense of connection, if not outright solidarity. And that makes it harder to kill one another."
****
To the list of missing militias listed above, where are your militias defending women who are raped? Here is what Michael Moore says about the attacks on women:
"We are a country whose leaders officially sanction and carry out acts of violence as a means to often an immoral end. We invade countries who didn't attack us. We're currently using drones in a half-dozen countries, often killing civilians."
"This probably shouldn't come as a surprise to us as we are a nation founded on genocide and built on the backs of slaves. We slaughtered 600,000 of each other in a civil war. We "tamed the Wild West with a six-shooter," and we rape and beat and kill our women without mercy and at a staggering rate: every three hours a women is murdered in the USA (half the time by an ex or a current); every three minutes a woman is raped in the USA; and every 15 seconds a woman is beaten in the USA."
*****
This writer is an atheist, a lifelong socialist, a staunch feminist and opposed to the Democrat-Republican Parties. What we have is White Male Killer Syndrome endangering all our lives. That is why we have no progress in this gun-crazed country. The good news is that the American people are apparently fed up with all of you gun nuts. We need to build on that and promote mass labor struggle. Without a labor movement, there is no future. Organize the unorganized for a labor general strike.
I agree entirely with your article. It's absolutely ridiculous to blame religion, or a lack thereof for psychos being psychotic. Mentally ill people of a violent nature are going to try finding ways to be violent, whether they have a religious excuse or not. If it's not "God" talking to them, it will be some other entity. Those women would have killed their children regardless of their religion. Religion is just a really useful tool for manipulating the masses, much like how it was used in the crusades, or WW2, or any number of other genocides.
The answer is most definitely not more religion. If anything, the answer is less religion, at least where politics are concerned. I, personally, don't have the answer, but I really wish special interest groups would stop using tragedies to push their selfish agendas.
The answer is most definitely not more religion. If anything, the answer is less religion, at least where politics are concerned. I, personally, don't have the answer, but I really wish special interest groups would stop using tragedies to push their selfish agendas.
My main point was in opposition to Huckabee and Buchanan's position that the Sandy Hook massacre was caused by atheism or secularism. I answered their false claim that Christians wouldn't do something like this.
On the specific case that Shela raises, I do think that religion was an important element. I wrote:
" So was Dena Schlosser, who, in 2004, cut her baby’s arms off when ordered to do so by God. The baby died the next day."
Being willing to murder a child for God does come directly from the Bible. It is in the story of Abraham and his son. Abraham is told to kill his son by God. He almost does so, but God stops him at the last minute. It was a test to see if Abraham would be willing o do so. So this is a story that is part of Christianity, being willing to murder your child for God.
Donna Schlosser watched the news earlier that day and saw in it signs that the apocalypse was upon us. Later that day, she heard this voice of God telling her to mutilate her child. Obviuosly, she was mentally ill to be hearing voices, but how can we deny the role of Christianity? Like Abraham, she was a good servant of God, willing to carry out any atrocity commanded. To do otherwise would be to go against God and risk eternal damnation.
The atrocities and near atrocities commanded by God and Jesus in the Bible have been the cause of many atrocities that have happened in real life.
On the specific case that Shela raises, I do think that religion was an important element. I wrote:
" So was Dena Schlosser, who, in 2004, cut her baby’s arms off when ordered to do so by God. The baby died the next day."
Being willing to murder a child for God does come directly from the Bible. It is in the story of Abraham and his son. Abraham is told to kill his son by God. He almost does so, but God stops him at the last minute. It was a test to see if Abraham would be willing o do so. So this is a story that is part of Christianity, being willing to murder your child for God.
Donna Schlosser watched the news earlier that day and saw in it signs that the apocalypse was upon us. Later that day, she heard this voice of God telling her to mutilate her child. Obviuosly, she was mentally ill to be hearing voices, but how can we deny the role of Christianity? Like Abraham, she was a good servant of God, willing to carry out any atrocity commanded. To do otherwise would be to go against God and risk eternal damnation.
The atrocities and near atrocities commanded by God and Jesus in the Bible have been the cause of many atrocities that have happened in real life.
Great piece Steven!
Here's a Klan poster from Alabama in the the 1930's. The communists organized a multiracial rally of 20,000 workers in Birmingham at that time! Read the book Hammers and Hoes to find out more.
Much of history is hidden from us, including the importance in the 1960's.
Here's a Klan poster from Alabama in the the 1930's. The communists organized a multiracial rally of 20,000 workers in Birmingham at that time! Read the book Hammers and Hoes to find out more.
Much of history is hidden from us, including the importance in the 1960's.
Nice article, I look forward to the next parts.
That's true, but if you take similar cases where religion was not a factor, they carried out atrocities because the voices in their head told them to do it, which they thought were fairies, deceased relatives, or any number of things. I think she would have done this regardless of her religion. Something compelled her to do it, and her religion was just the easiest excuse (or rationalization, as it would be from her point of view).
To get a fair view of how much religion influences people to do this sort of thing we'd have to look at all the similar cases and compare the percentage of those who said they were influenced by their religion to commit whatever crime they committed, and then compare that percentage to the percentage of religious individuals. You can find individual cases that support either side of this argument, but there isn't sufficient evidence either way unless you look at the whole picture.
To get a fair view of how much religion influences people to do this sort of thing we'd have to look at all the similar cases and compare the percentage of those who said they were influenced by their religion to commit whatever crime they committed, and then compare that percentage to the percentage of religious individuals. You can find individual cases that support either side of this argument, but there isn't sufficient evidence either way unless you look at the whole picture.
I like your skepticism. As a biological scientist as well as a Marxist, I often wish there was more conclusive evidence on many things. Often, the studies haven't been done, and are not my priority. Christianity, however, has some key ingredients that logically cause violence and help push some nuts over the edge. These ingredients include teachings in the Bible that advocate violence against non-believers and homosexuals. The Bible is also very clear in advocating that people listen to the voices in their head and even be willing to murder their children if their god commands it.
Logically, this would influence how a psychotic mind would respond to the voices. How could it not? In my thinking, the fact that God has, according to these stories ordered people to murder children before, would likely influence what kind of messages the psychotic voices produce as well. But the most important point here is that the Bible teaches people to listen to those voices. It is an ideology of insanity.
No matter how crazy people are, what people think is an important guide to their actions. A parallel would be anti-Semites and racists. Most don't go out and kill people based on their ideology, but if they snap (or have a government directly backing their violence), their ideology is more likely to inspire them to murder innocents.
Logically, this would influence how a psychotic mind would respond to the voices. How could it not? In my thinking, the fact that God has, according to these stories ordered people to murder children before, would likely influence what kind of messages the psychotic voices produce as well. But the most important point here is that the Bible teaches people to listen to those voices. It is an ideology of insanity.
No matter how crazy people are, what people think is an important guide to their actions. A parallel would be anti-Semites and racists. Most don't go out and kill people based on their ideology, but if they snap (or have a government directly backing their violence), their ideology is more likely to inspire them to murder innocents.
I have not had a chance yet to respond to your arguments. My last response was only a partial response, to which you posted another full length response that contained your original inaccuracies. A legitimate response to your many paragraphs will probably be of article length. I do plan on responding to you, but I've been suffering a severe migraine for the past two days. I will also prioritize getting this series of articles done before responding to you, perhaps incorporating my response into one of the articles. Either way, I'm not blowing you off, you raise important issues that I do plan on responding to.
Keep up the good work and Thank you, Thank you and Thank you..
notice this 'mentally ill' phrase being used so much, even on 'alternative media'. heck, they call non christians 'mentally ill' or 'pagans etc. just what tyou need, scapegoating someone to find a 'remedy'. never examining the fraud that is amerika. the west values only money ,as opposed to islamic where allah is first.
The track record for "Allah" giving people morality certainly isn't any better than that of Christianity. In fact, the western imperialist powers have repeatedly promoted the most backward elements of Islam as a club against more progressive secular and socialist movements in the East. In addition, they pit the differing sects of Islam against each other as part of their divide and rule tactics. Whether in the traditionally Muslim world or the traditionally Christian, the separation of religion and state is essential for progress in women's liberation, BGLT liberation, socialism, and the liberation of national, racial, and religious (and non-religious) minorities
I look forward to seeing part 2 and 3. I will certainly provide a link to these articles on my web site and in my 2012 Peacemovies.com booklet to be published in Feb 2013.
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