Ho-hum. Another week, another gun massacre in the U.S., another round of boringly predictable responses. How predictable can they be? Let us count the ways:
1. More guns
If guns are used to commit mass murders, then even more guns would mean fewer slaughters, right? Makes perfect sense. At least to gun profiteers. You can count on them to use every mass murder like this as a golden opportunity to drive home the message that the real cure for the plague of violence is a hair of the dog — or rather lots and lots of hairs. (The guvmint wants to take away your guns; but if you buy one gun for every federal agent out there, you should be able to fend them off.) They’ve convinced a good many impressionable souls that more guns equals less crime, though the evidence strongly suggests otherwise.
2. Guns don’t spout soundbites, people do
And heaven forbid that anyone might suggest, as President Obama did, that we have a problem when guns get into the wrong hands. Why, that’s… that’s… that’s (horrors) CAPITALIZING ON A TRAGEDY. And we all know that guns are not really to blame. If the punk in Charleston hadn’t had a firearm, he just as easily could have slaughtered those folks with a pipe cleaner or toothbrush. Besides, criminals just ignore laws, so what’s the use in having any?
3. Pay no attention to that racist behind the curtain
Stop calling it a racist attack, already. It’s just a coincidence that all the victims were black. There must have been other factors contributing to the attack. Like drugs and the librulmedia. Or “diversity”. Or transgender people. And of course we mustn’t forget the vast conspiracy against Christianity. Never mind that the killer announced his racist motives at the scene, and that he has a distinguished white extremist history. Racism doesn’t exist in America anymore, remember?
4. It’s all about mental illness
Oh, and since the shooter was a white male, his violence must have been triggered (oops) by mental illness.
5. Enough with the victimization — they asked for it
Stop calling the murdered congregation members victims. Maybe there’s no such thing. Maybe some of them, at least, brought it on themselves.
7. If all else fails, blame Obama
Somehow, the buck must go back to the black guy in the formerly White House. Somehow or other. Surely.
8. Instant fame
Immediately and very frequently thereafter, the killer’s name and likeness got splashed all over TV, print and the Internet. A killer who admits to having been inspired by the highly publicized killer of Trayvon Martin. Don’t we ever learn ANYTHING from these incidents?
The Propaganda Professor 
Sadly, we don’t. Since whites created white racism, only whites can stop it. People of color telling whites to not be racist is futile. Whites have to choose to not be racist, but, America’s institutions—education, government and media, et al—keeps white America in denial.
Racism, at least, has become an issue that the Right lies about, accepts the lies, understands it’s all lies, and smirks that in draping the most translucent figleaf over their lies, they have ‘tricked’ the Left and won a big victory. Do they really think that transposing another word in place of the N-word, yet acting the same, that they have side-stepped real racism and white supremacy? No, I don’ think so.
POP,
Personally, I think it reasonable to conclude that the second amendment guarantees all Americans the right to own weapons, and that the peripheral issue of whether only a “well armed militia,” should have weapons, was not meant to convey the entirety of the 2nd Amendment, as somehow being restrictive in regards to the rights of individual gun owners.
I also DO NOT find it entirely repulsive to consider the possibility that armed security personnel could be present on school grounds while bearing weapons that might possibly repel an attacker—why should their presence be frightening or intimidating to children, when they could dress in plain clothes with weapons concealed and thus out of sight? However, I visited a couple of your links and they shocked and amazed me that the Pastor of the Charleston congregation could have actually been accused of causing the attack himself, because of his legislative record concerning conceal and carry laws! Likewise, although I believe mental illness is a definite factor in the actions of many shooters, (such as the Aurora theater mass shooter), it is true that many gunmen just don’t have documented illnesses that involve defective brain chemistry which can then, make them NOT totally responsible for their actions. But your point about the whole issue of mental illness being responsible, truly can be easily used, (and is easily be used), as just another cop-out! Making that claim no doubt can serve as a disguise used to mask a broader SOCIETAL illness, which consciously or unconsciously promotes white supremacists, skinheads, neo-nazis and others, as individual elements representing a notorious and motley crew of offenders which may become obsessed by a “higher calling,” which then leads them to try and make the world “safer” for the white race? The truth is that often such pseudo political ideologies and divine missions, do involve perverse ideas about the role of manhood, and/or of various pseudo religious justifications—leading shooters to perceive of themselves as protectors of the white race, racial purity and a completely perverse concept about Christian, (or any other faith’s) values.
It’s a shame that more of us don’t realize that the first amendment gives us the right to believe what we believe, but not to force our beliefs on others—espeically when our beliefs manifest themselves at the barrel end of a gun! To be sure, some shooters have real mental illnesses that are related to brain chemistry, but far too many are simply taking part in what might be dubbed a societal, or cultural, delusion–including the wild west rights of bigoted paranoids. In that sense, we have to admit that an organization like the KKK, included many members who occupied places of influence and prestige in their Jim Crow societies. So, If they were mentally ill, many were also simultaneously considered as being the pillars of society, and as certain characters in Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, were described—they too were, “honorable men.”
In conclusion, I must say that I don’t know if the primary complaints against Obama stem from his racial identity or from the fact that he simply had guts enough to oppose Republican opposition to the ACA—without any of their votes? Whether his enemies consider him either an “uppity,” (N word) President, or just a tyrant whose tyranny prevented him from submitting to their authority—I just can’t say? But I have often heard Europeans and those in other industrial nations, express their bewilderment as to why we Americans are so volatile about social issues that just don’t seem ao urgent to them? One of the culprits probably has to do with the mistaken idea that the first amendment permits us to cry “foul,” whenever one of our own cherished belief cannot be forcefully shoved down the throats of others. So the rugged individualist creed so misused by the NRA, could (quite understandably), be considered a form of mental illness in itself—and one that desperately needs to be addressed!
Hi Peter, just to let you know that I’m actually am black and I’m actually aware of how unique the history of not just hate crimes but overall discrimination towards Blacks in America in general. I just didn’t want to come off as using a victim card. I could go on what sort of “journey” it was to discover all that I know but I want to tell you some things from a “black” perspective.
Between stuff like these shootings, slurs, and racial profiling on the police the BIGGEST stigma that hurts me the most is the idea that due to low intelligence that we are not able to support ourselves. This is backed up by using anthropology, modern racial statistics, and persistent stereotypes. Its hurts that people act racist not only towards the idea to us being exterminated but also towards the ide that we can’t take care of ourselves. African American achievements are often said to be to possible due to “white” admixture like our higher average IQ recorded by Richard Lynn (which is currently being reevaluated) calling “the best of the race”.
I gain a reputation amongst my peers of being smart, respectful, and likable and I don’t even care because I’m part white. Charles Drew was probably among the “whitest” looking American Negro but he still was refused a blood transfusion due to being an “Black” man surrounded by doctors for White people. Immigrants from south/eastern Europe were also persecuted and weren’t even considered white, so if actually Caucasians still got ethnic hate and they wouldn’t accept me for being part “white” why should I see intelligence as “their” intelligence?
Anyways another irritating thing is how people say “you have no history!”, but when we do find something they say “the past doesn’t matter, look at things now!”. What a load. This is an example of the oppression that agitates me the most, discouraging success and calling us out for the lack of achievement.
Going back to the historical achievements, it was proven that a group in sub Saharan Africa called the Haya were able to create steel of a quality centuries before the Europeans were capable but when a forum was made for it people were either saying it to be a lie or “why the fuck would you throw carbon in liquid metal? They must have did it by accident.”. No one hardly investigated the topic but it went into a fucking tangent of black history between racists vs afrocentrists (who passion I admire but their info to be fallacious).
Actually ordering the book talking about the subject it was proven that they did do it, but doing so under their conditions was not unique to them and was done in other ancient sites as well in certain industrial places. It was just that they did their own variation of the technique. But did anyone do THIS, no, they just went on in their own ravings. It was a horrible experience and it could’ve been solved in ONE page, ONE page but it spanned to at least 50. Goes to show of what kind of hostility can arise when pointing out something proud about blacks. On the topic of African metalwork, what makes it unique is that they worked with a wider variety of metals compared to other people and made many archaic oven designs for working with their properties. Just a little something in case you are interested.
People also bring up about how trends like agriculture and writing occurred in more recent times in Sub Saharan, but people sort of forget about that GIANT DESERT in the way inhibiting them. Also, just because you didn’t create the foundations of a trend doesn’t mean you can’t expand on it. For example “white people” didn’t create the foundation technology for the gun, the Chinese did but they were the ones to extensively expand with it. With the same logic towards agriculture it was extensively expanded and developed amongst the Bantu allowing them to gain more territory and allowed the cultivation of native rice in West Africa (which when brought over by slaves contributed to America’s understanding of cultivation because Europeans didn’t know how to cultivate rice in the swamps and also made rice in wetland areas a prominent commodity in those colonies.). You can find article on the Rice topic on multiple scientific sites and books.
I bet no one will even remember that proud group under priest Jamal during the Baltimore riots, showing the fallacy of the Poisonous M&M idea of how you CAN tell the difference between those who can control themselves during a crisis. Sadly stuff like this and Iowa only gives fuel towards supremacists. Also, regarding Iowa, the reason why I use that one is because it was an example of another idea used by Blacks in the belief that “we are still slaves”. I don’t doubt discrimination but no, and I don’t care what anyone says, you are not a slave. This idea in use promotes lack of achievements, unnecessary anger towards white people, and an insult towards black white, and other who worked to earn legal and social emancipation. It is an embarrassment when so many persecuted groups have already advanced. I mean, have you ever read a blog devoted to campaign against Italians in our country. Iowa shows that it not only hurts Blacks, hut it hurts white families who had nothing to do with this.
Overall My compliant here is that advancement is a two part job, them and us.
Those are my thoughts from my perspective.
Thanks for the comment in response phil,
Admittedly I don’t know much about African history, nor the use of innovative technology in black societies, but in my freshman year of college, (1970), my biology and anthropology professors, pretty much laid to rest the false idea that somehow those of African descent are mentally inferior. I also learned the the early progress and development of the human race, began on the African continent and then spread to all other parts of the world. That means that despite our skin pigmentation, we all share the same genes and have the same potential to be intelligent.
I have always thought that part of the reason that black American communities and their individuals seem to reject the value of education, is because in a world that seems to be built to hold them down, the idea of spending years pursuing expensive and financially difficult to obtain educations, seems like a losing proposition to begin with. I also know that many white kids are turned off to educational endeavors and thus, try to get by without pursuing a degree or a well paying career. But I think the President has it right when telling the black community that hardly any of them are going to play for the NBA or become raps stars, so they should be actively pursuing education and being positive role models for their children since that is the true way out of poverty–of course the same thing goes when considering the lack of enthusiasm among many young white kids, who have similar fantasies.
I would also like to add the fact that in my high school education, I learned that although superficially the cause of the Civil War, seemed to be about States rights, it was only considered so because Southern businessmen feared losing their slaves, which at that time extremely valuable because owning slaves allowed them to prosper economically. So the war was really fought over the idea that slavery was wrong, but was attributed, especially to future generations in the south, to a fight over States rights? In that respect Southern resistance to removing the flag from the South Carolina capital area, has been distorted into a issue about the great sacrifices made by the South during the civil war in order to reject the power of the big bad government.
Of course the real issues was about slavery and, if any reverence should be extended towards the confederacy and the rebel soldiers who gave up so many lives, it’s in the sense that they were answering a call that they had honestly believed was just. However displaying a confederate flag at government venue, is a clear attempt to associate the confederacy with some great political cause, and as such, I am glad to see it come down.
The real tragedy of human warfare was best expressed by singer, song writer, and pacifist Joan Baez who made a hit recording called “The night they Drove old Dixie Down” which primarily focuses on the suffering and heartbreaking sacrifice of soldier everywhere by including those who fought for the south on that list. After all, wasn’t it Union General Sherman who ravaged and burned Atlanta, killing and destroying far beyond anything he needed in order to win?
We are all the victims of war, but I’m glad that so many black Americans who fought valiantly in WW2, Korea. Vietnam, as well as in other wars, seem to finally be receiving some credit for what they did.
No doubt old racist attitudes are somewhat responsible for the way Obama has been resisted and demonized so fiercely by Republicans in Congress, but I think part of it is simply a reaction to the fact that he had the guts to do something right like extending health insurance to many Americans who otherwise would have to do without it–so its about power as well as race.
I appreciate your comments Phil thanks again for responding.
Thank you Peter, this comment means a lot.
Towards mental inferiority, I also believe that to be false. If we are talking IQ, to be fair I can believe (on average) that to be weaker but the thing is that you will often see in sites that loosely talk about racial science is that they make the mistake of IQ= general intelligence. IQ translates towards the ability to process math based logic. While IQ is important it is only one of multiple forms of intelligence.
Even then, when you actually do research on precolonial Africa they actually did achieve a decent form of organization and government (the Yoruba in particular).
People who often support the idea of blacks being just muscle often don’t know about SPECIFIC cultures or societies and would just say “negro” as if it isn’t a poor ass generalization or have a bias towards IQ. The only exceptions would be the Islamic empire (Mali for example) and say they it achieved through mostly Arabic contributions. This was a common belief until evidence shows that complex societies existed there before the arrival of Arabs. But with that said, Arabs did contribute the important factor of higher end education of mathematics and such that lead to developments like Timbuktu.
The major problem with precolonial sub-Saharan Africa isn’t necessarily “intelligence” because they do indeed show form of cognitive developments in their societies, but rather than they didn’t have a sort of philosopher/”scientist” caste. They had artists, Leaders, priest, and blacksmiths but they lacked the presence of logic that wasn’t tightly bounded to their beliefs like their math. Their math was indeed utilized and functional it just that it was also tied to things like spiritual beliefs, which caused early scholars to ignore them and only allowed people much later to be able to observe how they used it.
The other caste levels I’ve mentioned would basically be where the potential philosophers would be.
If you want examples of “cognitive” developments I would look up the kingdom of Ife, Nok, and the Igbo’s form of financials called Isusu
Thanks in return Phil,
Two subjects most of us don’t encounter until we reach higher educational institutions are African history and Native American History. So most of us know very little about the contributions made by African Americans and Native Americans.
I know that much of our mathematical and scientific knowledge seems to be traceble to Greek, Roman, and middle age European cultures, but we shouldn’t use this observation to think that those not well versed in Math or Newton’s laws, are somehow innately less intelligent. Many IQ tests challenge those being tested by emphasising the backgrounds knowledge commonly explored in certain cultures, and so, scoring low on such tests may have as much to do with unfamiliarity to the subject matter, as it does with our rational abilities. You and I may be every bit as intelligent as anyone in France, but may not be learned about the lives and works of various French and European artists simply be cause we did not grow up in that culture. Another way of putting it is that, it would be misleading to assume that because someone does not speak French fluently, that this means that person has lower intelligence than those who claims and uses it as their native language? Before we can learn anything we must have a basic exposure to various fields of learning. So even in matters of abstract thinking, those of us who grew up in cultures which were immersed in such thinking, are naturally going to be better abstract thinking than those from other areas of the world. It seems to me that this observation can be used when discussing any type of learning, i.e. even If I have a great knowledge of Greek philosophers that doesn’t mean I can change a simple tire, or fix an engine that needs a valve job. I think a lot of what is considered intelligence simply began when certain groups or culture engaged in certain types of learning.
I’ve taken this long to respond since I am still in the process of moving and wasn’t connected to the internet for about 5 days–but I hope you have a great summer—hopefully one without extreme manifestations of global warming!
Please take your time and don’t let me keep you up. I actually have heard that scoring according to things like IQ are now taking consideration on things like how culture could interfere with accurate measuring when comparing two from different cultures.
Yes Phil, I think that factor has been discussed for quite a while but as of yet, is not included as a valid way to evaluate most IQ or college aptitude tests. I also think many athletes posses the ability to respond almost instantaneously to situations that demand certain actions required to win. So, even thinking itself can be overdone, and many who do not dwell on their thoughts in excess, may be employing an instinctive aid that augments intelligence itself. But I do feel a bit tired right now so right now I’ll catch some sleep rather than try to expound—sufficient sleep being another way to increase the effective use of any human mind.
When I say “they” in the 3rd paragraph I meant racist Anglo Saxons.
P.O.P are you going to tackle claims of this being a hoax?
Possibly. I’ve mentioned these “false flag” claims before. It’s pretty much a given that whenever an event like this occurs, the Alex Jones crowd is going to say it was staged.
Thanks for the response. I also heard of the OTHER Charleston shooting that was captured by a cellphone that was said to be fake (to be honest though, I can actually SEE what they mean, one pointing out how the gun produce no smoke.). One of the biggest stances they have on the such is that it is a ploy to create racial tensions and that Black on White crime in underrepresented. Granted I think it is, but it’s no secret that Black people are capable of being racist and committing hate crimes, just look up one that happened in Iowa.
People often think it is a conspiracy behind the coverage focus but the thing is (having experience of 2 years of Journalism and Media in High School) that Coverage is sadly based on what the Executive decides rather what is important. That a tad unnoble but not necessarily a conspiracy, but rather capitalism since the decisions on what to show can often be from what would sell the most.
Just a short comment in regards to Phil’s observation that black people are as capable of committing violent hate crimes;
Of course this is perfectly true and is true of pretty much across all categories and Demographic concerning people of different races, religions, or ethnic backgrounds. And even one’s job or social position is no guarantee that one will be free from having his or her professions sullied by someone committing a hate crime—since even ordained ministers sometimes do horrible things. But in the case of black Americans, we are dealing with hundreds of year of domination and repression, and are now experiencing a rash of, (at the very least), irresponsible and unprofessional conduct from the police towards them.
So of course a mad-man in a Church, photographed with a crazy look on his face and a confederate flag in his hand, is going to cause many in the black community to want revenge! So far though, I have not heard of many hate crimes perpetrated by African Americans in response to the church shooting incident–in fact, the response from black Americans has been basically calm and rational–considering the horrific nature of the crime—a miracle in itself!
So when we consider the statistical evidence pointing out that far more Black Americans are subjected to police procedures like stop and frisk, (as I believe it is called), and the fact that very few of those police actions has ever confirmed suspicions about criminal activity, we must admit that the history of hate crimes against blacks is rife with many more cases of social and political repression, as well as legal injustices, than have most hate crimes.
I agree with most of what you saId, but I think it’s important to place crimes against black Americans in perspective. They have been carried out much more often than they should, and we should expect some natural rage from Blacks about that fact!
Those who decry the removal of the Confederate flag which has been flown far too long in a public and government space, should realize that they are perfectly free to fly the same flag on their front porches, or to paint their houses with that flag depicted on its walls, It’s just that a pesky called the First Amendment requires separation of church and State, involves prohibiting government venues from being used to promote and political of religious cause. I can only imagine the hurt and angry feelings among the black community resulting from the fact that such a government endorsement, (or one that is easily considered as one) has been granted approval for so long!
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