So I don't live under a rock or in a vacuum and I'm fully aware that our ethnicity, culture, preferred religion (if any) life experiences, area of upbringing, decade of upbringing, mentality of parents, social environments, sexuality and many other things all play a major role in our development. All of that also forms our world-view, outlook on life, the world around us and how we view & think about things. I've read dozens & dozens of threads in here on many topics and totally get that all of us fall pretty much 6 degrees of separation from each other. The major topics that seem to dominate this forum are: politics (absolutely), and then all of the kitchen table social issues and major daily news events like: shootings, bombings, war, abortion, civil rights, LBGT rights, social programs, local city, state, government programs, and the occasional rants on everything from dogs eating homework to our car not starting on Monday morning. What's troubling (and I've fallen victim to this myself from time to time) are the emotional replies or insultive back & forth's that doesn't get anybody anywhere, and the entire dialog shuts down. We're all pretty much posting anonymously and honestly there's no need to be insultive or take things personally, and as I've stated this is a department where I need to and have worked on a lot myself as I've made quite a few smart-ass comments when they weren't needed. So what's the point of this post?? To attempt a reset, an attempt at reaching as many of you as I can to remind all of us that there's no need to go dark or negative, a reminder to debate issues like civilized people and not crazed people trying to insult or slam each other. Our country seems to be getting angrier & angrier by the day: there was a guy that shot a waiter for telling him he couldn't smoke in a restaurant, the guy that just killed a bunch of people at a Planned Parenthood, the latest hysteria over refugees that haven't even gotten here yet, and everybody's acting as if they're all carrying the black plague, a small movement that some people started after being fed up with seeing members of their community getting gunned down to spread the message that their lives matter has turned into them being called a terrorist organization. (funny, the Guardian Angels were never called terrorist's) Seriously it's all getting way out of hand. Every single one of us comes from different walks of life and if we all accumulated the years of our life experience it would add up to millions of years of life experience. So how about we stop shouting at each other and make an effort to listen.......? We might just learn something in the process. How about we all dial it down a bit, not get so worked up, realize the sky isn't falling & the world isn't ending over every piece of legislation that comes from Washington, stop & think before we write or hit "post" and just in general "try" to see where the other person is coming from before we reply. (all of this goes for myself as well)
Crime is and has been in decline for 30 years. What's changed is our response to it. When a crime was committed in the past, people blamed the criminal. Now we blame society and our liberties, and give the criminal a suspended sentence. People are dark and negative because they have no power or control over their political destiny. We have been agglomerated into central government wherein local autonomy is sacrificed for collective security. When your representation is 700,000:1 you may as well be a slave. As a consequence of our slavery to the collective, we have become apathetic and cynical - that's natural. [hr][/hr] As for the refugees, ISIS is very good at concealing themselves among innocents. When the stakes are this high and people feel this much fear, they tend to collectively punish based on the likelihood of criminality, not individual proof of it. That seems to be their point: if we alienate innocents, that creates a much larger pool from which ISIS can recruit - especially for lone wolf attacks. The first goal of every invading force is to divide the population.
When someone gets vile I figure I've won the argument and move on. I tend to use the 'ignore' function quite a bit. If I find myself too wrapped up repeatedly with the same ';adversary,' and we are just bumping heads but I have trouble dialing it back, I will put them in my 'ignore' list for a time. For me, if I don't see their posts I don't care. That being said, I agree with the overall sentiment and will...and have been....trying to dial it back.
I completely understand what your saying & where you're coming from regarding crime, and I also realize how sick & tired a lot of people are, of hearing: "I'm all eff'd up because of the system or the man" People basically want to see others take responsibility for their own actions, got it. But when a segment of our society is incarcerated, killed, purposely kept out of opportunities, or just in general looked upon by everybody else as pariahs.....it gets pretty hard to believe that everyone in "that" group is "that" eff'd up. All "true" criminals should face the consequences of their actions to be sure, but to put 5, 10, 15, 20 bullets into an unarmed individual, and then have the brass balls to claim that you had no choice, or that you feared for your life, or that you were just doing your job, borders on insane, and is egregiously irresponsible. (in my opinion) Grandma used to say: "I see with my eyes open" and if I have to explain that, then...... The Syrian refugees....that's a lost hope. Most people in this country are convinced beyond belief that most of them are killers and/or terrorists, and nobody is willing to give them or our government a chance. Nobody is willing to allow due process to have it's day to prove that the government can & will do a good job of filtering the good from the bad. The fear & paranoia over these lost, tortured souls has killed the conversation. ISIS is already here my friend, and there is no way in Hell they would take the chance of trying to "sneak" a few operatives in with the refugees when they have the resources and the means to do it without the risk. The truth is Americans never wanted the refugees because of all the anti-Muslim xenophobia, and unfortunately the bombings in France opened the door & gave them the opportunity to make their case for why it's such a bad idea. The fact that there were no Syrians involved or that the "fake Syrian" passport, was found out to be fake meant nothing. People are convinced that no good will come from letting them in so that's that. Once again we look more like cowards while the rest of the world steps up to the plate to do the right thing. These are just my thoughts, and in the final analysis, they mean nothing. They're only important to me.
