If any man can somehow be able, willing and or trained to resort to deadly violence when dealing with a situation that He himself put himself into with a youth [a large one with enough self-respect/preservation instinct] then it is he and only he that is to blame for the murder. Yes, murder.
I myself have been attacked with a knife, a bat and several times with surprise attacks and two on one situations and I have never killed anyone. I have survived unscathed, with no charges or even investigation into me for my role in the aforementioned, unfortunate situations. I was trained in self-defence by my step father, then several teachers over the years. I have been training my children since they could walk, literally. In the form of games and “sparing” i am in the 6th year of my deliberate plan to help as a parent, the personal security of my loved ones. It was not hard to learn, it is easy to pass on the information, especially to children. It also builds a great family bond with the mutual activity and so on. The bond in itself will make the children more even tempered and rational when dealing with conflict of physical, verbal and [due to emotional stability at home] even makes them less susceptible to social programing and generic crowd mentality, if that’s what passes for mentality these days… back to my points, to keep fighting we must start where it counts with our children as the long term plan for a better world, this is not to dissuade any one from fighting right now at all! The long game, which is the real game plan needs a bit of time to mature, so a short term cover is needed. The back and forth swapping of protest victories and police clamp downs, world court rulings and Middle East wars, drug wars and covert drug manufacturing/distribution and selling have and will continue to provide the perfect distraction, giving me and my wife time to form the plan and spend twelve years on it…
They attempt to manipulate the children with school, TV, media in general and so on, all I am promoting is that everyone have at least one child and
A: Home School.
B: Train mutually in several forms of self-defence.
C: Do family and group art projects.
D: Eat organic food
E: Take social or political action as often as possible.
The term art is loose, change it to organic gardening or a soccer game, the effect is the same, Self Strength and Social Respect. Any way I can ramble on forever so I will go and leave you with one more thought, Re-Evolution, is my families term for making sure each generation is as balanced , respectful is balanced with an ability to stand ones ground, insightful is balanced with outer perception and so on. The result will be [and is so far] a generation of real human beings, not another crop of sheep.
Take the World Back.
Stand Up for Everyone.
Teach or is will be Lost.
Great writing, Rod. Thanks for the support.
I agree with the overall assessment of the case and the trial. It is an unfortunate case of the confluence of various factors, but it is obvious that Zimmerman was not acting as a racist – though he may have been biased by racial ideas. But of course, at any given point in time – everyone is biased by their racial ideas – which is what Lee is pointing out.
Interestingly enough, Lee’s take and overview is pretty much identical to the unsolicited rant that my wife got this morning. I am angry relative to this issue. I am angry because the black Americans in the various parts of the country who are rioting in various ways and to various degrees can’t see that *this* case isn’t particularly a racially motivated situation – YET there is so much actual racially motivated villainy, chicanery and injustice actually occurring – case in point – the prison-industrial system.
While I would like to see proud, strong and informed black people taking action – I also had to ask myself – What makes a person angry enough to go out and conduct acts of violence or vandalism in the name of just the hint of racism? From whence does that deep disenfranchisement root itself?
The answer is: Generation upon generation of pure boot-to-the-head by the system itself. And as we all know – the system is operated by a white man with giant ass-cheeks – we’ve all seen the wall. In fact, black Americans – I must tell you, I might as well be black myself, because I am nowhere near as white as that guy is.
Those are metaphors – not racist comments.
This is chance – like any other day – to realize that these are not the terms we really mean. The battle isn’t white versus black. It’s authoritarian/control versus compassion/freedom.
When we say “the man” – the image may be of a white man, but the actual reality is of the mentality of control. That mentality says that we all have options to better ourselves – options that don’t involve violence – therefore, if you engage in those actions, you are wrong. The voice of compassion and freedom says that with so little options, one might as well act out, since the situation is so desperate.
Both forces reinforce the other and perpetuate the state of affairs. The question is – which will be wise enough to stop the wheel long enough to change the game?
Personally, my money is on the poor – the voice of compassion and freedom. But, maybe I’m racist against the control freak/authoritarian. I doubt it.
But until the compassionate rise and show wisdom and stand up for freedom – thus demonstrating to the authoritarian that we don’t need to be controlled – then the authoritarian will be able to dictate and justify the continued systematic program of the devaluation of life through control, greed and deliberate violation – which is itself only the symptom of a deep cynicism also instilled into the authoritarian. It is a deep cynicism on both poles which is the root of the issue. Indeed – it is a deep cynicism in all of us that neuters our ability to act.
Until we each reach the day when we say – surely, tomorrow can be no worse if I act today. If we are so deeply cynical that we believe that nothing will ever change (something I hear people say all the time), then surely we must be so saddened by the whole state of affairs that we would be motivated to at least try to change the world around us – one action at a time. Because logically, whatever its nature – it will not change if we do not act.
Cynicism is the act of screwing oneself over first, so that no one else can do it for you – along with the internal and external rhetoric which seeks to justify that same cynicism as a valid form of expression. Ironically, it is an act of control in defense against control. Cynicism is a deeply introspective and destructive form of self-pity.
“Oh the world is so terrible – nothing will ever change.” Really? So act. If it bothers you that much, then act against it – Rise against it. There are no victims ultimately – only participants.
I have to salute Lee – this was my take overall as well. Black Americans – there is much to do, but our collective focus would be better spent on larger issues. The problem is much deeper and broader than the Zimmerman case, which is tragic – and is probably the literal acting out of the overall drama in this country – and yet is also a case of TWO people acting badly.
First of all, I agree that Zimmerman should not have walked away scott free. I also agree, however, with the juror who opened up and said that his intentions had basically been good…just seriously overzealous.
That said I feel Trayvon had some responsibility for what happened to him that night. At first he was the total victim, but the moment he became confrontational…he stopped being a victim and became a particpant. His anger may have been justified, but that did not make it right. He was a minor, but he was also a strapping young man, and he definately had the upper hand in the fist fight. He shouldn’t have died. His youth worked against him by allowing him to make poor decisions. Zimmerman made a lot of terrible decisions too however.
Trayvon had to suffer the consequences of his decisions…Zimmerman should as well. I am not qualified to say how he should have paid for what he did, but keeping in mind that in the end they both contributed to what happened can take some of the sting out of it.
In this world, when you have an angry confrontation with anyone, and particulary with a stranger, you never know who is armed and who isn’t….but so many people walk around with guns that it is a pretty good idea to assume that they are. So the best thing to do is to take the high road and back off.
In Falun Gong there is a story about a monk who was walking down the street when he was suddenly approached by a bully and pushed to the ground. His reaction was to stay on his knees and crawl through the legs of his adversary…and then get up and walk away without a trace of anger in his heart. He then thanked the universe for giving him that opportunity to control his ego and make himself stronger.
That kind of thinking is a long way from stand your ground.
If any man can somehow be able, willing and or trained to resort to deadly violence when dealing with a situation that He himself put himself into with a youth [a large one with enough self-respect/preservation instinct] then it is he and only he that is to blame for the murder. Yes, murder.
I myself have been attacked with a knife, a bat and several times with surprise attacks and two on one situations and I have never killed anyone. I have survived unscathed, with no charges or even investigation into me for my role in the aforementioned, unfortunate situations. I was trained in self-defence by my step father, then several teachers over the years. I have been training my children since they could walk, literally. In the form of games and “sparing” i am in the 6th year of my deliberate plan to help as a parent, the personal security of my loved ones. It was not hard to learn, it is easy to pass on the information, especially to children. It also builds a great family bond with the mutual activity and so on. The bond in itself will make the children more even tempered and rational when dealing with conflict of physical, verbal and [due to emotional stability at home] even makes them less susceptible to social programing and generic crowd mentality, if that’s what passes for mentality these days… back to my points, to keep fighting we must start where it counts with our children as the long term plan for a better world, this is not to dissuade any one from fighting right now at all! The long game, which is the real game plan needs a bit of time to mature, so a short term cover is needed. The back and forth swapping of protest victories and police clamp downs, world court rulings and Middle East wars, drug wars and covert drug manufacturing/distribution and selling have and will continue to provide the perfect distraction, giving me and my wife time to form the plan and spend twelve years on it…
They attempt to manipulate the children with school, TV, media in general and so on, all I am promoting is that everyone have at least one child and
A: Home School.
B: Train mutually in several forms of self-defence.
C: Do family and group art projects.
D: Eat organic food
E: Take social or political action as often as possible.
The term art is loose, change it to organic gardening or a soccer game, the effect is the same, Self Strength and Social Respect. Any way I can ramble on forever so I will go and leave you with one more thought, Re-Evolution, is my families term for making sure each generation is as balanced , respectful is balanced with an ability to stand ones ground, insightful is balanced with outer perception and so on. The result will be [and is so far] a generation of real human beings, not another crop of sheep.
Take the World Back.
Stand Up for Everyone.
Teach or is will be Lost.
Great writing, Rod. Thanks for the support.
I agree with the overall assessment of the case and the trial. It is an unfortunate case of the confluence of various factors, but it is obvious that Zimmerman was not acting as a racist – though he may have been biased by racial ideas. But of course, at any given point in time – everyone is biased by their racial ideas – which is what Lee is pointing out.
Interestingly enough, Lee’s take and overview is pretty much identical to the unsolicited rant that my wife got this morning. I am angry relative to this issue. I am angry because the black Americans in the various parts of the country who are rioting in various ways and to various degrees can’t see that *this* case isn’t particularly a racially motivated situation – YET there is so much actual racially motivated villainy, chicanery and injustice actually occurring – case in point – the prison-industrial system.
While I would like to see proud, strong and informed black people taking action – I also had to ask myself – What makes a person angry enough to go out and conduct acts of violence or vandalism in the name of just the hint of racism? From whence does that deep disenfranchisement root itself?
The answer is: Generation upon generation of pure boot-to-the-head by the system itself. And as we all know – the system is operated by a white man with giant ass-cheeks – we’ve all seen the wall. In fact, black Americans – I must tell you, I might as well be black myself, because I am nowhere near as white as that guy is.
Those are metaphors – not racist comments.
This is chance – like any other day – to realize that these are not the terms we really mean. The battle isn’t white versus black. It’s authoritarian/control versus compassion/freedom.
When we say “the man” – the image may be of a white man, but the actual reality is of the mentality of control. That mentality says that we all have options to better ourselves – options that don’t involve violence – therefore, if you engage in those actions, you are wrong. The voice of compassion and freedom says that with so little options, one might as well act out, since the situation is so desperate.
Both forces reinforce the other and perpetuate the state of affairs. The question is – which will be wise enough to stop the wheel long enough to change the game?
Personally, my money is on the poor – the voice of compassion and freedom. But, maybe I’m racist against the control freak/authoritarian. I doubt it.
But until the compassionate rise and show wisdom and stand up for freedom – thus demonstrating to the authoritarian that we don’t need to be controlled – then the authoritarian will be able to dictate and justify the continued systematic program of the devaluation of life through control, greed and deliberate violation – which is itself only the symptom of a deep cynicism also instilled into the authoritarian. It is a deep cynicism on both poles which is the root of the issue. Indeed – it is a deep cynicism in all of us that neuters our ability to act.
Until we each reach the day when we say – surely, tomorrow can be no worse if I act today. If we are so deeply cynical that we believe that nothing will ever change (something I hear people say all the time), then surely we must be so saddened by the whole state of affairs that we would be motivated to at least try to change the world around us – one action at a time. Because logically, whatever its nature – it will not change if we do not act.
Cynicism is the act of screwing oneself over first, so that no one else can do it for you – along with the internal and external rhetoric which seeks to justify that same cynicism as a valid form of expression. Ironically, it is an act of control in defense against control. Cynicism is a deeply introspective and destructive form of self-pity.
“Oh the world is so terrible – nothing will ever change.” Really? So act. If it bothers you that much, then act against it – Rise against it. There are no victims ultimately – only participants.
I have to salute Lee – this was my take overall as well. Black Americans – there is much to do, but our collective focus would be better spent on larger issues. The problem is much deeper and broader than the Zimmerman case, which is tragic – and is probably the literal acting out of the overall drama in this country – and yet is also a case of TWO people acting badly.
First of all, I agree that Zimmerman should not have walked away scott free. I also agree, however, with the juror who opened up and said that his intentions had basically been good…just seriously overzealous.
That said I feel Trayvon had some responsibility for what happened to him that night. At first he was the total victim, but the moment he became confrontational…he stopped being a victim and became a particpant. His anger may have been justified, but that did not make it right. He was a minor, but he was also a strapping young man, and he definately had the upper hand in the fist fight. He shouldn’t have died. His youth worked against him by allowing him to make poor decisions. Zimmerman made a lot of terrible decisions too however.
Trayvon had to suffer the consequences of his decisions…Zimmerman should as well. I am not qualified to say how he should have paid for what he did, but keeping in mind that in the end they both contributed to what happened can take some of the sting out of it.
In this world, when you have an angry confrontation with anyone, and particulary with a stranger, you never know who is armed and who isn’t….but so many people walk around with guns that it is a pretty good idea to assume that they are. So the best thing to do is to take the high road and back off.
In Falun Gong there is a story about a monk who was walking down the street when he was suddenly approached by a bully and pushed to the ground. His reaction was to stay on his knees and crawl through the legs of his adversary…and then get up and walk away without a trace of anger in his heart. He then thanked the universe for giving him that opportunity to control his ego and make himself stronger.
That kind of thinking is a long way from stand your ground.