i always check the conservative
websites to see what they are up to and i subscribe to a few of the
main e-mail lists...like Red State, Town Hall, Focus on the Family
etc. i have to say i feel really bad for conservatives because the
use of alarming scare tactics to get you in line is pervasive.
You are made to fear everything.
Today is a perfect example. In my in
box is a piece addressed to Dear Fellow Patriot from Town Hall. It
advises you to watch a video about the 37 things you should hoard in
case of a disaster. It announces that you will not be able to get
food and will starve in the event of a disaster so you should start stockpiling.
My first thoughts before even looking
at the video was what do they want me to buy. The video is hand drawn
and wants you to believe that right now your life is in peril, you could be hit at any moment and you are not prepared. i made
it through about 3 minutes before the videographer said he had
written a book about this very topic....trying to turn it off...it
wouldn't let me...warning that i was making a mistake.
FEMA is of
course the bad guy and it used New Orleans as an example, which i
found hilarious because it was President Bush and his administration
that fiddled while Rome burned as they say. The promoter couldn't use Sandy
because FEMA actually performed under President Obama.
Anyway these types of alarming
scenarios land in my in box every day from the conservative sites.
Its mentally exhausting having to read day in and day out how
terrible everything is. You are most positively on your own if you are
conservative...the idea is no one is going to help you so you have to
help yourself. Luckily my experience is balanced by the liberal
offerings that had one on Rockaway Beach and their experience after
Sandy. It's also balanced by actual experience after a major disaster.
An association called You are Never
Alone which works with the unemployed in Rockaway to find jobs and
build careers kicked into high gear and mobilized people to clean up.
Other groups fed people,tended to their wounds, supplied dry housing,
clothes etc. If you viewed the hoarding piece you'd think the world
was coming to an end, you are going to starve and you are shit out of luck unless you follow instructions in the video.
My experience was that it was the most
gratifying time of my life in the after math. It was a time when
everyone kicked in to help and the sense of community the most i'd
ever felt. i think all of us could use a dose of disaster just so they
could see the things we can all achieve when we work together. It's unfortunate to go to such extremes but the reality of what happens in the aftermath really needs pointing out.
Before Hugo we were just residents
of St. Croix, after the storm we were having communal meals, talking
to each other and working together. There was more real community in
the aftermath than before the disaster.
And that is where i'm going with this.
At the top of this page on the right is a banner to create the US
Dept. of Peace. It has been there for years. It says that
our country needs a cabinet level Peace Department. We need folks to
urge their Congressmen to become a sponsor of Legislation that will
create a place at the cabinet level so that when issues of War and
Peace are discussed Peace has a place at the table. Community has a
place at the table.
The Department of Peace would work on
violence prevention, it would save lives and money by promoting
effective policies that address the root causes of violence and
develop conflict resolution skills. If we had more of this going on
in our communities and at the upper echelon of government instead
of you are on your own bud we might be enjoying a whole different
world.
Today we have no such place or
voice...and when i read the constant fear mongering coming out of the
right it's no wonder we live with so many fearful individuals that
will act violently. There is a better way. We can work together. i
know it, i have experienced it and so can you if we just change the
mind set. Visit this site and make your voices heard.
See ya next week.
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