Those Abominable Circles

The idea that Jerry Sandusky, George Zimmerman, Sheriff Joe Arpaio or any other creep or heinous rapist/murderer should be raped or killed while in prison is not justice nor is it right.

It is neither justice nor is it right because murder and rape are never just nor right. They are evil acts.

As a Christian, I believe in redemption, restoration, justice. I can't help believe that, even if I weren't a Christian, I would see the deep hole that retributive "justice" leads us down.

Ergo, I'm against the death penalty, against war, against using violence as any sort of means to an end.

I cannot, in good conscience, not speak my mind about such issues.

But I also know and understand how we'd all like to see some sort of payback for the horrible crap that Sandusky, for instance, put his victims through. So... enjoy.

via Random Overload

Violence and Imagination

Here's my confessions:

• I stopped watching Arnold Schwarzenegger movies because Jackie Chan's fighting was more realistic and fun.
• When I walk near gang-bangers or drug-abusers I sometimes imagine that they do something threatening and imagine how I will press their faces to the wall in abject defeat - after thrashing them a few times with car doors, my ninja-like kicks, and Lou Ferrigno-type punches.
• My own experience with child-rearing was corporal-based and as much as I try to shake that system from my bones, violence still registers as the final step in correction. As in, the end of diplomacy is bombs, the end of discipline is a whoopin'.*

I'm limited, shackled to violence. I grew up listening to violent rhetoric, singing songs glorifying violence, watching sh*t blow up and thinking that was cool (and it is, except when it blows up on people. Which happens every time the real sh*t blows up).

But here's where I pat myself on the back:

• I never got into fights and made a willful choice not to join the military when I was young because - even as young as seven years old - I figured that Jesus didn't want me to fight.
• I have always appreciated the skills of Bruce Lee, but could never get into his movies because of the cold-blooded killings.
• Okay, that's about all I got...

I recognize that there is a disparity here. Oppressed people tend to understand violence best because that is what they have seen and experienced. So it should not shock people when, say Palestinians, Hutus, Northern Irish, Pakistanis, or pick-your-oppressed-people-from-nearly-any-country-in-Africa/North America/South America/Asia/Europe respond in violence (although often the violence done by the oppressed is immeasurably smaller than that done by the oppressors to them). There needs to be a widening of the imagination. The imagination to believe - and this has been proven to be the case time and again - that creative nonviolent resistance is more effective than armed resistance.

However, when dealing specifically with non-violence as a tool, we cannot make the mistake that others in the struggle for righteousness and justice make (and it's an easy one to make): you cannot fight for equality by any means necessary. When it comes to employing violence, you can either choose to act in one way or the other. You cannot be both violent and nonviolent. One squelches the movement of the other.

Freedom is active movement. Unlike in nature, however, this movement is not self-sustained, it doesn't start and keep going until it hits an opposing force; its constantly in friction and needs constant reinforcement. And still, above that, there is counteractive and hostile resistance to freedom. Those who resist are looking for ways to discredit and derail the movements of freedom because it threatens their grasp of power. Nonviolence is a method of changing hearts and minds so that the world - including the oppressors - can recognize the oppression for what it is, heartless inhumanity. It is pro-action towards freedom that engages all. But it's also extremely costly.

And because of the cost, we need to be all the more engaged in nonviolent resistance itself. And that takes some use of the imagination - through everyday examples, through hearing the stories of those who have fought this fight before us, through filling our minds with something more than glorified explosions, perhaps.

* I talked briefly about that here.

Chicago Days 1 - Prayer Vigil in the 14th District

I've been trying to start a Chicago Tuesdays for the last two weeks, but that just never got off the ground. Hopefully, this can be a regular or semi-regular feature next week. But for now, I thought I'd share this prayer vigil announcement for anyone who lives in the Shakespeare District or around here in Chicago. We (including my church, Urban Vineyard) are participating this Thursday evening, and if you live nearby, I ask you to consider showing up as well:

VIGIL AND SPECIAL WORSHIP SERVICE

"Prayer Vigil for Peace to Stop the Violence in Our Community"

Churches and Houses of Worship that partner with the 14th District Police Department invite neighbors from the 14th District and beyond to attend a Vigil and Special Worship Service to Seek God for the Peace of our Community.

Our theme verse is Jeremiah 29:7 "Seek the peace of the city; Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper."

We will also be offering prayers for the families who have been hurt by violence this year.

Neighborhood young people will be leading us in songs, skits, and prayers.

Thursday, November 19, 2009

6:30p.m. Meet at the corner of Division St. & Spaulding Ave. for walking procession

7:00p.m. Worship Service at Church of God 3301 W. Lemoyne (773) 235-2958

WHO: 26^th Ward Alderman Maldonado, 14^th District Chicago Police Commander J. Escalante, Ten CommunityChurches and 100 community residents

Participating churches: Abrego del Altisimo, Armitage Baptist Church, Church of God, Humboldt Park Ministerial Association, Iglesia Mision de Valle, La Capilla de Barrio, Episcopal Church de Nuestra Senora de las Americas, Salvation and Deliverance, Vineyard Christian Fellowship, Iglesia de Agape.

For more information contact: Officer Iraida Torres, 14^th District CAPS Officer 312-744 -1261,
Iraida.Torres@...

Rosita De La Rosa

Logan Square Neighborhood Association (LSNA)

Prevention Specialist Director / Intergenerational Organizer

2840 N. Milwaukee Ave.

Chicago, IL. 60618-7401

(773) 384-4370 x10 www.lsna.net

rositadelarosa@...

Weekly Links We Like to Link to: Mostly politics and/or dummies edition

The Lonely Life of Rollie Burris: The Cartoon.

Mel Gibson's latest movie is going to be a spectacular mix of a biopic and more of his trademark redemptive violence.



Intriguing article about Newt Gingrich at New York Times Magazine reveals this tidbit from one of his disciples, minority whip Eric Cantor (R, Va.):

Well, generally, [Gingrich] is very quick to see the historic election of President Obama and the potential for his support to last, and what that means for Congress, and how we compare the success of Barack Obama to, frankly, the difficulties that Speaker Pelosi and Leader Reid are having with the American public right now. You know, Congressional Democrats are nowhere near where this president is right now in terms of public opinion.

(On a personal note, I think that's an interesting wedge issue. I may not agree with Newt's ideas, but I think that the Republican party needs to stand up and intelligently challenge the Democrats in power. Otherwise, you face the prospect of a one (weak-arse) party system, as if the Democrats weren't inept enough as it were, they would become inept and fascist.)

And, speaking of the Times and the Republican/Democrat divide, here's an informative article about the sea-change represented in ideals that has come as a result of the new budget. The money passage:

Over the last three decades, the pretax incomes of the wealthiest households have risen far more than they have for other households, while the tax rates for top earners have fallen more than they have for others, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

As a result, the average post-tax income of the top 1 percent of households has jumped by roughly $1 million since 1979, adjusted for inflation, to $1.4 million. Pay for most families has risen only slightly faster than inflation.

Before becoming Mr. Obama’s top economic adviser, Lawrence H. Summers liked to tell a hypothetical story to distill the trend. The increase in inequality, Mr. Summers would say, meant that each family in the bottom 80 percent of the income distribution was effectively sending a $10,000 check, every year, to the top 1 percent of earners.

And here's an argument for spading and neutering dumb, dumb parents.

... And that's the rest of the story.

News of the Weird: Welcome Back Cutter edition

I wanted to roll out the ol' NotW last week, but the pickin's were slimmer than the chances of an Alaskan denying global warming (even Palin didn't deny it. She merely refuted the cause of it. She can't possibly be in any lobbyists' pockets). This week, however, we got the run of the litter, as absolutely nobody on earth says. So, hopefully we can do a few this week to make up for past sins (and we got a LOT of making up to do).

According to one knife-wielding participant, it was "anything goes" at a Gathering of the Pack competition... sponsored by the Dog Brothers fight club of Los Angeles. A Reuters reporter described two men without padding beating each other with heavy sticks and another two who fought with electrically charged knives. The knife duel ended when one of the fighters slipped a hand free from a wrestling hold and allegedly planted a 1,000-volt charge on his opponent. Said one fruit-and-veggie-store manager from Canada, "I've never felt better than when I'm doing this."

From the Reuters article itself:

"This is like the ultimate. You've got striking, you've got grappling, you've got weapons, anything goes," said Matt Booe, a karate instructor hoping to fight with hefty, blunted knives at a recent gathering in Burbank, just north of Los Angeles.

"It gives you the idea of really finding out what martial arts are like, not just doing pretty forms."

Seems like Dog Brothers fight club broke the first rule of Dog Brothers fight club.

Article from Chuck Shepherd. "News of the Weird", Chicago Reader. Sept 11, 2008, p. 135.