One More Human

Greetings,

It seems like just yesterday that I was on here blogging but alas it was not.  I tried to get back to it January 2010 but I failed, the fire had gone out.  I tried to write and nothing grabbed me.  I can’t say what it was, but a little over 2 years ago and a little under 2 years ago I had 2 changes that I believe effected me and my writing.

It has taken me 2 years to realise that nothing changed, except for me.

Back then I cared, I tried to track as many things as I could, I tried to absorb books and was continually upset by the amount of money I would spend on books - I don’t do libraries as I like to return to books and, I believe in letting know the author know I appreciate what he has done and there is no better way than by buying a book.

thenewvoice8 though went on a 2 year hiatus and in his stead The Time Waster came to the forefront.  The part of me that writes (thenewvoice8 if you will) that had always commanded around 80% of my time was suddenly gone and I set myself, as The Time Waster (my music part of me, if you will) some crazy targets and off I went.  I made all the targets I set myself and had planned to return to writing once done.

That was May 2010.  I continued on with some half-hearted, hap hazard projects under my guise of The Time Waster and despite the sporadic flurry with the old pen & paper it had stopped calling to me.  That all started to change last week.

Men all know the sensation that comes when you begin to get a hardon whilst wearing tight shorts or boxers or what have you, the gentle build up of pressure as you sorta hope that the girl in your grasp doesn’t notice.  It begins to move more and soon it reaches an elastic impasse, it can stay there or you can shift your shorts and allow it to reach its full potential.  Last week my desire to write was the hardon, metaphorically speaking of course.

I could feel the desire start to burn like it hadn’t in those 2 years, I felt the fleeting annoyances of social justice start to build within me again to more than just something of comment whilst smoking or drinking.  I suddenly started to feel that anger again, the injustice of it all - something I had taken to noting but almost accepting that the high volumes of sheeple would fail to notice would ensure that perpetuation of it all.  Who am I after all to stand on my own farting against thunder?  I am no one.

For two years I have been.  I cannot lie it has been pleasant.  I have not had, except on - well no more than 5 occasions - a group of people either leave a table I was sitting at in a pub, or argue with me until they became more than angry and had to check their temper.  And, even on those 5 occasions, when they did do such things, I hadn’t even begun to show any anger.

I have always been a person who travels along with a more mellow outlook, let it be as long as they cause no harm attitude but, I would not stand to let ignorance go unchecked, I would not drop an argument until I was sure the other person understood why they were wrong and what the correct stance would be, I would not let the obscene comments of any racist or such nature slip.  I could be a one man arguing machine and often I’d be subtle, I’d make people argue with me.

I enjoyed it.

But I have really enjoyed this new mellow stage where I did not lecture people in pubs about new political systems, ideas for financial reform, energy reform, healthcare reform, drug law reform, marriage reform, defence spending reform and nothing more so than Religion - shit you name it and I would get deep into the pros and cons of a variety of systems and laws before advising the listeners (or readers) of a better way.

I had reached a level of confidence in many fields and I cared not who the debate was against.  Indeed I found myself at one point at 3am, quite fucked out my head, in a back garden with a group of 6 lads, 1 of which I knew, 2 I had met before as they wished to debate religion.  My arrogance and my condescending put downs came back with ease.  In some ways I was happy with that, I knew that the me that was thenewvoice8 was still here.

On Sunday morning past when I woke up I checked my YouTube subscriptions to be met by a barrage of news clips about the shooting of Congresswoman Gifford and 19 others.  6 dead, several injured.  My thoughts immediately went to the Becks, Limbaughs, O’Riellys, Palins, Bachmanns, Bohners and Hannitys of the world - I know I had no evidence - but my gut was telling me that it was some right wing headcase who had listened to their hate speech and had snapped.

Of course it would be claimed he was mentally disturbed - although my money was on him being called a “loner” by some old school pal before the third interview I saw.  I was not disappointed.   It was self apparent he was mentally disturbed, he had just went to a mall and shot 20 people - this was hardly a leap.

I could already hear the Right Wing media machine talk about how it didn’t pull the trigger, the same way O’Reilly had when Dr Tiller was shot, when the lad shot the police he thought were coming for his guns, about the Limbaugh listener in Florida who shot 2 people in a church etc etc.  This isn’t the first time it has happened.  OK, it is only the 6th every sitting Congressperson to be shot, but it was hardly a surprise that it happened.

That hatred and division in America is crazy at the moment, I can see it from here in Australia.  And the Sheriff was right when he spoke about Arizona being a Mecca for such things.

However, I do not wish to blog on that.  As I sat thinking I could already hear the same old arguments from the Pro Gun lobby who always make more noise after such shootings, as if being insensitive helps their cause.  It has seemed to.  Soon we’d hear all their cliches about how it is people that kill people.  They often forget to note that people with guns kill people more and with greater ease than people without guns.  This is a simple truism that is lost on the ignorant.

As I thought of their old arguments I recalled some blogs I wrote way back when.  I think some stats from one are worth reprinting below;

“In one year, firearms killed no children in Japan, 19 in Great Britain, 57 in Germany, 109 in France, 153 in Canada, and 5,285 in the United States. (Centres for Disease Control).”

Let me just list some other stats for you, that should make you wish you had a supply of clean underwear to hand;

• Between 1979 and 2001, gunfire killed 90,000 children and teens in America. (Children’s Defence Fund and National Centre for Health Statistics)
• In one year, more children and teens died from gunfire than from cancer, pneumonia, influenza, asthma, and HIV/AIDS combined. (Children’s Defence Fund)
• The rate of firearm deaths among kids under age 15 is almost 12 times higher in the United States than in 25 other industrialized countries combined. (Centres for Disease Control and Prevention)

• Every day, more than 80 Americans die from gun violence. (Coalition to Stop Gun Violence)
• American kids are 16 times more likely to be murdered with a gun, 11 times more likely to commit suicide with a gun, and nine times more likely to die from a firearm accident than children in 25 other industrialized countries combined. (Centres for Disease Control)
• Americans for Gun Safety produced a 2003 report that reveals that 20 of the nation’s 22 national gun laws are not enforced. According to U.S. Department of Justice data (FY 2000-2002), only 2% of federal gun crimes were actually prosecuted. Eighty-five percent of cases prosecuted relate to street criminals in possession of firearms. Ignored are laws intended to punish illegal gun trafficking, firearm theft, corrupt gun dealers, lying on a criminal background check form, obliterating firearm serial numbers, selling guns to minors and possessing a gun in a school zone. To access The Enforcement Gap: Federal Gun Laws Ignored, visit http://w3.agsfoundation.com/. For a state-by-state chart of gun crimes (FY 2000-2002), click here.

• According to Americans for Gun Safety (December 2002), gun theft is most likely in states without laws requiring safe storage of firearms in the home and where there are large numbers of gun owners and relatively high crime rates. Based on FBI data, nearly 1.7 million guns have been reported stolen in the past ten years, and only 40% of those were recovered. The missing guns, over 80% of which are taken from homes or cars, most likely fuel the black market for criminals. NEA, AGS and the National Rifle Association advocate for safe storage. To access “Stolen Guns: Arming the Enemy” visit www.agsfoundation.com.

• The American Medical Association reports that between 36% and 50% of male eleventh graders believe that they could easily get a gun if they wanted one.

• In 1998-99 academic year, 3,523 students were expelled for bringing a firearm to school. This is a decrease from the 5,724 students expelled in 1996-97 for bringing a firearm to school. (U.S. Department of Education, October 2000)

According to a report by the Joshephson Institute of Ethics (2000 Report Card: Report #1), 60% of high school and 31% of middle school boys said they could get a gun if they wanted to (April, 2001).

I cannot be bothered to go hunt for more up to date figures - as gun crime has increased since these ones - but it is late and I am tired and to be honest, I will continue this tomorrow.  By then I will have no doubt been angered by the response of the actors on Faux Noise.

As an aside, it took me back to Virginia Tech, that numbness at the stupidity of the Yanks gun laws.

Anyway I must go now - below I will also reprint what I wrote for Virginia Tech;

On Tuesday I awoke here in Australia to the radio and the story that a gunman had killed 32 people in a University in Virginia. I felt my head start to spin and legs go numb, not again.

Beslan, Columbine and Dunblane all flashed through my reeling mind as I wished I could offer whatever help I could to those in need.

It is now Thursday though and the increasing media attention and the questions that must be asked will, as always in America, be swept aside after a lot of empty gestures.

The gunman, as always, will be painted as a loner, warning signs will have been unheeded - the gun law debate will rage like a storm in a tea cup as the powerful NRA and Pro-Gun & Anti-Abortion, God loving Republicans will move fast to a stance of inaction and quote their 2nd amendment, enshrined in pure madness.

I do not condone the actions of the media covering this event but as one person here in Perth said on a phone in - what about Iraq - 200 People died yesterday, that is 167 more than in Virginia, not to mention the 60 the previous day, the 32 the day before that - yet we do not get the half masted flags, we do not get 7-page pull outs, we do not get insights into the minds of these loners.

We get footnotes in the paper or more hot air from politicians. Indeed John Howard spoke today of fighting the War on Terror - as if you can fight a high strung emotion - in a country where, for all the reasons of going to war, terror was never mentioned!

I know I digress but I am trying to look at our reaction to these events in my head.

I am amazed that already the Pro-Gun people have stated perhaps if more guns had been on campus this chap might have been stopped and he may have only killed, say 16 people - so therefore, guns could have stopped this!?!

Personally, I like to think that if all guns were banned he may not have got access to them and perhaps 32 people would not have been killed. People think that guns make them safer or able to protect their loved ones but some simple stats below (collected by an acquaintance of mine) show a darker truth.

Economic Costs of Gun Violence
In 1992 the estimated cost in pain, suffering, lost quality of life, and loss of productivity due to gunshot violence was $113 billion. Miller, Textbook of Penetrating Trauma, 1995 The estimated cost of direct health care expenditures for firearm-related injuries in the United States in 1995 was $4 billion.
Kizer, Journal of American Medical Association, 1995
http://www.rileyhospital.o rg/document.jsp?locid=1439

In

1995, 69 percent of all Americans who died in homicides were killed with firearms.
http://www.vpc.org/st udies/wherap2.htm

[In] the 1990s, over 290,000 Americans were killed with firearms.
http://www.hpjc.org/i ssues_guncontrol.html

In 2000, guns claimed 28,663 lives in the United States, the majority from suicides. Firearm deaths,2000, by cause:
Suicide - 16,586

Homicide - 10, 801
Unintentional Shootings* - 1,276
http://www.csgv.org/docUp loads/Gun%20Violence%20Fact%20 Sheet.pdf

In 1999, there were only 154 justifiable homicides by private citizens in the United States.
The presence of a gun in the home triples the risk of homicide in the home.
The presence of a gun in the home increases the risk of suicide fivefold.
http://www.bradycampa ign.org/facts/factsheets/?page =firefacts

Every day in 1994, 16 children, age 19 and under, were killed with guns and 64 were wounded in this country.
National Center for Health and Statistics, 1996
To me, the answer is as simple as it is drastic - the immediate cessation on the production of all guns and bullets! If people want to hunt, then use a bow or some other tool and really test your ‘manhood’!

In short, America will do nothing about its gun laws and we will stand here again sooner rather than later and listen to the same noiseless voices as we profile as yet unknowns and ask Why.

Society is certainly and has been taking a tremendous down turn but the good ship america will make sure that we stay on the downward slopes fast lane.

Peace be the Keeper.

thenewvoice8