So one group of people can disregard the law with impunity, blocking traffic, interfering with normal business activity on private property, attack police and chant that police should be killed. One group of people can burn down major part of a town without any punishment. A person can chant, "burn it down" and not face consequences when, in fact, many business building in the area are burned down. One group of people can ignore the demonstrated facts that show that a young, huge thug attacked a police officer and attempted to take that officer's gun and as a result was shot dead, and take that same thug and hold him up as an innocent martyr...and the main stream media parrots that claim as a fact, endorsing the activity.
The United States of America used to be law abiding. Now our President, the U.S. Attorney General, and the Mayor of one of our largest cities disrespect and accuse our Police Officers of malfeasance. And they do this while seeming to endorse minority anger and violence toward Police.
And now we have the assassination of two NYC police officers by a guy messaging, "they got one of ours, let's take two of theirs." Seems a clear connection to the ongoing demonstrations; and the permissive attitude of our top leaders to the law-breaking actions of demonstrators while criticizing police sure contributed to these killings. And I note myriad "tweets" and other social media comments that commend these killings.
Too bad the police cannot withdraw from all those communities that seem so angry with the police presence for a period...say a month or two...and that would include all of NYC and include the protection detail for the Mayor. Clearly he feels that NYC would be the utopia he desires if only the police would either be absent, or simply issue verbal suggestions to law breakers.
Show the proper respect to the uniformed Police Officer and problems are rare. A policeman usually had a valid reason for any given command; how much intelligence does it take to simply obey and wait for the matter to be resolved? When not questioning me, a cop is protecting me, my family, and my property, as well as that of my neighbors and friends...why should I want to give him "attitude?" But I see some people actually look to provoke anyone, much less police, for entertainment. These are the same people who disrespect their elders, their neighborhood and, unrecognized, themselves. Yet they seem to believe that they are "entitled!" None of us is entitled. All of us have to earn our respect by showing that we can learn from experiences and schooling, hold a job by being on time and doing what we are hired to do, and respecting those around us...not sitting a corner talking trash at anyone who goes by. Yet our country's leaders seem to be taking the sides of the trash-talkers and throwing law abiding people and the Police who protect us under the bus. That is NOT acceptable and it is time the majority of America speaks up and puts a stop to it.
Showing posts with label crime. Show all posts
Showing posts with label crime. Show all posts
Saturday, December 20, 2014
Monday, September 15, 2014
When did we become Killers?
Some of you will respond that we are carnivores...we've always been killers. Well, that is outside my area of expertise, so I won't respond. Besides, that isn't what I am talking about. I am talking about the casualness with which we destroy those around us, both friends and enemies, with no guilt, no thought, no emotion and often with no thought or active decision to do so.
I grew up before social media. You could get bullied in school. And you could be whispered about in school. But it was limited to your class or your building and if adults heard any of it, they dismissed it as immature "stuff"...and it was. It was discarded when you moved on.
A kid getting caught doing something wrong was punished. Often the police turned him or her over to the parents, 'cause they did a more intense job than the police did...and it didn't leave a permanent record. Besides...the parents took the responsibility seriously.
And that, too, was left behind even as the lessons learned stayed with us as we moved toward adulthood. Almost all went on to productive lives, applying for and getting jobs that allowed us to finance and fulfill our families and our lives.
Even in adulthood, if you broke the law in some way, we all knew that was what the Justice system was for and we didn't take punishment into our own hands. And the few times that that happened, those that gave into "mob" rule, were in turn punished...that was not justice, that was mob rule, feeding a blood-lust that didn't fit our view of what a civilized society should be about.
Law breakers had to word harder at it, but they could rejoin society if the proved that their transgression was a one time thing. Yes, suspicion remained if something untoward happened, but that was the price...the consequences, if you will...of having broken the law in the first place.
That is not today's world.
Today, children and adults destroy others' lives without even a thought. No guilt! No shame! Often not even a thought for either emotion! And there is a lack of inherent self-control on the part of all that often invites destruction. When I was growing up, it was drummed into me not to do anything that we were not prepared to have appear as a headline, with pictures, in the local paper. Where and when did that admonition go...'cause it sure doesn't seem to be either known or acknowledged today by children or adults. And the concept of consequences for both stupidity and purposeful wrongdoing has also disappeared...unless it captures the attention of the media or special interest groups. No longer can any transgression be left to the courts; there must now be attendant consequences: loss of job, public ridicule, public denigration...often before a legal verdict is rendered.
There are those that will claim that all this is either appropriate or that it is life as it exists today and no thought need be given to it. Well, time will tell whether that is or is not so. But I leave you with this thought: If you did something that was either wrong, or might be wrong, and it was taken up by the legal system, would you accept non-legal punishment dealt out by nameless individuals or groups that destroyed your ability to make a living or walk the streets in safety...all before a Justice system had ruled on you actions and, if appropriate, declared you legal punishment?
Have we reverted so far back to the days of each man for himself that we endorse mob rule based often on rumor as much as fact and taking upon ourselves the right to rule on life, death and pursuit of happiness of others without formal assignment of that task? I find that a fearful thing from any standpoint: accused, accuser, observer, or judge.
Of course, I also find it abhorrent that so many around me are so uncertain in their place in life that they would make it legally required that I approve of them, their actions, or their beliefs. I would not want to interfere with what others lives are, provided they do not actively interfere with mine; I see no reason why I should be required to take any notice whatever of their lives...I do not require their acquiescence to my beliefs, actions or way of living. I neither need nor want their involvement; why would they required...and that by act of law...mine? But that is for another discussion.
I grew up before social media. You could get bullied in school. And you could be whispered about in school. But it was limited to your class or your building and if adults heard any of it, they dismissed it as immature "stuff"...and it was. It was discarded when you moved on.
A kid getting caught doing something wrong was punished. Often the police turned him or her over to the parents, 'cause they did a more intense job than the police did...and it didn't leave a permanent record. Besides...the parents took the responsibility seriously.
And that, too, was left behind even as the lessons learned stayed with us as we moved toward adulthood. Almost all went on to productive lives, applying for and getting jobs that allowed us to finance and fulfill our families and our lives.
Even in adulthood, if you broke the law in some way, we all knew that was what the Justice system was for and we didn't take punishment into our own hands. And the few times that that happened, those that gave into "mob" rule, were in turn punished...that was not justice, that was mob rule, feeding a blood-lust that didn't fit our view of what a civilized society should be about.
Law breakers had to word harder at it, but they could rejoin society if the proved that their transgression was a one time thing. Yes, suspicion remained if something untoward happened, but that was the price...the consequences, if you will...of having broken the law in the first place.
That is not today's world.
Today, children and adults destroy others' lives without even a thought. No guilt! No shame! Often not even a thought for either emotion! And there is a lack of inherent self-control on the part of all that often invites destruction. When I was growing up, it was drummed into me not to do anything that we were not prepared to have appear as a headline, with pictures, in the local paper. Where and when did that admonition go...'cause it sure doesn't seem to be either known or acknowledged today by children or adults. And the concept of consequences for both stupidity and purposeful wrongdoing has also disappeared...unless it captures the attention of the media or special interest groups. No longer can any transgression be left to the courts; there must now be attendant consequences: loss of job, public ridicule, public denigration...often before a legal verdict is rendered.
There are those that will claim that all this is either appropriate or that it is life as it exists today and no thought need be given to it. Well, time will tell whether that is or is not so. But I leave you with this thought: If you did something that was either wrong, or might be wrong, and it was taken up by the legal system, would you accept non-legal punishment dealt out by nameless individuals or groups that destroyed your ability to make a living or walk the streets in safety...all before a Justice system had ruled on you actions and, if appropriate, declared you legal punishment?
Have we reverted so far back to the days of each man for himself that we endorse mob rule based often on rumor as much as fact and taking upon ourselves the right to rule on life, death and pursuit of happiness of others without formal assignment of that task? I find that a fearful thing from any standpoint: accused, accuser, observer, or judge.
Of course, I also find it abhorrent that so many around me are so uncertain in their place in life that they would make it legally required that I approve of them, their actions, or their beliefs. I would not want to interfere with what others lives are, provided they do not actively interfere with mine; I see no reason why I should be required to take any notice whatever of their lives...I do not require their acquiescence to my beliefs, actions or way of living. I neither need nor want their involvement; why would they required...and that by act of law...mine? But that is for another discussion.
Thursday, December 15, 2011
One main reason that todays schools fail miserably...
I cannot remember not being able to read. My mother told me that I could read before I was two, but I take that claim on faith...and it doesn't matter. But, without an age reference, I can recall my mother insisting that I learn the alphabet and learn to sound out words. And then she insisted that I learn the definition of every new word. As I got a bit better, she taught me how to look up the definitions in a dictionary that I always had handy when I was reading. I was taught how to read using phonetics, although I only learned this later.
Reading was my key to the world. I could pick up a book and travel all around the world. I could even travel to the stars and in time. It was not just learning...it was entertainment. If I had a book, I was King; I was the master of my own mental destiny.
Reading was power. Reading was the vehicle for success and for achievement of my goals, regardless of how I define that at any given moment.
If I didn't fully grasp what a teacher had attempted to teach me in class, I could read the textbook and think it through again...or go to the library and look for additional information...and, in a sense, become my own "extra help" provider. When I got older, I could get a book to tell me how to fix my beat-up used car, could get a book that would tell me how to properly fix a household appliance, repair a hole in the wall, or even take down or put one up. Reading has always been the key. Without it, I would be no better off than an uneducated person in what we call a third-world country.
All of this is merely a premise to my main point: our schools are failing to educate kids today, and the primary reason is a failure to teach them to read. Yet these blameless illiterates are graduated from High School, many go to college and the illiteracy is indulged and they get higher degrees. Why? You will have to decide that...I cannot know the hearts, souls and minds of those who caused and now continue to enable this failure to qualify our children for success. But it is undeniable that this had gone on for so long that it is not possible that this is accidental...it is done with full knowledge of the results...failure. Our children are not equiped to be self-reliant, to achieve on their own, to learn for themselves. They are doomed to be dependent on Television, DVDs, CDs, and real life in person direction by others, and thereafter on the ability to remember what they were told. There is no way they can do independent research, checking or learning...they lack the tools.
In the middle of the last century the schools for reasons unfathomable to me moved away from the phonetic teaching of language to an approach called "whole word" reading which, as close as I can understand, depends on memorization of whole words, and filling in unknown word meaning by using the context of the sentence or paragraph in which it appears...in other words, guess. No dictionary skills, no sounding out the word, no study of the origin of the word in another language that might give you a better grasp of what was meant by the word. And certainly no test or requirement that you ever learn that unknown word or its real life meaning.
And we wonder why even come college graduates are illiterate.
Yet, our educational system and our governmental powers never question this failure. All they do is claim that we must throw more money at the problem. Not only doesn't it help, most cannot even do the math to evaluate how much money per student we are wasting by such illogical action. They cannot do basic math either...without a calculator. But that another problem for another discussion. Just consider...no one has asked why Johnny or Carol cannot read.
Isn't it time that we demand that Educators and those that fund and rule them answer that question?
And for those of you who would like to read more on the subject from someone with some logical thought on the subject, I recommend the following link: http://www.rightsidenews.info/2011121515165/life-and-science/health-and-education/fake-reading-theory-is-the-slave-trade-of-our-era.html?utm_source=Right%20Side%20News&utm_campaign=c1d5ba69ec-daily-rss-newsletter&utm_medium=email
Reading was my key to the world. I could pick up a book and travel all around the world. I could even travel to the stars and in time. It was not just learning...it was entertainment. If I had a book, I was King; I was the master of my own mental destiny.
Reading was power. Reading was the vehicle for success and for achievement of my goals, regardless of how I define that at any given moment.
If I didn't fully grasp what a teacher had attempted to teach me in class, I could read the textbook and think it through again...or go to the library and look for additional information...and, in a sense, become my own "extra help" provider. When I got older, I could get a book to tell me how to fix my beat-up used car, could get a book that would tell me how to properly fix a household appliance, repair a hole in the wall, or even take down or put one up. Reading has always been the key. Without it, I would be no better off than an uneducated person in what we call a third-world country.
All of this is merely a premise to my main point: our schools are failing to educate kids today, and the primary reason is a failure to teach them to read. Yet these blameless illiterates are graduated from High School, many go to college and the illiteracy is indulged and they get higher degrees. Why? You will have to decide that...I cannot know the hearts, souls and minds of those who caused and now continue to enable this failure to qualify our children for success. But it is undeniable that this had gone on for so long that it is not possible that this is accidental...it is done with full knowledge of the results...failure. Our children are not equiped to be self-reliant, to achieve on their own, to learn for themselves. They are doomed to be dependent on Television, DVDs, CDs, and real life in person direction by others, and thereafter on the ability to remember what they were told. There is no way they can do independent research, checking or learning...they lack the tools.
In the middle of the last century the schools for reasons unfathomable to me moved away from the phonetic teaching of language to an approach called "whole word" reading which, as close as I can understand, depends on memorization of whole words, and filling in unknown word meaning by using the context of the sentence or paragraph in which it appears...in other words, guess. No dictionary skills, no sounding out the word, no study of the origin of the word in another language that might give you a better grasp of what was meant by the word. And certainly no test or requirement that you ever learn that unknown word or its real life meaning.
And we wonder why even come college graduates are illiterate.
Yet, our educational system and our governmental powers never question this failure. All they do is claim that we must throw more money at the problem. Not only doesn't it help, most cannot even do the math to evaluate how much money per student we are wasting by such illogical action. They cannot do basic math either...without a calculator. But that another problem for another discussion. Just consider...no one has asked why Johnny or Carol cannot read.
Isn't it time that we demand that Educators and those that fund and rule them answer that question?
And for those of you who would like to read more on the subject from someone with some logical thought on the subject, I recommend the following link: http://www.rightsidenews.info/2011121515165/life-and-science/health-and-education/fake-reading-theory-is-the-slave-trade-of-our-era.html?utm_source=Right%20Side%20News&utm_campaign=c1d5ba69ec-daily-rss-newsletter&utm_medium=email
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