June 14, 2016 and I have just started to write the next Wicked
Chronic Chronicle. It has been 2 days since the attack in Orlando crushed our
hearts and souls. I don’t care who you are in this world, if you are not
saddened to tears over this senseless act of violence against innocent
bystanders, then you absolutely have no right to exist with the rest of
humanity.
The stories and pictures are difficult to watch and hear. I
can’t stop thinking of the girl whose selfie-video is showing herself inside
the club while the attack is happening. You can hear the bullets being shot in
the background. She didn’t survive.
Why? Why did this happen? If we knew the answer I would
assume our government would go through hell and high water to put a stop to it.
They either don’t have the answer or chose to ignore the solution. Or perhaps
they are simply incompetent at their jobs.
Historians will have to answer that question in a hundred years or more.
It is our responsibility as human beings to never assume anything.
I do know prohibition and violence are not the answers. I
know this as certain as I know the sun will rise tomorrow. I believe every human
being with even a small amount of common sense can see this is true. History
says it is true over and over again.
Our policies of prohibition on every major issue has never
worked. Whether it is alcohol, cannabis, segregation, civil rights,
internment camps or terrorism. They all breed a never ending cycle of violence
and disobedience.
We have tried trade embargo policies and funding/equipping
the lessor of two evils only to realize too late the lessor evil is now tomorrow’s
well-funded and equipped enemy number one.
At some point humanity must let common sense prevail or we
are all doomed to destroy our very existence on this planet. And we might take
the planet down with us
.
Killing terrorist leaders with surgical strikes or “shock
and awe” with hundreds of thousands of troops in a long bloody war are not the
answers either. How do I know this? I have my eyes open. It hasn’t worked so
far. The only thing it has done is escalate and get bigger and bloodier. Sounds
a lot like the war on drugs too. Another failure.
We need to know why these extremists hate us so much. What
are we doing that is pissing them off? Please do not reply to me with any crap
about this just being a holy war for them and their only thought is we
shouldn’t even exist. I don’t by that. That is what the government is feeding
the media and the masses.
This comes down to money, power and Israel. Most of
the big issues are typically about money and power. The cannabis industry does
not have the exclusion on this. The Unites States has bullied itself with the
Middle East (and the world) creating fictitious wars like “The Search for
Weapons of Mass Destruction”. Anyone reading these words that still believes
WMD’s existed instead of the truth, it was for the oil, then please stop
reading now. You will not agree with anything else I have to say.
The terrorist want the power and control of the oil fields. It provides great wealth to those that control them. The industrialized countries dependency on fossil fuel is why our
government creates these wars. As long as the oil fields remain secure and flowing, then the
industrialized nations’ economies remain stable. And the masses, humans, remain
employed and happy. It is for the greater good, right? And of course the
Republicans and Democrats both love these wars because of the money their rich
friends are making. It is the capitalist machine working to perfection.
The killing and atrocity that our own soldiers commit
against an indigenous populace just breads more hate against Americans. They don’t
want us there and most polls say American’s don’t want to be there either. I
don’t.
So if violence is not the long term answer then what is? Why
not a completely hands off/neutral position as a new policy? They don’t want us
there, fine. We will leave. And I mean leave them completely alone. Every
Middle East country, no exception. No guns, no money, no advice, nothing, zip,
nadda. Close every military base and
every consulate.
The Republicans see this as weakness. I see it as diffusion.
We need to diffuse their anger and issues.
If they see our existence in the Middle East as part of the fuse that
fuels them, then we must walk away, temporarily.
What about Israel? I want to support Israel but I
believe they need to fight this fight without us now. They are more than
capable of handling themselves. They have proven that over and over again. That
is one mother fucking tough military. Don’t fuck with Israel. They don’t need
our help any longer. Some of the religious zealots have this bug up their hole.
They hate us because we support Israel, their sworn enemy. Fine, we will walk
away for now.
When you teach a child to finally stand up for themselves against a bully one of the most important rules to teach is, you
must never back down once you have stood up for yourself. If you back down it
will be 10 time harder to stand up for yourself the next time.
That is what the terrorists are doing. They are standing up
against their bully, the US. They are not going to back down. But at some point
in time the bully must realize the futility in the senseless violence and walk
away to diffuse the confrontation.
The terrorist will see that we are no longer involved and
they will no longer target Americans. They will celebrate in their short term
victory. And we will have to eat crow. Sometimes you do. We can be the better human beings here. We
have to. Bonus, we never have to see a flag draped over a military coffin shipped from the Middle East back home with another one of our dead sons or daughters inside. Senseless.
We need to wait at least 4 generations before we can
approach talks with the Middle East again. Their hatred for us runs deep and
vice versa with many Americans. With satellites that can read license plates
from space, the media, social and otherwise, plus the smart-phone using masses it
will be easy to keep an eye on what is happening in the Middle East: From a
distance. And as fast as technology continues to advance it will become easier
and easier.
Terrorism is the most important matter to deal with in our
society today. It is in “how” we fix terrorism that is the key to a lasting
peace with our enemies. This could become a key moment in human history where
we make a giant positive leap forward as human beings. One thing I do know is
violence is not the answer.
Let me say this about how I feel about gun control, which
rears its head after every senseless shooting. And that is often, way too
often. It is so often now, that again, common sense should tell you something
must be done about gun control now not later.
I applaud the Congressmen who stepped out in the middle of the
moment of silence held at the Capitol for the fallen victims in Orlando. “We
don’t want any more of these moments of silence.” Enough is enough. Action is
needed. But let’s not completely lose our heads over this issue either. I’m
going to give you something very strong to think about.
You can’t regulate crazy. Until science catches up with
humanities natural evolution we have to all realize some of us are just a
little off our rockers. Maybe it’s genetic or maybe it’s a mental issue that hasn’t
been properly recognized and dealt with. And the environment and culture under
which we are raised plays a key factor well. Whatever the case may be, monsters
exist.
The second amendment also exists. Good or bad it exists and
we need to tame this monster head on and stop fucking around. There is no one
who can convince me that everyday Americans need any weapon that can kill more
than one person (or animal) within a few seconds of each other.
That is what machine guns, sub-machine guns and
semi-automatic weapons are used for. They are weapons of war
manufactured and modified to murder in cold blood as many humans as quickly as
possible. No one needs this.
One bullet from a decent marksman can take down a buck with
a single shot. Besides if you riddle the deer with bullets from a sub-machine gun
you ruin the meat. Hunters do not need them.
You do not need them for home protection. I’m sorry but you
just can’t convince me that you need more than a handgun, shotgun or hunting
rifle to defend yourself from an intruder. You can have all three if you like.
As many as you want. Again, simple common sense thinking.
The NRA extremists argue you need these weapons to protect
yourselves in case it is necessary to rise up and overthrow a US government
that is beyond saving from the democracy it was founded upon.
"A
well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the
right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."
As I think about the possibility that a man like Donald
Trump could actually become our President, I start to wonder if the extremist are
right.
No they are not. Common sense tells me our modern society is
too connected and smart enough to never allow our country to fall to such
desperate measures. I hope that is not a silly dream. History is not on our
side. The Roman and British Empires once thought that as well. They all fell.
Our modern democratic society will never let it get to that
point. Such high powered weapons are as unnecessary as our reliance on oil. We
do not need either one nor should we ever rely on either. We need to learn to be self-sufficient.
Here is the start of sensible, common sense gun laws. The
details can be argued over later. But let’s at least get the basics written
down and agreed upon. That shouldn’t be too difficult, right?
One: The definition of an illegal weapon is any type of
weapon that can kill more than one human being within x number of seconds. The exact
number is a detail to agree upon later, but again, approach it with some common
sense. I know the number is at least 2 seconds. I would be happy at 5. My mind
is open to rational explanations as to what this number might be, but there is
a number.
Two: Background checks. It has to happen. We have heard the
stories about how far behind our government is with staying current in the
realm of technology, connectivity and information sharing. I am calling shenanigans
on this one.
As a nerd and 24 year career man in Information Technology, specifically in
large scale data sharing and web application design I can tell you for a fact
this excuse is unacceptable. We should be sparring no expense to connect every
local, state and federal crime database together with a single point of entry.
And we can afford it after we implement our new “hands off” the Middle East
policy. The cost of the actual hardware to do this is relatively cheap compared
to the labor to get it done, which will create jobs.
We need your fingerprints (or other acceptable bio-metric scan) and two government issued photo
ids. Driver’s license, passport, military id. As long as we can positively
identify that you are an American citizen of legal adult age and you have not
been convicted of any violent crime nor are you on any active watch list then
you will get approved to buy your gun(s). But if you are not approved…
A big red flashing warning should automatically show up on local
authorities screens to say, “the person pictured here, identified as such and
such, last known address is bladdy blah, please go speak with him/her face to face immediately
regarding their application to purchase weapon(s).”
One concern I here from the opposition on this is the wait
time to get approved. It should be reasonable of course. For me, reasonable is
24 hours. With the connectivity issue solved, it will be easy enough for a seller
to capture all the required information from the buyer. Standard issued government ids have bar codes to make it
easy for the seller to capture all the data necessary to process an
application. Today’s technology also makes it easy to capture a photo of the
buyer for his new id and his fingerprints. This step should always be done face
to face to ensure a human being actually looks at the person applying and the
photo ids presented match what comes up on their screen. It also ensures the
bio-metric is from the person applying.
The buyer can return the next day, but not before 24 hours
have elapsed, and get a temporary print out of his/her id from the seller. The seller
would not even be able to print out the temporary certificate until 24 hours
have elapsed. A permanent government issued photo id is mailed to the buyer within
14 days.
What is not reasonable about that?
Three. Registration. Believe it or not I am actually going
to side with the NRA on this one. I don’t think you should have to register the
weapons you purchase. You shouldn’t have to register with the government to
gain access to medicine either. A gun doesn’t kill humans. Humans kill humans.
Let’s start with just these three. I want to believe that
most Americans could agree on at least these 3 necessary rules. We need to take
baby steps. Let’s not solve the entire issue at one time. Go slow. Titrate.
I do not have much hope that any of these sensible solutions
will gain any traction. Our attention is on these issues today, but as soon as
the next big story hits, the media will divert the short attention span of the American
populace to something else. Our attention span and our willingness to accept
our role in society has left us incapable of necessary change.
As for the Orlando killer we will never be able to stop
this. You can’t regulate or stop crazy. This man was mentally ill. Someone who can’t
control their dark side will fall prey to any extreme whether it is a radical
interpretation of the Koran or a perception of being looked upon as an outsider
to classmates. We are never going to be able to regulate all of the possible
situations that can be a trigger for a mentally unstable person.
“Pain is
the price we pay for being alive. Dead cells—our hair, our fingernails—can’t
feel pain; they cannot feel anything. When we understand that, our question
will change from, “Why do we have to feel pain?” to “What do we do with our
pain so that it becomes meaningful and not just pointless empty suffering?” ―
Harold S. Kushner, When Bad Things Happen to Good People
Today we must come together as one species with only love and peace
in our hearts. Do not hate. There is no room in our hearts for hatred of any
kind. Do not hate the Orlando killer for he may just be a victim of the
environment and policies we have allowed to rule our world.
We need to focus on the issues within our own borders and
stop trying to police the world. The world is policing itself now. Let it
happen. Time does heal all wounds. We have been hurt and we have hurt them.
Take a break and allow time to heal us all, for the sake of humanity itself.
A hundred years is less
than a microsecond when you look with perspective at the period of existence
for humans on this planet. While time passes generation after generation to
allow the Middle East to cool off, let’s solve the immediate domestic
terrorism threat that we have with weed.
Can cannabis help? Maybe. In a recent conversation I took
part in regarding the Orlando killings I half- jokingly suggested we need
everyone to consume weed one way or another. I know this is no joking matter,
but hear me out.
Everyone should be smoking weed. If the entirety of our
society was chillaxed out on marijuana, no one would ever pick up a gun and
kill anyone else intentionally. It would take too much effort, harsh your
euphoria and get in the way of your pursuit to satisfy your munchie or nap
needs.
We have to get it in the food supply. We need our scientist
to cross breed at the genetic level, corn with cannabis. Get the TCH, CBD
and all those other wonderful cannabinoids into every American diet. We will
call it “Cornnabis” or “Cornannabis” or “Potcorn”. We’ll come up with a good name
by the time you get the stuff grown.
I had to find a way to end this chronicle with a little
laughter.
One Love,
Robert
