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The elephant in the room.
Vastmind
Memphis, TN Veteran
As most here have heard, there was an attack here in the US.
Jon Stewart pretty much sums it up for me. After this, I want to post acknowledgments of the people that were gunned down. They are not just bodies that represent the race problems going on here...they were people.
Who were they?
5
Comments
This was a racially-motivated attack, and the perpetrator made that quite clear. He said as much.
Furthermore, the flag emblems he wore on his jacket, seemed to underpin that.
The church itself was always a representation of the defiance that black people had for their erstwhile masters. It was a symbol of their undying resistance and refusal to be cowed.
Jon Stewart had me right on the button when he pointed out (I'm hugely paraphrasing) that basically Gun violence is such an everyday culture in the USA that frankly, Americans have become totally blasé about the tragedies they inflict upon themselves on a daily basis, while daring to presume they have the right to rigorously single out countries they feel are a threat to their home security.
America's own Gun Culture is the biggest threat Americans face.
On another forum, some guy posted (in discussion of this topic) that, "yeah, that's it, I'mma gonna go buy me a whole raft of bullets an' maybe a couple o' guns but if there is a national race war brewing, it's all the fault of the meeeja."
The 2nd Amendment - together with the oxymoronic 1st Amendment, on the Right to Free Speech - is going to prove to be America's Nemesis.
Something, at some point, HAS to give.
Yes, these were people. People murdered because of the colour of their skin in the midst of a place of worship, no less. One of them a state legislator.
This should be a wake-up call to everyone who still thinks that racism and racial violence are things of the past, that there's nothing left to do on this front (and many others).
Unlike the systematic oppression facing people of colour in this country, a form of violence and inequality that's often obscured for what it is by the 'legitimacy' of things like the criminal justice system and the way it's ignored by the mainstream media, this was a blatant act of racial terrorism pure and simple and should be treated as such. I think a lot of people tend to forget that it was things like this that, only a few decades ago, prompted the rise of the Black Panthers and the Civil Rights movement.
Unfortunately, we've yet to reach the promised land that MLK Jr. glimpsed in 1968; we've failed to secure the freedom, justice, and equality for all regardless of class, gender, ethnicity, nationality, religion, sexual orientation, disability, or skin colour that so many have fought and died for.
This should really be a wake-up call to everyone that we still have a long road ahead of us; that things like the Black Lives Matter movement don't arise out of a vacuum, but in reaction to real needs of real people; that we can't afford to continue to ignore these issues in the hopes that they'll simply go away on their own.
It's up to each and every one of us to acknowledge them and to take a stand against them, arm and arm in solidarity, wherever we find them, whether in our hearts, the hearts of others, or within the socio-economic institutions we live under.
That said, these people should also be remembered and acknowledged for the people they were, the lives they led and the families they were a part of, not just another statistic.
Jon Stewart is impressive with his comedic abilities, but he can be just another talking head as he editorializes his own opinions but, he's just like everybody else - we all have our opinions and we all from time to time, gloss over some angles to strengthen our own arguments and beliefs. No, we Americans are NOT blasé about the tragedies. My opinion is that the laws have hog-tied the rational, good people so that we are afraid to use them when it is appropriate (self-defense, defending those we love, etc.) and that is a step in the direction of disarming which I am against. Heck...sure...there will always be crimes of passion, but they don't require a gun. The laws increasingly make it almost impossible to lead a life where we get to exercise our own powers of discernment and of course not everyone is on an even keel no matter where they hail from. Any country has plenty of its own nut jobs, sadly.
I remember Bill Hicks making the point about the difference in gun deaths in a certain year between the US and the UK...
UK with no guns = 14
US with guns = 11,000
Speaking of which. Posted on my FB feed by none other than Clark Gregg (The irony, when you consider the programme he's in....)
Unfortunately, the gun rights lobby only reads the part of the Bill Of Rights that says what they want. They skip over the part about "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State". So my proposal is that the gun owners be placed in a well regulated militia and sent to fight ISIS with the guns they now possess, and not be allowed to return to the United States until that terrorist group is eliminated.
For Federica: I'd rather blame the overall issue on you Brits: "The Second Amendment was based partially on the right to keep and bear arms in English common-law and was influenced by the English Bill of Rights of 1689. Sir William Blackstone described this right as an auxiliary right, supporting the natural rights of self-defense, resistance to oppression, and the civic duty to act in concert in defense of the state." -- Wikipedia.
America is a young and unique country. Few other countries try to blend so many different kinds of people from different ancestries without any sort of foundation to base it on. People seek a foundation, they always have and always will. It is sought in the form of their people, their traditions, their culture. So then we have pockets of people around the us because they gather to have that foundation. But then we all try to get along as well (I'm not saying that's wrong) and then we butt heads at every turn.
Guns are a problem, absolutely. But the root cause of mass shootings and even the root of the desire to own guns goes much deeper. It is that root cause that needs recognizing and dealing with, otherwise the problems will carry on in another manner. I do support far, far better gun control than we have. But just like the drug war, attempting to deal with the result rather than the cause will have little effect.
I enjoy Jon Stewart. But I'm afraid he's only preaching to the choir. The people who need to hear those messages don't hear them. And if they happen to hear them, it is not with an open mind and heart that they do so. They listen simply to find sound bites to argue against. Ignorance is the biggest blinder people have. It makes them feel safe and they aren't often willing to let go of it.
I don't think most people are blase about it. But we are desensitized about it. I care very much about what happened in Charleston, and I do every time it happens. It's heart breaking and soul rending. But whereas 20 years ago my response was "Holy hell! What is happening!" my response now is "Sigh. Again. When will we learn?" So, not blase. But definitely desensitized. It happens so often it is no longer met with surprise and shock, and often that jolt is required for people to truly desire to change things. I'm not sure what it will take. If people can be shot while practicing their religion and if babies can be shot in their schools and people still refuse to look at how they contribute to these problems and what we really need to do about it, then I'm terrified to think what it WILL take.
@vinlyn -- FWIW, the above observation was gutted in 2010 when the Supreme Court ruled Americans had a fundamental right to bear arms.
Thanks @vinlyn (and taken in the spirit
intended...)
However, it doesn't bode well to cherry-pick and blame us Brits when the schyte hits the fan, but Call 'God Bless America' when things work out well......
Yes, but the Court also said the law did not mean that gun ownership was an unlimited right, and that restrictions could be placed on it.
Of course. But it is part of picture.
The problems with a democracy are endless, as is evidence on both sides of the pond, as the Scots will soon teach you.
The elephant isn't guns. It's racism.
Who said there can only be 1 elephant?
After all, many shootings -- for example at the elementary school -- are primarily white on white (as well as Black on Black). The Aurora movie shooting was not racially motivated.
Could we agree that the one elephant is intolerance?
No. I think that the one elephant is "Suffering".
Good point. Clearly the shooter in Charleston was suffering from mental disturbance, and then made his victims suffer.
And the victim's families and friends, and the community, and ...
A whole lot of suffering going on.
I'm not sure that the elephant in the room is even suffering as - fortunately - society mostly recognises the role of mental illness in these tragedies. I think the elephant in the room is our seeming inability to deal with these severe human issues. The list is endless... gun crime, poverty, corruption, theft, and on and on and on, and for some reason it seems we are unable to make significant inroads into these issues. For all our progress, have we really advanced in some of the most serious human problems?
Any person who shoots up a room of people is mentally disturbed. That's just not a normal thing to do. Yet white people are the only ones excused as a reason of mental defect. Another part of racism. Black people shoot people because they are criminals and thugs and gang members. Arab people blow up people because they are terrorists. White people shoot people (even a room full of black people) because they are mentally disturbed.
I'd edit but this discussion seems to be moving fast so I'll just make a new post.
We were discussing a related topic on FB (a couple of friends and I) about the confederate flag. This is what I said, in part, and my friend's response. The violence is a symptom. Taking advil to cover up pain doesn't solve the issue of what is causing the pain. Creating laws about guns is just more advil. We caused, and still cause, the pain via racism. We refuse to acknowledge it as a society. We cannot learn from it and change our ways until we do. The sad thing is, when people like Roof do the things they do, it completely distracts us from our part in the situation, to our discomfort and own racism. We look at him, the extreme, and say "Whew, thank goodness I'm not like THAT. Obviously I'm not a racist and neither are most Americans." No, most of us are not like Dylann Roof. But many still hold various racist thoughts or leanings or discomforts and we don't like to look at them or admit them. We bury them and then are glad we have people like Roof to show us what a racist REALLY looks like-so then we aren't racist. And we focus on revenge and punishing him, and never look at ourselves.
Do I consider myself a racist? Of course not. I have friends of all races, I try to be kind to everyone I meet. That was something I had to learn. I grew up in a town that is 99% white. We didn't have a non-white student in ANY grade until I was in 9th grade. I was never taught to be racist, to treat people differently because of their color. But you stick with what you know. And when I took a greyhound from MN to CO, I learned a lot about what I didn't know and what I was afraid of. I could handle the mix of races on the bus. But then I asked a black lady if she heard what time our bus was leaving at a long layover, and she screamed at me. I immediately saw her as a threat. I probably wouldn't have if she had been white, i would have written her off as just a nutty, bitchy lady. But I assigned other values because she was black. On my bus ride out of Denver, I was not only the only white person on the bus (mostly Hispanic people) but one of only a couple of females. It was terrifying. After a short while, I realized I was ok, I was still safe. And to battle the demons in my mind over how afraid I was because I was the only white person was one of the scariest things I've ever had to look at in myself.
I still consider that experience today, and that trip was 14 years ago. I still live in my home town, which is maybe 97% white now, thanks to some families who have adopted children from other countries. And I still feel a level of unease when I am exposed to large populations of people who are different from me. It's an unknown, because of what I see and experience every day. And I hate it. I hate that I feel uncomfortable and at dis-ease. I work on it constantly when I visit more diverse areas. I am more cautious to not assign values, but it is something I have to remain vigilant about. I know what my heart believes, but a life time of limited diversity and experience and media influence and improper and inaccurate history lessons engrained something else in me that I literally have to fight against. Sometimes I feel like I go overboard, like I am overly nice (if that makes sense) to people of other races, an attempt to make up for my previous thoughts and value assignments. They don't know that, of course. But to be completely honest, whichever way I am looking, whether it is "omg, is she going to stab me!?" or "I have to focus on not saying or thinking anything dumb and making a point to reach out to someone" I still am not treating people of other races just like other people. Friends, yes. I can treat my Korean friend like just a person, because she is, because I know her and I love her. But for those I don't know? I'm not there yet.
Anyhow, from the discussion about the flag on FB:
Me: We absolutely don't have any sense of shame or humility for our history and the horrific things we have done and continue to do. I have no doubt that lack of connection plays a part in our continued racism and events like Charleston's massacre. Because we have continually participated in massacres and refused to call them such. We excuse them as a necessary evil, collateral damage, to grow our country. We are taught to be proud of all those things. I grew up learning Custer was an American hero. I grew up learning that people stood in our way of advancement and we heroically and correctly shut them down. And that we used other people to meet our goals, and that was ok then, too. We have no connection to our wrongs, and we don't learn from them as a result. Kids aren't even taught how wrong these things were. These things continue because overall, we refuse to truly and completely accept responsibility.
My friend: And you're so right--it's continuing this very moment as we fail to call the Charleston shooting what it actually is: an ongoing, deep-seated malignancy.
It's also politics that keeps the taxpayer-sponsored gravy train goin' of politicians that demand that 'we the people' believe we need to build more prisons, etc. It's politics and money that make the world go 'round.
I'll close this now....
Just kidding.
Very interesting discussion.... > @silver said:
No, mainly money. Money is all the incentive all Governments and politicos need, to implement whatever is most lucrative. As long as they get the biggest bite of the cherry, that is....
@karasti ... That was one of the most honest ways I've ever heard a white person discuss it. Raw and real. That's how change can/will happen.
I'm proud to call you my friend.
Here's some honest questions... Can multi-cultural societies work? Can we truly overcome eons of tribal loyalty and suspicion of others (in the name of survival) to live peacefully together? If we can, can it be achieved anytime soon? Do we need to have multi-cultural societies? Are the benefits of multi-cultural societies out-weighing the problems involved? Might we be better 'sticking to our own' for now and focusing on working on harmonious relations from a distance?
I ask these questions without relating much to the problems. I have two best friends, one who is Jordanian, one who is Costa-Rican, and its of no consequence and I personally have benefit from their different cultural backgrounds. But, with all the terror stuff in the news, I can't deny feeling uncomfortable in certain situations around Muslims... usually when I am alone, there are a few of them, and they're all talking in their own language. Yet never had a problem at all and no reason to feel uncomfortable. I'm UK based, btw.
Racial issues are difficult for people to open up about, and often, when people do, they say the dumbest things.
One year I was evaluating a particular teacher (academic subject). After her lesson, during the post-conference, I asked her how she felt her Black and Latino students were doing (which made up about a third of her class). She said, "Oh, I don't even see color." I said, "Really? That's odd, you called on White students 20 times during the class, and Black and Latino students not even a single time. Is it that you don't see color, or that people of color are invisible to you?"
It was rare that I was that blunt in an evaluation, although all too often so much less was expected of Black and Latino students.
@Vastmind
I am grateful for experiences that have made me more aware. It's incredibly frustrating to know where I want to be as far as how I address people and situations, but not be there yet. I hope being aware is half the battle. But it gives me a different perspective to think what work there is to do when we have as many people as we do who are outright and willfully hate-filled and fully racist (for lack of better term). How to deal with that?
@mindatrisk I wonder the same things. But really, we have no choice at this point. I think it is possible to truly, peacefully, coexist. For the most part, the average person does this, at least in the western world. We might not see every person just as another person, with no regard to their race, religion, dress, and so on. But for the most part, most of us aren't blantantly, hatefully racist. It isn't my true nature to hate, or to commit violence in thought, word or deed. I don't think it's in the true nature of anyone. But even once you realize a problem in yourself, it takes a long time to correct that, especially if you don't have a lot of opportunity to challenge your beliefs and expose yourself to different people, situations, cultures and so on. But I think a lot of people refuse to even see it in themselves. They say "I'm not racist, I dated a black person and I have an Arab friend" but they don't address those moments when they feel uncomfortable and look at where that discomfort comes from. They brush it away and declare themselves non-racist because they don't outwardly treat people poorly because of their race. But like I said before, it comes from somewhere else. Treating people decent is a good thing, obviously. But if you have thoughts and reactions that don't follow your actions, I think a person has to look at that. I was always taught never to treat anyone differently because of their color or religion or sexuality or whatever. But I was never taught about my thoughts. That is where Buddhism comes in, thankfully.
I think society uses the tribal warfare and "humans are just warlike, it's how we are" as an excuse to continue that behavior. As if in the world we live in today, we are still biologically driven to mistreat others for our own survival. Most of us don't live in that world anymore, but we keep the mindset by choice.
Norman Tebbitt (a very astute and disarmingly perceptive British Politician - one of the very few I have ever had even a modicum of respect for!) once declared that it's impossible to live in a multi-cultural society.
Multi-racial?
Yes.
Multi-CULTURAL?
Absolutely not.
And I agree with him.
We're all here now. Together. No going back and undoing it.
So how do we move forward and learn to get along?
I'm glad to see the discussions opening again about the civil war symbols still being used. Flags, statues, etc. There can't be this southern pride stuff. Some of the cultural aspects can remain...fine, down here we eat grits, say ya'll...but not the living in the past of the civil war. It's over. Step one is helping everyone here realize we're in this boat together.
The issue you bring up, @Vastmind, is where liberals (of which I am generally one) often get tripped up (not talking about you, but just in general). They will argue up and down about the concept of freedom of speech, but then when it becomes some aspect of speech they don't like (such as the confederate flag) they are very happy to make exceptions.
When I visited Robert E. Lee's tomb, I expected to see confederate flags. It's part of American history, and we can not and should not deny the reality of our nation's history. When I visit Gettysburg, I don't just expect to find Union memorials because "we" were the "good guys". I have no desire for us to be a white-washed society, oblivious to our history, regardless of whether some aspect of history is good or bad.
Is it really an issue of making people happy? Or about what truly stands for something more insidious? Free speech has limits. And it should. I don't for one second believe that everyone that hoists the confederate flag does so because of southern pride. There are ways to be proud of your heritage without offending people. What is so great about being prideful of slavery and war? Personally, I feel the same about the US glad, lol. I don't see it as something to be so prideful about. It stands for a lot of war, for me. My son wants me to fly the flag in our yard. No thank you. I don't burn it, but I'm not going to fly it. I won't burn down the neighbor kid's confederate flag, either. He says it stands for southern pride. Hilarious. He lives in probably one of the least diverse areas of the country, and his family is not from the south. Then he said it was redneck pride. Ignorance is something to be proud of, I guess. I can't demand he take it down, but I can question what kind of person he is to display it.
A lot of this has to do with what we're taught in schools about patriotism and US history and what not. We don't own up to our horrors in history and truly learn from them. We excuse our bad behavior as necessary just like we excuse white people from labels like terrorist and thug. We look at ourselves and declare us "good guys" when we aren't. We do it as individuals, as communities, and as a country. We believe this stuff because we are taught from age 5 to believe it. Our school system is one big assembly line of "buy into the lies and be a good, patriotic citizen."
If people can say, "I am offended by the Confederate flag, therefore it should be illegal", then people can say, "I am offended by gays, therefore it should be illegal", or "I am offended by Buddhists not proclaiming God as their savior, therefore Buddhism should be illegal in the United States".
People either have freedom of speech and freedom of belief, or they don't have freedom of speech or freedom of belief.
I don't think it's so much a matter of "I am offended" but "an entire group of historically wronged people are offended." There is a difference between individuals and groups. Rights apply equally, yes. But there is a reason there are limits to the freedom of speech. In fact, SCOTUS just told states that they can refuse to issue confederate flag license plates. It went to the court because Texas refused to issue them on basis of offense.
I'm personally not even saying the con. flag should be outlawed. But it shouldn't be displayed by government that is meant to represent ALL people (and I feel the same about religious items as well).
I agree with your second paragraph.
I like all the talk about removing the confederate flag from the capital myself. Freedom of speech works both ways. They have a right to fly the flag, just as people have a right to express their discomfort and displeasure with it. And if there's enough discomfort and displeasure, they'll likely take it down. Not because it's been made illegal, but because it's the sensible thing to do. Most people wouldn't think it sensible to fly the flag of the Nazi Party, especially in an area where Jews were persecuted; and for the life of me I don't see why people still think it sensible to fly the confederate flag, especially in the heart of where people fought to keep slavery alive. Whatever else it may represent, it's primarily associated with slavery and white supremacy. Just like the swastika, it's been tainted by so much blood and hatred that it's better to just let it go.
Sadly when things like this occur, "conditioning" comes to mind...How one is conditioned by ones environment...and ignorance does tend to play a big part....
@vinlyn ... historical knowledge and record keeping is different than re-enforcing negatives views and cheerleading for an argument that's already been decided on. (Slavery). Fly it on your land. Fine. No public places or government property.
http://www.theonion.com/graphic/georgia-adds-swastika-middle-finger-to-state-flag-8998
I find your view to be negative. Therefore, you no longer have the right to express it on a public forum.
See how easy it is.
@jason I want to laugh AND cry at that. Adjua is in GA for the summer and I'm a nervous wreck right now. When she's with family...ok...but what if she goes off with a group of kids...what if...? THe racial tensions were so high after the Pres Obama was elected, I kept all my kids away from seeing family down there...
There are very few "points of view" of any consequence that are not offensive to some other people.
People either have the right to express themselves, or they don't.
No...I don't really see the comparisons your trying to make....and no...it's not that easy.
Yes jason is the elephant in the room - provocation (obvious now!)
lol I do my best.
I live in a multi cultural city - London.
I am regularly in areas that are poor, brown, white, rich, black, multi-ethnic, mixed, Christian, secular, Buddhist etc.
Being familiar with these experiences, I am familiar with racism when it arises in myself and others. Close friends admit their experiences and feelings around issues based on perception and comfort. Racists do not. They justify and misdirect. It is why @karasti post was so real and authentic.
I consider myself racist. I consider myself most uncomfortable at what in America is called, 'white trash'. My next most uncomfortable group is the rich and upper classes, almost exclusively white.
My most comfortable areas are multi cultural, multi hued, multi religious.
For historical reasons I hate the French for:
Oh and I feel most comfortable in the company of 'happy smiling people' - even if they are French ...
Cognitively I see a blank wall in assessing this issue and many others. Just feel a blank wall. I would say I am more suspicious of black people. And I grew up with half the kids in school black and half white. In the cafeteria all the black people sat at some tables and all the white people sat at some other tables. I think for both parties there was more suspicion and fear. But that suspicion doesn't extend (for me) in not grieving the deaths in the shooting. I don't think I feel uncaring because the victims were black. I feel I care as much about them as if a white church in a far away state got attacked. As far as the white person being treated as mentally ill rather than 'criminal' or whatever I think that is true and isn't fair. And then I would extend that to my own issue as a mentally ill person I don't want the people of america to lump all mental illnesses together. The majority of mentally ill people do not have a lack of conscience/empathy. You wouldn't lump different physical illness together so you shouldn't lump together mental illnesses.
@vinlyn I think often you are looking at it from a legal standpoint, and from that, I don't disagree. But from an ethical standpoint, it doesn't always align with the law. Just because you can do something legally doesn't mean you should. A person with questionable choices in expression might be legally protected, but it doesn't mean it is ethically and socially ok for them to do so or that they aren't going to receive some backlash for it. It also doesn't mean our government should cater to any one set of people by displaying things that single out and exclude other groups. I might not like my neighbor's flag, but I wouldn't tell him he has to take it down because I find it offensive. I might tell him I find it offensive but that doesn't mean I expect him to take it down. I do expect my government, which I support with taxes, isn't catering to Christians or whites or men by allowing expression displays of support for one while excluding others, however, so I WILL sign petitions asking them to remove the flag from government-owned property because I don't approve of the government that I help support endorsing such things.
Nowhere did I say that the Confederate flag should be a part of any government display, whether it be license plates, the flag itself, or any symbolism that refers directly to the Confederate flag. Please, @Karasti, show me where I indicated that I approved of government sponsored Confederate flag use. (Although, what would we do about historical museum displays about the Civil War or the KKK -- such as the Smithsonian -- which are financed all or in part by a state government or the federal government?).
I am talking exclusively about personal freedom of expression. And don't misunderstand me. When I was in Tennessee a few years ago and saw Duck Dynasty types drive their pickup truck festooned with 2 large waving Confederate flags, my reaction was -- look at the fucking morons.
Our Constitution says, "Congress shall make no law...abridging the freedom of speech..." It gives freedom of expression to fucking morons as well as the well-educated. To Republicans as well as Democrats. To conservative nuts as well as liberals and middle of the roaders. To people of all races and all religions. And, just as my students often misunderstood what freedom of speech entails, that freedom of expression does not excuse a person from consequences (or, as you put it, backlash).
Either everyone has freedom of expression, or no one really has freedom of expression. Although hardly what he had in mind, freedom of expression sort of follows Martin Niemoller's principle. And so, I will almost always defend the right of disgusting people to have their say, because if we take away their rights of expression, there is nothing to stop others from someday taking away our right of expression.
While I'm at it, I want to address the overall issue of the Confederacy. I know of few educated people who TODAY would defend the underlying principles of the Confederacy. But, the concept of the Confederacy was not only about slavery. It was also about states' rights. And slavery was, for many years, alive and well in the North; and was the law of the land...the whole land...North and South. Many of our most respected founding fathers had slaves. I can't vouch for this, but I recently read that in the early 1800s, the city with the most slaves was New York. How anyone could logically condone slavery, I've never understood. But, just as millions of people are born into Buddhism, or Hindusism, or communism, and as a result support those human institutions, many people in the South were born into a slave culture. Many Christian churches supported the concept of slavery (and by the way, so did some Buddhist cultures). This nation emotionally grew out of the embracement of slavery, just as today we are growing out of the embracement of anti-gay-suppression. Individuals learn. Cultures learn.
"We" are awfully good at standing up for the right of freedom of expression of those people who share our views. "We" aren't always very good at standing up for the right of freedom of expression of those people who have different views than our own. And when that happens, it means we are not being principled; instead it means that we are being expedient and will do anything to have our way.
On another note, let's be sure we understand what SCOTUS said and did not say about Texas license plates. It did not say that the Confederate flag could not be on such license plates; it said the government of Texas had the right of determination about the license plates.
I wasn't saying that you made those claims. I was just making a distinction between law and ethics, which don't always line up. No where did I read where anyone said they would wish to legally remove the right of private people to display the confederate flag, either, but you brought it up, lol. As for scotus, I believe that is exactly what I said.
People.
This as others have pointed out is the issue. The French, Jews, Blacks, Alcholics, The Insane, Racists, the [insert other] are denied the inclusive identity we attach to and exclude from.
Personally I think Elephants are people too ...
http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2015/4/13/elephants-are-people-too.html
Not only am I racist, I am a speceist. Being compassionate is hard work for us low lifes ...
Indeed. Good humour often includes pathos and conflicted emotions.
Real world. I will send protection from my morning practice. I am kinda more attached to people I am aware of ...
Change yourself. Change the World. [lobster haz plan!]
"Change yourself. Change the World. [lobster haz plan!]"
That's the only plan that will work
