the indian wind along the telegraph lines

Here’s one bloke that was glad you were all out of bubblegum.

Video is NSFW.

Just … wow …

http://www.kob.com/article/stories/s3851673.shtml#.VaW1LXPnbqD

In the wake of the horror and tragedy at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, the US has been…

In the wake of the horror and tragedy at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, the US has been left wondering how, in 2015, does such deep and abiding hatred and racism persist in this country. It seems for every two steps forward we make we’re then pulled back one. Thankfully, most humans are loving and caring and will not tolerate a slide back into fear, hatred and bigotry.

And when we’re faced with abominable acts like those perpetrated on innocent lives in Charleston, we want to do something.

That’s a good thing. Being roused to action is a commendable response. Sitting back and thinking, “Eh, what can you do?” is the response of the indolent coward.

But then the question becomes “What is it we are going to do?”

Banning the Battle Flag Of The Army Of Northern Virginia is not going to stop anything.

Banning guns is not going to stop anything.

Hating people is not going to stop anything.

It’s just these things are easy. You can sit on your overstuffed sofa and get indignant and demand action from others. It’s easy to convince yourself that the cause of all of this is a symbol or a piece of metal and plastic, but if you think about it for more than two minutes this reasoning falls apart.

“If only that flag didn’t exist we wouldn’t have these problems. Or at least we could start fixing them.”

Really? Ask Germany, where the swastika and Mein Kampf have been banned since the end of World War II. Do they have neo-Nazi issues? You bet they do.

Germany also has strict gun laws, and just this week a man sped around the countryside firing at people.

It’s going to take a lot more than banning symbols, guns, books and thoughts. It’s going to take us all getting our asses off our couches and working for substantive change. It’s going to take one of us looking into the vacant, sad eyes of someone like Dylann Roof and saying, “I’m going to help that boy.”

I know that the Battle Flag Of The Army Of Northern Virgina (it’s not the Confederate flag, folks) coming down from the South Carolina capitol makes everyone feel like we’ve done something, and we have. But what we’ve done is hand a terminal cancer patient some mouthwash.

Full disclosure: I was raised in New England and have family that fought for the Union in the Civil War. I am not a Confederate apologist nor do I have a strong attachment to Southern culture.

https://goo.gl/DZa46b