[Vision2020] Wayne Krauss on Gun Violence and What is Wrong inAmerica

Sun Jan 27 14:06:02 PST 2013

I went to a great blue-grass concert last night and heard Laurie Lewis sing about the “past that is a lie.”  Great concert, great song (forgot the title), absolutely impeccably correct lyrics. I tend to go ballistic when some idiot expounds on the solution to all our educational problems (including shootings) would be to restore the morning prayer and bible reading.  Kids, myself included and probably you, too, used that time to settle in, pass notes, check out what folks were wearing.   But I do remember the day when the 4th grade boy read about, “Jesus and his exposed wife, Mary, went down to Bethlehem to be taxed.”  And don’t forget, students MAY STILL PRAY in school  Teachers just can’t make them do it.  

Sue H. 

From: Art Deco 
Sent: Saturday, January 26, 2013 11:22 AM
To: vision2020 at moscow.com 
Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Wayne Krauss on Gun Violence and What is Wrong inAmerica

In addition to the remarks of Saundra, it should be added that the society that Krauss think once existed, never, in fact did.

See:  The Way We Never Were: American Families And The Nostalgia Trap  by Stephanie Coontz.

http://www.amazon.com/Way-We-Never-Were-Nostalgia/dp/0465090974

and the chapter entitled "The Family" in

Legends, Lies, and Cherished Myths of American History by Richard Shenkman (Jun 19, 1992) 
When anyone spouts the lack of religious beliefs and practices as the cause of the current problems of society and the world, the facts go way out the window -- they (the facts) are so inconvenient to an irrational discussion of very complex problems.  Facts, not fantasy, are needed to solve problems.  When the flood waters are rising, it is time to stop praying and start repairing and sandbagging dikes else you are going to get your ass very wet.

w.

On Fri, Jan 25, 2013 at 8:53 PM, Saundra Lund <v2020 at ssl1.fastmail.fm> wrote:

  I was going to keep my mouth shut about this, but I certainly hope folks realize that Krauss either is talking out of his rear or is utterly ignorant about the history of school shootings in the US.

  An inconvenient fact for Krauss & his ilk (ask Wayne Price for a definition) is that there have been school shootings for as long as there has been a United States of America.  Even more inconvenient for Krauss is the fact that the vast majority of those school shootings took place while Krauss’ “God” (whatever that means) was still in the schools and in the government (whatever he meant with that incoherent rambling).

  The most charitable spin I can put on Krauss’ ignorance is that he’s nothing more than a Johnny-Come-Lately to the issue of school shootings.  More likely, it seems to me, is that he’s done drunk the Kool-Aid of those with a vested interest in smoke & mirrors.  Given that he’s significantly older than am I, perhaps his memory is just faulty and his “glory days-ing” of the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s is a function of that faulty memory.

  I do, however, find it difficult to fathom that he sincerely doesn’t remember Charles Whitman.

  Here’s the thing:  the argument that reasonable people like me are making is that given the fact that school shootings have been happening in America for as long as there have been schools in America, the issue isn’t one of some theocracy-based imaginary moral decline of our society and its people, but rather it’s one of technological advances that have resulted in semi-automatic guns and high capacity magazines.  It’s the ability of miscreants and/or those who are mentally ill to kill and injure lots of people in minutes . . . in seconds.  Factually, that’s been the significant change, not that people are only recently wielding guns and targeting schools.

  And, that’s a fact that Krauss et al choose to ignore.

  I am beyond disappointed that people like Krauss choose to stick their heads in the sand and be blinded by rhetoric rather than educated by facts.  I attended a forum some years back when Krauss (as a citizen and not a council member) asked a thoughtful and intelligent question.  Regrettably, any critical thinking skills he once possessed seem to have left the building.

  Further, if a council member chooses to lecture constituents, we-as-constituents have a right to expect that the lecture at least be factually accurate rather than flatly incorrect inflammatory rhetoric lifted straight from partisan echo chambers.

  And, I’m nearly as disappointed that not a single soul on the Moscow City Council bothered to correct Krauss’ ignorance.  Whether or not I voted for a particular Council member, I expect – no, I demand -- intelligent and educated discussion, both of which were absent from Krauss’ “lecture” in that Council meeting discussion.

  Krauss also preached about the way weapons and ammunition have been “flying off the shelves” following Sandy Hook and subjected us to his lame grasping for causes and explanations.  Conspicuously absent from his musings is the individualistic greed that’s infected American society and is used by some as justification for treating others as “less than.”  That same  greedy individualism that fails to recognize a huge component of this nation’s greatness is that we as a society are far, far greater than the sum of our individuals.  That same selfish greed that seems to have filled far too many with an unearned sense of entitlement such that they are willing to throw all others, particularly those they disagree with, by the side of the road in ruins.  That same greed than is killing America’s compassion for other Americans and for humanity as a whole.

  Notably absent from Krauss’ screed is another inconvenient fact:  the vast majority of those purchases he attributes to fear were by repeat buyers.  I personally know several people who were a part of that rush, and none of them were first time “buyers.”  The kind of standard response I received was something like, “<wink, wink, nudge, nudge> Yeah, I bought because maybe semi-autos & hi-cap mags are going to be banned.  But, you know me – any excuse for a new toy.”  It was sometimes accompanied by comment about the explanation being enough to satisfy a SO.

  To me, that’s kind of significant.  Does that explain all of the purchases?  Probably not.

  But, I do think that people like Krauss need to start looking at their own behavior and the role they play in completely irrational hysteria.  It is, IMHO, flatly irresponsible to fan the paranoid fear flames of the reactionary right the way Krauss and so many of his fellow GOPers & TPers have done and continue to do.  Personally, I think it counter-productive and inarguably immoral for elected officials to validate ignorance, bias, and bigotry as Krauss did.  But, it’s sooo much easier to look at others rather than at one’s self, isn’t it?

  Krauss also lamented “taking God out of the schools and God out of government.”  Does anyone have a clue as to what he meant?  As a person of faith, I certainly don’t.  And, as a person who went to public schools in the Bible belt in the 1960s and 1970s, I haven’t a clue.

  Perhaps it’s more of his inclination, facts be damned, to romanticize the past, something it seems a certain segment of the population has always been inclined to do as they age.

  I certainly hate to think that Krauss believes that people of faith – children or adults – check their God at any door.  But, perhaps that’s what he believes.  If so, it makes me very sad that he has so little belief in the faith of others.

  Or, perhaps he’s talking about himself . . . or people he knows.  I think we all know them – Sunday Christians.  You know, like those good Christian farmer men in Georgia who shot into the girls’ school in Gainesville when school was in session . . . while they were drunk.  Or, the good Christian old fool who shot into the populated playground of St. Mary’s in New York.  Both of those instances, BTW, took place in the 1800s.  And on & on & on.

  Or maybe . . . just maybe . . .  the answer to Krauss’ question is people like himself who think the worst of educated and informed people with whom they disagree.  People who assume the faith of others is checked at the door.  People who refuse to accept that the faith of others is just as strong as is their own and is a valid basis for morality.

  People who mistakenly think that God requires public recognition in schools and in government.

  People who think that “different” is less than.

  Ignorant old fools who think it’s men who solve problems.

  In any case, I found his comments sad, misguided, and wholly inappropriate.  No matter how much he may wish otherwise, this is the United States of America.  In addition to the Second Amendment, I encourage him to read – actually read and understand – the Constitution of the United States of America (and not the pocket annotated version so popular in some circles) and pay particular attention the First Amendment.

  That said, if Krauss wants a theocracy, there are plenty of places in the world he can find that, but the USA isn’t one of them, nor should it be one of them because of our Constitution and Bill of Rights.

  Somehow, I don’t think Krauss would be any happier in a theocracy than he is here.

  Saundra Lund

  Moscow, ID

  If you want others to be happy, practice compassion.  If you want to be happy, practice compassion.

  ~  The Dalai Lama

  From: vision2020-bounces at moscow.com [mailto:vision2020-bounces at moscow.com] On Behalf Of Tom Hansen
  Sent: Wednesday, January 23, 2013 3:48 PM

  To: Moscow Vision 2020
  Cc: Jeanne McHale; Fritz Knorr; Lois

  Subject: [Vision2020] Wayne Krauss on Gun Violence and What is Wrong in America

  Moscow City Council session (January 22, 2013)

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdpEyaWatWo

  Seeya round town, Moscow, because . . .

  "Moscow Cares"

  http://www.MoscowCares.com

  Tom Hansen

  Moscow, Idaho

  "There's room at the top they are telling you still 

  But first you must learn how to smile as you kill 
  If you want to be like the folks on the hill."

  - John Lennon

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Art Deco (Wayne A. Fox)
art.deco.studios at gmail.com

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