Repression is a seamless garment; a society which is authoritarian in its social and sexual codes, which crushes its women beneath the intolerable burdens of honor and propriety, breeds repression of other kinds as well...Salman Rushdie
Years of destruction and despair, we held our breath looking for repair. gone are the clowns with their sad frowns that circus is leaving town. Susan Grout 2021
Still the gun violence rages through out this country. It is indisputable that banning assault weapons works to protect people. I've frequently sited the facts from Australia's ban of more than 20 years ago. Virtually no carnage compared to our poor country.
Happily the NRA is being sued for their lies and promulgation of deceit, encouraging people to buy more guns. Remember this is about fear and money.
Eight people, six Asian American women and two men have been brutally murdered in the Atlanta area. Also in Colorado: more carnage, more humans lost to the NRA and gun lobby. More senseless tragedy and another incidence of the worst abuse that is being minimized in this country. Incredibly, some of the news media was actually being sympathetic to the murderers (Fox, and other right wing nuts) instead of the egregious crimes they committed against the women and men. This is the kind of crap we don't need more of: the continual daily fare of misogynism, scores of hate crimes being excused, blatant racism and gun violence on a daily basis being ignored.
Reading about the effects of the domestic violence problem in our country [and to be fair in the world] is not only depressing but cumbersome. However the tome written in 1992 by Judith Herman [Trauma and Recovery] is anything but cumbersome. Sure the subject matter is grim but her prose is fascinating and engaging. Until she bravely bucked the system and wrote the book, no one had connected the dots that connected the symptoms of the victims of domestic violence were identical to those of the soldiers in combat, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. [PTSD] Dr. Herman is the one who added 2 and 20,000 together and figured out that from the literal bushel barrels of reported cases of domestic assault [20,000 is a gross under estimate] the subsequent physical and mental fallout for the victims sounded and looked exactly the same. As recently as a year ago when I mentioned to someone that victims of repeated and prolonged domestic abuse had PTSD, the person I was talking to said, "that denigrates those who are soldiers, that term should be reserved only for the victims of war." Don't we all wish that were true. Only the victims of war would be found to have PTSD then we could ignore the victims of domestic violence with identical complaints.
As we, and all the world knows as recently as January 6th the Capitol of the United States was attacked and assaulted by a mob of predominately white men in MAGA red caps. This riot traumatized hundreds of people connected with the White House. Watching it from the safety of my home and left me in a state of nausea. The silencing and minimizing of the crimes started almost immediately with excuses for the perpetrators. One TV channel, Fox News and other right wing news organizations, acted as if the insurrection hadn't even happened. Anyone who dared to speak about the atrocities was questioned as if they were mistaken. This coincides with these right wing news media outlets perpetuating falsehoods about Presidential election. "These were just patriots who [falsely] believed the election had been stolen," This statement implies that sedition is supposedly understandable. We all watched as the mob terrorized, beat up the cops, defaced and destroyed our Capitol and horrified the people therein. Yet a congressman Andrew Clyde compared the sedition to tourist walking through the White House. Minimization at its finest, as if this mob were just taking a leisurely stroll and oops they happened to bludgeon a cop or 100, defecate on the floors, steal a podium and a laptop from Nancy Pelosi's office.
'Grow up people' I keep thinking. The truth:Joseph Robinette Biden is the President of the United States. Obviously it's easy to equate the connection between the mob abusers and the ones minimizing the abuse. This kind of downplaying of the facts attempts to sympathetically prop up the abusers and tries to foster denial that no one was hurt. Facts: five people died, hundreds traumatized, many still suffering from the effects of being personally attacked or in fear for their lives.
Why do I keep writing about this subject--- domestic violence--- over and over again? see post: https://susansmagicfeather.blogspot.com/2014/09/kapow-why-do-women-stay-with-abusive-men.
One answer: we just are recovering from the Abuse Circus that was started in the White House in 2016. It was threatened to continue through today if it had not been for the victory of the Democrats in 2020. Down with violence and hatred, it should be all our goal and maximized.
The ringmaster's leaving town, his bullies patrol the grounds
Plotting revenge even now, plotting revenge even now. Susan Grout 1/2021
