Injustice Occurs Everyday... Please Be Aware

Today I sat in on a court case that hurt me a lot, and I realized I am part of the problem. Maybe some of you at ATS have been a part of the problem also? Please, please read on and think about this. Words are powerful, and the way we refer to others, defines the feelings towards them...

This is very personal to me, spilling my emotions like this. But I was born and raised in 'The Land of The Free'. (I do not know if I will take this down... please accept it with kindness, if that is too much to ask)

But, here is more of what I mean.....

A play on words can affect the way a person views others. It gives them a general image in their mind that makes other human beings less-than-human -- It dehumanizes entire populations and throughout history has been a means of control.

It has allowed populations to witness genocide, and consider it to be OK because of this blanket statement describes the target people as undesireables.

Example, in 1994 in Rwanda, an entire population was deemed 'cockroaches'.

Surely this didn't make it more difficult for a population to accept the murdering of a million human beings? (en.wikipedia.org...)

I mean, giving something a name is actually a way of pre-programming a specific thought about it. Naming a population of people, is a powerful way to enforce an opinion about them, so the rest of the population is enthusiastic and happy to support oppression or murder.

More examples of 'names' given, to rally support against people, so they may be oppressed or murdered without opposition (see if these sound familiar) --

- Terrorist
- Illegal Alien
- Deadbeat Dad
- Drug Addict
- Homegrown Terrorist
- Religious Fanatic
- And, many more.... (Feel free to give me more of these... I really would appreciate it.)

It is my opinion that labeling a group of people truly dehumanizes them. Society rallies behind oppression, when it is someone considered less-than-human being affected.

Simply using a word, establishes the way something or someone is viewed. Words can be a powerful weapon.

I have used a couple of the terms I listed above. I was just reinforcing the stigma that goes along with these groups of individuals, and legitimizing their oppression. I will not be doing it again. People need to be AWARE of what they are doing when they use blanket statements or generalizations, against other people.

Constitutional rights HAVE been TAKEN AWAY from AMERICANS!!!!!!!!! ( I am NOT kidding. )

Injustice is everywhere. Is there any way to stop it??

You're right. People often love to hate and see themselves as safe, better or on the "right side". Cowardice, selfishness, inadequacy, insecurity drive most people if not all of us at least part of the time. Peer pressure, need to belong and weak minds and hearts are the norm. This is the nature of things here and it's being leveraged and promoted while at the same time the superman myth is promoted to delude people into believing they're no infected. A lot of TV programs emphasis this fake arrogant pseudo strength and / or belonging weakness. How many more life times to you want to experience in a place where cycles like these perpetuate?

Sex offender
Black
White
Racist
Sexist

The list goes on for----well eternity.

This adminstration is currently a WORDY admin. They have changed words on almost everything, and called even war veterans- terrorists.

Sticks and Stones, is not a true statement. If I call you a sex offender in public, i'm sure that will alter peoples views on you, and thus will treat you different. As much as It hurts me to say it, words do matter.

We all have heard of a Bank Holiday, it sounds nice. Sounds fun. Really it's a very terrible thing, just like a Casuality.

I admire your candidness and do not wish for any part of your post to be removed or taken down.

I am glad that you are able to add to the growing awareness and education of us who are still witnessing our loss of freedom at an arm-length.

I wish I had an answer to how all this could be fixed, but there are just too many variables. My own beliefs and study of the matter have led me to believe that if we the people try to slowly get the teeth of our government on our side - that is, the military - then we can begin to force the kind of change that our founding fathers and mothers would be in favor of. After all, when they ensured our right to arm ourselves against tyranny in government, they certainly didn't envision a government with total control and with complete access to smart bombs, tanks, heat weapons and all other manner of superior firepower. At the time, everyone just had guns or grenades or primitive mines. Now our right to bear arms is almost symbolic since there are no groups that could rebel with force in this country that would have any chance of success except for our military.

Unfortunately, it seems it is coming down to this soon, but I truly hope that protests and lawsuits and working the system as is can create the change we need. But whatever it takes, we must stop the abuses we seem so desensitized to. And our use of labels and tags that only serve to dehumanize people must be tempered with a true compassion for the rights of those we choose to accuse of a crime.

Once you label me you negate me -- Søren Kierkegaard

It's one of the hardest things for me to master. I'm guilty of labeling. It's the truth though. As a child, I never labeled. As a young adult, I learned. Now, I'm unlearning.

There's conditioning from every which direction that tries to box just about everything and everyone. I agree, as far as I can see, oppression is abundant.