Culture of Violence

I recently sent the following letter to President Obama and his Senior Advisor Valerie Jarrett.  I sent a similar one to Michelle Obama and Rahm Emanuel (Mayor of Chicago).  The Obama home is in Hyde Park - a section of Chicago.
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Barack Obama

President

Washington, DC

Violence in Hyde Park, or Newtown, CT, or Afghanistan is violence.  To stop it, there must be a concerted effort to get to the roots and develop programs of prevention.  

I live in Hyde Park, not far from where the shooting of Hadiya Pendleton occurred.  I'm a father, grandfather, retired businessperson and a military veteran (Army, infantry, Viet Nam).  I woke up to my military experience in January of 2003 and since then I've been studying violence and its causes.  I joined Veterans For Peace to be with military veterans who have seen violence and want to stop it – domestically and internationally.  I offer you my thoughts, in the hopes that they will help prevent more death.

The 27 words of the second Amendment to the Constitution start with "A well regulated Militia".  We not only need regulation, we need to eliminate all weapons - from guns to atomic bombs.  Using violence to solve problems is barbaric.  My motto is:  If you have to hurt someone to solve a problem, you are the problem.  Since the likelihood of eliminating all weapons is beyond remote, I could accept "a well regulated Militia" with the emphasis on "well regulated".

Based on my readings however, the regulation or even the elimination of weapons does not get to the root of the problem.  The root is our "culture" - those things we do and see and say.   We cheer when war planes fly over cities and sports stadiums or when we assassinate a "bad guy".  We watch violent TV and movies as if violence and killing is normal.  We say, "I could just kill my kids", and "We destroyed . . . (the other team)". Our schools are militarized with Chicago being the most militarized school system in the country.  From movies to video games, to sporting events, to TV shows, to ads and even cartoons, violence is so ingrained that we don't see it.  But all of these influences lower the barrier to hurting others. They infect our psyche.  The continual dose of "violence solves problems" is there, everyday, with no countervailing option.  

There is an option.  It's called education.  More than the schoolroom, we need to implement community programs (the programs have already been developed by many organizations) that teach us how to have dialogue, how to solve problems with our communication skills, and how to develop understanding and respect for one another. 

Yes, it's long term.  No, it can't be reduced to a sound bite.  Yes, it will be difficult.  Yes, it will cost money.  But if we truly want to eliminate violence, then our communities and our leaders must be educated.

The article cited below is long, but well done.  It speaks to culture and weapons and murder rates.  The key point is that Japan has very restrictive gun laws and Switzerland has more guns per capita than any country, but both have very, very low murder rates.        http://www.guncite.com/journals/dkjgc.html

You can make it happen.  You have the bully pulpit.  You’ve been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.  Do what is right for the future of your kids and this nation.

Peace - Gandhi style,

A Veteran Remembers Martin Luther King, Jr.

I sent the following to a number of media outlets.  If you change the word Vietnam in Dr. King's speech to Iraq or Afghanistan, the speech could be given today.
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I believe that Dr. King’s most powerful speech was on April 4 of 1967.   “Beyond Vietnam” directed our attention to the trifecta causes of the moral and financial poverty in the U. S. – militarism, materialism, and racism.   

As I look around with mature eyes I see torture being justified, drones killing civilians, assassinations being legalized, hatred for “those people”, massive gun violence, loyalty oaths to governments that engage in genocide, invasions and occupations, songs about bombing countries, war planes being cheered as they fly over sports stadiums, violence showcased on TV and movies and video games.  All of these set examples.

In the 1960’s Dr. King asked those in the cities to stop using violence to solve problems.  “They asked if our own nation wasn’t using massive doses of violence to solve its problems”.   Dr. King concluded that,  “the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today—my own government”.

Yes, there are good things about America, but there are many areas of silence.  Dr. King said  “the calling to speak is often a vocation of agony, but we must speak”.   “A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.”

On the only national holiday that recognizes a person who worked for peace and justice, read “Beyond Vietnam”.   Dr. King studied and practiced non-violent conflict resolution.  We, as a nation, need to do the same.   

Holidays in the Military

It was December of 1970 and after eleven months I was as accustomed to Viet Nam as I was going to get.  The 25^thcame.  A few guys said “Merry Christmas” but basically it was just another day.

 

Looking back, I’m glad there was no joyous celebration.   We were occupying a country and causing massive death and destruction, so the stories and visuals of Christmas would have been hypocrisy.   Peace on earth.  Good will to all.  That was not our mission.

 

I find it disturbing, especially at this time of year, when those in power use the young people in the military to pull on our heart strings to further their agenda.   Everyone in the military is not a “hero”.   The real heroes are those who seek to solve conflicts with dialogue vs. destruction.   It takes great courage and ability to face your adversary with the tools of understanding and mutual respect.   Violence is mindless – just pull a trigger or push a button.

 

The “evil ones” are not the people, or even the leaders, of Iran, Syria, N. Korea or whoever is the next U.S. target.   The evil ones are the cowards within the U.S. who push for war, who push to send our young people to kill and destroy, while they plot to amass their fame and fortune.

 

I met Claude Anshin Thomas a few years ago.  He was a door gunner in Viet Nam.   In his book,  “At Hell’s Gate”, he says, “Peace is not the absence of conflict; it’s the absence of violence within conflict.”  This holiday season please think about that.

 

Arnold Stieber

Michigan State University & Violence

On Armistice Day weekend 2012 I watched Michigan State play basketball in Germany at a military base.  The teams had camo. uniforms.  The audience was "the troops", there were death and destruction vehicles in the stadium and weapons proudly displayed.  It sickened me.  This is the second year in a row that MSU has tied basketball to the military.  I mailed the following to the three listed.  To date I've had no response.

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November 10, 2012

 

TO:  Board of Trustees

         Lou Anna K. Simon – President

         Tom Izzo – Men’s Basketball Coach

 

FROM:  Arnold Stieber

               (address deleated for this post)

 

SUBJECT:   Michigan State and Violence

 

As an MSU Alum and military veteran (Army, infantry, Viet Nam) I am sadden and disturbed that MSU is directly promoting the use of violence via its glorification of the military.

 

The purpose of the military is to eliminate conflict via violence.   The TV ads with their simulated combat scenes make this statement very clearly – “Kill the bad guys.  This will keep us safe” - is the message.   For two consecutive years the Men’s Basketball team has performed in a military setting and thus has directly tied MSU to this barbarian concept.

 

I invite all of you to research the most decorated Marine in U.S. history – two-time Medal of Honor recipient Major General Smedley Butler.  After he retired he reflected on his career and wrote a booklet – “War is a Racket”.   I also invite you to explore the words of General Eisenhower  - “I hate war as only a soldier who has lived it can, as only one who has seen its brutality, its futility, its stupidity “.  

 

Once you begin to explore war, the symbols of war, the financial incentives for war, the promotion of war – subtle and overt – I hope that you will conclude that having sporting events with military involvement is helping neither those in the military nor this country.  For those in the military MSU’s involvement adds creditability to the concept that violence is “patriotic”, and “brave”, and the “American way”.   Many in the military, like Generals Butler and Eisenhower, will feel the pain of this barbarian concept later in life.  For this country, having sporting events with military involvement is saying that war is a game.  It is saying to other nations that the USA is about “winning” (aka conquest) and the USA (with its military) will “win”.

 

I am a graduate of Michigan State University.  I can’t change that.  I ask you to consider the associations that you make in the name of MSU and thus me.   Peace – Gandhi style.

 

         

Armistice Day

As a military veteran (Army, infantry, Viet Nam) I invite everyone to take a few moments this Sunday and think about the interconnectedness of life.  Why this Sunday? Because the eleventh day of the eleventh month was originally called Armistice Day – a day to mark the end of WWI and the beginning of world peace.  Congress passed a resolution that said in part, "this date should be commemorated with thanksgiving and prayer and exercises designed to perpetuate peace through good will and mutual understanding between nations" and they invited "the people of the United States to observe the day in schools and churches, or other suitable places, with appropriate ceremonies of friendly relations with all other peoples".

 

Unfortunately, like many other "days", the original meaning has been forgotten, or intentionally changed.  This day is now called "Veterans Day", and what will be promoted is the military solution to conflict resolution.  There will be much talk of "patriotism", and "sacrifice", and "love of country", and "defending our freedom", but little about "mutual understanding" or "friendly relations" or non-violent solutions to conflict. 

 

Peace cannot be obtained by bombs, bullets, invasions and occupations.  Peace cannot be obtained by violence.  Peace can only be obtained by the simple, yet courageous act of talking, and developing mutual understanding.  Violence is the barbarian solution to conflict.  Think about it this Sunday.  

 

A Poem - Viet Nam

The following was written by my Son.  He performed it at the 2012 "Louder Than A Bomb" poetry competition in Chicago as part of the Coaches bout.  I was in the audience.  I didn't know about the poem.  I was stunned, and proud, and cried.   My Son teaches high school in Chicago and coaches poetry after school.  He guides young minds to seek truth in an area of Chicago that some say is "bad". He is a realists.  He understands that if you give kids an opportunity to become exceptional, they will be. 

  

Viet Nam

(Dedicated to my Dad, Arnold Stieber)

You say it all came back in an evening

In front of the TV

Winter 2003

Iraq war about to start

Platoon was on

You had not let yourself go there since ‘70

You let yourself go there that night

You say it all came back

You could see it

Hear it

Smell it

9/11 might have triggered it

The invasion in Iraq rekindled it

But Hollywood

Platoon

Brought it back

Knew growing up you were in Vietnam

Wasn’t really sure what that meant

Knew you were in war but never discussed

Couldn’t play guns, cops and robbers, GI Joe

Knew that was the rule

Told some friends you were in war

Another dad had been too

He didn’t talk about it

Heard he had changed when he got back

Didn’t know if you had

Other friends asked about the guns you used

People you killed

Like in the movies

Never did ask

Still don’t want to

So in 2003 you started talking about it

Little by little

I was 22 and felt like 5

Learning about you for the first time

Stories always pretty general

Nothing too specific

Keeping Vietnam at a distance

You had graduated college got drafted

Never thought you'd be infantry

Stories of basic training

You spoke with a clergy man in the army

You said killing didn’t seem christrian

Clergy said country first

You were trained to kill

Targets that looked like targets

Targets that moved

Targets like humans

Humans that looked like targets

Humans that move

Humans

Stories of Agent Orange

Fragging of “superiors"

R&R in Austrialia

Christmas in Nam so you could come home quicker

Slurs for the enemy

How soldiers used women

Coping mechanisms to keep sanity

Before you started researching/reading/questioning

A friend former soldier told you not to go down that path

Let it be

You had to go down that path

Now you speak/write/converse

You talk to soldiers home from Iraq/Afghanistan

Stories from them too similar to yours

You see their ghosts

Motivates you to talk to teens about the realities of war/military

Some people don’t want to hear your voice/words/writing

Say things like - your dad is the only soldier I know who feels like that

Other soldiers they know don’t talk or complain about war/death/killing

They don’t know other soldiers back from war

Are killing/over dosing/abusing themselves

War veterans have the highest suicide rate

You told me you thought about it

Soldiers are trained to kill/survive war

Not retrained on how to survive after war

So many don’t talk

You tell me

America teaches that war is necessary

Many soldiers have to believe what they did was necessary

Yet you speak out

Many soldiers fear saying the things they did/saw out loud

Fear of saying what happened may make loved ones distant

That no one can understand what was “normal” unless they were there

You teach me that for a soldier to speak out against war is difficult

  

You say war is slavery

In 1969 you had three choices

Jail

Leaving the country but knowing you couldn’t return

Or War

You said you weren’t brave enough for the first two

People need to know this

So you speak

I know it’s not easy to do what you do

But I thank you for the difficult path you choose

Soon I will be a dad 

I have your path to follow

It‘s easy to sit back

Believe what you are told

It is difficult to do what you believe

At 22 I started becoming a man

Because you started teaching me what that means

Thou Shall Not

Thou . . . . shall . . . . not . . . . ?

 

Thou . . . . shall . . . . not . . . . question.

Thou shall not question?

Thou . . . . shall . . . . not . . . . QUESTION! 

THOU shall not question?

THOU! . . . . shall . . . . not . . . . question!

Thou shall NOT question?

Thou . . . . shall . . . . NOT! . . . . question!

Why?