Glen's Parallax Perspectives

We must DEBUNK “the Myth of Redemptive Violence.”

February 24, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

U.S. culture has long perpetuated what has been called “The Myth of Redemptive Violence.” Look at the plots of movies about the Wild West, about cops & robbers, about spies, etc. Nearly every movie ends with a big shoot-out in which “the good guys” use violence to defeat “the bad guys.” The U.S. assumes that our military is “the good guys” and we can use violence to defeat “the bad guys” just like in the movies. The problem is that reality does not work that way. The U.S. LOST the wars in Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq. Violence is also PROFOUNDLY […]

Military “solutions” are really the problem!

February 24, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

Military “solutions” are really the problem! Instead of solving problems, military violence actually makes problems worse! It causes more threats to us and weakens our national security! Military violence provokes more people to want to attack the U.S.! Militarism creates new enemies faster than we can kill them. Militarism is a “domino theory” in reverse: the U.S. keeps spreading chaos into more and more countries. Sometimes high-level reports from the Pentagon and CIA conclude that militarism is doing this. (Indeed, the term “blowback” came from the CIA before Chalmers Johnson wrote a great book by that title.) Since 9-11-2001 the […]

Oppressors are ALSO our brothers and sisters. Nonviolence recognizes this.

February 24, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

“Nonviolence isn’t sitting back with your arms folded. It is first recognizing that the very person who is your oppressor is also your brother or sister. One day he or she may stop being your oppressor, but they’ll never stop being your brother or sister.” — Jose Maria Pires, in Mev Puleo, The Struggle Is One: Voices and Visions of Liberation

Prayers sponsored by governments or schools UNDERMINE authentic religion!

February 24, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

Many conservative persons, religious advocates, government officials (including some in charge of public schools, as well as local, state and federal governments) want prayers at local government or legislative meetings – or in public schools. ACTUALLY, THESE GOVERNMENT-SPONSORED PRAYERS UNDERMINE authentic religion. Prayer should be a personal communication with God, but making it mandatory or obligatory – or a mindless public ritual – destroys the personal faith aspect and makes it a meaningless governmental routine. It’s ironic that conservatives who oppose “big government” want government to cram someone’s religion down everyone else’s throats. Instead of protecting liberty, they are taking […]

A smart, unexpected way to move voters to our side

February 24, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

Liberals and progressives keep expressing amazement and confusion when working-class people vote for people like Reagan and Trump, whose economic policies and other policies actually make things worse for working-class people. George Lakoff, an expert in how people think, says voters vote their VALUES, not their interests. Typically, we assume that if we explain how a political issue pertains to people’s objective interests (e.g., their economic well-being), they will act or vote the way we want them to. However, Lakoff says we would be more effective if we would pay attention to people’s VALUES and frame our arguments to appeal […]

Reverse the “burden of proof” for joining military vs. applying for Conscientious Objector status

February 24, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

For many decades it has been easy to join the military: Just sign up and go through the process. But if you are a Conscientious Objector, it has been VERY HARD to get the federal government to recognize your human right — whether you are facing the military draft or whether you had previously enlisted in the military and now discover that you are a Conscientious Objector. We should REVERSE THE “BURDEN OF PROOF.” Our nation should recognize: Of course a mentally healthy and morally healthy person would not want to kill other people. This should be the default assumption. […]

Trump’s 2018 “Nuclear Posture Review” document is reckless and frightening!

February 24, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

See links to articles about Trump’s 2018 “Nuclear Posture Review” document at the end of this information about it: On February 2, 2018, the Trump Administration released its Nuclear Posture Review (NPR), which lays out how the Trump Administration and its Pentagon (which wrote the document for Trump) understand the role of nuclear weapons. Previous Nuclear Posture Reviews were issued in 2010, 2002, and 1994. Trump’s 2018 NPR does significantly change U.S. policy regarding nuclear weapons. A significant break from Obama’s NPR (which stated that the U.S. would not use nuclear weapons against non-nuclear countries that had signed the Non-Proliferation […]

Both parties in Congress lavishly funded the Pentagon in CURRENT YEAR’s budget

February 24, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

Today I posted to this blog’s “Military Spending” category some information about Trump’s proposal for the Fiscal Year 2019 budget. But Congress has been so dysfunctional that they were very late in finishing the decisions about the CURRENT YEAR’s budget. BOTH POLITICAL PARTIES have lavishly funded the Pentagon and military violence. See this article: https://inkstickmedia.com/congress-went-bigly-budget/

Trump’s federal budget proposal urges more military violence, less diplomacy

February 24, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

The U.S.’s horribly violent foreign policy has long had bi-partisan support. No matter which party is in the White House or which party dominates Congress, they have been funding the U.S. military threaten and dominate the rest of the world. Also, they have typically treated various kinds of international issues as needing the U.S. military to seek violent solutions rather than understand what’s really going on and solve the problems. For example, people really do have legitimate interests in national self-determination, in opposing their U.S.-supported dictators, in gaining farm land for self-sufficiency, etc. Trump’s proposal for the next Fiscal Year’s […]

URGENT! Tell WA State House Rules Committee to pass SB 6052 to abolish the death penalty!

February 22, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

Oops! In my haste to alert you to this urgent opportunity, I made typographical errors in four of the e-mail addresses. Now I have corrected the typos in the list below, so you can copy and paste the entire list. Good news! Today the House Judiciary Committee passed SB 6052, the bill that the Senate has already passed to abolish the death penalty in Washington State. The bill now moves on to the House Rules Committee, where that committee can either kill the bill or move it to the House floor for a vote of all 98 House members. We must […]

Widely held values actually OPPOSE Trumpism’s cruelty, etc.

February 22, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

Many people assume that Trumpism’s cruelty is more widely accepted by Americans than it actually is. In truth, the vast majority of Americans hold better values. In order to organize the public to oppose Trumpism, let’s tap into the better values that the vast majority of Americans hold. In order to push against the right-wing extremist agenda of Trumpism, we need to help ordinary Americans recognize that Trumpism seriously violates our nation’s best values. Ordinary Americans support truth, justice (fairness), human rights, the rule of law, science, preventing governmental corruption, etc. Trumpism violates these cherished American values. Exposing Trumpism’s violations […]

Nuclear Weapons events in Olympia February-March 2018

February 22, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

COMING EVENTS — February and March 2018 NEWS — 2018.02.28 News, Updates, Discussions, Light Refreshments

Watch “Solutionary Rail” TV program for creative solutions!

February 22, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

Use your computer (the December 2017 episode of the “TV Programs” part of www.olympiafor.org or any of several relevant topic links on this blog, www.parallaxperspectives.org) to watch Olympia Fellowship of Reconciliation’s December 2017 TV interview about Solutionary Rail, a fascinating and attractive “win-win-win-win” for fuel efficiency, the climate, local communities, workers, and more. This interview is online now and forever. Also, you can read a thorough summary of what we said during the interview. “Solutionary Rail” Olympia FOR’s December 2017 interview program explores a remedy for several of our nation’s problems that is both creative and exciting. This remedy would […]

TV series “Glen’s Parallax Perspectives” is consistent with this blog

February 22, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

This blog, www.parallaxperspectives.org, covers a wide range of issues. The TV series “Glen’s Parallax Perspectives” on TCTV cable channel 22 in Thurston County WA also covers this wide range of issues. Cable TV subscribers in Thurston County WA can watch each new program on channel 22 every Monday at 1:30 pm, every Wednesday at 5:00 pm, and every Thursday at 9:00 pm for a full month. Programs are posted to this blog before the end of the month when they’ll air on TCTV, and they remain posted on this blog long into the future. Programs are posted to the “TV […]

The U.S.’s long-standing “cult of ignorance” is growing

February 22, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

For a very long time the U.S.’s culture and political live have included a strong anti-intellectual tendency. Half a century ago I bought Richard Hofstadter’s 1963 book Anti-Intellectualism in American Life. When Adlai Stevenson ran for president in 1952 and 1956 he was criticized and scoffed at because he was a very smart person. Educated “egg-heads” are often criticized for being smart. The list goes on and on. This anti-intellectualism seems to have gotten much worse. The right-wing and Trump and the anti-science crowd and the anti-evolution crowd and the climate deniers are part of this. The editorial on page […]