By Jay Janson
15 December, 2012
@ Countercurrents.org
Another school shooting massacre. Of course everyone is shocked and saddened. But why is it not expected that occasionally an armed America will turn on his own? ] (Wikepedia lists 54 massacres by Americans in the US since 1950.
Another school shooting massacre. This time in Connecticut. Twenty, as President Obama reported, “between the ages of five and ten.”
Of course everyone is shocked and saddened.
But why is it not expected that occasionally an armed America will turn on his own? [1] ( Wikepedia list of 54 massacres by Americans in the US since 1950 ) [2] (Worst Eight US Massacres recalling Columbine ) [3] (Top Recent Five)
Violence and heroic gun play is in the air in the United States of America. It’s on TV and in movies all the time, whether real or fictional. The world knows children in the US are brought up on violence and expected to be ready to go overseas to ‘protect American freedom’ in wars ordered by America’s presidents and commanders-in-chief.
Its kind of a catchy thing – ‘Like father like son!”
America’s pentagon fed war promoting prime time TV anchors are showing emotion, concern and compassion, as will all the organized clergy that have been blessing America’s innumerable ‘Just Wars.’ The politicians fronting for corporatist governance will be talking about gun control for weeks to come – once again.
This writer and all his anti-imperialist wars colleagues might appropriately suggest or plead that every parent in the United States be assigned the following homework:
1. Watch Michael Moore’s “Bowling at Columbine” again and write a review of what it means to you. Full length movie at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jGtAcDefHg
2. Search the Internet for statistics on how many schoolchildren Armed Americans killed in Korea, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Dominica Republic, Panama, Iraq, Somalia, Yemen, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Libya, etc. – how many schools were bombed, how many children were killed in while at home. Weaponized Americans have been collaterally killing innocent people overseas in poor countries for the past sixty-four years.
3. Watch Michael Moore’s “Bowling at Columbine” a second time and write a review of what it means for America.
4. Meditate on how all Americans surely agree with President Obama that “Our hearts are broken,” while others say we should make sure they did not die in vain. Meditate on doing something about our school massacres. Meditate on the connection between the militarized nation backing US private investments abroad, that Martin Luther King Jr. spelled out for the world. Try to realize that millions of hearts were broken in the same way in the above mentioned countries, by Americans firing weapons upon their countrymen designated as ‘bad guys.’
5. Never forget “They had their entire lives ahead of them,” as noted correctly President Obama. And in humility consider that those children that perished for having fallen in the way of armed Americans invading their beloved nations, also, “had their entire lives ahead of them.”
6. Watch Michael Moore’s “Bowling at Columbine” a third time and write a review of what it means for the world, and not only the danger Americans have become unto themselves.
7. Remind yourself daily that the only American with a three day holiday honoring his birthday, shocked the world and made headlines everywhere with, “The greatest purveyor of violence in the world is my own government,” and held himself and the American people responsible for being fully capable of making America’s “atrocity wars” as unacceptable as the “social injustice their expenditure caused at home.” [watch Martin Luther King, Jr: A Time to Break Silence http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkatimetobreaksilence.htm]
[read King Condemned US Wars http://kingcondemneduswars.blogspot.com/
8. Do try to get your elected officials to make some effective gun control laws, but reflect upon the fact that every citizen in Cuba has been armed for decades, in expectation of another US invasion, but Cubans are not using their weapons upon themselves.
9. Tell all your friends and family to watch Michael Moore’s “Bowling at Columbine,” and to call for prosecution of US crimes against humanity, as the invasions of Germany were prosecuted at Nuremberg. [read Prosecute US Crimes Against Humanity Now Campaign
http://prosecuteuscrimesagainsthumanitynow.blogspot.com/
I mean if Americans focus on their love for children, everyone’s children and not just their own, they can, Rev. Dr. King Jr. said, end American violence at home as well as the violence America brings overseas in the name of freedom for “predatory investments.” And the way to do this is for Americans to prosecute its crimes against humanity and let the indictments fall where they may.
What else but prosecution and the threat of imprisonment could possibly serve as a brake on future wars for profit, and give Americans the chance they and their children deserve to end its nation’s culture of violence, and free the world of it as well?
Footnotes:
[1]
List of massacres in the United States From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Alabama
Geneva County massacre
2009 Mar 10
Geneva and Samson
11
6 injure
Arizona
2011 Tucson shooting
2011 Jan 8
Tucson, Arizona
14 wounded
4
2 wounded
Arkansa
Westside Middle School massacre
1998 Mar 24
Jonesboro, Craighead County
5
10 injured
California
101 California Street shootings
1993 Jul 1
San Francisco
9
6 injured
Cleveland School massacre
1989 Jan 17
Stockton
6
29 children and 1 teacher/ 30 injured
Cupertino quarry massacre
2011 Oct 5
Cupertino
4
7 injured; death toll includes perpetrator
Cal State Fullerton massacre
1976 Jul 12
Fullerton
7
2 injured
Golden Dragon massacre
1977 Sep 4
San Francisco
5
11 injured
Ingleside mass murder
2012 Mar 23
San Francisco
5
Newhall massacre
1970 Apr 6
Newhall
5
death toll includes 4 officers and perpetrator
Oikos University shooting
2012 Apr 2
Oakland
7
3 injured
San Ysidro McDonald’s massacre
1984 Jul 18
San Diego
21
19 injured
Seal Beach massacre
2011 Oct 12
Seal Beach
8
1 injured
Colorado
2012 Aurora shooting
2012 Jul 20
Aurora
12
59 injured. Suspect James Holmes in custody.
Columbine High School massacre
1999 Apr 20
Columbine
15
24 injured. Both perpetrators committed suicide.
Connecticut
Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting
2012 December 14
Newtown, Connecticut
27
20 killed were children, 6 were adults, and the gunman himself. One of the adults that perished was the gunman’s mother who was also a teacher at the school.
Illinois
Brown’s Chicken massacre
1993 Jan 8
Palatine
7
Northern Illinois University massacre
2008 Feb 14
Dekalb
6
18 injured
University of Iowa shooting
1991 Nov 1
Iowa City
6
4 faculty members and 1 student killed (in addition to the perpetrator), 1 student injured and paralyzed
Kansas
Wichita Massacre
2000 Dec 8–14
Wichita
5
Massachusetts
Blackfriars Massacre
1978 Jun 28
Boston
4
Wakefield massacre
2000 Dec 26
Wakefield
7
Chinatown massacre
1991 Jan 1
Boston
5
1 injured
O’Leary Family Massacre
1973 Jun 8
Boston
7
Includes the suspect
Michigan
2011 Grand Rapids, Michigan mass murder
2011 Jul 7
Grand Rapids
7
3 injure
Minnesota
Red Lake massacre
2005 Mar 21
Red Lake
10
Death toll includes perpetrator. 5 injured
Nebraska
Westroads Mall shooting
2007 Dec 5
Omaha
9
4 people injured
New Mexico
Las Cruces Bowling Alley Massacre
1990 Feb 10
Las Cruces
4 Dead, 3 injured
New York
Attica Prison riot
1971 Sep 9
Attica
39
Happy Land fire
1990 Mar 25
New York City
87
Wendy’s massacre
2000 May 24
Flushing, Queens, New York City
5
2 injured
Ohio
Kent State shootings
1970 May 4
Kent State University
4
Oklahoma
Oklahoma City bombing
1995 Apr 1
blast claimed 168 lives
Oregon
1977 Jul 23
Klamath Falls, Oregon
6
Gunman randomly kills patrons leaving nightclub.
Pennsylvania
Flight 93 of September 11 attacks
2001 Sep 11
Shanksville
40
Amish school shooting
2006 Oct 2
Nickel Mines
6
5 injured.
South Carolina
Orangeburg Massacre
1968 Feb 8
Orangeburg
3
Texas
Fort Hood shooting
2009 Nov 5
Ft. Hood
13
30 injured.
Luby’s massacre
1991 Oct 16
Killeen
24
20 injured.
Waco siege
1993 Apr 19
Waco
76
Deaths after fifty-day siege
University of Texas massacre
1966 Aug 1
Austin
16
Virginia
Virginia Tech massacre
2007 Apr 16
Blacksburg, Virginia
33
One death was perpetrator. 25 were injured. It was the worst shooting incident by a single gunman in U.S history and one of the deadliest massacres in the world.
Washington
Cafe Racer massacre
2012 May 30
Seattle
6
Capitol Hill massacre
2006 Mar 25
Seattle
6
Wah Mee massacre
1983 Feb 18
Seattle
13
Wisconsin
2004 Nov 21
Meteor
6
Chai Vang (Deer Hunting)
Sheraton Hotel massacre
2005 Mar 12
Brookfield
7
Terry Ratzmann {Bible Study}
Delavan Shooting
2007 Jun 9
Delavan
6
Ambrosio Analco killed his two sons, wife, her sister, a friend, and then himself
Crandon, Wisconsin shooting
2007 Oct 7
Crandon
6
Deputy Tyler Rampage – Killed by police sniper
2012 Wisconsin Sikh temple shooting
2012 Aug 5
Oak Creek
6
Assailant died of self-inflicted gunshot wound
Spa Shooting
2012 Oct 21
Brookfield
4
Radcliffe Haughton (Shot 7 – Killed 3 and Himself)
[2] Top 5 Worst | Death Statistics | The United States | Crime & Punishment Statistics
The Top 5 Worst Gun Massacres in Recent U.S. History
Perpetrator
Location
Date
Victims
1 Seung-Hui Cho
(aged 23, suicide at scene)
Blacksburg, Virginia
(university campus)
April 16th, 2007
32 killed
(25 wounded)
2 George Hennard
(aged 35, suicide at scene)
Killeen, Texas
(restaurant)
Oct 16th, 1991
23 killed
(20 wounded)
3 Adam Lanza
(developing information)
Newtown Connecticut
(Sandy Hook Elementary School )
Dec 14th, 2012
*26 killed
(developing)
4 James Oliver Huberty
(aged 42, shot at scene by police)
San Diego, California
(McDonalds restaurant)
July 18th, 1984
21 killed
(19 wounded)
5 Nidal Malik Hasan
(age 39, arrested at scene)
Fort Hood, Texas, (military base)
Nov 5th, 2009
13 killed
(29 wounded)
[3] Shooting recalls Columbine massacre
1. April 16, 2007: Seung-Hui Cho, 23, fatally shot 32 people in a dorm and a classroom at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, then killed himself in the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history.
2. Oct. 16, 1991: A deadly shooting rampage took place in Killeen, Texas, as George Hennard opened fire at Luby’s Cafeteria, killing 23 people before taking his own life. Twenty others were wounded in the attack.
3. July 18, 1984: James Oliver Huberty, an out-of-work security guard, killed 21 people in a McDonald’s restaurant in San Ysidro, Calif. A police sharpshooter killed Huberty.
4. Aug. 1, 1966: Charles Whitman opened fire from the clock tower at the University of Texas at Austin, killing 16 people and wounding 31.
5. April 20, 1999: Students Eric Harris, 18, and Dylan Klebold, 17, opened fire at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., killing 12 classmates and a teacher and wounding 26 others before killing themselves in the school’s library.
6. Aug. 20, 1986: Pat Sherrill, 44, a postal worker who was about to be fired, killed 14 people at a post office in Edmond, Okla. He then killed himself.
7. April 3, 2009: A shooter entered the American Civic Association building in Binghamton and killed 14 people, including himself, wounding four others.
8. July 29, 1999: Former day trader Mark Barton, 44, killed nine people in shootings at two Atlanta brokerage offices, then killed himself. Barton also killed his family before the spree, which raised the total dead to 13, including Barton.
Jay Janson is an archival research peoples historian activist, musician and writer; has lived and worked on all continents; articles on media published in China, Italy, UK, India and the US; now resides in NYC; First effort was a series of articles on deadly cultural pollution endangering seven areas of life emanating from Western corporate owned commercial media published in Hong Kong’s Window Magazine 1993; Howard Zinnlent his name to various projects of his; Global Research; Information Clearing House; Counter Currents, Kerala, India; Minority Perspective, UK; Dissident Voice, Uruknet; Ethiopian Review; Palestine Chronicle; India Times; Ta Kung Bao; China Daily; South China Morning Post; Come Home America; OpEdNews; HistoryNews Network; Vermont Citizen News have published his articles; 300 of which are available at: click http://www.opednews.com/author/author1723.html ; Weekly column, South China Morning Post, 1986-87; reviews for Ta Kung Bao; article China Daily, 1989. Is coordinator and founder of the King Condemned US Wars International Awareness Campaign: (King Condemned US Wars) http://kingcondemneduswars.blogspot.com/and originator of Prosecute US Crimes Against Humanity Now Campaign http://prosecuteuscrimesagainsthumanitynow.blogspot.com/ featuring a country by country history of US crimes.