79 Comments

You're not an "educator who denounces the threats to our freedoms" YOU ARE a threat to our freedoms. The right to bear arms and self defense is a basic right enshrined by the BOR to protect ourselves from tyranny. If you were truly an intellectual or historian you would know that, professor.

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we need a list of how much each senator and how much each party recieves from the NRA

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State sanctioned violence in its many forms also primes a population to be war-ready, which is another tactic of authoritarians. At some point, in order to maintain power, a strongman must mobilize his nation to fight the threat that he claims has been victimizing him, his people, and his nation. That further justifies his tearing down of checks and balances upon his power, all in the name of protecting his people.

Here in the U.S., the 2nd amendment is being used as our "state sanctioned violence," by making everyone a potential threat, further isolating households from each other, and then feeding the propaganda machine to blame "them" - in our case, radical left leaning "socialists" (who really do not exist).

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true

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If true, this is very troubling. What concerns me is the possibility this idea is another conspiracy theory: that Republican awareness and intentionality in fostering gun violence to destabilize democracy and therefore allowing the sacrifice of children and others is a conscious and coordinated strategy. Although the pattern of behavior of the GOP suggests this type of thinking, that behavior does not always imply coordinated or conscious intent. So I would like to understand this: where is the evidence that they are meeting behind closed doors to strategize this demise of democracy? Do we give them too much credit or confer upon them more power than they have and thereby play into their political power plays?

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Brilliant. The psychological model, my favorite, doesn’t have this one covered. From a medical paradigm check out Frontotemporal Lobar Dementia (FTLD) a non-amnesiac behavior devolution disease happening in ppl as young as 25 - 30. Aggression, acting out, lack of empathy, etc. Largely underdiagnosed since researchers realized they were wrong about Alzheimers pathophysiology the past two decades. Imo this is the best explanation why half the population seems to be devolving and the other half evolving. It explains a lot. Then layer the psychological model of authoritarianism over it which would be the natural choice for the hoarde with this illness. If Ruth Ben-Ghiat worked with a medical researcher we could solve a lot of things.

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founding

I hugely appreciate all these thoughtful comments. You all buoy my spirt. These add up to a publication of hope regardless how deeply sad our society has become. Allow me to add another touch of insight via yesterrday's Lincoln Project "We're Speaking" with Lisa Senecal & Maya May who interview Bandy X. Lee. My bias' is obvious. Still, April's TEDx MidAlantic "The Psychology of Dictatorship", any and all places that a mind might be opened is worth the try.

For Jane Hall: in your studies have you found there is a healing plasticity with the amygdala?

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What you say rings true yet I am heartsick, for you are talking about premeditated murder. This means that republicans are psychopaths. As an analyst it is hard to believe. But perhaps it is my denial. What you are saying means that half the population are murderers. We must find out where their rage originates. My answer is very early childhood. Using epigenetic theory I think trauma is passed on between generations. I see this in my work and it explains why there has always been war. The traumatized need to cling to their traumatizer. The only hope I see is the plasticity of the brain. If a long term experience that competes with the trauma can be internalized, if it can lay new neural networks in the brain, there is a chance for a person to change. This was illustrated in chapter one or The Brain that Changes Itself by Norman Doidge where a stroke victim gained back all functioning after very hard work. An autopsy showed that indeed the damage was clear and that new neural pathways were created. But truthfully, although I do believe change is possible, I fear the worst and that our society will give up on the great experiment of democracy. I am pleased to be nearing the end of my life but so sorry for our children. "Attachment to abuse" is a chapter in one of my books.

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Thank you connecting the dots for me between gun violence and authoritarianism.

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I agree implicitly with the thinking of Ruth Ben-Ghiat. Not for one moment can Republicans ever call themselves 'Loyal Americans". The calculated duplicity of Republican thinking is the best example I know which entirely contradicts ever 'Making America Great Again'. Such an objective will always fail for just as long as the wrong sort of Republican continues to corrupt the concept of ethical Government, by utter self interest and greed without any decent scruples whatsoever.

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The Prime Minister of New Zealand was on Colbert last night and described their banning of assault weapons within two weeks of the mosque massacres in Christchurch in 2019.,and

understanding that their citizens had legally purchased many of these weapons under prior law, instituted a buy back program and melted them down. “We knew it was the right thing to do,

the responsible thing to do to protect our citizens”.

“It is our obligation as Leaders to make important, impactful decisions as representatives of our people, just as we made the extremely difficult decision to close our borders for over two years for Covid once we knew how quickly it was ravaging our region of the world.” Colbert pointed out that now, as New Zealand is reopening to travelers that a total of 1,000 New Zealanders have died from COVID, in a population of 5 million. That would be 65,000 in the United States vs. The 1,000,000+ we have today. In New Zealand now 95% of the nation is fully vaccinated. It is possible in this world to fashion a functional government when responsible, honorable, and informed people are serving the public.

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I appreciate the update.

Fred Lauck

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We can't stop crazy people but we can mitigate the damage they can do. So we can do background checks and use other ways to limit this.

Responsible gun owners should not be made to worry. Nor hunters.

Handguns and machine guns were never covered by the 2nd. There was never the intent for open or concealed carry. Twisting history is again propaganda. Nobody was walking around in Boston, Philadelphia or New York carrying a gun everywhere before or after the Revolution.

Also let's make more mental health resources available.

Lastly our media is to blame. In Canada they will arrest those responsible and that is all that is ever heard. No names. No giving the killers what they want. Noteriety.

It's why these things happen in bunches. We make celebrities out of people that have mental issues.

An effort of some sort. If Sandy Hook didn't change a thing it says a lot about many in our society. That they won't be slightly inconvenienced to protect the lives of others in our communities.

It is always out of site and out of mind. 330 million in the US.

Statistically schools are safe. The fear these events cause makes all of us fear everyday life.

Going to school. Going to the movies. Going to a mall. Going to church.

All are statistically safe but it becomes hard to watch this stuff on TV and not think it could have happened to you.

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founding

" Tyrants of countries are like tyrants of households: every fiber of your being has to serve their purposes, not yours. That is why tyrannies cannot tolerate any rights." Bandy X. Lee ,MD, MDiv.

Seen again & again over 20 years of providing psychotherapy. Psychopaths cast a disproportionate wide net. Thus their actions are disproportionly impactful.

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founding

Just yesterday I wrote about hopefulness and youth. Hopeflness is too late for 19 Texas children. Now the republican babble for putting more guns in schools. Next? Arm 2and, 3rd, 4th graders.?? You go Ted Cruz. To Cancun that is. Yesterday's hopefulness has a dark cloud. Today I'll breath deeply a few more times. AND keep myself hyper-aware psychopaths and their adoring sociopath fans. I'll go back to focusing on the republican iron curtain. Please accept apologies for feeling this sick.

I'm fortunate to have this forum for sad, sad feelings. Thank you.

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You know, I have to say one more thing. I was a counselor for School Based Health Center's (central NY) for a number of years (K-12). Texas, Florida and other states while laser focused and obsessed with the 2nd Amendment are simultaneously burning and banning books, taking away important early educational tools to discuss our history with Indian country (i.e. colonization, Wounded Knee, ICWA), slavery, families that are not same sex, body autonomy, women's and girls health and they are shaming and banning trans kids from participation in activities. Schools can't talk about Black Lives Matter and the targeting of unarmed black men in police shootings. The right wing is overtly suppressing learning and conversation about anything that triggers 'sadness' or 'anger'. This is insane. I just listened to Abbott and Paxton (a criminal himself) talk about the need for prayer, and fortifying schools, oh and we need to focus on MENTAL HEALTH...the RNC's talking point for all Republicans today. MENTAL HEALTH? "Hypocrisy" is a strategy that Republican's have added to their toolkit.) Everyday, people like Ted Cruz blame shift to Democrats exactly what he is signaling Republicans are doing.) That aside. As a counselor what kids have questions about and need to talk about are racism, homophobia, unintended pregnancies, safe sex, gender and sexual identity, bad thoughts and so on. So hypocrisy as a strategy is to also say they care about mental health while restricting the conversations about the things young people need to learn and talk about. Some states want Christian religion to be centered in schools (not other religions or atheism). The Party of Autocracy and Kleptocracy has intertwined all of these issues and as I said earlier is running out the clock until November. Please forgive me if this seems like rambling.

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