Kent State Redux

This reminds me of the massacre at Kent State in 1970...



The above is the army shooting unarmed demonstrators in Bahrain. The Ohio National Guard did the same in Kent State at the height of the fury over Nixon's treacherous enlargement of the Vietnam War into Cambodia... which of course had to have been all part of Nixon's "secret plan" to end the war in Vietnam that he ran his election on in 1968... just like the vicious dictators in the Middle East are bringing love through bullets to their people to show how magnanimous they are as leaders.



There is something about rising to be a "leader" that corrupts the soul. Obama ran for presidency in 2008 promising many things like the closing of Guantanamo and the unwinding of US's wars in the Middle East. But once in power, "leaders" undergo a strange transformation that hardens their hearts to the needs of the people while turning them sympathetic to the demands of billionaire Wall Street bankers and the military-industrial complex. Strange.

History is filled with those on top using extreme violence to keep their cozy world. They are judged harshly by history, but within the confines of their cozy history the live out their days in leisure and wealth and leave the social catastrophe to the next generation to deal with. I think of previous demonstrations with violent ends: the Ludlow Massacre, the Memorial Day massacre, the Columbine Mine Massacre, the Ford Hunger March, the Bisbee Deportations, etc. History is replete with those who "rule" disciplining those who are "ruled".

I'm an optimist. I do believe that the world is becoming a better place for everyone. Science shows that more primitive societies were much more violent than those of today. There is less starvation and abject poverty in today's world. Those are the blessings of education, science, and technology. I would argue that social organization has improved over time, that democracy is a real step forward despite its warts.