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Reader's Responses Dec. 19, 2011 * Reply to submission by Michael Dover * Re Zirin's Column: Violence in Sports (Bill Shortell) * Re: Mayors Decry Rise in Poverty, Homelessness (Tina Braxton) * Re: The Making of the American 99%, the Collapse of the Middle Class, and the Fall of the "Liberal Elite" (Laurel MacDowell) * Be Filled With the Spirit, Storefront Churches - new DVD now available - photographed by noted social documentary photographer, Milton Rogovin * Re: The Origins of Bullying (Jamillah Richards, Wayne Nealis) ========== *Reply to submission by Michael Dover Date: Mon, 19 Dec 2011 From: James A. Lucas I would like to offer a perspective which may differ with some of the points made by Michael Dover regarding wars. The U.S. is an imperialist power which serves the same economic interests as those which the Occupy Wall Street movement refers to as the 1%. From the end of World War II until the demise of the Soviet Union the American public was indoctrinated with a fear of the mostly illusory ogre of communism which helped the U.S. build up its immense military establishment, thereby deflecting much our nation’s financial wealth from needed social programs for our people so that wars of aggression could be waged against Panama, Grenada, Iraq, Yugoslavia, North Korea, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Libya, Pakistan and Somalia. Being a retired social worker, I recall how social programs here in the U.S. were cut during that era to help finance those attacks and invasions. In the course of those years we also tried to overthrow over 50 foreign governments and today we have about 1,000 military bases in over 100 nations. These events which caused millions of deaths (of which about 2 million were in Iraq during two wars and 3 million in Vietnam) plus the U.S. siding with the State of Israel in its oppression of the Palestinians has caused much anger in the world toward us, however the American public is in mass denial of the fact that this history is the main reason for terrorism directed toward the U.S., the world’s leading disseminator of terrorism. Today the fear of terrorism has replaced the fear of communism. === * Response to Zirin's Column: Violence in Sports David Zirin, to my knowledge, the master of race and class analysis of sports, opened a philosophical box in his column on the Cincinnati basketball brawl: Do organized sports, especially the contact variety, hockey, American football, and basketball, in descending violent order, channel the millions-of-years'-old male tendency to war and private violence into a regularized, officiated form, which allows these tendencies to be slowly diffused? Or, conversely, are these sports a celebration of brutality, which perpetuates a propensity that has outlived its socio- economic usefulness? I leave out of the discussion violent professional driving, which is fueled by blood lust, and boxing, whose slow disappearance seems to be a sign of the growth of civilization. Human economy and national conflict used to require numbers of big, strong boys who hoisted loads in times of peace, and alternately defended their countries or attacked others in hand-to-hand combat. They also beat their wives and battered their brothers as their testosterone overflowed at inappropriate moments. This last form of brutality is still widespread. But now, wars are fought increasingly by remotely guided drones and missiles. Automation, mechanization, computerization has taken most of the muscle out of work. Yet our gene pool keeps turning out the brawny boys. A lot of them find their way into organized sports where their economically and militarily obsolete bodies still serve a purpose...to entertain fans, mostly men, who unconsciously mourn the disappearance of the male world, and attempt to reproduce it in allegorical arenas suffused with mass hysteria, fogged and stimulated with alcohol. My fear is that the former diffusing character of sports is being gradually replaced by the encouragement of violence. This is because, I believe, the male manual labor jobs, manufacturing and construction, are disappearing from this country. We have also deep racial frustrations of peoples who are kept from other modes of employment and penned in poverty. Add to this gory recipe the massive ego of coaches and the economic motivations of university administrators, and advertising executives. The sorrowful spectacle in Cincinnati will probably multiply until we consciously take in hand the repressed problems of the sports world. Bill Shortell ========== * Re: Mayors Decry Rise in Poverty, Homelessness The mayors need to quit whining about homelessness and look at their own phony solutions. Most housing programs discriminate against the homeless in favor of people already housed. In fact, people with incomes far above the poverty level are most likely to "qualify" for publicly funded housing. Far too much of the money that is supposed to go for housing is wasted on so- called counseling, which consists of handing out contact info for agencies that, if they exist at all, frequently do not offer the services that are needed or do not provide any services to the populations that receive the referrals. Most of the homeless people I've met see these "services" as a scam, designed to make money for profiteers, at the expense of donors, taxpayers, and the needy. We call it the "homeless industrial complex." A study by Denver's Road Home found that the three leading causes of homelessness are job loss, the high cost of housing, and family break-up. Each of these three reasons, individually, was shown to be more prevalent as a cause of homelessness than all other factors, combined. Most homeless are not mentally ill or substance abusers. The fastest growing demographic group among the homeless is now mothers with children. Homeless people need housing, not shelters or intrusive supervision. Anybody who can't figure that out is not qualified to make decisions that affect other people's lives. Tina Braxton (homeless 2004-2010) Denver, Colorado ========== * Re: The Making of the American 99%, the Collapse of the Middle Class, and the Fall of the "Liberal Elite" These are very interesting if depressing articles. The question is how to push back the conservative right, which has been responsible for retrogressive policies for years? I took the point on one level that people in the streets can inhibit the right wing agenda. But I still return to another idea, particularly in an election year, and that is that you need new elected people who represent the 99%. So the Occupy movement needs to move in from the parks and working with trade unionists needs to push the political agenda and get new people in. When is the last time you heard a politician use the language of service, the public interest, of accountability and democracy? A long time ago I bet, because most politicians today are out for themselves and either believe what the lobbyists tell them or are paid lackeys. So that situation has to change. You have to re-invent genuine representative government 'of the people, by the people and for the people.' I think it is time and that people will respond. More importantly it should work against a Republican presidential candidate, and it should give President Obama more backbone. At the moment he is under constant pressure - look at the Keystone pipeline situation. So a social movement is great but associated political action is essential to change the direction of the country, which is sorely needed not only to boost the economy but for social and democratic reasons. Laurel MacDowell Toronto ========== * Be Filled With the Spirit, Storefront Churches - new DVD now available www.miltonrogovin.com/be-filled-with-spirit> is a new DVD--a dynamic look into the traditions of the storefront churches as photographed by noted social documentary photographer, Milton Rogovin. Encouraged by sociologist Dr. W.E.B. Du Bois, Milton Rogovin photographed the storefront churches of Buffalo, New York for three years. The images are filled with the movement and expression of worship. With music and preaching recorded at the services, the energy of Rogovin's photographs come to life. The words in the film by Du Bois are taken from the introduction that he wrote for Rogovin for the magazine Aperture (1962). Featured are interviews with Milton Rogovin and Alton B. Pollard III, Dean of Howard University School of Divinity. Be Filled With the Spirit will draw you into the storefront churches and leave you wanting more. Milton Rogovin is a world renown photographer who focused his lens on the poor and working people in ten nations. Rogovin is best known for his dignified images of everyday people at work and at home, and families he revisited over 30 years. This DVD is available for $15. on the Rogovin website. For more information on the photography of Milton Rogovin, please visit his website at: www.miltonrogovin.com ========== * Re: The Origins of Bullying I don't know the stats on suicide induced by bullying, say 10 or 20 years ago, but I am certain that it is cultural. I think that culture determines the varying degrees of bullying as it strongly influences a person's dominate personality trait. I am not negating the role evolution plays but this article diminishes the influence of human exposure to environmental violence. Jamillah Richards === This article is mostly pseudo science that serves the interests of the biological determinists and conservative social/govt policies. I assume this is NOT the viewpoint of portside editors. The logical and evolutionary arguments Sherrow employs has been debunked by S. J. Gould, Kamin, Rosen, at al. Bullying is a social, not a genetic problem. Same applies to say male supremacy or racism. If we were to follow Sherrow's argument however, male supremacy, like bullying is inherited from our ancestors. We know this not true. thanks for your work, Wayne Nealis ========== ___________________________________________ Portside aims to provide material of interest to people on the left that will help them to interpret the world and to change it. Submit via email: [log in to unmask] Submit via the Web: http://portside.org/submittous3 Frequently asked questions: http://portside.org/faq Sub/Unsub: http://portside.org/subscribe-and-unsubscribe Search Portside archives: http://portside.org/archive Contribute to Portside: https://portside.org/donate