What is up with the recent school shootings?

[LaurenG]

Astrological forces? I just wondered if anyone has a clue about this.

[Dora]

1. I'd put my money on cognitive dissonance.

More and more I see people behaving in ways that I can only describe as aberrant. I'm not alone. My husband sees people doing the strangest things, and a good friend of ours talked the other day about seeing people behaving in ways that range from odd to unsafe.

Personally, I think we (Americans) are experiencing a group psychosis as a result of cognitive dissonance. The facts are too difficult to comprehend in so many ways. I am embarassed to say that I find myself turning away from threads in GD and LBN because it is a struggle for me to wrap my head around the fact that our legislative bodies have legalized torture, abandoned habeus corpus, and granted wartime powers to the President at a time when we are technically not actually at war. IT HURTS ME TO THINK ABOUT THESE THINGS. I am someone who has had doubts and fears ever since the 2000 election, and I suffer emotionally and spiritually as a result of my country's condition. I wonder often about those who have not had their doubts, of those who have persisted in believing the lies. Their hearts are breaking just like mine - only they do not have the wherewithal to begin their healing. Their suffering is greater than mine.

A tangentially-related story:

I read a thread in GD a week or two back about GWB and the book, "Bush on the Couch." From there I followed a link to the anecdote in Wikipedia about his sister Robin's death, his mother's apparent indifference, and the family's failure to acknowledge Robin's illness and death in any real way. The idea of GWB as a little boy suffering grief and loss hit close to home - my brother also suffered a great loss as a young child, and his grief was denied and he was encouraged to suppress it. For a long time, I have understood how my brother's loss hurt him then and continues to hurt him today. So, as I was reading about GWB and his beloved sister, my understanding of my brother's grief suddenly began to echo and harmonize with the (new to me) idea of GWB's childhood grief. That dissonant harmony broke me open and I wept suddenly and uncontrollably for all little boys who are told their tears are unacceptable, that their heartbreak is offensive, their grief imaginary. I was self-conscious of my tears, but they continued. I hid in the bathroom so that my son would not see me weeping, and on my knees on the bathmat I wept and prayed for all boys, for my brother, and for the long-ago little boy that would someday be GWB.

How is this related? This is my congitive dissonance. Feeling compassion for those who ostensibly deserve none. I have no difficulty believing the ugly truth because I have never believed the web of lies. But I know not how to cope with my cognitive dissonance: the surprising well of compassion that wells up when thinking of those who are bent on destroying the fabric of this country.

Peace

[suziedemocrat]

2. Yes well, even the darkest souls have some light, and vice versa

don't you think. I mean Bush is still human. A very bad human, but nothing is ever totally black or white. When you see interviews with actors who play villains they always say they had to find their goodness and not think of them as a villain. The audience could see them as pure evil, but the actor had to think of the character as a feeling human being.

But I agree with you 100%. I moved back to Indiana a few years ago and back then I kept remarking how mellow the drivers were. Not anymore. Now the drivers are so aggressive it is unreal. Since most Hoosiers are Republicans who probably voted for Bush, I thought maybe they were angry at the world, because they didn't want to be angry at themselves for being so wrong. Cognitive dissonance.

And I also can't read the posts about torture. It's too terrible. Years ago I made fun of people who said they didn't watch the news because of the negativity. I used to think - that's the world we live in, you can't just put your head in the sand. But anymore, I'm worse than anyone. I'm really getting scared we're heading into a terrible place, and I'm not sure I can take it mentally. So I don't dwell on the negative and I'm thankful for MY life and I'm becoming the kind of person I used to hate.

I'm also wondering if we're entering a time when we'll be forced to face the "Truth" - and many of us really can't handle the truth.

For example, the "truth" that ministers are necessarily closer to God, and atheists are necessarily farther from God. The thing that really does not make sense to me about how most people preach Christianity is this. To me God would be the most perfect "person" ever. A perfect person is humble, among other things, has a healthy ego, and is not selfish. A perfect person does not require adoration. So, to me it would seem logical that God would not need people to "worship" him, but he would want us to help him out a little and love our fellow man. But there's the rub. In truth, most of us have an image of God that is all in our head. No matter what we say, we've never met "him." So when we save we love God, we're really saying we love what we dream God to be. Like I think I'd be perfect for George Clooney even though I've never met the guy. Loving a perfect figment of your imagination is pretty easy. Loving the neighbor who mows his lawn early Saturday morning when you want to sleep in and lets his dog poop in your yard is TOUGH. Loving your fellow man is much tougher than loving God. But - again in my mind - that is what God would want from us. He has enough love, but most every human still residing on the planet could use a lot of love. Plus, I don't think God gives a shit if we believe in him or not. Like I said, he would have a healthy ego and not need adoration. I would think it wouldn't matter to him in the least if we believe in him. But if we make life hell for his creatures, be they fellow humans or polar bears, or mother earth... well, I think that would piss him off. This is probably heresy, but it's how I believe.

Boy can I ramble!

[I Have A Dream]

3. Another one today. Again, against girls. I'm starting to feel as...

though the US is becoming like Afghanistan where it won't be safe for girls to attend school. :(