In this sixth episode of Uprising Uncut, Sonali APOLOGIZES for skipping last week’s podcast, goes off on a crazy-sounding rant about why homework and testing are the devil’s work, and then moves on to the grim anniversary of US war in Afghanistan. Plus, the crazy complicated carnage of Syria and how one Syrian poet is drawing attention to it. Finally, the fanaticism of American gun nuts and how mass shooters incite irrational fear in our barbaric world. (Warning: Profanity. Not for radio broadcast.)
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I’ve been referring to gun rights people as “gun proliferation advocates” for the last several years, also. Nice to see someone else using the term. Lately, however, I’ve been taking an extreme position to counter all of the defenses of guns and sophmoric claims their advocates make. Statistically, several things are true of the “mass shooters” ; 1) they are nearly all males, 2) they are nearly all white, 3) they are nearly all obsessed with guns, 4) many of them show affinity with white supremacist, anti-government philosophies, 5) many of them are sexually frustrated and socially outcast 6) many of them have been diagnosed with some form of depression, for which psych meds have been prescribed. In short, these are medicated, sexually frustrated, gun-obsessed white supremacist males. Wouldn’t it stand to reason that if we were to try to screen out the demographic most “at risk” that we would want to look at each of those factors and identify them as “risks”? Of course that would disqualify virtually every member of the NRA. But here’s another, more general, and patently undeniable statistic, which is that the vast majority of gun crimes are committed by GUN OWNERS. Therefore, statistically speaking, gun OWNERS are a higher risk demographic than the rest of us when it comes to the likelihood that they may commit a gun crime. And, if a gun imparts lethal capacity to its owner, then desiring or seeking or owning a gun suggests that the individual in question wants to have that capacity, not only to kill, but to kill efficiently from a distance. Why do we not see this as an indicator of mental illness? In my view gun owners are precisely the least qualified people to own guns.
Hi Sonali,
So good to listen to you – we have felt starved with your absence. The “volunteers” are quite awkward and their ability to interview interesting people about interesting topics is very limited so I have stopped listening at 8am. I do not have a “smart” phone so can’t listen to you as I garden or houseclean but now that I know you are doing this weekly program, I will look forward to setting aside time to listen to your intelligent and beautiful voice.
The Afghanistan situation hurts deeply – you were kind enough to speak for one of our Global Exchange programs in Ventura County several years ago which was very much appreciated.. We are also part of a group that is supporting two Quaker schools in Peshawar for Afghan girls. There are now 600 girls who are learning literacy and sewing – they give us hope for the future.
I am very frustrated about what’s going on at KPFK and have had two unsatisfactory runins with Leslie Radford. There are no scheduled Community Advisory Board meetings but there is a LSB scheduled for 10/20/15 in Culver City. I have been to three of those meetings in the past 18 months or so but only two of them met quorum. I felt like Alice in Wonderland……confused about what was going on and helpless to figure it out. I am considering going to the LSB meeting on the 20th, just to show that people are freaked about what’s going on. The elections for LSB seem remote and meaningless.
Do you know how I can learn about Radford’s salary? With KPFK journalists salaries being halved, is she also experiencing the austerity she’s dishing out? I wrote a letter to the Pacifica National Board complaining about the incompetent people now using your program title, requested a reply but received none.
I really want to help but don’t know how –
Sincerely,
Sheila Suarez