I suspect that this latest tragedy in Connecticut – and all the other mass shootings, is the unavoidably inevitable result of a system that will steadfastly not guarantee all it’s citizens a good free education, birth to death healthcare, and fails to maintain and build on its once great manufacturing base thereby losing work for its citizens, but instead continues to squander it’s abundant riches on waging wars, building a larger and larger military – with all it’s ancillary trappings, in order to assert its hegemony – all the while creating an ever widening have and have-not society which breeds anger, ignorance, desperation, and the ultimate resulting violence – and the need to loudly proclaim “I exist, I am, look what a fearful thing I can do.”
The Statue of Liberty front shot, on Liberty Island. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
I am afraid that unless capitalism rights itself (when hell freezes over) this condition will only worsen – and lead to bigger and greater tragedies. If this sounds a bit like a wish for benign socialism then i am all for it. Of course, what we have now is socialism for the wealthy (see bank bailouts, allowance of corporate tax avoidance etc) – and bugger all for the peasants (the 98%) who gaze up at the palace walls with the deluded and discredited “American dream” that they too will one day be let inside.
And the ones driven to the extremes of sickness by all the systemic forces arrayed against them – who have given up the “dream” and who know they have no chance – will content themselves with making the kind of news that assures them of starring roles on television.
Having said that I do want to wish all of us a healthy, relatively happy and prosperous 2013. i send you all my love and affection.
© tony powers and Barking in the Dark, 2012.Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to tony powers and Barking in the Dark with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
Barking In The Dark 
The world can be many things, which includes the reprehensible. Let’s hope this year is better for us all.
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Posted by ArticlesofAbsurdity | January 12, 2013, 4:58 pmhello, barking in the dark… i like the part of your analysis where it says that the US government people are still focused on maintaining its hegemony… happy yuletide season. i hope December and winter will be kind… warm regards. 🙂 ~San
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Posted by 35andupcynicismonhold | December 28, 2012, 1:34 amthanks 35, i hope your winter will be warm too. continue…
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Posted by barkinginthedark | December 28, 2012, 8:58 amahaha, we’ve no winter around here. just the Siberian wind and occasional rain. many thanks for the thoughts, sir Tony. keep warm and well… 🙂
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Posted by 35andupcynicismonhold | December 28, 2012, 8:57 pmSO good to see you post again! I think about you often and wonder what you’re up to. I hope you are doing well, and miss you tons.
Now, in reference to your post….. I don’t have much to say except that the word/term “capitalism” is now a bad thing. Shouldn’t be. Didn’t used to be. But it is now. Puts it right up their with communism… just on the other side of the spectrum. Although true communism in it’s purest form is a very good way of life. But humans are incapable to living like that. I am serious, though. I’m no longer proud of our country. In fact, rather disgusted.
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Posted by Michelle | December 18, 2012, 5:07 pmhi Michelle, trust ur well and doing. thanks for the sweet thoughts. yeah capitalism has turned somewhat ugly…always suspected that for it to survive as a system it would need to merge with socialism (for all)…as for writing – after 9 mos of writing 4 scripts incl a stage musical version am written out and giving my brain a rest while waiting for my muse to show herself again. we’re now shopping the project. thinking about this last tragedy, and hearing all the punditry missing the point pulled this post outta me. be well and continue…
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Posted by tonypowers22 | December 19, 2012, 11:52 amThis has been horrible. And now there are some politicians who think the solution is for teachers to pack guns now. They just don’t get it.
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Posted by Michelle | December 19, 2012, 5:25 pmbut why stop at guns – we should all carry bombs too…and rocket launchers. then we’ll all be really safe. continue…
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Posted by barkinginthedark | December 20, 2012, 11:05 amThermo nuclear bombs should do the trick…
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Posted by Don in Massachusetts | December 20, 2012, 12:37 pmYa got a point there
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Posted by Michelle | December 20, 2012, 4:23 pmHave missed your specificity. I am afraid you are dead on in your analysis and it brings me to my knees in fury and fear for our children and their future. That being said, I can only hope for all of us next year sees us come to our senses.
I hope your holiday season is peaceful, restful and the coming year prosperous.
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Posted by Valentine Logar | December 18, 2012, 3:50 amthanks Val, wish it never had to be written, hope we do come to our senses – fear we will not. see https://barkinginthedark.wordpress.com/2011/10/17/are-we-a-virus-a-speculation-on-the-condition-of-being-human/ i don’t hold out much hope for us as a species. trust ur welland doing…and, like Michelle, making a fuss about our situation. continue…
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Posted by tonypowers22 | December 19, 2012, 12:03 pmWe shake our heads in horror and wonder at such incidents. That’s wonder-why not wonder-awe. How bad does it get for someone to want to do that…… and then we gawp at how easy it seems to just go out and buy a gun or several. If everybody is going to have a gun you’ve got to have a health society, and if you have a healthy society what do you want to shoot anyway. I agree with Tincup, we have to work on the young somehow. If you can change a young mind for the cause of goodness you’ve made a contribution. Change more and you’re rolling – but it’s got to come from the leaders setting examples. Beats me why putting down guns is so difficult.
Have a relaxing holiday season and come back firing in 2013. Firing with ideas, that is. My very best wishes to you.
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Posted by Single Malt Monkey | December 17, 2012, 10:58 pmyup Al, sad ain’t it. thanks for the comment…lucid as usual. trust ur well and doing. happy ho ho ho and 2013. continue…
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Posted by tonypowers22 | December 19, 2012, 12:12 pmKnowing what is wrong and understanding what is wrong seems to be two different perspectives for finding some hopeful solution.
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Posted by An Embarrassment of Freedom | December 17, 2012, 10:00 pmvery true Liz, hope ur well and writing. happy holidays. continue…
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Posted by tonypowers22 | December 19, 2012, 12:15 pmAs always, precise, focused, and perfectly put.
And hoping 2013 is a little less stressful for all of us.
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Posted by El Guapo | December 17, 2012, 7:46 pmthanks EG, trust all is well. happy ho ho ho. continue…
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Posted by tonypowers22 | December 19, 2012, 12:16 pmI think you’re referring to the horrific events in Connecticut, rather than New Jersey. Although God knows, maybe I haven’t heard the latest news. At any rate, I wish you, too, a happy, peaceful and prosperous New Year–and maybe we’ll at last get some sensible reforms in mental health care, gun control and glorification of extreme violence in the media. That’s my new year wish for us all.
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Posted by Anonymous | December 17, 2012, 5:18 pmI’m sending love and affection to you, too, Tony. May the new year bring us all peace.
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Posted by Sparks In Shadow | December 17, 2012, 4:56 pmthanks Re. peace,
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Posted by tonypowers22 | December 17, 2012, 5:24 pmReblogged this on Contemplating The Human Direction and commented:
I found this to be an interesting perspective…the author searches for a more complex explanation as to the increase in mass shootings. I too have socialistic impulses…a model like Denmark (blend of socialism and capitalism)…but…I fear it just won’t work in our country…the momentum is too great…the cycles of have most and have little has created an intellectual vacuum…you can’t change the tires while in motion…ironically…the only place to start anew…is with the young…a break from what is…and here we are…murdering them…with guns…or bankruptcy…
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Posted by Tincup | December 17, 2012, 3:59 pmfear you are right tincup. thanks, and continue…
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Posted by barkinginthedark | December 20, 2012, 8:09 pmI want to be wrong
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Posted by Tincup | December 20, 2012, 8:50 pmwell…fortunately, we can’t all be wrong 🙂 continue…
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Posted by barkinginthedark | December 21, 2012, 11:58 amI don’t know how to continue…I can write and rant…but what will change the course? Words only go so far…and given that…what does one do? Even those that are being exploited…like you and I…continue…for how else are we to obtain shelter and eat…and you and I are probably of the more conscious…what of those that don’t even think? Does it…in fact…come down to a different version of what this madman did…where those that can think and understand what is going on…to consider spilling blood to change the course…or are we simply to sit by and watch it all collapse…the few escaping with all…the many dying in poverty…at what point to the enlightened exploited stand their ground…willing to sacrifice their magical gift for those that can’t think for themselves? This is a very disturbing question to ponder.
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Posted by Tincup | December 21, 2012, 12:38 pmAnd I could go on…I could describe the targets…who they are…but I know I couldn’t go that route…for we know…that revolutions often result in nothing but blood…and a return…to what was…and thus…we must think…does it all come down to individual pursuits…that if an individual doesn’t fit in with the momentum…and doesn’t believe in spilling blood…that one must simply find…carve…his or her own niche…through art…or some individual passion…that goes astray from that disgusting and empty momentum…this is against my grain…for I believe in the power of the many working toward meaningful goals…but as I age…and observe…I lose hope…and thus…am starting to lean toward carving my own way…alone…like the lone wolf…or the rogue Orca.
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Posted by Tincup | December 21, 2012, 1:50 pmtincup, i don’t really ponder, propose, or disavow, armed resurrection/revolution…the thing is; i am simply observing our decline and positing some root causes which probably will never be dealt with…i truly do not believe there is any hope for the human race in general and that we are, in fact, the “missing link” that science has been searching for but cannot see the forest for the trees. to me we are a destructive, parasitic, life form. for my take on “la condition humaine” see: https://barkinginthedark.wordpress.com/2011/10/17/are-we-a-virus-a-speculation-on-the-condition-of-being-human/
anyway, thanks for the thoughtful dialogue. merry “christ”mas – surely a joke eh? continue…
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Posted by barkinginthedark | December 21, 2012, 2:21 pmLMAO…thanks for my first belly laugh for the day…I will read you post…and I suspect…I will probably reblog it…as a transition to a post that is brewing…you know what is truly funny…is that your political views are the polar opposite of how I was raised…you are a threat to my childhood psyche…but in a strange round about way…on the biggest philosophical question of all…we agree…this link that you just posted for me to read. Instead of merry “christ”mas…I say to you…Salubrious Solstice…brother.
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Posted by Tincup | December 21, 2012, 2:36 pmYou have been in my thoughts. True story.
Your words are, as always, succinct and…important.
We can do better than this.
We must do better than this.
“Tis the season to wish you, loved family and friends…brilliance of spirit and generosity…this day and everyday.
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Posted by jotsfromasmallapt | December 17, 2012, 3:47 pmthanks jots…my wish is the same. peace, t.
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Posted by tonypowers22 | December 17, 2012, 3:57 pmWish you were wrong. Afraid you’re right. Nevertheless, best wishes for the remainder of the year and the year to come.
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Posted by PiedType | December 17, 2012, 3:42 pmsorry that we’ve come to this. peace
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Posted by tonypowers22 | December 17, 2012, 3:45 pmGood to see you back Tony. There’s nothing I could possibly add to your succinct description capping off 2012.
Your thought provoking and valid points, which have been bumbling about in my head the past week, have been simplified. L list to start with perhaps?
Due again to your linear thought process and excellent ability in writing the clean line.
Hopefully your dialogue will at least get more and more people to begin realizing what part that they> can play.
I’m just another American tired and gut sick at the way we’ve become as a country; government, media, cult of personality, ineptitude on all levels, and the fear of ‘socialism’ taking over our ever decreasing quality of life.
My friend, may you have a prosperous, healthy holiday and New Year as well. With hope, and a bit of work -even volunteering in our own communities and writing down our thoughts and challenges- the 2013 recap will not be as grim.
You know I’m not a sunshine and puppies kinda gal but thinking and attempting to come up with solutions is not something to back away from. You never have, and are an inspiration.
I don’t see your post as an indictment, but call to the senses.
Take Care of yourself….. and Happy Fucking Holidays!
xo
~R
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Posted by Rachael Black | December 17, 2012, 3:28 pmthanks sweetheart. i hope the coming year is good to you. peace, t.
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Posted by tonypowers22 | December 17, 2012, 3:31 pmMay next year be a better year for you, and everyone of your followers…
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Posted by Don in Massachusetts | December 17, 2012, 3:18 pmDon, ya think they’ll be enuf? continue…
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Posted by barkinginthedark | December 20, 2012, 8:10 pmHello Tony, I think you meant Connecticut, not New Jersey. Anyway, it is truly sad that there so much of this mass murdering going on in this country, far less than the UK, Canada and other civilized countries. Its time the politicians got their collective heads out of their asses, and do something the gun problem, and tell the NRA to fuck off.
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Posted by Don in Massachusetts | December 17, 2012, 3:17 pmthanks Don…a bit distracted. happy noo yeer. peace
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Posted by tonypowers22 | December 17, 2012, 3:27 pmI hope the rest of your year is peaceful as a precursor to a full year of calm and prosperous.
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Posted by Red | December 17, 2012, 3:13 pm