The following is the opinion of the writer of this piece and not necessarily of Rise News.
It happened again Wednesday. Another community was shaken to the core by violence and the ubiquitous sound of gunfire.
This time, it was San Bernardino, CA. As the full facts of the incident are still being sorted out, this will not be a rant about terrorism.
Instead, this is about the reactions. According to the Boston Globe, there have been 355 mass shootings in 2015. Note that, as of yesterday, there have been 336 days in 2015.
Here’s a pause to let that sink in.
The United States of America, the “free” country that champions “liberty” is the site of more than one mass shooting a day.
And if you think that number will taper off as the year draws to a close, you are delusional. There will be more.
But again, this isn’t about what could be done to stop this, or what should be done. This is about the people who actually have the power to make changes, and yet do nothing.
Every time a tragedy like this occurs, people jump on social media to send condolences to the victims. This ranges from Mr. and Mrs. Doe to the President.
And with many of these posts, a common phrase is typed. A phrase which has become the default for grief; “My thoughts and prayers”.
This phrase, and variations thereof, is absolutely meaningless. It is just as meaningless no matter who says it, but it is particularly nauseous to read when it is spouted by the very people who should be doing something.
Allow me to break down why it’s meaningless in a rational sense before the political discourse starts.
Thoughts do not get anything done. Words do not get anything done. Actions get things done. And until there are actions taken, nothing will change.
It is up to normal human beings to create change.
The New York Daily News hit this on the nose with cover that ran on Thursday.
An early look at tomorrow’s front page… GOD ISN’T FIXING THIS: https://t.co/eKUg5f03ec pic.twitter.com/j4gEFg9YtJ
— New York Daily News (@NYDailyNews) December 3, 2015
You will notice that all (save for House Speaker Paul Ryan) of the Twitter posts the headline highlights are from present contenders for the GOP presidential nomination. You might also notice that they are all Congressmen.
These very men, along with many others of course, have the power to enact new laws. They could put into place stricter gun regulations, or alter conceal-carry laws, or something. But they don’t. And they won’t.
The simple reason: gun violence gets them paid. We all know about the NRA, the National Rifle Association.
While not all gun-owners are registered members, the NRA makes up the largest gun lobby in Washington. As a lobby, they dole out money in the form of campaign contributions to various elected officials.
Of course, this is with the understanding that said officials will work for the benefit of the NRA by either passing or blocking certain bills in either state or national Congress.
So do you want to know how much the NRA is putting in politician’s pockets? Well the numbers are sometimes sketchy, but you can look here and here to start.
Igor Volsky the Director of Video at Think Progress sent out a series of Tweets yesterday, along with an article detailing how much money certain members of Congress received from the NRA.
The common ground between all these politicians listed? They all sent out Tweets yesterday with some version of “thoughts and prayers”.
To sum this all up, look at a Tweet posted yesterday by Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT):
Your “thoughts” should be about steps to take to stop this carnage. Your “prayers” should be for forgiveness if you do nothing – again.
— Chris Murphy (@ChrisMurphyCT) December 2, 2015
This is poignant because of where Murphy is from.
In 2012, he was the Representative for Connecticut’s Fifth District, which included Newtown, the site of the Sandy Hook massacre. He has seen his constituents killed, and he is tired of seeing the same ever-repeating platitudes said with no substance to back them up.
It is time for America and Americans to open their eyes. These are not one-off incidents of lunatics. This is terror enabled by the very people who should be doing their best to keep Americans safe.
It is time to stop gun violence. And it is time to call out those who put the almighty dollar above safety and security.
This will happen again. And when it does, there will be no time for your “thoughts and prayers.”
Cover Photo Credit: Ben Townsend/Flickr (CC 2.0)
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To Be Mandela Or Amin? New Video Game Lets You Try To Build Democracy In Africa
Democracy 3: Africa, is the latest standalone game in the indie game darling “Democracy” series, by Positech Studios.
The “Democracy” series places the player in the position of the head of government for a country, and gives the player the ability to tinker with policies, with the eventual goal of being reelected, and maybe solving a few social problems.
This is complicated by the existence of several mutually exclusive, or otherwise contradictory interest groups vying for your attention, i.e. Conservatives and Liberals, Capitalists and Socialists, etc.
“D3:A” takes several creative and technical leaps from the more “vanilla” Democracy 3.
An example of Democracy 3: Africa’s gameplay. Photo Credit: EnterElysium/ Youtube (Screengrab)
Positech Studios is in fact a one man show; the brainchild of developer Cliff Harris.
RISE NEWS contacted Harris via email to expound on some of these additions, and how they reflect the realities of policy making in the variously depicted African countries.
Central to what Harris wants players to take away, is the caveat that Africa is not homogeneous.
” Its not just how you see it portrayed in the media, especially the US media,” Harris said. “The continent faces some really tough problems that are far harder than the problems that Western Democracies face.”
Some of the problems in “D3:A” do crop up quite often, and central to that is the addition of a new game feature- Stability.
“Pretty much everything else becomes an irrelevance unless you have stable government.”
“I think the one thing that I have learned from the modeling of these countries is the importance of stability,” Harris said. “Pretty much everything else becomes an irrelevance unless you have stable government.
“Nobody invests in a country where they may lose their whole investment in a coup, or a currency devaluation. Nobody takes a holiday somewhere where there are riots or a civil uprising. It’s something that we absolutely take for granted in the West.”
Managing stability becomes more so pressing when capital deprived environments are unable to attract investors.
This led Positech to make Foreign Policy a more active component of the game.
WATCH: Trailer for Democracy 3: Africa
“We have tended to skirt around foreign policy in the original game… We felt that it would simply be impossible to do this with African states, because the impact of foreign policy, especially when it comes to foreign investment is so large,” Harris said. “There is an assumption that corruption is low, stability is good and there are no major human-rights abuses that may reflect poorly on investors, but none of those statements are true for certain African states, so it would simply have been inaccurate not to be able to reflect that in the game.”
This line of thinking lends itself to institution building, a commonly echoed theme in addressing floundering democracies in the region.
Harris illustrates an inherent contradiction in efforts to build institutions:
“Essentially, it’s easier to fix a countries problems if you are an all-powerful dictator, because things just ‘get done’ without argument, so there is a temptation to keep hold of power to make the job of government easier. Obviously the end goal is to fix a countries problems AND have a functioning Democracy, but there is tension between these two goals when your country has real problems, and I think that gives some insight into how so many dictators originally feel they are acting ‘on behalf of the people’ and then cannot let go of power.”
President of Egypt, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi (right). Photo Credit: Bundesministerium für Europa, Integration und Äußeres/Flickr (CC by 2.0)
This kind of paradox is perhaps most prevalent in the rule of el-Sisi in Egypt, who simultaneously is backed by the military, but has arguably improved the standing of women in Egypt and taken some measures to secularize education.
While “Democracy 3: Africa” is not a survey of African politics, it does offer a cursory look at the challenges that affect countries on the continent in an accessible interactive platform.
Perhaps most importantly, and optimistically, the game can be seen as a lesson for those that care about democratic institutions.
“Ultimately all political problems *can* be resolved given the will to do so,” Harris wrote in an email.
Democracy 3: Africa is available on Steam, GoG, and Positech’s own website.
RISE NEWS is a grassroots journalism news organization that is working to change the way young people become informed and engaged in public affairs. You can write for us.
Photo Credit: Harvey Barrison/Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0)
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“Peace”: You Have To Read This Powerful Poem About Police Violence
By Courtney Anderson
They take our lives every day.
Shoot us in the back.
In front of family,
friends,
and strangers.
They leave us in the streets.
And Cuff our dead bodies.
**
They lie about us.
Drag our names,
stories,
and lives
through the mud.
We deserve our deaths, they say.
We killed ourselves.
We always kill ourselves, they say.
**
Our lives are played on social media.
And so are our deaths.
**
And our killers go free.
Every.
Single.
Time.
**
And then
They ask for our
Peace.
**
Peace! Peace! Be Peaceful! Have Peace!
Be peaceful as we slaughter you!
Stand still as we shoot.
Paint our streets with your Blood.
And above all, have Peace!
**
There is no peace.
There is no peace.
There is no peace.
There will be no peace.
As long as they live,
and we die,
There will be No Peace.
RISE NEWS is a grassroots journalism news organization that is working to change the way young people become informed and engaged in public affairs. You can write for us.
Cover Photo Credit: Annette Bernhardt/ Flickr (CC By 2.0)
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16 Year Old Boy Leads Police On Multi County Chase In South Florida
Update: 1:53 PM EST
A 16 year old boy had been leading police on a wild two county chase for the past hour in South Florida.
The chase finally came to an end at around 1:50 PM EST after the suspect was arrested in Miami Gardens.
The chase began in Southern Miami-Dade County after the boy allegedly stole a Chevy Suburban.
More to come.
Video from WSVN Channel 7 in Miami.
WSVN-TV – 7NEWS Miami Ft. Lauderdale News, Weather, Deco
Cover Photo Credit: Traffic Camera/ WSVN (Screenshot)
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