By now, the whole world knows you shot Gabby Giffords, a Congresswoman from Arizona
And nobody knows why, (probably) least of all…you.
I read your postings on YouTube and noticed you had:
· over 2 million hits for “Hello”
· over 1.4 million hits for “Introduction: Jared Loughner”
· over half a million for “How To: Mind Controller”
I must confess I’m a bit envious, but mostly I’m confused. You managed to score about 4 million hits on “videos” that contained scarcely a dozen sentences all together. And only one of those had anything other than a black background. On the other hand, I’ve posted here on blogspot eighty times (since September, 2010). That is, 80 separate political essays totaling thousands of sentences. And, if I may be so bold, I like to think my stuff was at least comprehensible – though not necessarily agreeable to all.
And for all my efforts, I managed to rack up 730 hits. That’s right, 730 total, spread out over 80 blogs.
Of course, you might say, “Well, Steve, if you want people to read your shit, you’ve got to kill somebody important.”
To that, I have three responses:
· If I have to win that way, then I’d rather lose.
· I’m not really going for big numbers of hits. In fact, if only one person out there reads my stuff and it makes him think, that’s good enough for me.
· As much as I write for the sake of others, I also write for my own sake. What I’ve learned in the process of writing my blogs is worth its weight in gold, even if no one else on the entire planet cares.
I wonder how you pronounce your last name. Do you say, “loner?” If so, that would be accurate from what I’ve heard about you. I know what it’s like to be on the outside. But there are several ways of looking at that. I can think of two:
· It’s lonely at the top, but the top is sure a good place to be (so, go for it).
· There’s a world of difference between being lonely and being alone. For the record, I’m mostly alone (but never lonely) but I’m okay with that. Not only “okay,” I feel I’ve led (and am leading) a very satisfying and fulfilling life.
A friend of mine looked at your most recent photo – showing you bald with penetrating eyes and a pudgy face. She took one look and said, “That person was under mind control when he opened fire.” I don’t know if that’s true, though I must add: My friend never met a conspiracy theory she didn’t like. If it is true, then of course you’re not responsible for your actions. She added, however, that part of your programming was to kill yourself. I guess those intervening bystanders, who stopped you from reloading, “overrode” that program in a manner of speaking.
If your “handlers” really want you dead, though, you can take this to the bank: You don’t have long to live. A lot of vengeful/hateful types out there would be okay with your early demise. I would not, since I don’t believe in murder or the death penalty under any circumstances.
There are others out there who feverishly post stuff like this: “This dude should be locked up for life in a cell with a portrait of that 9-year-old girl he killed plastered on his ceiling, well beyond his reach, starting down at him.” I would strike that too, because that’s a form of torture, and I don’t believe in torture.
What do I believe in? I’m a Buddhist who cherishes this, among the Buddha’s many other teachings:
“Try to acquire a heart of equanimity that does not love or hate anything. Develop a heart of great compassion to lead others to enlightenment.”
The Buddha also urged his followers to use skillful means to teach, taking care not to write off the incorrigible. I don’t know how I would even begin to teach you, but I do know this: The potential for enlightenment exists within all living beings (and even within the non-living, but that’s a bit too complex for me to rap on now). If you are even a bit remorseful, you might be thinking, “I’m beyond saving – there’s no hope.”
Ah, that’s where I’m pleased to contradict you. Back in the days of the Buddha’s lifetime, there was a mass murderer known as Angulimala who killed 999 people, hacking off a finger to keep an accurate count of his carnage. These he laced together in a necklace, hence the meaning of his name: finger necklace. The Buddha accepted Angulimala among his followers, becoming a monk like thousands of others. So if a guy like that can be thought capable of attaining Enlightenment, so might you, Jared.
I want to close with a piece I tried to post on Yahoo, which was blocked. Sometimes Yahoo! posts my comments, sometimes they don’t. I don’t care about the rejection, though I will say I’m grateful for those that Yahoo! deems to post. As for Yahoo’s attitude: I disagree with censorship but they have every right to do so, since they own that piece of the internet.
QUOTE [from my attempted Yahoo! Posting]:
TO: Jared (and anyone else thinking of following his example)
A lot of us know what political frustration feels like. But assassination is not the answer. You’ll only succeed in forcing draconian measures and worst of all (from your perspective), you won’t accomplish your goals. It’s time for us to do the deep think about non-violent opposition. Gandhi managed to free India Man.
Steven Searle for U.S. President in 2012
“The beauty of non-violent resistance is, we won’t be killing anybody. However, I hasten to add: If this boycott takes shape, the Man will kill – he’ll lash out blindly in every conceivable direction
:UNQUOTE.
And in the name of balance, I offer one of my comments that Yahoo! did post:
QUOTE [posted on Yahoo! in response to a comment from Dogs]:
@Dogs
“The suspect is a registered Democrat. Eat that, you [sic] bleading heart, low life liberals.”
Let’s assume (for the sake of argument) this guy is nuts. Any decision a crazy guy makes (even registering as a Democrat) has to be suspect, don’t you think? So why make any kind of deal about his party affiliation, assuming he really ever had one in his heart? There are a lot of crazy guys out there who think they’re Napoleon – does that fact alone weigh one way or another in estimating Napoleon’s overall reputation? I hope you won’t let the likes or dislikes of crazy people influence you.
Steven Searle for US President in 2012
“Everyone’s going to make a big deal out of this, in terms of heavy political impact. Keep it in perspective: This was one man acting alone, not an army marking its territory – that is, unless proven otherwise.”
:UNQUOTE.
Steven Searle for US President in 2012
Founder of The Independent Contractors’ Party
“Jared, you’re only 22-years-old. I hope you end up making something good out of your life.”
No comments:
Post a Comment