The tragedy today in Tucson, the senseless violence to the Congresswoman and others, is sad and terrifying. The alleged shooter is reported to be affected by the violent rhetoric of politics and the prevalence of violence that pervades our society.
Civil discourse, creative conflicts with words not guns, consideration of facts over misrepresentations is dying in our society in a sea of violence.
In the face of violence some react with more violence, seeking to blame. Violence only seems to beget more violence. Some refuse to break the silence about the violence,ignore or justify it. Some talk a lot about doing something but do nothing. Some marginalize the messenger rather than deal with the message of violence in our society. Even those who struggle against violence often restore to it if not in action but in word. No one is perfect and we all make mistakes but the actions of today, the present militarization of our society and our occupation and wars in Iraq and Afghanistan means, to me, that we must do our best to overcome violence with creative nonviolence in word and action. This often means facing inconvenient facts and truths.
Those who try to present the values of conscience, imperfect or misinformed as they may be, often feel they need to apologize for facts and opinions of truths.
There are certain facts and pictures that are ‘inconvenient’ for persons to face. Today looking for a picture of a victim of the Afghanistan war I came across the web page of the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA). This group established in 1977 as an independent political/social organization of Afghan women fighting for human rights and for social justice in Afghanistan. They struggle against the Taliban and the US occupation. Before showing pictures of the horror of reality of people living in Afghanistan they apologize. The pictures are gory and repulsive but these are the ‘inconvenient pictures’ that show the reality of everyday life with violence and we, responsible for some of the violence, must see them.
Inconvenient facts and pictures? is a new web page I am developing on www.nonviolentcow.org . Perhaps some of you have pictures or facts to add. Please include the source or attribution of facts and pictures. Send them to
. Inconvenient facts and pictures are a reality we can only ignore at our peril.
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