As of today I’m going on a news fast.  I will still watch The Daily Show because that’s “fake” news and puts things in a perspective that doesn’t make me want to punch things.  The last post I wrote is what I want to believe in and hope for and reach for.  I can’t do that while watching the news which only proves to me that human beings, as a whole, are scumbags.

Here are some things on my mind that I need to get out in order to make room for much better and lighter things:

• I’m so worried about the backlash the Boston bombing is going to create for Muslim Americans.  There is already such widespread racism against Middle Eastern-looking people and such anti-Muslim sentiment in the United States and every single time there is a whiff of terrorism connected to Islam – it feeds the hate machine.  I’m not pro-Muslim any more than I am pro-Christian.  As an atheist I am not pro any religion.  But racial and religious intolerance is unacceptable to me.  And I’m really worried about Muslim Americans and especially those who are or look like they are Arab.  So – I’m thinking of them today and hoping that things do not get worse than they are for them after this week’s events.

• Greg Ball is an inhuman asshole.  He tweeted (regarding Dzhokhar Tsarnaev) “So, scumbag #2 in custody.  Who wouldn’t use torture on this punk to save lives?”  First of all – how does he imagine that using torture on this suspect is going to “save lives”?  Torture is not known to produce useful or accurate intelligence.  Basically Ball just wants Tsarnaev to be tortured so that he can feel the worst kind of pain and suffering a human can endure without dying.  Think about that impulse for a minute.  Think about what kind of moral center you have to have to endorse the torture of ANY human beings.  Really let that blossom in your gut and your heart.

 

• If you share Ball’s feelings about torture and think it’s an appropriate treatment for human beings under any circumstance then you are no better a human being than the people you hate the most.  If you think torture is okay under any circumstance then your moral center is broken.

• I’m glad that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was captured alive.  I hope he makes it out of critical condition in the hospital so that maybe we can all have some answers as to why he took part in such an awful crime.  I also feel compassion for him and I’m worried about him.  I want him to be prosecuted for his part in the bombings – people must take responsibility for their actions – but I’m concerned that his rights as a suspect and as a criminal will not be upheld and it is absolutely not okay to suspend someone’s rights just because you hate what they did.  He should be prosecuted to the letter of the law, completely by the books.  But already it seems that may not be happening.  I have read that they have decided not to read him his Miranda rights by invoking a public safety exception.  Which is total bullshit.

• I’m worried that the corporation that owns the factory that exploded in West (Texas) will not be forced to pay for what appears to be criminal negligence.  It seems the factory hadn’t been inspected in over 5 years and there was reason to inspect it as the equipment was old and there had been complaints of smells coming from the factory that weren’t fully investigated.  If the government is willing to give corporations “person-hood” then corporations should be responsible for their actions in exactly the same way as individual people are.

• The inability of the Senate to pass a fairly milky bill that would expand the requirement for background checks for purchasing guns is pathetic.  I loved the President’s strong speech about how shameful it was that we couldn’t pass such a small compromise.

Okay.  Now I’m going to refuse the news.  I can gain nothing good from it.  I am going to clean my office today and maybe my house.  Then I’m going to finish sewing the clothes that are on my desk unfinished.  Then I’m going to cut some more out.  I aim to get these things done so I can move on to new projects.  I also need to clear my space of enough projects that I can focus on making healthier food and getting more exercise.  Knowing what’s going on in the world at large makes me feel heavy of heart and hurts my head and makes me feel like I’m moving in sludge.  My news fast will help lighten me up and in spite of the coming heatwave (mid 80’s for several days!) I want to move my body more.  I must not be bogged down by the evil in the world but actively seek the good and it aint gonna be found in the news.

What are you doing to lighten your heart up?  What are you doing to combat the ugliness in the world?