I read that there was slaughter and reward
that they retouch the death, the selfishness
I check the date on the newspaper
it seems that yesterday it said just the same thing
Silvio Rodríguez, from “To rain on wet”
This past May 24, 19 innocent creatures were assassinated in Uvalde, a small town in Texas. 17 were children. The majority of those little kids had Latino roots, they were just beginning to live—between ages 9 and 11. Besides those murdered children, two teachers died defending their little ones.
The assassin, an 18 years old young man, owner of two brand new AR-15 rifles—lethal automatic assault weapons that can be almost automatically bought in this country—became the latest chastiser of the dilapidated conscience of the United States of America.
The assassin was Latino, providing a bit of a change to the more common description of those men usually guilty of the mass shootings that plague this country. If there are any doubts about it, this proves that generalizations only serve to confound us: Not all those killers are White supremacists. Nevertheless, they could all purchase their killing weapons with little problem. That is certainly a common denominator.
Who are guilty of the horrible fact that these murders keep on happening? Or perhaps those cruel and deranged people who kill without pity are exceptional cases in this capitalist society? And I add the word “capitalist,” because here in the U.S., what is known as “the bottom line” is money. In all aspects and at all levels of this society.
“Money talks, bullshit walks,” says a popular refrain. That’s the way it is. Those who control the money in this country are the ones forcing us to talk or to walk whenever they seem necessary. Our minds are constantly assaulted by the shrewd manipulation of the public relations system which manages this country.
In the U.S. today, it is easier to obtain an assault rifle than powdered milk for the children. Before the use of the so-called formula milk became popularized in many corners of the world (in fact, it facilitates life to many people), before its use became so generalized, a big anti-breast feeding campaign took place to make it generalized. After all, it was “a new product.” In the 1960’s, a “respected pediatrician” lent his support to powdered milk by saying that “Breast-feeding is for the natives.” To him, mother’s milk was “un-elegant.” Something for the poor, the ignorant, the powerless. The campaign was successful. Onwards with the new “formula!”
Powdered milk, automatic rifles, the gasoline for our cars, the never-ending wars that we are supposed to support, plus the repeated proclamation that the U.S. has “the best system in the world,” are essential elements of the daily propaganda menu in this consumer society.
Wall Street is our Main Street. Wall Street and its Stock Exchange determine where and how we walk in this country.
There are more than 400,000,000 weapons registered in the U.S. More than one weapon per person. Why? What are we afraid of? What is the plan? What is the idea? Are there, maybe, feelings of guilt behind this abomination? Maybe that guilty feeling impedes the examination of the true circumstances behind the violent history of this country? Is it the fear of truth? Is that fear the reason why 35 percent of North Americans are said to believe another “truth,” a fatalistic message warning them that they are being “replaced” by hordes of multicultural invaders?
Republicans and Democrats cannot agree on a plan to stop the violence unleashed on this country. They blame each other for the terrible results. Today, that is being repeated with the massacre of the Uvalde innocents.
Nevertheless, the two political parties that hold the exclusive control in this country, rapidly agreed to send $40,000 million to Ukraine. To help that country’s defense and for humanitarian reasons, following the invasion by Russia.
Although there is a respectable public support in defense of the people and the government of Ukraine, I would like to ask a few questions: Why can’t we use amounts of money like that to help the people of the U.S.? To create free educational and health systems for all? Systems that include mental health and pre-natal and postnatal services? Systems that truly respect life?
Why, if the majority of the U.S. population supports various kinds of abortion rights and the creation of more strict laws for obtaining weapons and permits for their use, are these laws not being created? What is behind all that? I affirm that the evil behind this is money. Greed. Period.
The day of the massacre of innocents in Uvalde, the President of the United States stood in front of the television cameras in order to speak, hopefully to console, the people of the United States. Next to him stood his wife, who happens to be an elementary school teacher. Too bad that she did not say a word. Speak!
The presentation by Joe Biden seemed pathetic, maddening. The U.S. public relations machine likes to say that “the U.S. President is the most powerful person in the world”…and this fragile, frustrated, almost weepy man declared himself incapable of stopping the violence and the accumulation of weapons. “How can we stop the powerful Gun Lobby and the National Rifle Association?”
All of us, from the President of the Republic to the humblest inhabitant of this country, have to find the will power and the bravery to challenge the NRA, the Gun Lobby and Wall Street. We also need to face and defeat our worst enemy: hypocrisy.
Here, the violence exists because the U.S. is a violent country, with a violent history. That violence thrives because the sale of weapons, inside and outside of the U.S., is big business.