BLACK LIVES MATTER: A RALLYING CALL FOR ANARCHY

BLACK LIVES MATTER: A RALLYING CALL FOR ANARCHY

By Domenick J. Maglio PhD Traditional Realist

On October 22, 2015 President Obama again made a statement defending the “Black Lives Matter” movement. He described the movement as highlighting specific issues that are only happening in black communities. However, the issues should be focused on how everyone should interact with authority figures now, not about past discrimination. All communities need to respect law enforcement to maintain stability and peace.

According to President Obama’s narrative the movement sprung up after unarmed black men such as Trayvon Martin in Florida, Michael Brown in Ferguson and others elsewhere who were killed by the police. There was no mention by him that after an exhaustive legal process the judicial system found that the accused were innocent in both above cases. These verdicts were substantiated by additional federal justice department reviews of the cases.

This and other statements of President Obama have legitimized, empowered and expanded this movement, a movement that is chanting “F—the Police,” “Pigs in a Blanket- Fry ‘em Like Bacon,” “Race Bastard” and other incendiary comments all over the country. The Internet has exploded with hateful and taunting videos towards the police. They are undeniably beyond the pale, vicious calls for attacks on police. The day after President Obama’s above-mentioned statements there was hate speech and violence against police in a three-day “Black Lives Matter” rallies in New York City.

These blatant incidents provoking and killing of police are becoming epidemic. This is not a free speech problem rather these protests are attracting people to come together to form a mob mentality to intimidate the public, restrict police power and push the limits of civil behavior. It does not address grievances but creates disorder to incite and agitate violence towards all police regardless of religions, ethnic or racial backgrounds.

President Obama said in his defense of these violent gatherings “we as a society particularly given our history have to take this seriously.” He further justifies the movement “rather what they (BLM) were suggesting there is a specific problem that is happening in the African-American community that is not happening in other communities. This is a legitimate issue that we’ve got to address.”

President Obama does not believe the nationwide spike in violence and crime in black communities has anything to do with the “Black Lives Matter” movement although his FBI director, James Comey, has indicated that it does. Mr. Comey has concluded that the extraordinary rise in black crime is partially caused by the restraint of police from being more aggressive because of the riots in Ferguson and the vile anti police videos that show the cops are not receiving sufficient backing to do their job.

We should remember the job of the cops is extremely dangerous and thankless.  They are sworn to do their duty to uphold our laws but not supposed to be social workers. All officers, regardless of the shade of their skin, deserve the respect of their authority. Any overt resistance or harassment of a police officer’s commands is and should be a prosecuted offense.

President Obama should remember he represents all citizens so his words matter. He should articulate and inspire all citizens to respect the institutions and laws of our nation and not make excuses for any special interest group. The President of the United States is the chief executive officer of the nation and all its citizens.

Every individual has grievances and injustices they have experienced. Most citizens regardless of ethnic, racial or religious identification and socio-economic background have stories of being stopped for a violation. Many have experienced sternness, rudeness and even unfairness meted out by an officer of the law. There are legal remedies to illegal police behavior.

Usually it is best to look towards the future rather than stew in the past. It is not in the long-term interest of any groups to disregard authority figures especially those assigned to maintain order. This respect for authority figures only increases resentment and uncontrollable anger. The gratitude for the wonderful opportunities and gifts this great nation offers them is lost.

Encouraging anarchy is not a solution to decreasing police discrimination. When confronted by police, an individual should listen and comply with the direction not challenge and resist. It will create a tinderbox for rampant chaos that causes a destructive rage gone wild. Riots are not an appropriate venue to discuss viable changes. People should look at problems rationally, not be frightened into appeasing violence.

Let us treat every man, woman, and child with the respect they deserve including all authority figures such as parents, teachers, elders and law enforcement.  Order, respect and inclusion leads to harmony while disorder, disrespect and exclusion end in anarchy. “Black Lives Matter” riots do not do anything to improve the lives of the people in those communities.

Domenick Maglio, PhD. is a columnist carried by various newspapers, an author of several books and owner/director of Wider Horizons School, a college prep program. You can visit Dr. Maglio at www.drmaglio.blogspot.com.

CHILDREN ARE NOT BEING TAUGHT TO THINK OR HAVE A NEED TO THINK

CHILDREN ARE NOT BEING TAUGHT TO THINK OR HAVE A NEED TO THINK

By Domenick J. Maglio PhD. Traditional Realist

Giving children too little responsibility and too much help to solve simple problems is disabling their ability to think. The electronic world is encouraging children to think they are smarter than they are. Learning to think well for oneself is a lengthy and arduous process.

Several generations ago children were an integral part of the family. In cities they helped the family by shopping in local stores, doing chores around the house and caring for their siblings. In agrarian areas the children had even more opportunity to learn responsibilities not only related to the home but to the family business. They had to do it correctly or answer to the owner: their parents.

These parents expected their children to contribute to the family. Children were told to do tasks and listen well to everything their parents said. They knew the parents meant business. The children understood if they got confused it was up to them to figure out how to complete the objective on their own. There was no option of going back to the parents with made up stories. The child was not considered a baby and it was up to him to get the job done. He had to think and find his own way of doing things.

In school the same process happened. Students were given assignments and were expected to do them. Excuses were not acceptable. Parents backed the teacher’s authority and demanded the child do what the teacher said. Youngsters were required to get it done on their own or receive a failing grade. The student had to figure a positive way to complete the assignment. It forced them to think.

Today you only have to ask Siri or Google it. There is no need to think.

Modern children are not interacting with other people as they have traditionally done. There are few opportunities for them to join neighborhood peers in play outside the house. Usually children’s activities are scheduled by their parents who chauffer them from one expert led extracurricular activity to another. Supervising adults handle any incidents between children that occur in a scheduled activity. Youngsters no longer have the opportunity to solve social disagreements and altercations with their peers.

In the modern family everyone seems to be in his own world. Parents are involved with their business responsibilities often throughout the day and even at night. Family dinners are difficult to schedule every evening and when they do occur involved discussions with the family is rare. It is almost impossible to have intense conversations about the day when everybody has been doing his own thing. Every family member’s fallback position is to take out his cell phone and entertain himself.  Self-absorption is no longer considered rude in many social situations.

Families working, speaking, playing together or doing simple chores to contribute to the family are becoming passé’. These were times parents could influence the child’s skills, beliefs and thinking through casual or spontaneous teaching moments. Those moments are becoming extremely rare as children spend less quantity time with their parents.  Loved ones and other authority figures are not teaching their children how to think right and reason through the problems they face.

In school students are constantly tempted to search the web for all answers to academic questions rather than research and think until they solve the problem. Any history, literature or science questions can easily be Googled. Even math textbook problems can be handled by finding the answer key online.

Thinking to solve one’s own problems is a waste of time to modern pampered children. They do not have the skills, inclination or confidence to even attempt to do it on their own. Learning to deal with problems they will inevitably confront is essential to become competent, self reliant and motivated people.

The overprotected, untrained adults should have been allowed to face the pain of learning from their mistakes. Learning to accept failure helps propel children to improve. Not giving grades, not keeping score and giving unearned positive reinforcement results in high esteem, non-thinking, mentally disabled younger generation.

A society that does not encourage an independent thinking citizenry is destined to become a totalitarian welfare country. This handicaps today’s children who are deprived of the experiences children in the past learned from to cope with life. Modern children have no need to figure out problems because parents will rush in to do it for the child. This is happening even after they reach adulthood. Instead of young adults feeling an obligation to care for their parents in their old age, their modern parents feel a responsibility to care for these children by setting up trust funds. These self-absorbed young adults are recognized as “trust fund babies.”

Coddled children are not prepared to face the harshness of society. They wind up angry and disillusioned not being able to reach their unrealistic objectives. These non-thinking people become a burden that will negatively impact every aspect of society. These missed opportunities to face reality should frighten us all.

It is the duty of parents to provide reality tests and opportunities to stimulate the thinking processes of their children. It is rarely being done now.

WOMEN WANT SPECIAL PRIVILEGES NT EQUALITY

WOMEN WANT SPECIAL PRIVILEGES NOT EQUALITY

By Domenick J. Maglio PhD. Traditional Realist

To energize the female voter democrats have once again pulled the “war against women” out of the hat. The inept republican response has been to remain silent instead of refuting the argument by presenting the statistical facts.  This cowardly party does not want to be seen as being anti-women although it does not have the gumption to set the record straight. The family unit and male students are sacrificed on the altar of political expediency so as not to alienate the largest interest group.

When they see, hear or witness absurd female demands many women’s interest groups do not denounce them. A study attempts to demonstrate that low

corporate office air conditioning temperatures are supposedly another sexist conspiracy against women. Instead of showing empathy for males being required to wear heavy suits and ties in the corporate world to comply with corporate expectations, women are complaining that low temperatures are a way of punishing and discriminating against them. Many females wear short sleeves and skirts following the seasons but men’s clothing never changes. This is not a male plot to punish females. It is a ridiculous argument to advance women’s grievances to attempt to add another arrow to their quiver to show how persecuted they are.

A woman in Washington, Pennsylvania picked a fight with an unsuspecting businessman. She demanded that she should have her hair cut in his men’s only barbershop. This establishment is known for high-end haircuts, hot shaves, free drinks and a place for men to relax and have camaraderie. The owner graciously said he did not know how to cut female’s hair. He recommended a beauty shop down the street and was willing to pay for it. Instead he received a $750 government fine for discrimination. There were no female voices to object to this owner being told by government how to run his business. This was not about women’s rights and equality; it was about women’s gotcha power against men.

Even barbeque grill cooking by men is seen by feminists as a plot to keep women in the kitchen.

Government and large corporations have overly and unfairly been pushing the women’s agenda to the detriment of males. In the employment market, men are facing obstacles to impede them while many females are being fast tracked in our large corporations. There are pressures placed by the media and government agencies to meet quotas showing increases in the number of females in executive positions.  Female workers in the “Great Recession” were less impacted than males in becoming unemployed.  This has increased under-employment of stay-at-home husbands that has weakened their status as the primary breadwinner and the unintended consequence of reducing the maternal influence children need for healthy development.

Many women appear to never be satisfied with their incredible gains in the marketplace. After factoring in all the elements that impact lifelong income and promotions females have reached pay equality with men. The employment gaps for choosing to raise a family, limited working hours and avoidance of any physically demanding and dangerous positions account for the pay differential between the sexes.

The pendulum has swung too far in promoting female students unjustly putting male students at a decided disadvantage. The results have been profound. Male students are realizing that there are too many potential pitfalls for them on college campuses

Women are now up to 60% of the undergraduate students and even a higher percentage of graduate students. This change has taken place as male enrollment in college has drastically diminished to 40%.  The STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) initiative of recent years has emphasized female recruiting although this academic concentration has been a preference and an ability area for men. This STEM female initiative to increase their participation is only adding to this trend.

“Title 9,” a federal law prohibiting discrimination originally against college sports programs has not only leveled the playing field in college between men and women’s sports, it is being used as a means of prosecuting male students. It is significantly tilted towards females and against males.  The US Department of Education Office for Civil Rights has 106 colleges under investigation for sexual assault cases. On college campuses male students are guilty until proven innocent.

The Duke Lacrosse incident demonstrated that affluent white males could be railroaded in this “war against women” environment. In the Rolling Stone article about the University of Virginia the author accepted a totally fabricated story of rape. After the character assassination of the young man the magazine admitted it was untrue. Men can claim the war in this culture is against men not women.

Individual and groups of people are never totally treated fairly and equitably. They can be close on a certain variable like socioeconomic opportunities. However, they will self-define what their preferences are and how to reach them. These choices are like any that have costs and benefits. No individual or group should feel they are so privileged as to be entitled to it all.  America should give us equal opportunity not special privileges.

Domenick Maglio, PhD. is a columnist carried by various newspapers, an author of several books and owner/director of Wider Horizons School, a college prep program. You can visit Dr. Maglio at www.drmaglio.blogspot.com.

PRESIDENT OBAMA AGAIN PASSES JUDGEMENT BEFORE EVIDENCE IS KNOWN

PRESIDENT OBAMA AGAIN PASSES JUDGEMENT BEFORE EVIDENCE IS KNOWN

By Domenick J. Maglio, PhD. Traditional Realist

Presidents of the United States are supposed to be above blatant petty politics. The person who is elected to the office is immediately given the reins to the most powerful position in the world. The people expect him to deport himself with dignity and wisdom. He is supposed to inspire the people’s confidence by focusing on do-able solutions that represent the interest of the people not extreme fringe groups.

President Obama did not wait for the facts to surface before he shamefully appeared on national television to denounce the lack of gun control as the culprit in the Umpqua College shooting. His MO throughout his presidency has been to politicize an event to push his radical progressive agenda. “Never waste a crisis.” We saw this with his community activist advocacy with questionable behavior by blacks being accepted over law enforcement officer’s actions. He made his comments before official investigations were completed. He used the bully pulpit to voice his personal emotional reaction to the arrest of Harvard professor Gates, Treyvon Martin, Michael Brown and Freddie Gray before the initial legal process was completed.

The day after the Roseburg rampage he again went on television to double down on his edict that the massacre of ten with seven wounded was due to the absence of stricter gun control. He stated he is going to continue to politicize this issue until gun control restrictions were enforced but again offered no realistic plan to remedy the problems.                 

His speculation was a rush to judgment. The emerging facts that the killer asked at the point of a gun “tell me your religion.” Those who said they were Christian were shot in the head and those who answered differently were shot in the extremities. The only guard was unarmed in this “gun free zone.”  The assassin was half black not a white supremacist and came from a broken family like almost every other one of these mass killers. People who knew him acknowledged that he had serious mental problems. The president did not consider all this evidence when he made his premature remarks.

The conclusion of President Obama’s emotional plea was not rational. The shredding of citizen’s Second Amendment rights would not have prevented this or other horrific mass shootings. Evil, demented people have used poison gas, fire, knives, hatchets, bombs and chain saws to kill and abortion instruments to destroy innocent lives.

The culture of evil has always existed and will continue to despise good people who get in the way. Guns are weapons that can kill. Criminals will not follow laws that will stop them from obtaining guns. They will illegally obtain them. This is evident in states like California and cities like Washington, Baltimore, New York and Chicago that have some of the highest per capita homicide rate in the country even though they have the most stringent gun laws. Gun Free Zones like on college campuses and movie theaters are not preventing terrorists or insane people from their acts of evil, instead are attracting them.

The mass killing of innocent people is a complex issue that will not be stopped by the removal of guns from law-abiding citizens. Guns in the hands of good people allow them to protect themselves and others. This is the reason why politicians and celebrities who rail against guns have personal security guards armed with guns.

The curbing of out-of-control violence will only happen when we return to a stable, moral society. This requires that we punish evil and honor life. We must again eliminate political correctness; teach morality at home, at school and in the halls of our government institutions. We need to empower law enforcement; change mental health confidentiality laws in order to encourage professionals to report and institutionalize people who are a danger to self and the community and incarcerate incorrigible criminals not release them.

The elimination of guns in the hands of good citizens will only be an invitation for government tyranny. It is not a policy to eliminate evil, it is a license for evil people to expand and become even more destructive in a society that disarms its citizens.

The president needs to think more profoundly before shooting off his rhetoric. These national press conferences divert us from his current international failures but do not lead to resolving crucial issues.

As Benjamin Franklin noted, those who sacrifice liberty for security deserve neither. Disarming the American people will disarm our ability to protect ourselves and lessen our security.

Domenick Maglio, PhD. is a columnist carried by various newspapers, an author of several books and owner/director of Wider Horizons School, a college prep program. You can visit Dr. Maglio at www.drmaglio.blogspot.com.