WITH AGE THERE IS OPPORTUNITY FOR WISDOM EVEN IN OUR CULTURE

WITH AGE THERE IS OPPORTUNITY FOR WISDOM EVEN IN OUR CULTURE

By Domenick J. Maglio PhD. Traditional Realist

Throughout the modern western world youth is worshipped. They are perceived as carefree, smart and high-energy explorers of the world. The majority of them are praised for their naturally cute actions and ability to absorb incredible amounts of information. Their youthful appearance with flawlessly smooth skin is the ultimate example of health and beauty.

The Hollywood media has ordained adolescents as the ultimate prototype of humanity’s perfection. They have been placed on the highest pedestal. Their parents become their unwavering fan club. They are showered with presents and accolades for every thought uttered and every immature self centered action and thought. These youngsters have become a materialistically entitled class that does not have to earn their privileges and gifts that are showered on them. The impulsive sexual, drugging and dramatic behaviors of teenagers have spread to middle aged adults.

Youth has become our role model instead of mature adults. They are honored for many things that come natural in this stage of life. Adult now also want to imitate youngster’s spontaneous behaviors without thinking about the impact on others. Things are said for their novelty and shock value instead of to convey insight and truth. Too many adults are attempting to copy youngsters’ looks and behaviors instead of sharing knowledge and advancing their child’s potential for success in life.

Most adults are not only buying the next bigger and better toy to entertain the youngsters but also themselves. Much money is spent on cosmetic surgery and beauty products to look younger. These temporal and superficial items cause us to work longer and harder in our often-meaningless positions. We do not feel fulfilled, stimulated or challenged in these bureaucratic restricted jobs. The social media, video games, sports and Hollywood indoctrination monopolize the rest of our time, depriving our ability to contemplate and appreciate the miraculous and wonderful things of our existence.

This emphasis on youthful fantasy culture is preventing many adults from gaining the wisdom that comes from searching and understanding the truth taught to us by daily dealing with reality. There is little time to listen, observe, think and analyze what is happening before their eyes everyday. These opportunities to integrate events are being lost in our phony-entertainment reality world dished up by the media. Sex and violence are incessantly employed to gain our undivided attention. We are bombarded by one lie after another in advertising and in the media in our PC culture. Unfortunately dishonesty has become a common element of doing business in this age.

Living longer lives does not necessarily lead to wisdom. There are too many older adults who are self-centered takers, not givers. They have squandered their time and money on the latest fad drugs and excursions to nowhere. There are too many adults who have not learned from their experiences to mature into knowing individuals who understand the consequences of their actions before they do them.

Gaining knowledge of how the world works takes thorough and honest evaluation of the events in our lives. As we analyze them and similar ones we start seeing definite patterns of the way different behaviors get different results. The wise person learns there are real important consequences for our actions. They avoid behaviors that produce negative results and conscientiously increase those that are advantageous ones.

These experiences teach us the importance of living in a certain manner to stay on the straight and narrow path. This helps us reach a higher level of humanity. This knowledge of the wise when passed on to others betters the entire society. This is one of the reasons ancient societies all over the world venerated the elderly. These nations would seek out the wisdom of these people before making drastic decisions reshaping the direction of their culture and society.

These elders passed on their knowledge and insights to their children and grandchildren to strengthen the family unit. They were not viewed as decrepit, worthless individuals that had to be locked up in segregated facilities to fade away from everything and everyone. They were venerated as special individuals who learn how to live effectively and correctly absorbing the insights afforded them.

People with years of existence on earth who lived learning the patterns of the reality of life are a phenomenal human resource that should not be wasted. They are not as exciting as a new life with unlimited potential although some of these elders have successfully reached their entire potential leaving behind an extensive legacy. These incredible people have grasped the essence of life and have given much to us to assist the development of others and the society as a whole.

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.

SELECTIVE FREEDOM OF SPEECH IS NOT CONSTITUTIONAL

SELECTIVE FREEDOM OF SPEECH IS NOT CONSTITUTIONAL

By Domenick J. Maglio PhD. Traditional Realist

Everyone should be able to freely speak without fear of prosecution. When the power elites select words and an agenda that is admissible or not to be spoken we have thought control. This leads down a path towards totalitarianism.

The condoning of college students intimidating any conservative commentator even fellow students with conservative viewpoints by disruptive behavior, physical threats and actions is un-American. It is accepting and condoning mob rule to prevent an open market place of ideas. In the USA our constitution protects individual rights of free speech and the practice of religion. Our republic was based on a free exchange of ideas to arrive at viable solutions.

Restricting a person’s right to fly the American or confederate flag while celebrating the burning and stomping the proud symbol of the majority of law abiding citizens is not freedom of speech. It is discrimination against people expressing their love of country. Preventing Christians from reading the bible or praying on state university campuses or public places while allowing other religions to do so is discrimination of one religion over another.

To win political favor even major corporations are choosing celebrity winners and losers. Colin Kapernick, a second string quarterback and an ungrateful multimillionaire who expressed his anti American sentiments, exploited his position. He refused to pay homage to the flag and the military by sitting on one knee during the flag salute. This was a disrespectful action toward our gallant military soldiers who put their lives on the line to protect all of us including Mr. Kapernick. His bitterness towards a system that gave him and everyone else in America regardless of race and socio economic standing various opportunities to reach the American dream defines an ungrateful brat. He inappropriately used the NFL forum that was broadcast nationwide to spew his propaganda in the freest nation on earth.

Instead of holding Kapernick to a standard of propriety, the head of the NFL, Roger Godell, supported him by not issuing a consequence for his offensive behavior. Godell attempted to disguise his dereliction of duty by claiming Kapernick was expressing his freedom of speech. Instead of telling him in no uncertain terms as a well paid entertainer using his privilege as an NFL member to disrupt and disrespect a national ceremony to millions of patriotic viewers. Mr. Godell’s unwillingness to label Kapernick’s unpatriotic behavior as out-of-bounds has led to other players following suit in this disgraceful display. It is creating a divisive environment. All CEOs have a responsibility to their organization to demand appropriate behavior for they are representing the organization and the dignity of the nation.

 Mr. Godell did not allow NFL teams to show support for the police by putting a sticker on their helmets but were required to wear red, white and blue cleats on 9/11.  There was no freedom of speech stance that arose from this incident. It appeared that this situation would have alienated the political left and therefore was off limits. Godell had no problem turning his back on the Tim Tebow religious right controversy. Mr. Tebow was attacked by many sports commentators and NFL players for putting one knee on the ground in a gesture of thanks to God while many other players in after-game interviews say, “praise the Lord for my performance” with no media criticism. The selective choosing of losers and winners can have serious consequences. We too have the choice not to spend our entertainment dollars and time watching the NFL that supports such behavior.

Mr. Godell was also silent regarding Bionce’s halftime show at the Super Bowl that was anti police and pro “Black Lives Matter” stoking the flames of anti police feelings. Again there was not a word from him to condemn the false impression of police malice and misbehavior in the Ferguson, Missouri incident. This is especially surprising since even the Department of Justice found Michael Brown, not the police officer, as the perpetrator.

Many athletes and entertainer celebrities are punished for their inappropriate political viewpoints and behavior. Olympic swimmer, Ryan Lochte, lost many lucrative endorsements due to his immature, drunken actions. These company endorsements were dropped because he was no longer “a wholesome role model” to represent their product. Many conservative Hollywood stars are blacklisted after being shown to be closet conservatives. They find themselves unable to find work.

There is no longer freedom of everyone’s ideas protected by the constitution. Whenever there is mention of radical leftist actions and ideas that are outside the bounds of cultural decency the first amendment is cited but this is not acceptable when it comes to the right expressing their first amendment right. Be aware if the traditional American ideology is constantly tainted by calling it hate speech, racism, homophobic, xenophobic or Islamophobic. The attack on traditional Americans exercising their first amendment rights is nothing more than a progressive media attempts to indoctrinate by controlling the flow and narrative of events.

Our nation was founded fighting for the protection of the people’s freedoms from government overreach not for allowing an elite ruling class to use their power to repress and enslave us. Our Constitution and Bill of rights are for everyone, not for the establishment to pick and choose who can express themselves. Selective freedom of speech is an oxymoron to our founder’s principle that all humans have a right to freedom speech and religion.

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.

YOU HAVE TO DO WHAT YOU HAVE TO DO

YOU HAVE TO DO WHAT YOU HAVE TO DO

By Domenick J. Maglio PhD. Traditional Realist

There are laws being passed at an incredible rate in our local, state and federal government. In 2011 Federal Register there were 80,000 new laws established.

Not only do citizens have no idea of new laws, our representatives do not even know about them. Many laws are being buried in large bills that the representatives do not have the time to read before voting on them.

Currently law-abiding citizens cannot obey the law, as they do not know what they are to avoid breaking them. The local, state and federal laws often contradict each other on many issues such as drug use and enforcement; illegal immigration; sex and physical abuse and all sorts of environmental regulations.

A father in Bushnell, Florida shot an alligator that first attacked his horses then his child. He was arrested and had to post bail. Only individuals with proper licenses and permits can legally take alligators. These dangerous reptiles had been removed from the protected species list in 1987 although there are laws protecting them because they are similar to the endangered crocodile. This is insane. This man should have received a pat on the back for doing his duty as a man, not arrested.

The massive amount of laws invading our daily life is paralyzing the public. Many people do not want to get involved in helping others since it could backfire into a legal problem affecting them. The laws are so complex, numerous and open to misinterpretation that the most obvious and necessary action can and probably would be questioned.

The recent shooting of Harambe, the gorilla, in the Cincinnati Zoo to protect a 3 year-old child became a story repeated ad nauseam for several days by the media. Protesters from animal activists to Black Lives Matter argued that the gorilla did not need to die. He had a right to his life.

Some animal activists and others held a vigil for Harambe to emphasize the importance of animal’s lives. The memorial event was to condemn the vicious actions of the zoo personnel. From their perspective the ape was the innocent victim of the accidental situation. He definitely was one in this tragic incident.

The crucial issue for the zoo was the safety of the child. The zoo administration knew the reality was that if they delayed the decision the child would die from the natural, instinctual behavior of a huge, strong and predictably rough ape behavior.  It would probably not be the intention of the ape to harm the child but the child’s life was still greatly at risk.

Some advocates of the ape’s life wanted a tranquilizer gun used to make him harmless. These protesters did not realize it would have been ten minutes before he would be rendered unconscious. The animal experts felt the initial pain of the bullet would likely agitate the gorilla resulting in the death of the child.

In the same news cycle a man raped and beat a woman in the Bronx, NY. The wife called the husband, who was attempting to park his car before going up to their apartment. She told him about the rape that just took place. The husband of the woman took an elevator to the 6^th floor where he encountered the assailant who he beat to death with a tire iron.

The issue was immediately raised by the hypocritical law-quoting-media when it supported their social justice view that the assailant was no longer a physical threat to his wife and the husband did not follow the letter of the law. Of course he did not because he was in a righteous rage over the rape of his wife who was always covered with a burka.

Many pontificating pundits had to annoyingly admit if they brought the husband to a jury trial he would never be convicted. The unsaid reason was he had instinctually done what he did. His actions were not premeditated. This was an understandable reaction to a horrific act. Every despicable action has a serious consequence. The husband justly administered the consequence for this rapist’s premeditated act.

In our upside-down justice system there are not just too many laws, but too many laws that handcuff people from protecting themselves and loved ones from evil individuals. Even our military soldiers are under absurd “rules of engagement” that prevent them from doing their mission and making split second decisions to protect themselves and their fellow soldiers. These restricting “rules of engagement” place our soldiers’ lives at great risk while providing the enemy with greater flexibility to maim and kill our soldiers. Adding insult to injury, the release of Gitmo’s worst of the worst violators of humanity, who many soldiers died trying to apprehend, is another travesty of justice.

The loss of our freedom through too many unknown and conflicting laws on the books and a lack of rational and blind justice have created disrespect of the law by too many dignified and reasonable people. To honorable citizens these injurious laws are restricting our liberty.

In our present legal chaos good people are being forced to take the law into their own hands. Many citizens are realizing “we have to do what we have to do” to survive. This is not a good sign for the future of the country.

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.