People have a lot of good reasons to not trust the US government, but violence is not the answer. It is not a display of courage, but of indifference. The prestige of any government is boosted when it is the recipient of violence, even a government as criminal and murderous as the current one in America. The moral standing is lost when a government opponent picks up a gun and fires indiscriminately near a government facility. At that point, all caution by government authorities towards government dissidents goes out the window. Such violent attacks on government buildings and government authorities are then quickly blamed on peaceful movements, and the various minefields of conspiracy theories on the internet, by particular extremists within the government and the propagandist media, in order to justify further government crackdowns on personal liberties.
Another consequence of anti-government violence is that public opinion for the invasion of privacy grows to the point where official persecution of peaceful resisters within the population is supported out in the open.
The media has already jumped the gun and is beginning to target 9/11 truth for the actions of crazed and undisciplined individuals, such as John Patrick Bedell. Rawstory notes the growing fear-mongering and irrationality by the mainstream media in response to these anti-government attacks, which doesn’t help the problem because rarely do establishment journalists seek to understand the grievances and questions that many Americans have.
Also, it has been reported that Bedell suffered mentally for a long time. He may have been influenced by pharmaceutical drugs. Or he may have actually felt that he was protecting America’s tradition from the current group of radical criminals in the highest echelons of the US government. And is it crazy to suggest that his personal instability is a reflection of our society’s current instability?
North America is in spiritual and psychological chaos. It is not normal for a society to have such a high number of individuals who have mental health problems. We are led by immoral and criminal leaders. Just look at Dick Cheney. Men like him achieve the highest positions in our governments and corporate institutions, and people wonder why there are individuals like Bedell. America is in a state of national madness. If we care for the people who live here, and elsewhere, we better start reforming the government, and reflect on whether or not our consent of long-held policies is the right thing to do.But first, put away your gun, because it isn't going to solve anything. Only nonviolent resistance will help us attain spiritual and political victory. We can not be guided by anger or fear. And we can not lose sight of the ultimate objective, which is to peacefully create unity in a broken and burdened world.
