About 1,000 people of different faiths gathered in solidarity at a Los Altos Hills synagogue on Sunday in response to the murderous Oct. 27 rampage at a Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, synagogue.
An anti-Semitic man killed 11 people and wounded six others at the Tree of Life Congregation in what has been called the deadliest attack against Jews in U.S. history. The shootings stunned the Bay Area Jewish community, and as the barest of details spread, people were sure of one thing: They needed to be together, local faith leaders said on Monday.
At Congregation Beth Am synagogue, an estimated 25 to 30 leaders of multiple faiths, including Hindus, Muslims and Christians, joined together to declare a message of unity against hate. Some prayed. They wrote hundreds of letters of support to the Pittsburgh congregation.
Rabbi David Booth of Congregation Kol Emeth in Palo Alto took part in the vigil. He said his congregation will spend the week penning thousands of additional letters in support of the Tree of Life Congregation. He is afraid of the hate mail the Pittsburgh congregation might receive and wants to offset it, he said.
He was walking to prayers on Saturday morning when a congregant rushed up to him with news of the Sabbath massacre. Booth and others had scant information at the time, nor would they know for hours what exactly had occurred since as conservative Jews they don’t use cellphones or computers during the Sabbath, he said. But eventually he saw the images of the crime and its aftermath.
“There was glass on the floor of the synagogue,” he said. “Now it’s our job to help not just repair that building, but (with) compassion and love … help repair what’s been shattered in those people’s lives and in our whole community.”
Rachel Tasch, executive director at Beth Am, said her synagogue is still reeling from the outpouring of support.
“People just came in in droves. The whole community just seemed to come together,” she said on Monday. In addition to the 1,000-plus people who attended the vigil, countless others watched it being livestreamed, she said.
Elaine Sigal, executive director of Congregation Kol Emeth, said that one teenager stood out among the vigil’s speakers.
“She said she’s sure her generation will be able to step up and fix the things that are broken in the world. … It was incredibly moving,” Sigal said.
Among non-Jewish participants, Samina Sundas, founder of American Muslim Voice Foundation in Palo Alto, said she was deeply moved.
Herself a target of anti-Muslim sentiment after the Sept. 11 terrorism, on Saturday, she sent a letter to Jewish leaders.
“These heinous attacks have no room in America. We must practice and demand a ‘zero tolerance’ policy for any expressions of anti-black, anti-immigrants, anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, and targeting sacred places of worship,” she wrote. “As Americans, we stand in solidarity with our Jewish cousins and all of our fellow Americans to say, ‘We will not tolerate these acts of hate, bigotry and violence.'”
Reached by phone on Monday, she added: “We should not wait for these tragedies to unite us. Every day we have to reach out to each other. The Liberty Lady (Statue of Liberty) promises something so beautiful in America. But I don’t recognize that promise now. We have gotten so far from that.”
The Pittsburgh synagogue was the latest place of worship to be targeted in recent years. A white man shot and killed nine black people on June 17, 2015, at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina, and on Nov. 5, 2017, a gunman killed 25 people including a pregnant woman and injured 20 others at the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs, Texas.
Rev. Kaloma Smith, pastor at Palo Alto’s University AME Zion Church, held interfaith gatherings centered around racial and ethnic reconciliation after the Charleston massacre. He attended Sunday’s Beth Am vigil and said he will worship this Saturday with Congregation Kol Emeth. He reflected on the changing sense of safety in sacred spaces because of the murders.
“I think Charleston was very much a shock to our system,” he said Monday. “No tragedy is greater or less. But we are seeing it more often. We have a profound issue in this country.”
These crimes cause an incongruity to arise between the safety, security and welcome of a house of worship and the fear of a violent invasion, he said.
“It shatters the idea of a sacred space. You go in, and now you’re looking at the back door,” he said.
The dangerous climate has caused faith leaders to consider how to better protect their congregations. On Monday, Smith attended a meeting in San Francisco that focused on sacred spaces and safety. And last month, Tasch said she attended a meeting regarding enhanced safety at synagogues.
The violence is changing the way synagogues are being designed, Kol Emeth’s Booth said.
“The new Jewish Community Center building is a good example of building in different ways, with limited points of entry to see who is coming in,” he said.
Synagogues are putting in video cameras and security entrances and security systems, as has the Gideon Hausner Jewish Day School in Palo Alto, he added. Such added security measures can be costly.
“The JCC has a whole security staff. The burden it creates for the community is significant,” he said.
The first building Congregation Kol Emeth constructed in the 1960s had an open campus with easy access. But leaders grappled with how to design a new synagogue that is in the works in Palo Alto, seeking to create a sacred space that is not like a fortress but is still a protected space.
Ellen Bob, executive director at Congregation Etz Chayim in Palo Alto, said her synagogue has enhanced its security protocols but it is “committed to not decreasing our activities in any way.”
Like leaders of other synagogues, Bob declined to elaborate on security details. But perhaps the greatest security is the strength of the communities themselves. Bob, who ran the store “bob and bob” in downtown Palo Alto that sold Jewish goods for 25 years, said her son had cautioned that the store’s large plate-glass windows were vulnerable to being smashed by anti-Semites.
“Nobody ever threw rock at the windows. That’s Palo Alto; that’s the community we live in,” she said of acceptance of other faiths.
On Saturday morning, a man who introduced himself as “Ali” approached her outside of the synagogue to offer condolences, she said.
“It was so reassuring. What happened in Pittsburgh only reflects one person who did something (horrific). In the context of things, in the end, it was one man. We are not inherently less safe than we were a week ago,” she said.
People in her congregation are “sad, scared and a little defiant,” she said of the massacre. But “we’re not going to let this guy stop us from being Jewish.”
On Tuesday, speaking at the Athena Awards in Palo Alto, Judy Kleinberg, president and CEO of the Palo Alto Chamber of Commerce, echoed the need for the community to step up and commit to changing the narrative of hatred.
“Look around you. Look how diverse we are. This is not a white room. This is not a room where everybody came from Norway. We’re blessed to have a lot of diversity and it’s the strength of Silicon Valley.
“It’s the strength of our community that we can celebrate that diversity. But under the surface lurks prejudice. It’s bias, and usually it’s learned at home or (it’s) somebody that’s not … stable.
“Whatever the reason, we all have to recommit: in our business, in the workplace, in our schools, in our places of faith, in our friendships, when you’re sitting around at a dinner table with people you don’t know and somebody says something. We have to be the ones to set the standards and the values that are the promise of this country. We have to do that. So in this very sad moment, which is actually a wonderful celebration, I just want a moment of silence where we can think about this terrible tragedy, but also to recommit to what we personally and professionally will do about this,” she said.
Related content:
I am sure many of my neighbors are reeling in shock as I am after the senseless tragedy in Pittsburgh, PA last Saturday. A murderer killed innocent Jews because they were Jews. An article in Monday’s New York Times, headline: “On Social Media, No Answers for Hate” indicates that “On Monday, a search on Instagram, the photo-sharing site owned by Facebook, produced a torrent of anti-Semitic images and videos uploaded in the wake of Saturday’s shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue.” Here is a link to the article:
https://nyti.ms/2yEtpIk?smid=nytcore-ios-share
It is worth reading.
Mark Zuckerberg, you are my neighbor; I occasionally see you jogging with your security detail on Channing Avenue by Pardee Park when I walk my dog. Your genius has made you fabulously wealthy, and no one begrudges you that well deserved success. But that success comes with a burden. You bear some responsibility for this tragedy by having created the tools – and the social paradigm – that allows the proliferation of hate speech that emboldens the worst among us to do the unthinkable. Your platform has been responsible for permitting election meddling by the Russians. Your platform, and others, have facilitated the spread of conspiracy theories, hate speech and fake news domestically and abroad. I’ve seen the Facebook ads on TV signaling a return to the good old days of family fun and viral cat videos, but it seems to me, as the Jews of Pittsburgh bury their dead, that the genie is out of the bottle and is unlikely to be returned. It’s just too late for that, and newer, smarter solutions are necessary.
It is said that Albert Einstein came to regret the role his discoveries played in developing the atomic bomb because of the monster he helped to create.
This is a time for moral leadership, and we are not going to get that from the government. I hope you won’t mind if I stop you to say hello, and to ask for your thoughts on the subject, the next time I see you out for a jog.
I propose an outlandish idea: how about leaders I’d Facebook and Instagram and What’s App and Twitter voluntarily shut down their platforms for one month to protest the way their creations have been abused by haters and filled with hate speech?
This stunning action will take moral courage and willingness to take financial losses. It will immediately reduce hate speech and fake news just before the midterm election. And give social media companies breathing space to reflect on the ethics of what they have created, and resolve to reinvent themselves as wholesome tools to build not destroy the human community.
A senseless tragedy and my condolences to the family and friends of the victims.
Would having armed security at various temples and mosques have prevented this?
While the idea may sound absurd to some, a private or in-house security force could provide a premptive measure via stop and question protocols or simply by shooting an armed assailant on sight if he refuses to stop for questioning and continues approaching the facility. Besides, no one goes to church services carrying weapons unless they are up to no good.
The 1st Amendment must be ensured. Not only from the standpoint of freedom but also from the standpoint of personal safety.
Regarding the placement of armed guards, this is not a solution that will work. The murderer was able to wound 4 professionally trained career law enforcement personnel who were runnung to the scene, which they knew to be an active shooter situation. An armed guard – regardless of training – not specifically pre-warned about the situation would have been helpless, and likely the 1 st victim. Anyway, once the temples, mosques, churches, schools, nightclubs, music festivals, grocery stores, day-care centers, college campuses, theaters, shopping malls and restaurants are armed, it will only drive the hate driven to other venues.
By that logic, the only way to truly protect Americans is by arming every American. The President is promoting a new verion of MAGA with this line of thinking: make arms generally available. Perhaps the billions of dollars being spent on a southern border wall – that will offer no protection to us from the threat of Crazy Men who are American citizens already living here with easy access to battle grade weaponry, and would only keep out “invaders” who are poor, starving frightened men, women and children – would be better spent simply providing every American man, woman and child with an assault rifle and a few pistols.
What’s really needed is what will never happen until the current generation of lawmakers dies or retires or is voted out of office and replaced by younger blood: repeal and replacement of the 2nd amendment. In the meanwhile we need the leaders of social media platforms like Facebook to show moral leadership and face head-on the threat and consequences of the communication platforms they have created.
Love trumps Hate.
Vote, like your life depends on it.
>…replaced by younger blood: repeal and replacement of the 2nd amendment.
You brought up some valid points from the standpoint of practicality Joel and as aforementioned, my idea was self-admittedly a bit off the wall.
In terms of repealing the 2nd Amendment, you ought to be aware that there are millions of younger American citizens who would oppose such a measure (e.g. recreational hunters who were raised with guns by their fathers, lunatic fringe NRA type gun-owners + unaccountable social malcontents and the mentally disturbed).
The Duck Dynasty mentality is not going away anywhere in the near future and neither is the sociopath-type gun owner. Legislature to deprive them of firearms would only increase their distrust and inner fears.
Seriously – this is not the time or place for gun nuts to tell us we need to double the size of our police AND military in order to put armed guards in every school and church.
Go back to Gab.
” gun nuts “ ?
” Go back to Gab “ ?
We all have to walk the walk. Lets all do that.
Up until this weekend, I thought of Palo Alto as exceptional as a multi-cultural community and therefore safer than other places in the nation where divisiveness seems more pronounced. However, are we any more exceptional than Squirrel Hill?
I am encouraged by people coming together here, in Pittsburgh and elsewhere to show support for the Tree of Life synagogue and more broadly for our Jewish friends, neighbors and fellow Americans.
May all of our neighbors be safe. May we continue to strengthen our community with love and together overcome hate, today and all days.
Thanks, Being Better Prepared, for you comment regarding my post. I agree there are many younger folks who are responsible gun owners and users who would oppose outright repeal of the 2nd amendment, however please note I said “relealed and replaced”. I’m not against gun ownership, per se, rather, I oppose the kind of ownership rights pushed by the NRA, which includes access to battle-grade weaponry without restriction or responsibility. The 2nd amendment should be repealed and replaced with a more reaslistic amendment that honors the spirit of the founding fathers, respects the constitutional rights of responsible gun ownership, but also recognizes the realities of two centuries of technological advancement in weaponry. The right to bear arms was never intended to extend to the types of modern military equipment like assault rifles, bazookas or nuclear bombs.
Mr Roger’s Neighborhood (his physical neighborhood) is shot up in an American atrocity; PA responds with love in their vigil.
Yet the gun nuts have to make this a 2nd amendment thread?!?
FRONTLINE The Facebook Dilemma tonight Tues.Oct 30
[Part 2] (#3705) Duration: 56:46
Facebook’s response to charges of promoting “fake news” and disrupting American politics. Dozens of original interviews and rare footage show the company’s role sowing division worldwide and the challenges facing the powerful social media platform.
KQED 9: Tue, Oct 30, 2018 — 10pm
KQED 9: Wed, Oct 31, 2018 — 4am
KQED World (Channel 9.3, 54.3 and 25.3 XFINITY 190)
Thu, Nov 1, 2018 — 1pm
https://www.kqed.org/tv/programs/index.jsp?pgmid=145
-check for rebroadcasts of Part 1.
Watch Complete Episodes at video.kqed.org
There is too much anger and it is being made so easy to hate others to whom we disagree.
We should be showing how to listen to each other, how to show disagreement, without anger. We must do a much better job of remaining calm rather than shouting angrily back at something with which we disagree. We should hope that others will learn to do likewise and that acceptance of all will become the norm.
My heart goes out to those who are the victims of such hate, anger and abuse.
> The right to bear arms was never intended to extend to the types of modern military equipment like assault rifles, bazookas or nuclear bombs.
Concurring. Fully automatic weapons should not be made available to the general public as there is no real need for them to have them.
About the only rapid-fire weapon that might be considered for exemption is the Gatling Gun…a mechanically operated (by crank) multi-fire weapon that was designed during the 1870s for the Indian wars. Nowadays it is considered a vintage/historical antique by gun collectors and if fully operational, can be quite efficient when it comes to firing multiple rounds. A Gatling Gun rests on a tripod and is not easily carried.
They were also used in the Viet Nam War being mounted on helicopters and powered by electric motors in lieu of a hand crank. Total Apocalypse Now.
I would like to help send letters of support, and would like to do so as part of a group so they are not inundated with things they have to evaluate amidst what is surely ongoing fear that will take time to subside. How do I and my family join a group to help do that?
@Joel Henner,
I think this whole environment goes way back before Zuckerberg or 45, and I don’t just mean typical anti-semitism. I blame people on the center right, who have been willing to let the whole conservative political movement turn into a lie machine for the purpose of creating plutocracy (and thus destroying democracy) because it was the easiest way to get and retain power. That’s what the Permanent Republican Majority movement that began with Reagan was all about, to get power and keep it, without regard to the marketplace of ideas that is democracy, without regard to what that does to democracy. In order to get top tax rate cuts during the Reagan years, they created this semi-religious movement of trickle-down economics, which Reagan’s own budget direct admitted was just a cover for cutting top tax rates.
But as Republicans had more and more success with making lies told a thousand times becoming the truth (and not even giving up on it when an analysis of what went wrong in the Iraq War showed a complete disconnect between what people in the administration were saying and reality was to blame, they cultivated a whole ecosystem of supporters that became more and more detached from reality. That’s why 45 isn’t even trying to be a President for everyone, why his lying is just the natural progression of a party that has so relied on lies to further its political end. It why he’s after destroying the main-stream media — I have family in red states who really, truly believe that the only source of the truth and balance is Fox News, and everyone else is lying. They are smart people with advanced degrees, but they have been so immersed in this alternate reality for so long, that this makes sense to them. That alternate reality has been cultivated as a whole political movement – Permanent Republican Majority — that never went away. It is fundamentally anti-democratic, and based on lies that unfortunately have become the air they breathe.
This isn’t going to be solved by holding hands and singing kumbaya. Remember the pizza restaurant shooter who shot up a family restaurant thinking he was saving kids from a porn ring he truly believed the Clintons were running? Remember the weird partisan rant by the last nominee to the Supreme Court? What just happened in Pennsylvania is really just the latest manifestation of things that come from that self-cultivated insularity.
And the thing is, human history demonstrates that when one side (the right, in this case) tries to rig the game by nailing the seesaw of balance into the dirt, a violent swing in the other direction (which we are not nearly at yet, but getting there) is inevitable. We have to be really careful not to engage in false equivalencies by falling for this idea that somehow the problem is isolated and on both sides. It gives cover for worse to happen again. The topic of how to break that insularity and recover democratic give and take is a topic for another day. I just am sad that people think this is just something that started happening lately, because failing to learn from the past will ensure it gets repeated.
My heart is broken for the people affected by this — we will be praying.
>> This isn’t going to be solved by holding hands and singing kumbaya. Remember the pizza restaurant shooter who shot up a family restaurant thinking he was saving kids from a porn ring he truly believed the Clintons were running? Remember the weird partisan rant by the last nominee to the Supreme Court? What just happened in Pennsylvania is really just the latest manifestation of things that come from that self-cultivated insularity.
With the possible exception of the latest SCOTUS nominee who obviously has some deep-rooted ‘issues’ of his own, these random shooting incidents are more reflective of those with severe mental illness.
And these types of individuals (once and if identified) should be sent away and locked-up permanently…preferably on some remote island where they can fester for eternity.
That way they enjoy their “self-cultivated insularity” all to themselves. Treat them like lepers and move on.
“I have family in red states who really, truly believe that the only source of the truth and balance is Fox News, and everyone else is lying. They are smart people with advanced degrees, but they have been so immersed in this alternate reality for so long, that this makes sense to them.”
There is an alternative: One can be smart, one can be honest, one can be a Republican. But not all three. Much of your posting concerns that alternative.
I am totally sympathetic with the many comments and the article. I am personally a survivor from NAZI Germany and resumer emotionally all the horrible fates so many, including in my larger family, suffered.
But let’s also keep in focus other shootings like those for instance at the school in FL and a church in the Carolinas were even more were killed and wounded. Despite the wonderful efforts made there by student leaders to bring about public policies geared at reducing the risks involving gun violence little long term attention has emerged.
Let’s find , talk and install community wide ways to achieve governing ourselves more civily and democratically nationwide and actually Earth wide.
Peter K. Mueller
Blaming others will not help anyone or any situation.
Can we please suggest ideas that might work?
A conversation?
Eating meals together and getting to know one another when there is no tragedy?
As beautiful as the gathering was, it was over in a few hours.
Let us throw out of the box ideas because doing nothing, being on the side lines, not effecting us is not working. We can not keep doing the same and expect different answers.
I am willing to work, are you?
I’ve had friends calling me, their Jewish friend, this week with messages of condolences. My response to them is that this is NOT an affront only to Jews, nor is this a problem to be solved by the Jews. People who hate Jews also hate Muslims and Blacks and Asians and Gays and Trans and Hispanics and anyone not like them. When we see hate and violence towards any group and remain silent, thinking, “that’s not MY group”, we are opening the door to hatred against ourselves. Gay marriage would never have been accepted if it remained a “gay problem”. It took the masses, gay and straight, to embrace the issue and fight together. It is going to take the masses, all ethnicities, religions, sexual identities and orientations to rise up together and say NO to hatred of ANY group. If not, your group could be next. We share values of civil discourse and non-violence as Americans. When those values are broken, it shouldn’t matter against whom. It’s up to each of us to be more alert and aware of subtle messages and stop tolerating racism and bigotry all around us. When you hear it, don’t remain silent. Say something.
Here’s a good place to start – there’s a new video game called “cost of freedom” which happens in a nazi concentration camp where players can send prisoners for “disinfection”. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6333913/Video-game-depicting-players-Nazi-concentration-camp-guards-sparks-outrage-Poland.html
It doesn’t get much sicker than this. How might one launch a campaign to make this illegal in the US?
I tend to think this tribalism is a big problem. It doesn’t matter which tribe we are talking about either.
I don’t mind people keeping their customs, their religions, their culture. I don’t mind people wanting to spend time with like minded friends, family and peers.
What I think is the problem is the labeling we all have to go through so often. It leads to hateful comparisons. From the tribalism that causes Giants Fans to be attacked by Dodgers Fans to tribalism based on ethnicity, religion, or sexual orientation, and the ease with which someone who wants to hurt another tribe can get hold of guns legally. We are all in some group, some tribe, whether we like it or not. We just have to understand that we are different from others and that is perfectly OK.
Yes, we are all different from somebody else and that is perfectly OK.
We are different, and it is OK.
> I tend to think this tribalism is a big problem.
>> From the tribalism that causes Giants Fans to be attacked by Dodgers Fans…
Dodger fans often get attacked by Giants fans as well. Have you ever sat in the RF seats at the old Candlestick Park?
Ever been to a 49er or Raider game? Fans wearing identical team jerseys have been known to attack each other.
Some tribe members don’t even get along amongst themselves. It’s human nature.
Posted by Ellen Cohen, a resident of Green Acres
>> Here’s a good place to start – there’s a new video game called “cost of freedom” which happens in a nazi concentration camp where players can send prisoners for “disinfection”. Web Link
Following this link, the article describes something that looks like another FSB https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Security_Service (Russian) operation to stir up trouble between two countries – Poland and Ukraine. This “game” is not something created by/for ordinary gamers.
>> It doesn’t get much sicker than this.
True, but, if it turns out that the FSB is behind it, it is typical of vile wartime rumors and propaganda that have always existed– just that video games and social media posts are now fair game. From the article, it is unclear if the game exists in anything other than prototype/”trailer” propaganda.
IOW, I’m much more concerned about Donald Trump’s reaction to Pittsburgh:
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2018/10/29/donald-trump-pittsburgh-reaction/1804708002/
In Israel this kind of atrocity would not go unpunished and there would be harsh measures taken against those ‘special interest’ groups who promote this kind of unwarranted violence.
Not so in America.
> In Israel this kind of atrocity would not go unpunished and there would be harsh measures taken against those ‘special interest’ groups who promote this kind of unwarranted violence.
Yes. They would be identified, verified, routed out and eliminated to the fullest extent.
>> Not so in America.
Which is why there are so many recurrences.
“In Israel this kind of atrocity would not go unpunished”
Indeed. Perhaps, like Israel, we should also have sensible gun control.
So sorry for the events unfolding and lives lost. I attended a “protest” in Mountain View at the civic center many months go. All had signs – the biggest word on the signs was HATE. You could not read any of the other words. It was a reverse psychology to the whole point of the event. So all of these highly educated young people who were a majority of local tech firms were enforcing a negative message. I read that every day in our local papers – SJM and SFC – that keep beating out the negative message. No one elected these people but they are paid to publish or perish.
Everyone wants someone else to be responsible for what comes out of their mouths. For all of the “educated folks” here they did not take any civics classes in school – do schools even teach civics anymore? And why is it obligatory to attribute any hate message that comes out of your mouth to someone else?
As to Trump read his bio in Wikipedia – his family came out of Europe at the time of the Franco Prussian War – Alsace Lorraine region – 1870. France attacked Prussia to get control of that area. Many major families came to America at that time from that area that was steeped in anti-Semitism. Get your facts and assumptions clear through Wikipedia or some other well documented source before casting derogatory comments around. Parts of my family also came at that time and built the Washington Post out of bankruptcy as it cycled through the events unfolding. Different owners now who have no clue as to what journalism is all about.
>>>That’s why 45 isn’t even trying to be a President for everyone, why his lying is just the natural progression of a party that has so relied on lies to further its political end. It why he’s after destroying the main-stream media — I have family in red states who really, truly believe that the only source of the truth and balance is Fox News, and everyone else is lying.
Not a Trumpster by any means but the POTUS cannot be blamed for any of these incidents as they have been going on long before his ascendancy to the presidential throne of the United States. He is merely a spokesperson for those who feel they have been left behind by other administrations.
FOX News is entertaining to watch and listen to. So reactionary and narrow-minded. On the other hand CNN is like a whimpering child and Rachel Maddox/MNBC is more along the lines of a political comedian. The key is not to take any of them seriously. Use your own mind to determine things. Seriously.
As far as lying goes…all politicians lie. Did you just get off the watermelon truck?
@Time to Get Real,
This is not the time to fall back on false equivalences. This situation did not just happen yesterday. The quest for “permanent Republican majority” is not about normal political tension, it is about nailing the seesaw of Democracy into the dirt on one side in order to thwart democracy for plutocracy.
The people committing these acts may have a few screws loose, but the looney things they believe are only a short jog from the detached-from-reality framing the right has cultivated in the “conservative” public. When Trump says what seem like weird things about California, like that it’s a dirty state or that people are rioting in the streets because of sanctuary cities, this is not stuff that just a few loonies believe, it feeds a whole narrative that they have been cultivating for decades. If you polled people in red states, a lot of non-looney people would repeat all of those lies and argue with you strongly from a whole false belief system that has been cultivated for decades, even if you are coming from California and try to point out that it’s false.
It was not hard to believe the fake news that the Clintons were running a porn ring in some pizza parlor basement because it’s consistent with the rightwing narrative about the Clintons. That framing allowed Tr#mp to get away with a lot of the unreasonable attacks during the election, even where it was a fact that his own behavior was far worse. I’m guessing you would still find a fair number of people who believe there’s something going on and the pizza parlor shooter just found the wrong place. The left and the media have failed to combat the lies for decades, and now it’s no longer a matter of single discussions, a few facts to correct, etc. The framing the majority on the right believe is so far from reality, when I confront relatives in red states with facts that refute their belief system and cannot be denied, it’s like they mentally shut down.
I think the one glimmer of hope is the fact that many of the people are people of faith, and most really do care about their faith more than the politics. It’s just those who benefit have gotten them to conflate their faith with the politics, and thus to treat the politicians almost like some kind of prophets or gods. Reminding them of their faith is a way out, but it will take time and real persistence. For example, in a way to honor those who were attacked at this synagogue, just persisting in reminding the political Christians, every time immigrants are attacked from above, of what Jewish and Christian scriptures say about how to treat immigrants/aliens (very well). I personally think the greatest non-violent protest would be to form groups to send the administrations verses out of the Bible that directly refute the rhetoric and negative policies, and keep at it, and respond when they twist things around in reply.
People on the left just simply do not understand the bones that 45 throws the base by manipulating them not only through their beliefs, but through the lens of the false framing of the last 4 decades, and they don’t understand how it would be possible to wake them up to how they are destroying the “witness” of the faith by worshiping the political golden calves. But actually reminding a lot of them, over time, with persistence, of what Christ preached and their responsibility to love their neighbor, turn the other cheek, etc, can be a way to eventually combat the hate (and the hateful behavior of people whose seemingly looney beliefs are just not that much of a stretch from this cultivated rightwing framework.)
People on the left have to stop thinking that if they make a good argument against something once, that they don’t have to keep at it. The media would also need to break their habit of featuring only the worst extremes of political rightwing Christians and instead showing what is the majority of people of faith. The media have made it seem, for example, as if Christians are all far-right Republicans, when that’s just one extreme of the faith. The media have finally decided to be more balanced in their portrayal of Muslims, it’s time to be more balanced in the portrayal of Christians, for the same reason. So people don’t just see the terrorists, and the hateful speech of the extremists doesn’t become mainstream or a self-fulfilling prophesy.
I agree that this didn’t start with Tr#mp, he’s just doing it better than anyone else before. Democrats are just so naive, and the lack of understanding what is going on in red states is as much to blame. I challenge journalists to write down the ideas on the shooter’s white van, and talk to perfectly reasonable people in hard-core red states. What seems like the lunacy of a deranged mind is actually not that far from the framing the right has cultivated in a large portion of the population. This state of things has profound implications to elections, future politics, and this kind of violence.
This cannot be countered overnight, especially when the media have allowed themselves to be used for spreading the false ideas by airing all sides for “balance” without correctling false statements repeated over and over. And now the rightwing politicians have quite easily convinced their followers that the same media are evil and all lying — because it’s just not that much of a stretch from this alternative reality that has been cultivated for the last several decades.
Just finished Michael Connolly’s new book “Dark Sacred Night” – it is part of the Bosch Series. It correctly documents the pervasive gang culture in Southern California. People can float high ideas but those ideas do not connect to people on the street who grew up in the gang culture. Palo Alto has a more protected population. However go up to San Francisco and that is a different culture and is deteriorating. I used to love going up there but now avoid it. The state of California has eliminated the jobs that supported the middle class of all people – military bases, assembly lines for manufacturing. Even Tesla has people on the assembly line imported from middle eastern countries.
My niece lives in Baltimore – used to be the second biggest port on east coast, now the biggest employer is a non-profit that pays no taxes into the city for support of the school system. Jerry Brown used to have a program for Oakland for new growth that he quit – use that money for the “train”. People are correctly identifying that programs that are providing hype but no real value except growing the government – make that the main employer in CA. You can’t hide that with hype.
Trump has had to deal with the changing economy in his businesses and correctly calls out where the current programs are going wrong. The middles class needs a good industrial and manufacturing base which CA works to eliminate. You have to recognize how it use to be and now how it is to see how it is collapsing in on itself. The rest of the US can see that because they do not live in the tech bubble. And the tech bubble is not doing so well and is coming apart at the seams.
” has people on the assembly line imported “
No dog whistles here. Nothing to see, folks.
“…a good industrial and manufacturing base which CA works to eliminate.”
All these fact free statements, as if they are indeed fact and not opinion.
Who ranks as the #1 state for manufacturing?
http://www.nam.org/Data-and-Reports/State-Manufacturing-Data/State-Manufacturing-Data/April-2017/2017-State-Manufacturing-Data-Table/
California.
Followed by Texas and Ohio http://htl.li/LSQT30lo2Nd
“That makes the Buckeye State the state third largest for manufacturing in the nation, after the much-bigger California and Texas.”
Why oh why must a thread about conquering hate get filled with so much noise? Please – open up a new thread and join a book club for your odd slant on reality.
I am a 4th generation Californian and grew up in LA. My relatives were in the central valley so I know how the central valley used to be the golden harvest and is now brown dirt. The Burbank Airport was a Lockheed Martin manufacturing company building airplanes. The Santa Monica Airport was a McDonnel Douglas manufacturing plant working on the space program that moved down to Huntington Beach. There were some car assembly plants in the valley that are gone. Both in Socal and local we had military bases that employed many people. All of that information is available in the local papers. And Wikipedia. So what are we “manufacturing” in CA? and where? FB and Google are not manufacturing lines though they do have some experimental activities in process. Sorry – not opinion – but fact. I know because I worked there.
@Love Trumps Hate
“Why oh why must a thread about conquering hate get filled with so much noise? Please – open up a new thread … for your odd slant on reality.”
Do you see what I am trying to say, from @resident’s post? From @resident’s perspective, that viewpoint and framing makes perfect sense because of the long cultivation of false framing/lies from the right, for political/plutocratic purposes for so long. The reason you should care (the “why?” on this thread) is because the crazy hateful stuff is NOT just from some bizarre fringe domain, it’s very consistent and often even part and parcel of mainstream rightwing thought, which has been cultivated for the last 40 years as described above. Again, the things people seem to think are so detached from facts from 45 make perfect sense within that framework to otherwise reasonable people. @resident’s “odd slant on reality” is not because @resident is inherently unreasonable — what *you* (and probably *I*) believe is going to seem like an odd slant on reality to him/her, because of how detached from facts the mainstream of rightwing thought has become for the past 40 years. A lot of them weren’t believing anything except Fox and Friends for a really long time before 2016’s attack on the media.
Tragedies like this shooting really ought to start waking people up to that, in fact, this tragedy should even result in efforts to find the original source of some of the mainstream false ideas that led to the ideas the murderer espoused. It’s not simply the twisted product of a deranged person, and it’s not even just social media, it’s the deranged person’s take on carefully cultivated framing (including decades of lies) for a political purpose from sources like the private group that writes legislation and hands it to rightwing legislators to pass. We must wake up. Permanent Republic Majority was a movement that has led to this, is fundamentally anti-democratic, and the latest incarnation has to rely on bolder lies, hate, division, and intimidation. The hateful ideas that sparked this person and other rightwing domestic terrorists fall just not that far from the cultivated rightwing mainstream political tree.
> The quest for “permanent Republican majority” is not about normal political tension, it is about nailing the seesaw of Democracy into the dirt on one side in order to thwart democracy for plutocracy.
A majority of either party is bad for the country. Surprisingly, no one has figured that one out yet. About a 1/3rd -1/3rd is about all one can stomach. A 3rd Party needs to emerge.
>> But actually reminding a lot of them, over time, with persistence, of what Christ preached and their responsibility to love their neighbor, turn the other cheek, etc, can be a way to eventually combat the hate…
OK to love one’s neighbor if they in turn, love you back. If it’s one-sided, no way. Turning one cheek to get the other one slapped…no way.
Non one wants to live in a town (or world) called Chumpsville. That universe is for suckers.
So Holistic – other than trying to diagnose other people what life experiences do you bring to the table? Diagnosing other people seems to be a “job’ some people take on – I just tell you the way it used to be and the way it is now. And since I was born in SF I can bring in good comparisons. My mother was born in “Mayfield” – aka Palo Alto and SU. She did not appreciate the changes in the cities. She ended up working at Parker Center – Los Angeles Police Department so had local knowledge of the city exposure to crime. So I am talking about real changes in the way CA functions. And those changes are not good. And a person does not need to go further than the other stories on this program to see that people are very concerned with the school system due to many variance to common sense procedures. Please state what you bring to the table in the way of experiences instead of diagnosing other people.
>> of what Christ preached and their responsibility to love their neighbor, turn the other cheek, etc, can be a way to eventually combat the hate…
A nice thought but it didn’t seem work for him after he ventured into town for Passover.
“A nice thought but it didn’t seem work for him after he ventured into town for Passover.”
Mahatma Gandhi tried it too, which explains why India has remained a British colony, right?
How special to read in today’s Palo Alto Post’s Update (p. 4) that Palantir CEO Peter Thiel will support Trump’s re-election. See also Bloomberg https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-11-01/peter-thiel-praises-trump-pledges-to-support-his-2020-campaign
So much for our alternate society. Ford Aerospace and Communications Corporation used to occupy the whole block section on Fabian Way, as well as East Meadow Circle and Charleston buildings, east of 101. This was a major business for the city and they participated in all of the festivities produced by the city. The Government wanted to reduce the number of companies that bid on major programs so Ford Motor Company sold it’s “Defense” section to Loral. We became Loral Space Systems. Then foreign companies out bid the manufacturing of equipment and the business units started being sold out to other companies. End result was commercial space craft was SSL, and government space craft was now Lockheed Martin – Sunnyvale. So now the location on Fabian Way may go up for sale and another major manufacturing company in Palo Alto will leave. That was a major employer in this city. And it was Manufacturing. Also other programs. Great people, smart people, great programs, great support to the city of PA festivities. How does the state of CA create such an unwelcoming environment to manufacturing business. But we helped build up the reputation of the city so we can take the money and run. And we had every one there of all races and religions – and it all worked. All were a TEAM. So think about the conditions that create good teams for all races and religions. There has to be JOBS for all of those variations of people. Pittsburg prides itself on the elimination of the steel industry – my brother lived there for a while – so the variation on jobs was reduced and the city is beautiful but closing in on itself.