A few day ago many sources reported on the efforts of the Missouri KKK to get in on the Ferguson action. The white-robed bubba contingent promised that “we will use lethal force as provided by Missouri Law to defend ourselves.” Some racist thugs propose to bring guns to counter the perceived threat posed by folks who are fired up by a long history of police brutality and are declaring that they won’t take it anymore. Anybody surprised by this turn of events?

On the same note, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports today that Ferguson protestors are gearing up for the furror that will probably errupt when the grand jurry issues what many expect will be a white-washing of Darren Wilson’s role in the shooting of Michael Brown. Acording to the report, one faction is exhorting protesters to “pack side arms.” So, if anybody takes this advice to heart, more guns will be added to the lethal mix. I expect that the protestors, with considerably more justification than the KKKers, also claim that they’re concerned with self-defense – and given the over-reaction that the relatively minor episodes of violence in Ferguson have inspired, it’s  hard to deny the force of the sentiment.  

The KKK types are citing Missouri law to justify their rush to the shootout at the OK Corral. While the Missoouri Revised Statutes, Section 563-031, that they cite does attempt to spell out when one may legally defend oneself with lethal force, it doesn’t – on my reading at least – seem to justify folks who are absolutely not threatened by the protests to show up, wave their guns, and fan the flames. But it’s easy for sanctimonious dimwits who want to assert their dominance and pretend that they speak for “the good people of St. Louis County of all races, colors and creeds” to misinterpret such laws with potentially disastrous consequences.

And as for any protestors who may “pack” sidearms, I think that concealed and open carry are now legal, right? While I suspect that Missouri’s very permissive gun laws were intended to enable white folks who have an exaggerated fear of African-Americans rather than angry African-American protestors, the law doesn’t make those distinctions.

Anybody who is surprised by these developments hasn’t been around the proverbial block too many times. The upshot is that we live in a state where laws have been written to encourage mayhem. The sad thing is that I suspet that these laws owe their existence in part to the fear and loathing that lots of white folks feel towards their black fellow citizens.

And it’s the various traditionally entrenched manifestations of that fear and loathing that has created the Ferguson situation in the first place. Now we’ve got Big Daddy Jay Nixon shaking  his finger at protestors and telling us all to hell with police brutality, he won’t tolerate any rioting black folks. Nor should he, but, when he’s addressing the community shouldn’t he at least give a nod of the head to the abuses that left people so angry that they take to the streets? And shouldn’t he let folks like the KKK know that he won’t tolerate any ugly, self-proclaimed “sleeping giants” who want to use Ferguson as an excuse to sling their lethal cudgels? I was visiting in California when I heard Nixon’s speech on the topic and I, a white, middle aged woman, felt like he was waving a red flag meant to incite a currently quiescent bull. No wonder the KKK feels empowered.

And while I’m at it, I haven’t seen a thing in the Post-Dispatch about the KKK’s threats. Did I just miss it? Did they not report on it because it’s potentially inflamatory? But why then did they report on the protestors who “stated plans to ‘make a few fires to stay warm’ – but without the need for firewood.” That isn’t inflamatory (no pun intended)? That doesn’t excite people like the KKK?  If the story is fit to print, print both sides.

Edited slightly for clarity.    

Ten-country comparison suggests there’s little or no link between video games and gun murders

Posted by Max Fisher on December 17, 2012 at 1:51 pm

….Looking at the world’s 10 largest video game markets yields no evident, statistical correlation between video game consumption and gun-related killings….

No, that’s not it.

Maybe this is (October 2003):

SCIENCE BRIEFS

Violent Video Games: Myths, Facts, and Unanswered Questions

Studies provide converging evidence that exposure to media violence is a significant risk factor for aggressive and violent behavior.

By Craig A. Anderson, PhD

….Further research will likely find some significant moderators of violent video game effects, because the much larger research literature on television violence has found such effects and the underlying processes are the same. However, even that larger literature has not identified a sizeable population that is totally immune to negative effects of media violence….

….Cartoonish and fantasy violence is often perceived (incorrectly) by parents and public policy makers as safe even for children. However, experimental studies with college students have consistently found increased aggression after exposure to clearly unrealistic and fantasy violent video games. Indeed, at least one recent study found significant increases in aggression by college students after playing E-rated (suitable for everyone) violent video games….

But, if you tax the bullets at $5,000.00 each…

HB 157, introduced yesterday:

FIRST REGULAR SESSION

HOUSE BILL NO. 157

97TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

INTRODUCED BY REPRESENTATIVE FRANKLIN.

0923H.01I     D. ADAM CRUMBLISS, Chief Clerk

AN ACT

To amend chapter 144, RSMo, by adding thereto three new sections relating to violent video games, with an emergency clause.

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the state of Missouri, as follows:

           Section A. Chapter 144, RSMo, is amended by adding thereto three new sections, to be known as sections 144.1020, 144.1022, and 144.1024, to read as follows:

           144.1020. As used in sections 144.1022 and 144.1024, the term “violent video game” means a video or computer game that has received a rating from the Entertainment Software Rating Board of Teen, Mature, or Adult Only.

           144.1022. 1. In addition to any other sales tax provided for by law, there is hereby levied upon sales of all violent video games an excise tax based on the gross receipts or gross proceeds of each sale at a rate of one percent.

           2. The rate provided for in subsection 1 of this section shall not affect any county or municipal sales tax imposed pursuant to law.

           3. The revenue generated by the additional tax imposed under this section, less any reduction allowed under section 149.021, shall be deposited in the state general revenue fund and appropriated solely for the treatment of mental health conditions associated with exposure to violent video games. The revenues derived from the tax imposed under this section shall constitute new and additional funding for treatment of mental health conditions associated with exposure to violent video games and shall not be used to replace existing funding as of July 1, 2013, for the same or similar funding for treatment of mental health conditions associated with exposure to violent video games.

           144.1024. 1. In addition to any other tax provided for by law, there is hereby levied upon persons storing, using, or otherwise consuming within this state, tangible personal property purchased or brought into this state, an excise tax on the storage, use, or other consumption in this state of all violent video games, based on the gross receipts or purchase price of such property at a rate of one percent.

           2. The revenue generated by the additional tax imposed under this section, less any reduction allowed under section 149.021, shall be deposited in the state general revenue fund and appropriated solely for the treatment of mental health conditions associated with exposure to violent video games. The revenues derived from the tax imposed under this section shall constitute new and additional funding for treatment of mental health conditions associated with exposure to violent video games and shall not be used to replace existing funding as of July 1, 2013, for the same or similar funding for treatment of mental health conditions associated with exposure to violent video games.

           Section B. Because immediate action is necessary to protect the mental health of individuals exposed to violent video games, the enactment of sections 144.1020, 144.1022, and 144.1024 of this act is deemed necessary for the immediate preservation of the public health, welfare, peace, and safety, and the enactment of sections 144.1020, 144.1022, and 144.1024 of this act is hereby declared to be an emergency act within the meaning of the constitution, and the enactment of sections 144.1020, 144.1022, and 144.1024 of this act shall be in full force and effect upon its passage and approval.

[emphasis in original]

The sponsor:

Rep. Diane Franklin, a Republican, represents parts of Camden and Laclede counties (District 123) in the Missouri House of Representatives. She was elected to her first two-year term in November 2010.

In addition to her legislative activities, Rep. Franklin is a third-generation small business owner, presently in health care, and a fifth-generation farmer. She has served on the Camdenton R-III School Board from 1993 to 1999 and as a Board Representative to Career and Technical, Parents as Teachers and to the Dorothy Blair Scholarship Fund.

Rep. Franklin is a member of the National Rifle Association, National Wild Turkey Federation and Missouri Farm Bureau. She is also a member of the American and Missouri Trap Shooting Associations where she is one of four women on the Missouri State Trapshooting Team. She is a member of Lake Area, Camdenton and Lebanon Chamber of Commerce. She is a member of Canopy Church. Rep. Franklin has served as both president and vice president of the Lake Masters Area Gardeners.

Rep. Franklin is a 1974 graduate of Camdenton RIII schools, a graduate of Ozarks Technical Community College and has completed course work at Southwest Baptist University and Truman State University.

[….]

Probably not a fan of Chris Rock’s solution.

Reps get spit on, windows broken, mysterious powder–and Palin blames the “lame-stream media”.

House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA) excoriated DNC Chair Tim Kaine and DCCC Chair Rep. Chris Van Hollen, for “dangerously fanning the flames” in using recent acts of violence and intimidation by anti-health-care reform opponents, “as a political weapon.”

Was there spittle? Or, was there not?

There is so much spin going on all over the place it’s a wonder the number of car-wrecks don’t go up due to a permanent condition of dizziness afflicting the populace.

A friend of mine I play B-ball with said, “Don ‘t complain about Glenn Beck, the left’s got Keith Olbermann–the Republicans, Bill O’Reilly–and Democrats, Chris Matthews.”

It’s clear television news today is not your father’s nor mother’s fav journalist broadcaster. The days of Howard K. Smith or Walter Cronkite are gone.

So we have these ratings machines — FOX News, CNN, MSNBC — stoking reactionary stimulus throughout the neural networks of many a head, whipping folks up in their respective corners only to meet in the real world with shouting, disconnects, and yes, even acts of violence.

What are the solutions? I mean, quite possibly, there’s as much wrong with American media appetites as there is with our real eating habits of sugar, salt, carbs.

Maybe we’re just in the dark ages of the information revolution. Does that make sense?

I just finished a mentorship program with sixth grade students in Wellston, Missouri. We were helping students with projects for a Science Fair, and teaching them what the scientific method is. You come up with an idea–you test it–and appreciate knowing if you were right or wrong.

Teaching the method in simple terms gave me a clue as to what might be going on as the nation further fractures, polarizes and chasms, politically.

Scientific evidence shows that people like to be “right” and actually get a chemical lift from the experience, kinda like what a Ding-Dong and Coke’ll do to ya.

In fact, people like to be right so bad, that they will actually rearrange and distort facts to reach emotionally satisfying conclusions, as opposed to accurate ones. This is the filter of an addiction to the false sense of security in knowing you’ve got it all figured out; a comfortable and safe place, to be sure. Media venues pump a light-and-sound show that tweak this addiction to be “right”, and profit off of being pushers of self-reinforcing arrogance.

What I shared with my students was the fact that, as scientists, we have to lean against this propensity to always want to be right, and to embrace revealing facts and statistics that might–god forbid–actually disprove our theories, ideas or concepts. After all, as the story goes, Thomas Edison did not invent the light bulb as much as found thousands of light bulbs that didn’t last until they discovered a carbonized bamboo filament that lasted lit-up for over a thousand hours. The point is, objective evidence may not feel good all the time, but an individual or community or nation that celebrates it, will be less prone to ego-satisfying folly or self-destructive cultural battles.

The problem with our political system resembling more of a sporting contest than a thoughtful democracy is that a sort of “March-Madness” begins to creep in (nothing against the beautiful B-ball we’ve been witness to recently). A large portion of folks are just hell-bent upon winning–delivering “Waterloos” to the other side at any cost–including damaging the better interests of the American people.

To think that not a single Republican voted for health-care reform is emblematic of the Napoleon-like mentality that has polluted our political universe.

Our nation is 233 years old, a youngster as compared to other cultures; adolescence can be difficult.  As America grows up, let’s make sure her citizens have access to the liberating mindset of the scientist seeking solutions, and move past the “I’m right, you’re wrong” political theatre that plays out more like a Greek tragedy, than the story of a modern, mature and manifest leader in the world.

This is why education is the investment in our future like no other. And making sure the education for future generations is the best we can deliver.

Representatives of the Party of No and its supporters responded in one of two ways immediately after the passage of the Senate bill on Mondayhealth care reform law – with violent rhetorical excess, or with real violence. The first characterized the GOPers in congress who competed to outdo each other’s demagogic excesses in their efforts to portray this bill as an  “outrage” that threatens democracy. Their tantrums arguably helped whip up the second, more violent response on the part of their out-of-control Tea Party dupes. The result? Violence and threats of violence against Democrats who had refused to be intimidated by months of implied threat.

The latest beneficiary of the Republican efforts to fan the Tea Party frenzy is Rep. Russ Carnahan (D-3rd). A coffin that had earlier figured in a Tea Party protest was left on the lawn of Carnahan’s residence Tuesday night. Even KMOV reporter Matt Sczesny, who has seemed at times perhaps a little too friendly to the Tea Partiers to be considered objective (they certainly appreciate his coverage, at any rate), was moved to observe:

… the police were not involved, since it doesn’t appear there was any direct threat and the coffin was empty. However, one can only imagine what may be implied by leaving a coffin on a front lawn.  We all know that emotions have been running high over the health care reform debate, but this has to make you wonder where this debate is going.

Sczesny is correct – even though the Tea Party is claiming that they have been “smeared” by Carnahan and the coffin was simply part of a prayer vigil in which it symbolized the death of freedom. Viewed in the context of the the recent threats of violence, Carnahan, along with all sane Americans, should be concerned about where the delusional hysteria and bullyboy tactics of this group may take us.

The individuals, however, who ought to be most concerned are our putative Republican leaders who have been willing to play on the emotions of the looney tunes brigade for their own political purposes. As Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo observes about the recent spate of violence:

… this didn’t come from nowhere and it can’t be pawned off on a few cranks. Everything that’s happened over the last five days has grown from a pattern of incitement going back almost a year — wildly hyperbolic statements, coded appeals to menacing behavior, flippant jokes about bringing firearms to political events and all the rest.

We need to contact our Republican congressional representatives and demand that they take responsibility for inciting fear and anger among their more unstable constituents, and for implicitly indicating that violence might be justified whenever individuals fail to prevail politically. Not that they’ll ever own up to their role – already they are fishing around for ways to blame the victims – but they ought to hear that a few of us at least know just what they have been doing – and that we will do our best to make sure that that knowledge becomes a commonplace.

Addenda:  Ezra Klein gets it right while keeping a calm, civil tongue in his head.