The time has come to shake the cobwebs out of our brains and recognize that neither party is going to solve gun violence, immigration, crime, accusations of racism, or corporate/bank fraud. Add rape and abortion to that list and you have the most perfect mind-numbing media blitz ever created.
These topics are the political ping pong balls which are batted back and forth across the net (aisle) each election cycle. They are meant to keep citizens at each other’s throats and to confuse us with intentionally misleading and inaccurate information. Why? Because if we were ever to fully understand the power we would have by joining forces, there would be no one left in local, state and federal government. A massive broom and shovel would be needed to remove all the garbage meant for the trash heap.
Let’s gobble like a turkey for a few minutes… crime cannot be “solved.” Crime can be contained or curtailed but it can never be eradicated. The reason has nothing to do with guns. The reason is that we humans are the worst kind of animal. We kill for no reason.
In 2020, 39.7 million background checks on firearms’ purchasers were performed, resulting in 23 million firearm sales and the arrest of 2,000 illegal gun dealers. Forty three percent (43%) of criminals with convictions had purchased weapons illegally. A large number of firearms being sold in the U.S. are being sold in back alleys (metaphor).
Immigration, the requirements for which could have and should have been rewritten decades ago, is an effective cudgel with which to beat voters into a frenzy prior to an election. Crimes against women, which include rape, are mutant octopuses with an inordinate number of tentacles. No politician has ever spoken the truth about rape because if women knew the truth – both in terms of the attack and what to do should you survive – there would be no reason to include rape in discussions of abortion.
Rape is near and dear to my heart. Both my daughter and I have been traumatized by the crime. I could write… I have written… column after column on the subject, but you will rarely see my work in print. Destigmatizing rape does not sell newspapers nor does it boost votes during the November election cycles. When it comes to politics, rape and abortion are conjoined twins. The “crimes” cannot be legislated separately without diminishing the power… the fear… they hold over uninformed women.
We are one spark away from an inferno and nobody in government or the media has the courage or the desire to toss a bucket of water on the flames.
The media has only one agenda… to make as much money for their advertisers as possible. Not one television station’s anchors tells the whole truth. In fact, you should not concern yourself with what is being said. You should spend time thinking about what is not being said. Remember that money talks and everyone has a price at which they will sell their integrity. News reporters are an example of shills in action. Every morning, noon and night, they play the shell game. “Pick a shell. Any shell. Where do you think the truth is hidden?”
If you fall for the scam and choose a shell – in other words, if you believe what you are being told - you will lose. The shells are empty. The truth, whatever that may be, is hidden in legislation that, when printed, will cause a hernia in even the strongest individuals. The truth weighs nothing, but lies… lies can and will choke you to death.
Donna Carbone is the Executive Director/Playwright in Residence at the Palm Beach Institute for the Entertainment Arts. Please visit PBIEA at: pbinstituteforentertainmentarts.com