A Nation DesensitizedThe Unfiltered Lens

Unfilteredlenswebmail@gmail.com

VOL II ISSUE I FEBRUARY 22, 2013Serving the CCRI Student Body Since 2007

EmpowermentBy

Ben Miller

Little Pieces of the SpectrumBy Megan Phelps

A Call to DisarmBy

Kaila Matteson

How Amer i ca Sho t I t s e l f in the Foo tPat O’BrienStaff Writer

We need to have an honest discus-sion. Why does it seem like violence is so prevalent in a society that is so often propped up in a light of exceptional-ism? If we are a country which views our moral standing second to none, how can we continue down the path of gross violent destruction? The singular mas-sacres that we have witnessed over the past decade or so are the exaggeration of a persisting epidemic. Gun violence in our society far outweighs that in oth-er similar developed countries. Why is that? Why has the genie been out of the bottle for so long in this civil society? A society where there have been almost 2,000 gun deaths since the Newtown, Connecticut shooting? Let me say that again; 2,000.

(http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/crime/2012/12/gun_death_tally_every_american_gun_death_since_newtown_sandy_hook_shooting.single.html)

Is there something to be said for the out-and-out violence that is force fed through the basic cable channels into the eyes and soul of the viewer? Mostly it has been pushed aside as just a result in the progression of man. It seems to be a desensitizing unit more than natural progression. From current TV series to upcoming blockbusters, the amount of death toward bad guys and the amount of heroics seen in our stars imitates life only in the way the artist decides. But as viewers our per-ceptions are skewed by the memories we have formed, mostly by the violent movement in society. It is not our fault that we have such violent complacency. We have been slowly guided in a way that makes viewing the end of life on a big screen as common as kissing our kids to sleep at night.

The use and exposure to animated violence, where one can see an unend-ing display of carnage, and comment, goad, and ridicule another’s willingness or lack thereof to induce violence upon an enemy wearing a headset in their living-room miles away opposing you in only the nature of which team they ended up on when the computer set up the game. The military strategy that is automatically instilled on youth in America, sitting on couches playing killing games, has gone under the radar for a very long time. Gun manufactur-ers have promotional deals with the

companies who create the military style games. The parallel that has occurred is very similar to that of the tobacco industry’s branding strategies of years ago. Big tobacco was linked to the di-rect connection between its advertising and youth addiction to cigarettes; inevi-table misery and death resulting. When will the tycoons at McMillan Group, who make sniper rifles and advertise on games such as Medal of Honor for EA Sports, be held up to public scrutiny, be held responsible for an active role in promoting murder?

We teach our young children the game of war with realistic “Air-Soft” as-sault rifles and hand guns. Each week-end they can act out their aggression, built up from a week of stressful school at the neighborhood military course; aiming and training their sites on their friends, as they run for cover and escape from reality. When will we discuss the implications of desensitizing our youth? Or have we been too busy to notice? Is it something that is of concern to our society? When you observe the trajec-tory of our history of violence, where do you think we are heading? Without an opposing force, there is nothing to stop a run-away train.

We are bothered by a mass shoot-ing. We don’t like how it feels to see small children in pain and we cannot handle the visualization of the reality in our head, because at some point in time we have concluded that heroes whom have dodged the bullets and have taken on jungle armies singlehandedly, do not exist in the halls of our schools and do not push young women out of the way of misguided bullets in parks in our in-ner cities. Since Newtown, when we collectively said that we can’t let down our children ever again; 32 children, 12 or younger, have been shot down. Ad-ditionally, 108 teens have fallen victim. 140 children under the age of twenty have had all their potential extinguished and their deaths have gone almost un-noticed and unheard over the noise of the power elite, fighting over which lobby friendly bill or talking point can be emitted from their bought mouths, protecting the company line for a while longer while ignoring yet another child being gunned down.

In two months we have indeed let our children down. The tragedy of 32 dead children is nullified by the

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02/THE UNFILTERED LENS/SINCE 2007/FEBRUARY 22, 2013

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proximity of each death in re-lation to the other. In the age of the internet and instant ac-cess, when will we stop think-ing so close minded? When will the death of one equal the death of another? How is one lost life more important than another? A mother will always lose a son, and the son will have to bury his mother, no matter the amount of coverage on the evening news. Almost 2,000 deaths from guns, and no answers. No solutions. We have failed our children, we have failed the poor, who are the victims of most of the gun deaths in this country, and we have failed ourselves. America is not exceptional when we do not protect one another. We are not exceptional when there is a caste system behind our democracy. We are not excep-tional when we have the undy-ing need to kill.

I am not smart enough to know the answers to the ques-tions that linger about gun safety and control. I do know that there are parties that ben-efit on all sides of this argu-

ment. There is always a job attached to a bullet, and that worker’s paycheck shouldn’t be cashed with their acknowl-edgement that their fingerprints are lodged in a pregnant wom-an’s back. The abolishment of weaponry is a foolish path to try to travel down, people are afraid, and who is righteous enough to blame them? What is needed is a common sense con-versation of what should hap-pen for the safety of children, and the overall future of our society and culture as a whole. The scare tactics that the pro-gun lobby has enlisted will never end. They have an ob-ligation to continue their exer-tion that the plan of the govern-ment is to take the guns away from the people. If they spew the rhetoric of fear, and enough uninformed people hear them, they too will start to believe that the government is out to get them. The overall majority of people believe in the com-mon sense steps which have been set forth so far. Univer-sal background checks for all gun purchases. The argument

A Nation Desensitized

continued on back cover

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The opinions and views expressed in The Unfiltered Lens student newspaper are solely those of their writers and are in no way, shape, or form, the opinions or views of CCRI and/or of its affiliates. ©The Unfiltered Lens 2013

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EmpowermentBen Miller

Staff Writer

A Thought on Gun OwnershipWhat a year 2012 was for the

debate on weapon ownership. As we continue into 2013 it does not look like it will be slowing down. Take a moment before we dive into this article here and think what has happened in the past year.

• February 22, 2012—Five people were killed in at a Korean health spa in Norcross, Georgia, when a man opened fire inside the facility in an act suspected to be related to domestic violence.

• February 26, 2012—Multiple gunmen began firing into a nightclub crownd in Jackson, Tennessee, killing one person and injuring 20 others.

• February 27, 2012—Three students at Chardon High School in rural Ohio were killed when a classmate opened fire.

• March 8, 2012—Two people were killed and seven wounded at a psychiatric hospital in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, when a gunman entered the hospital with two semiautomatic handguns and began firing.

• March 31, 2012—A gunman opened fire on a crowd of mourners at a North Miami, Florida, funeral home, killing two people and injuring 12 others.

• April 2, 2012—A 43-year-old former student at Oikos University in Oakland, California, walked into his former school and killed seven people, “execution-style.” Three people were wounded.

• April 6, 2012—Two men went on a deadly shooting spree in Tulsa, Oklahoma, shooting black men at random in an apparently racially motivated attack. Three men died and two were wounded.

• May 29, 2012—A man in Seattle, Washington, opened fire in a coffee shop and killed five

people and then himself. • July 9, 2012—At a soc-

cer tournament in Wilmington, Delaware, three people were killed, including a 16-year-old player and the event organizer, when multiple gunmen began fir-ing shots, apparently targeting the organizer.

• July 20, 2012—James Holmes enters a midnight screen-ing of The Dark Knight Rises in Colorado, and opens fire with a semi-automatic weap-on; twelve people are killed and fifty-eight are wounded. • August 5, 2012—A white supremacist and former Army veteran shot six people to death inside a Sikh temple in sub-urban Milwaukee, Wisconsin, be-fore killing himself.

• August 14, 2012—Three people were killed at Texas A&M University when a 35-year-old man went on a shooting rampage; one of the dead was a police offi-cer.

• September 27, 2012—A 36-year-old man who had just been laid off from Accent Signage Systems in Minneapolis, Minne-sota, entered his former workplace and shot five people to death, and wounded three others before kill-ing himself.

• October21,2012—45-year-old Radcliffe Frankin Haugh-ton shot three women to death, in-cluding his wife, Zina Haughton, and injured four others at a spa in Brookfield, Wisconsin, before kill-ing himself.

• December 11, 2012—A 22-year-old began shooting at ran-dom at a mall near Portland, Or-egon, killing two people and then himself.

• December 14, 2012—One man, murders a reported twenty-six people at an elementary

school in Newtown, Connecticut, including twenty children, before killing himself.

There you have it a list of all the mass shootings that happened in the United States last year. What are you thinking? If you are any-thing like me I hope that you are a bit disgusted. But the question that I really want to know is why? Why as Americans do we feel the need to have weapons? Why do you need an automatic weapon? Let’s look back at history.

The United States Second amendment states “A well-regu-lated Militia, being necessary to the security of a Free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” Just look at the first few words here “A well-regulated Militia, be-ing necessary to the security of a Free State. What does that mean? Well to me it means that we as Americans should have Militias guarding our freedoms. As for the next part the right to bear arms, we sometimes (and sometimes it’s hard for some to do) have to take a step back and realize that this was written in the late 1700’s. It was a different time then. We were under control of a foreign power, of course we needed weapons. We also at that time had to hunt for our food. There were no fast food processed meat factories for your horse and buggy to ride up on. So the meaning of the second amend-ment had a different meaning to those living back then.

Today’s second amendment activists think that the Govern-ment is coming to take their guns away. No! That is not the case at all. What the Government wants to do is regulate. Put new laws, more modern laws into effect. Now I know what some will say “well the criminals will still get

these weapons.” Well then I pose this question to you. If your logic is that it is useless to regulate guns because criminals will still break the law, then why have traffic laws or any laws at all?

For some of you it may be hard to believe but I do own a gun. And it was very easy for me to get this weapon. It is nothing but a small handgun, and I received this while I was in the military. I have been trained to use it. Many citizens can walk into a Wal-Mart and buy a gun with no wait (but you can’t buy a CD with bad lan-guage there, makes me laugh a little) and one box of ammunition. Who is to stop you from going to another gun shop and buying more ammunition? No one! Anyone see the problem? I think I may have a solution.

What we need is not a com-plete ban on weapons. I do agree that we do need the assault weapon ban. If you can give me one good reason why you need an M-16 in your house, I am all ears; and the Apocalypse is not a good enough reason because it’s not happening. Here is what I believe needs to be done. First: A full psychological review on you needs to be done. Second: The test that you have to take to get the license must be made more difficult. Third: You must show proficiency on safety and proper uses of a weapon. When all of this is completed then you receive your weapon.

Now I know that many of you will not agree with me on this and that is fine I have tough skin. But we as a country cannot let this continue. “In one year, more than 31,000 people die from gun violence and close to 79,000 more are shot but survive gun injuries. That’s more than 100,000 people EACH YEAR who are with a gun

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in our country.” This is from the Brady center. This number is disgusting. We as human being’s need to realize, that we cannot keep doing this to ourselves. We as Americans have become so de-sensitized to violence, that is why I stated the facts in the opening, and that was just last year, and we are already off to a great start in 2013.

In closing I am not saying that I am right, but if you are pro-gun just think of the questions. Do you really need an automatic weapon? No, they are made to hunt people. Do you really need a 12 round Magazine of bullets? No, a standard 8 will work. There are many more questions, and I do hope that once you look at the facts you will see that if we can all meet in a way that it makes us as American citizens safer to where we don’t have to teach our kindergarten children about mass shootings then the United States will be a better place.

04/THE UNFILTERED LENS/SINCE 2007/FEBRUARY 22, 2013

The Scene Because there is so much more to college life than studying for exams...

Little Pieces of the Spectrum

Megan PhelPs

Fine Arts Writer

Barbra Owen Displays Her work in the CCRI Art Gallery on the Knight Campus

Barbra Owen, a local artist recently displayed her works in our art gallery last semester on the Warwick Cam-pus. Her work is acrylic ink on hand cut paper. Some of these works were framed while others were tacked to the wall so as to see the three dimen-sions and also to view the texture. She also has some beautiful oil canvases.

When asked about her techniques and styles Owen says “I use hand paint-ed paper that I then cut shapes out of - some of which I would leave whole and others I cut outlines of the shape, continuing to cut even as the shape gets smaller and smaller. Working on the pieces for this show took months - a single piece could take several weeks. One shape, if you recall, a large round flower, took me three weeks and count-less blades for my Xacto knife. In creat-ing a shape I followed my intuition. It is exciting to see a form taking shape.”

Her color choices are attracting to the eye in bright shades fading into each other. The tinniest designs make up this whole big picture or image giving ev-erything from texture and well selected composition. Her work reminds me of the artistic work Wangechi Mutu be-cause they both have the abstract looks of small patters forming a large image. Elements held my gaze for the longest time because its twist and turns were many and it was also the largest piece on display. The string effect that the flower has gives off lots of texture not only because it is three dimensional, but

because of the design on each piece of shredded ink on paper. I love the bursts of blue, green, orange and red because they add a balance to the entire piece, giving it more structure rather than the look of all string, when viewed for across the room. Every one of her acrylic ink on cut paper works gave a comforting yet interesting feeling that made me want to examine each piece.

Fiction and Indomitably Fragrant were her two oil canvases on display. I liked the simplicity both seemed to offer because each petal and splash of color looks as if it was treated with care. I do like how Fiction has a white background because it makes the color in this painting pop, but in Indomita-bly Fragrant the blue background adds a sort of royal look to entire painting.

Many enjoy viewing the works of Barbra Owen. “This pleased me be-cause as I make these and see all the dynamic color combinations I also feel happy. My studio is a very happy place to be!” says Owen. Color was everywhere in that white room of an art gallery. It was amazing to see.

I urge everyone to visit the art gal-lery even if it is as little as once every semester to see the amazing creations of our student body and even to see the works of others that wish to dis-play their works there. It is there for us to enjoy for free, so why not enjoy it!

Yorke to work with. Percussion on the album is

nothing short of bril l iant. Refos-co’s a god of the percussive realm, taking advantage of all that is in existence to work with. This in ac-companiment with Waronker ’s set playing makes for a rounded and full-bell ied Africanized rhythm de-partment.

The usual objective be-hind the unity of a supergroup is to blend creative differences and build something new. Atoms for Peace are doing i t r ight, let t ing in-

fluence and musical abil i t ies coop-erate with each other in a melting pot of the electronic sophistication of the unknown.

Key Tracks:

“Before Your Very Eyes…”

“Stuck Together Pieces”

“Judge, Jury and Executioner”

THE SCENE/THE UNFILTERED LENS/SINCE 2007/FEBRUARY 22, 2013/05

Our beloved hero, Thom Yorke has returned. But this t ime, not with his fellow band mates of Ra-diohead. Atoms for Peace, an ex-perimental supergroup consisting of Flea of the Red Hot Chili Pep-pers, Radiohead’s longtime record producer, Nigel Godrich, Joey Waronker, (Beck, R.E.M) percus-sionist Mauro Refosco, and of course, Thom Yorke, has actually been lurking deep in the shadows since i t’s formulation in 2009.

Nearly four years later, At-oms for Peace are strapping up to release their debut album, Amok. For years and years, Radiohead fans have cherished Thom Yorke as art rock’s greatest lyricist of sor-row, or one of them, at least . A short , lazy-eyed majesty of misery.

With Atoms for Peace, on the other hand, i t seems Thom has grown a bit more, dare I say, opti-mistic?

The remarkable factor that makes Atoms so immediately in-triguing is i ts differentiation from the instrumental habits of Radio-head. Amok is full of those good ole’ ghostly, echoed Yorke harmo-nies we all know and love, but with the help of Flea and friends, Thom exerts himself. He learns to main-tain a heightened tempo and have a l i t t le more fun than i t seems he’s used to.

The bizarre abnormality behind Amok, (aside from Yorke getting his groove on) is bassist , Flea’s tendency to stray aside and bring a hush his playing. I t’s re-freshing, almost. Flea has landed in a completely different atmosphere with Atoms. It is an atmosphere of electronic experimentation, re-flectiveness, and most importantly, teamwork.

This may be a world that Flea has never encountered, but he has no problem familiarizing him-self with his role in the group. He works together instinctively with Waronker and Refosco to formu-late a colorful skeletal structure for

Y o r k e R u n s A m o kCollaborates with a Certain Flea...(and others)greg Maynard

The Scene Editor

4/5 - Worth Your Time

Rating System

5/5 - Wicked Awesome4/5 - Worth Your Time3/5 - Decent2/5 - Barely Tolerable1/5 - Utter Crap

Are you a local musician, filmmaker, artist, or a monstrously unique act of any kind spewing creative madness? If so, then find me. Send me whatever you’ve got by email or even meet with me in person and I’ll write up a review on your talents to be published in CCRI’s own, The Unfiltered Lens.

The Lens is widely read, with copies now proudly stocked across campus, at Rhode Island College and the State House. You’ve got something to show the world. I can help. Don’t ignore the itch, scratch it. Talk to you soon!

Email Unfilteredlenswebmail@gmail.com, Subject: Local Talent

LOCAL TALENTS: I WANT YOU

Contact us TODAY

06/THE UNFILTERED LENS/SINCE 2007/FEBRUARY 22, 2013/THE SCENE

Come check your Unfiltered Lens on Facebook! Scan the QR code above or visit http://on.fb.me/ILXh6d (that’s just a shortened link...)

Gun Control, Technology May Hold the AnswerNaomi StewartStaff Writer

In recent months guns have been a hot topic. Should they take away our sec-ond amendment? No one knows what to do about it. In light of the recent New-town tragedy the President has had a lot to say about gun control. There has been a lot of gun related crimes, but the Newtown tragedy really pushed people over the edge. It is so easy for someone to get their hands on a gun today. There is some new technology that the Clinton administration had their eyes on back in 2000. If they had invested more in this design, guns would be so much harder for criminals or children to use. The basic idea is a fingerprint scanner on the gun.

Mytec Technologies of Toronto devel-ops biometric security devices such as ac-cess control devices at business entrances and also for finance office computers. My-tec collaborated with Smith and Wesson to create a piece that locks onto the gun to scan the fingerprint. Once the correct fingerprint was scanned the device would unlock and you could then insert the rounds. A pretty ingenious invention if you ask me. Smith and Wesson is also looking into having a thumbprint scanner built into the handle of their guns. The big question is why hasn’t anyone invested in this? This company started developing this technology in 2000 and with all the gun related tragedies that have followed, this would come in handy.

Everyone’s fingerprints are different and this technology will greatly improve gun related incidents. Gun safety in the home would improve with this technology. If a child comes across a gun they won’t

accidentally shoot themselves because they cannot unlock the gun. Even though this concept is still in its infancy some troubling questions come to mind. What if someone tampers with the scanning device? Will the technology be rendered useless and the gun still work, or will it somehow lock the gun

so no one can use it? Fingerprint scanners are not always reliable. Being such a new technology there can be ways to trick the scanner. Or the scanner can malfunction and anyone could use the gun. One way to reassure that someone could not tamper with it is to consider adding a combina-

tion lock in tandem with the scanner. The combination lock will add extra security if someone tries to tamper with the gun. Yes, there are a lot of holes in this tech-nology but if given the funding and ex-perimentation it could be something great.

THE SCENE/THE UNFILTERED LENS/SINCE 2007/FEBRUARY 22, 2013 07

A Call to Disarm: Reviewing Gun Control ProposalsKaila MattesonStaff Writer

After the horrifying tragedy at Sandy Hook there has been a massive cal l for change in at t i tude towards gun violence and mental health, yet an agreement on how we need to go about said change seems far off . At one end of the spectrum, there is the “fight f i re with f ire” mental i ty. The idea that law abiding ci t izens are being punished because a number of people, for one reason or another, have decided that they are above the law does not s i t well with anyone and this camp firmly believes in the r ight to defend family and property by any means necessary. At the other end are those asking how we could possibly put down the blaze of violence by adding fuel to i t . I t may be a more long term plan, but the idea is to great ly reduce the number of guns on the streets in the hopes of curbing violence. Neither s ide is without meri t . I f we factor out radical groups and irrat ional zealots , both have very valid points . Whatever your feel ings on the issue, i t is vi tal to be informed about the steps our government is taking in the hopes of preventing another massacre.

10 Proposed Congressional act ions:

• Private sel lers are not currently required to do criminal background checks. This act ion would make background checks required by al l gun sel lers , private and commercial .

• Between 1994 and 2004

there was a ban on assault weapons. This cal ls for reinstat ing the ban with st i ffer guidelines.

• This would l imit ammunition magazines to 10 rounds.

• Only members of the mili tary and law enforcement may possess armor-piercing bullets .

• St iffer cr iminal punishment for people who pass background checks to buy a gun on someone else’s behalf , also known as “straw purchasers.”

• Financing of programs designed to bet ter educate and train police, f i rs t responders, and school off icials how to respond to armed at tacks. (A similar Executive act ion asks not for funding, but the development of these programs)

• In an effort to keep 15,000 police off icers on the streets , Congress would have to act on a $4 bi l l ion proposal .

• Putt ing $20 mil l ion towards ensuring that al l 50 states have programs to track violent deaths. Currently, only 18 states have this system.

• $30 mil l ion in grants wil l be given to states to help create emergency response plans for schools.

• In an effort to prevent t roubled youths from becoming violent offenders, this proposal asks for funding for mental health programs designed for young people.

20 Proposed Executive act ions:• Requiring federal agencies

to make relevant data available for the federal background check program. What const i tutes

“relevant data” wil l surely be debated.

• Health Insurance Portabil i ty and Accountabil i ty Act (HIPAA) creates “unnecessary legal barriers” and this would address those issues to make information available during background checks.

• Aiding and sharing with the background check systems would al low states improved incentives.

• To prevent dangerous people from passing background checks, this would al low the at torney general to review and amend the types of individuals prohibited from buying/owning f irearms.

• Giving authori t ies to run ful l background checks before giving a seized f irearm back.

• Publish clear guidelines for federal gun dealers on how to run background checks for private sel lers .

• Begin and promote gun safety and responsible ownership movement.

• Federal off icers wil l be required to trace any guns recovered during an invest igat ion.

• Making information on lost and stolen guns widely available to law enforcement.

• Increase efforts to prevent and prosecute gun crime.

• Make sure the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention research gun violence.

• Encourage the development of new and more effect ive gun safety technology.

• Ensure that doctors understand that the Affordable Care

Act al lows them to ask patients i f they own or have access to guns.

• Ensure that doctors understand that they are al lowed to report threats of violence to authori t ies .

• Encourage and reward schools for hir ing resource off icers .

• Develop emergency plans for schools, universi t ies , and places of worship to model their own plans after.

• Clearly establish what mental health services are covered by Medicaid plans.

• Clearly establish health benefi t equivalents within insurance exchanges.

• Establish mental health equali ty guidelines, going hand in hand with the last proposal .

• Begin a countrywide discussion on mental and emotional health. This wil l fal l to Kathleen Sebelius, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, and Arne Duncan, the Secretary of Education.

If one thing is certain, i t is that there is no easy answer and no possible way to please every one of the over 300 mil l ion American ci t izens. The sad real i ty is that there is a high l ikel ihood of another school shooting happening before common ground is f inal ly found. I t is important to stay educated on the issue and be patient , not necessari ly with poli t icians, but with one another. The needed change rel ies with and on us.

08/THE UNFILTERED LENS/SINCE 2007/FEBRUARY 22, 2013

Looking for a cookie that will blow your mind and leave it looking for a grave? Look no further than these fluffy chocolate cookies. The perfect amount of chocolate to make your mind wander off to places unknown. See you for the next recipe.

Death by Chocolate CookiesIngredIents

2 pkgs

Bakers Semi Sweet baking chocolate/ Divided

3/4 cup

firmly packed brown sugar

1/4 cup

butter, no substitutes

2 Eggs

1 Tsp Vanilla

1/2cup

flower

1/2cup

tsp vanilla extract

1/4tsp

baking powder

dIrectIons:Preheat the oven to 350. Coarsely chop 8 squares of chocolate and set aside. Melt down the remaining squares, stir in the sugar, butter, eggs and vanilla. Add the flour and baking soda. Stir in the reserved chocolate. Drop by 1/4 cupfuls onto an ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 13-15 minutes or until puffed and set to the touch.

Like to cook? Want Stephanie to make your recipe for Cooking with Sass? Email her at Unfilteredlenswebmail@gmail.com subject: Cooking

media credit: Stephanie Bly

Cooking

asswithwith Stephanie Bly

continued from pg 2

A Na t i o n D e s e n s i t i z e d against goes against the logical feeling of safety. I would feel safer as a citizen if I knew that moving forward every person purchasing a gun legally, had to have a background check to make sure they were not luna-tics at a gun flea market, arm-ing up for the apocalypse. The need for an assault rifle and a

high capacity magazine in the wilderness seem a little ampli-fied, but I’m a vegetarian and I haven’t had to deal with a dia-bolical unarmed deer before, so what would I know?

We have a culture of mis-guided masculinity. We are at a point in our evolution as hu-man beings where we have to

make positive steps forward to ensure a lasting prosperity on Earth. The violence that we witness in our society on a day to day basis, from unend-ing wars, and the technology driven “unwar”, where a sol-dier miles away in an air condi-tioned air traffic control room, can use his X-Box joystick to

shoot down military aged boys he sees through a T.V. screen in a place he may have never visited, never smelled, never connected with; only wearing a headset, yelling “You’re dead, mother-fucker!”. Mayhem is so prevalent and completely engrained in culture that when a horrible situation occurs, we

have no answers for why, yet we continue to play the video game, we continue to pad an action movie star’s pockets, and we continue to support policies that are killing our children here and abroad. We need to have this conversation. We need to stop this implosion.