I wouldn't consider myself a terribly religious person, but after reading stories like this, I can't help but wonder if some awful demonic force hasn't been unleashed in this country over the last generation that manifests itself in sadism and cruelty. I mean, authority figures are rarely ever held to account for violent and antisocial behavior anymore, and it has been that way in this country since we put a gang of mass murderers on the federal payroll and set them to the task of slaughtering nuns and relief workers while our national media yawned in apathy.
War crimes, torture, tasings, mass incarcerations, austerity economics, punishment without end---none of these things are isolated incidents. They all stem from a culture of dominance and control that justifies any means to achieve its ends, and we should remind ourselves while we're Talking Tough on Ukraine and once again conflating belligerence with statesmanship that we live in a very sick society, and it has been getting gradually sicker since the 1980s. I don't pretend to have all the answers here, but inculcating four-year olds with a Reaganite punishment ethic isn't going to change things for the better.
---Baron V
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