[Peace-discuss] p.s. Fox on Fox

[Karen Medina]

Some things have been bothering me.

1) The other day at the One Main event, a family joined our 
demonstration. They were very nice and the parents were strong 
messengers of peace. Yet one of the daughters tied a string between her 
father and herself. She was "arresting" her father "for protesting."

The Fox-like messages do seep in to the children.

2) Protesters of all sorts are seen as violent idiots who are 
mind-controlled by an evil leader. In some people's minds, protester = 
criminal = insurgent = terrorist.

How do we reach people who are afraid of us?

3) The same day, a woman in her car said "You should be glad you live in 
a country where you have freedom of speech."

How do I help her understand that I love my country and that is why I 
must stand up when it is going the wrong direction?

4) Violence and force are portrayed in the news, in the movies, and in 
games as the only way to solve problems.

These messages seep in to us all.

5) I am haunted by Jan's story of the young woman who had returned from 
Iraq believing that she was "defending our way of life" as if our way of 
life was something sacred that all people were wanting to take away from 
us and therefore we need to protect it at all costs.

How do we prevent our children from growing up like this child?

6) This one is positive, but I don't see how we could accomplish this 
sort of thing: A man suggested that if we could put the leaders into a 
room where they could try out their theories in a sandbox before they 
put them to use in the real world it might solve a lot of problems more 
safely.

-karen medina