Page 7 - Sonoma County Gazette June 2019

OPINION: Is history repeating itself?
Two of the great giants of somatic bodywork spoke at CIIS a number of years ago. Charlotte Selver (founder of Sensory Awareness) and Marion Rosen (founder of the Rosen method). A question from the audience was:
How was it for you, trying to learn and develop your somatic approach (in Nazi Germany) while embedded in an environment of fascism?
Charlotte replied: “... all the marching in the streets, and all this shouting, the songs, and such ... We just thought in a country like Germany, with so much spirit, and so much knowledge, and so many wonderful people ... something like that will never come up. We were absolutely convinced that this was something that would pass away. (pause) And it became stronger, and stronger. And it became more and more dangerous. ...”Sound familiar? ~ Marc Johnson
OPINION: The Face of Evil
I look at the face of that man who appears to be on the news, the Net and in the papers on a daily basis because of the things he’s done while in office —ban all Muslims from entry into the U.S., tear children from their families seeking asylum, brand Mexicans as murderers and rapists, mock people with disabilities and the list goes far from there, and I’ve come to believe I’m looking at the face of evil. I know that sounds dramatic and perhaps exaggerated, but I don’t think so.
Consider what this exceedingly politically powerful person has done a year and
a half into his term: Fed the very wealthy even more vast sums of money through tax breaks while doing virtually nothing for the middle and lower income people; stacking the Supreme Court with a majority of ultra-conservative justices; deny and act counter to the settled science of climate change/global warming/species extinction; roll back the environmental protection gains established over four decades; and generated
a criminal investigation by a Special Counsel for almost two years because of his dealings with a foreign power adversary to influence his election and obstruct the government’s Justice Department’s attempt to get at the truth of the matter.
Consider this person’s behavior and actions just while serving as President:
Paying off women with whom he was having illicit affairs; denigrating women in the most vile terms; embraces the world’s heinous dictators and autocrats while dismissing historic U.S. allies; belittling people he doesn’t like by calling them “crooked, lying, crazy, and stupid”—people, mind you, holding very high offices and of great accomplishment.
This is a person who has used his office, the highest in the land, to promote his business self-interests and aligned himself with some of the world’s most backward and lawless regimes for those same purposes.
This short summary of this person’s deeds and character doesn’t even include his daily habit of lying to the American people, villainizing the press, and displaying and parading the hateful bigotry toward certain groups or factions redolent of history’s most infamous dictators.
Never before has this country had such a bizarre, hate-filled and psychologically dangerous leader. That is why when I see that red, angry face, eyes dead and uncaring, jaw thrust in defiance I believe I’m looking into the face of evil. ~ By Will Shonbrun
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