Today the United States finds itself in yet another round of self analysis about why Representative Gabby Giffords was shot over the weekend. As usual, the far left is pointing to the violence in right wing talk radio and TV and the right is scrambling to dissociate this act of violence from conservative politics. So, again, as a country we turn an incredibly tragic event into a form of intellectual entertainment or, if you prefer, mental masturbation.

The simple fact at this point in time (and it has certainly not always be so) the violent rhetoric is coming predominantly from proponents of conservative thinking. That is not saying that all conservatives are bad or even that conservative points of view are bad… but an example of the bizarre is Glenn’s Becks website condemning violence in one panel while showing Glenn holding a handgun in another panel. We cannot begin to solve the problem until as a country we are intellectually honest about who does use violence as a tool for self-promotion whether left or right. This is not about whether any political group is good or bad. It is about two things.

• Your yourself not promoting violence in any form
• You holding anyone who does promote violence personally accountable by taking action to shun them and their activities.

And in the final analysis, liberal or conservative simply does not matter. What does matter is violence or non violence. To that end, J. Krishnnamurti  has said

The crisis is a crisis in consciousness… a crisis that cannot anymore accept the old norms… and considering what the world is now, with all the misery conflict, destructive brutality, aggression, and so on, man is still as he was. He is still brutal, violent, aggressive, acquisitive, competitive, and he has built a society along these lines.

And changing that starts by a change in consciousness that recognizes that the promotion of violence in any form and by anybody is the manifestation of evil in this world, period. In the tradition of Gandhi, Depak Chopra has asked all people to take the vow of non-violence in action, thought, and speech.

So, I ask everyone to watch the following video…

Then link to The Chopra Foundation web site by clicking here and take the vow yourself.

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