What’s wrong with a little Repression?

The history of “Repression” is replete with vignettes, poems, novels, historical events and now even “You Tube”.  People being held down, held back, tortured, imprisoned, brutally beaten, maimed or killed….these are the essential tools of “Repression”.

In the days, when a stolen or lost horse might have incurred the wrath of local politicans or community leaders, this may have been the simple or initiating event start.  When a local teenage girl is brutally raped by a drunken neighbor……or other community outrage…”Revenge” can be the stuff by which “Repression” can begin.  From the mundane improper use of nicotine, alcohol, firearms or recreational drugs can come restrictive laws and repressive use of law enforcement.  There is an argument in fact, that the safer the society….the more repressive the laws of the society.  The Spanish Inquisition was a “Repressive Society” because land and property were at stake to the Spanish Crown.  The English even had their capable “Oliver Cromwell”.  All societies have their excuses and reasons for overtly utilizing their power and “Repressing the protesters”!

When Armenians were killed by the millions in Turkey at the turn of the 20th Century….some called that event “Ethnic Cleansing”…some called it a grand “Holocast of Elimination”.  With World War II, the “Final Solution” proposed by the Third Reich….was effective in killing at least six million people and might have been called the greatest “Repression” since the great Russian Revolution and the grand works of Joseph Stalin who is said to have killed over 30-40 million Russians through the years.  So, in a spirit and example:  “Repression of a society can take many forms!”

When East German soldiers shot down their own citizens trying to escape to West Germany…that was a message: “Repression can be effective, when the powers that be – implement their solutions!”  As the young student stood in front of the tank in Tiannamen Square and many died…..the message was:  “We have the power to repress behavior we find obnoxious!”  The Chinese continue to this day to “Repress the Tibetans”!  When Rwandans are killed by the millions…..when people are struck down in the name of stable social responsibility to the government….this is not attractive!  But as we know, the more that Governments use their powers….the weaker they truly are!  It just shows how sensitive and how unempowered their true control of society reality is!  It is a signal that dominos may soon be falling.  This was very evidenced during the Nixon years!

Watching the dogs unleashed on blacks in south in the 60’s, students killed on University grounds, Monks self emulating in front of the Capital building in Vietnam, these are events which are burned into our minds…..and are sending all of us a message: “It may be better to behave and tend to your own business!”  After all, it is only politics….and who really cares?  When the Vietnam War encouraged Jane Fonda to go to Vietnam and sit on a enemy tank and anti-aircraft gun…….when she came back she wasn’t repressed enough, in our minds.  When kids broke into University Administration offices to sit-in and break things for weeks….there is an agrument that they were not punished enough.  Protesters sometimes have a way of sometimes over doing it, however!  Burning your bra in public is one thing….burning your Draft Card quite another!  So, if you break the law…and the government or police shut down your activities….have you really been “Repressed”?  Or, does the amount of property damage that anti-goverment protesters create matter in the equation?

It is only when the current events in Iran show the killings, the beatings, the unknown imprisonment of the protesters…..that we are reminded…..that “Freedom is not free!”.  We are reminded that we give our sons and daughters to guard the gates of our freedom….by being in foreign climes, in the service of our country, putting their lives at risk.  The philosophical questions are many.  Are we merely “Repressing” the true nature of the Iraqi people and Afghanistani people…..just by being there?  Are we protecting our future?  So, through our elections we must hope that we elect the right people who are willing to protect our society…with fairness, truth and honesty.   If they wish to “Repress” us….we may have to wait patiently until the next election.

When the Presidential election results came in this last week regarding Iran, the United States began a flashback moment.  Was this Hungary in 1956?  Was this Cuba prior to the Bay of Pigs?  Was this Iran during the Carter years?  Was this Iraq before the first Gulf War?  Had the United States encouraged people to throw off the traces of “Oppression” and “Repression” and fight – then sadly stand silent when things got ugly?  Or perhaps this was another Haiti, Columbia, Chile, the Philipines, Cambodia or other sad moments in our History that have left us wondering if we had done the right thing?  There is little doubt that the United States needs to stand silent unless it is willing to step up to the plate and be proactive!  Those geo-political costs need to be addressed…assessed and determined if in fact, anything positive might be accomplished in the end.

A final question:  Does a fixed election offer due cause for massive physical protests?  Is it necessary to have the required facts?  It is required that those affected stay the course?  Is it in fact necessary to cause a Revolution when elections are rigged?  Should someone mention it when an election is rigged?  How many elections in the United States may have been rigged?  Dare we mention local, state or national elections in question?  How about Union elections?  How about your local Home Owners Association election?

The beautiful Iranian woman shot down in the streets of Teheran is a searing symbol and a message.  As each of the contending candidates now “Call it a wrap!” and walk away from any further protests in Iran….one has to wonder:  How many more will be killed, maimed or dispossessed from their lives, their families and the world – because of these protest?  When will the great Government of Iran consider enough pain has been metered out …..”to send that Italian message…that Luca Brasi sleeps with the fishes!”