beneficial when we put effective direct pressure on the cops to clean house and effective indirect pressure on those who pull their strings to jerk them offstage. Getting arrested should be more than a moral witness. It should be part of a broader campaign, employing varied leverage, to enact specific change. The Los Angeles rebellions against brutal police were beyond control for the first days, then military force shut them down. These rebellions would have forced durable change had they combined specific demands for community control of police, and money for green jobs, with the promise that next time the neighborhoods burned would be Beverly Hills and Bel Aire. Mere riot is a last resort and likely leads no where.
PRAISE POLICE DEPARTMENT
Cops have a tough job.! They're required to be friendly and helpful and ready to shoot. They're sent forth to sniff the rotten things people do. Their jobs would be more fun-everybody would be happier-- if cops could issue citations for the good stuff people do.! They'd soon notice that most human actions are decent.! Folks say hello, give directions, offer food, visit, forgive, celebrate and mourn together.! These common kindnesses are seldom news, even though they keep society alive. Evey day, millions of decent impulses and acts are never officially noticed or approved.! That's because we're a nation of punishment--! imprisoning a greater proportion of people than any country.! Our legal culture is mostly stick, and no carrot. !!! When we assume the worst, that's increasingly what we see.! When people are unappreciated and unnoticed, except for bad things, they do more bad things.! Punishment and threats don't stop them.! So cops are given a losing battle, to keep the lid on a public boiling with frustration. People want approval more than anything, and we're starved for it.! But money is the main standard for approval in our society, and money just lets us buy things.! And there's
less pay than ever, for millions of people.! Money is such a severely narrow standard of human value that people will kill for a couple bucks. Have you noticed how praise causes folks to do more!of the same?! Many of those receiving Praise Police citations are so starved for approval that they have framed their citation.! Consider this: if we notice only negative action-- if the biggest headlines are for the worst crimes-- then we fail to reward or encourage good stuff.! Praise Police break the negative spiral and move us upward.! We're theatre and we're serious.! We show how communities can! be patrolled. On October 27, 1994 I first put on a police hat (bought at Army/Navy store), and started giving out Citations to Ithacans for constructive living.! In a couple hours I had cited people for: waiting for a friend, saying hello to a dog, promoting public literacy, conscious cleaning, labor union organizing, exercising, teaching a child, feeling peaceful, making beautiful art, keeping ideals, looking for work, giving directions, being patient, fine dancing, skinnydipping in a State Park. !!! These Citations are delivered at the officer's preference. There are no regulations.! The officer must put a foot up on something to write the Citation, like a traffic cop.! It's good to rip the ticket from the book and say, officially, 'Be sure to do that again!' !!! Did people like getting cited?! Sure. Would you?! Several folks later said that they framed their citation or put it on the refrigerator. !!! A voluntary police force that makes people feel important is going to make the streets safer than police who rule by intimidation. You're all deputized.! With an official citation booklet you'll see actions you approve.! Introduce yourself to gooddoers as an officer of the Praise Police.! Cite them by filling out their name, act, date and your name on both citation and stub.! When tearing off the citation and handing it over I often say, 'Just be sure to let that happen again.'
CONTROL OF
WAR & PEACE
It's a free country. We can decide whether we prefer to send our wealth & children away to kill the latest enemy or that we prefer to employ our wealth and children to make our cities models of good living. Humans have been smashing into one another since humanity began. Stabbing, crushing, bombing, burning, starving,flooding, hanging, flaying, disemboweling, boiling, eating, gassing, shooting. Probably a billion have been maimed or injured in war. For millennia, strong manhood has been defined as capacity to kill, to consume lavishly, to procreate, to move fast. In an overpopulated world howling mad with war, the next era of manhood depends on men cultivating restraint from violence, from consumerism, from fatherhood, from speed. Likewise, feminity has been celebrated that depends on men to defend, to provide luxury, to fertilize, to travel far fast. The next era of womanhood will enjoy co-creation more than procreation. Officially, wars are fought for noble reasons, to repel an attack, to pre-empt an attack, to do God’s will, to spread the Faith, to prevent worse mayhem, to spread civilization. One of the more honest warmongers was Hitler. His book Mein Kampf made clear that he wanted more territory for the German people, and he wanted to kill Jews.
PEACE MARCH EVERY DAY Walk to School Walk to Work Walk to Shop Walk for Fund Cars are tanks in the war against nature.