Dear editor,
Our nation’s fight for police reform and social justice reflects deeper problems created by the
complex and dehumanizing industrial world that we have all created. And these deeper issues have never been understood, discussed or even acknowledged as real except within textbooks of sociology and psychology.
Today almost everyone lives in mechanical ways, basically forgoing the more spontaneous lifestyles of indigenous people who lived close to nature and experienced life without the alienation and intellectualization demanded of us “civilized” people.
In short, the modern world has created great scientific advances yet forces most of us to live
lives of chronic boredom and emotional and sensual repression. We enjoy the benefits of modern technology such as cars, television, the internet and canned music. Yet beneath all of our scientifically created pleasures we are all bored out of our minds and feel deeply disconnected with our real thoughts and feelings. We are losing our souls.
I am not totally surprised that so many police officers react with excessive force. Their acts of anger and violence reflect the inner rage and despair that almost all of us experience as victims of our contemporary culture of ennui and meaninglessness.
Rama Kumar
Fairfax
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