4 Comments

  1. Tammie Knick
    February 27, 2018 @ 6:53 am

    As always, a great article Joe. I met with several community members of all ages today to talk about organizing two different events in Willmar. The first one being a walk out on March 14th and the second being a peaceful protest on March 24th. Both of these events are being student led .

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  2. Skip Abel
    February 27, 2018 @ 7:21 pm

    Joe, I read with interest your article. I agree with most if not all of it. I think that this generation could learn from some of us who have gone through similar issues before.
    I would like to add a couple of suggestions to yours.
    In my opinion it is vitally important to be as specific as possible regarding what you are trying to do. For example, ‘we want more gun control’, my response would be okay what does this mean – do you want all guns surrendered – even by law abiding gun owners? Do you want just certain models of guns with more control, do you want more strict control on who is able to purchase a gun, etc. It is important to be specific regarding what you are legislating for.
    Obviously there are restrictions and laws regarding many aspects such as Constitutional Rights, HIPPA laws to consider if you target mental capacities, etc. I would offer that this does not mean that changes cannot be made however it is important to be specific and know the hurdles which must be overcome. The old saying “you can’t boil the ocean” suggests the importance of being specific and try to make changes to those issues which will have the most sought after affect and which are most doable. You can then move on to more issues.
    I believe that social media is a ‘double edged sword’. Some of it is good and accurate, some is misleading and some is downright lying. In my opinion the main stream media MSM also shares some of these traits.
    As an example: I read a post on social media that had a picture of an AR-15 rifle (not an assault rifle), it said 96 people are killed daily by guns in the U.S. I thought that this was a high number and researched further. Surprisingly for me, I found out that this number is pretty accurate (96 daily gun deaths). What the post did not mention was – of the 96, there were 34 homicide deaths (don’t know which cities or if gangs were involved), 57 deaths were suicides and the rest were intentional (law enforcement) or accidental. My point is that sometimes the only way to really know the whole story is by individual research.
    Another point which you made and which I agree with is that any change of this magnitude will take time. People should realize that just walking out of school and marching for a day will not get the job done. It certainly will be broadcast on all MSM but an ongoing persistence (months if not years) will be necessary to effect meaningful change. Students should be willing to commit to this – it isn’t going to be fixed in a day.
    These are just my opinions, I applaud you for attempting to bring good intentions and reality together.
    Regards
    Skip Abel
    Elk River, MN

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  3. Tom King
    February 28, 2018 @ 11:06 am

    Joe….this is a terrific manifesto! You’ve provided many, creative suggestions that can become inertia-breakers, and help us find some solutions.

    You are a fine writer and your words must be your own, of course, but we don’t want to miss an opportunity to work more closely with those whose positions have differed from our own. It’s chutzpah on my part to make a suggestion, but being a few years older as well as an old friend, what the heck, I’ll take the risk.

    My only suggestion is that your closing sentence in the second to the last paragraph could have provided an opportunity to build a coalition. I’m as appalled as anyone over many of the president’s crude tweets and guffaws, but I do think it’s more productive to emphasize the positives that each of us brings. The third to the last sentence provides more polarity when less is needed. The second to the last sentence could be more affirmative by saying something like: “His statement suggests we can work together to find ways to cross boundaries and collaborate on solutions.”

    Tom King

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  4. John Miller
    February 28, 2018 @ 8:57 pm

    This is an extremely wise and helpful article, from a man who’s a veteran of many a campaign for needed changes. I’d particularly like to second the idea of deliberately seeking out those who think differently than you do. It may go against our current hyper-partisan climate–which is just the point. We’ll only get broad support by talking (and, more importantly, listening) to each other. Thank you, Joe, for a thoughtful and pragmatic article. Your voice needs to be heard!

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