Book Review — Peaceful Revolution

The following was originally posted by Tom Pope as a reviewer for Bookpleasures.com

Author Paul K. Chappell
ISBN: 978-1-935212-76-8
ISBN: 978-1-935212-75-1 (Ebook)

Crowds of chanting protestors screamed in Tahrir Square, but armored units behind them supported their demands against Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak. Those images are part of the overall question writers like Paul K. Chappell pose on how humans can have a peaceful change in society. His book, Peaceful Revolution, examines the ways humans seek violence, or find ways to avoid taking the gun and seeing the Other as a barbarian.

Why is it possible for some changes in government to happen like in South Africa where De Klerk peacefully handed over power to Mandela? Is the pressure and potential for violence part of the human makeup or rather the structure that surrounds the person?

Chappell takes the reader on a spiritual journey through the human psyche to see what he calls as muscles of hope, empathy, curiosity and conscience among others. Yet those muscles are aligned against powerful forces like propaganda that divides people and techniques that dehumanize so that the average person thinks of violence. Chappell fills his book with specific examples of how he suffered, then developed a strength to counter those forces. He describes the value of those strengths, which allow empathy to occur.

However, Chappell takes the reader only part way in viewing the obstacles that prevent most peaceful revolutions. His focus shows the value of breaking down barriers. Yet his key emphasis could be strengthened by a more complete organization. The qualities he mentions are explained in individual interaction terms. But the concept of the book deals with how the individual can affect society as a whole. That requires some glimpse of the direction solutions would take.

His sub title states, “How We Can Create The Future Needed for Humanity’s Survival,” and that would imply examples of solutions to weaken the problems of propaganda, misinformation and dehumanization. However, Chappell fails to offer such answers. He only mentions possible solutions near the end of the book to indicate he will deal with those in a following book.

One example of disorganization can be seen by Chappell missing a connection of vital links. He wants to show that oppression arises from factors like conditioned inequality, superhumanization, and misinformation. But he doesn’t fully show how they lead to oppression in society. And he doesn’t relate how oppression can be countered by the quality of an individual’s hope or curiosity, which he mentioned earlier.

He explains the importance of empathy and then shows examples of empathy at work. But the real strength would be to show how that ability would help the conflict resolution process. Conflict resolution requires listening techniques that break down barriers. That would appear to be crucial in his conversation about empathy.

Chappell mentions a dependence on a discipline he claims helped him from attending West Point. While he has also shown the dangers of a military mentality that stops hope, and curiosity, he advocates the discipline from such an establishment.

To follow this path, he probably would want to explain when an individual would divide the positive qualities from the negative ones from such an institution. That discussion would also need some attention to the strong discipline held by members of the Civil Rights Movement, which arrived without the military structure found in West Point. Chappell doesn’t address either.

One specific that would go beyond Chappell’s generalizations would be to view a model to show how to counter oppression or propaganda. For example, how does the discipline he desires lead to a person defying an authority figure within a military structure?

How does a Captain Picard of the Enterprise ignore the social pressures or authority above him when the character should fight a propaganda that leads to oppression? Chappell uses references from fiction’s Star Fleet, but he missed a chance to mention that a model could be applied to real life. One major Star Fleet code called the, “Prime Directive” stopped any interference into another society that was not on the level of the Federation. When Captain Picard defied an admiral in the movie, “Insurrection,” Picard wanted to stop an oppression of another society. Picard relied on a system that existed — the Prime Directive.” Chappell could extrapolate that system to show how a model could be used in reality.

Chappell’s work is needed and his spiritual quest of finding values in defying violence can be a major tool in guiding society. However, society requires specific models in order to apply those tools. And society needs a direct message that connects comments on the value of peaceful approaches to structures that hinder people. Chappell has started the process, and further work is needed to detail specifics so models can set up systems that make the tanks disappear from a future Tahrir Square.

Laughs Abound

Charlestown, SC — Vulture Capitalists Fly High

Vultures from South Carolina zoos have succeeded in taking over offices of most of the state’s Chamber of Commerce since the recent Republican presidential primary. The primary was responsible for a state court action, which freed the vultures who have gone on a spree of raiding small businesses ranging from mom-and-pop stores to fast food franchises.

The vultures were initially freed because the primary allowed vultures to participate in society as capitalists. “We’re only feeding on businesses that are nearly dead anyway,” said Ray Zerbeak, the vulture spokesman.

Law officers tried to round up the raiding vultures as they attacked the businesses, but the prosecution lost the court action. Zerbeak showed the judge that the increase in sheriffs and animal trainers proved that the vultures were job creators.

Once the vultures were allowed to seize businesses from displaced humans, they made inroads on owning funeral parlours. “The vultures helped us out because we no longer need coffins, and that eases our debt problems,” said Kate Aver, a human supporter.

Vulture businesses promise to keep florists in the loop since flowers go hand in hand with funerals. “We especially like to work hand to hand,” said Buzz Ard, a vulture entrepreneur.

Ard wanted to reassure people that vultures are indeed capitalists. “We go to where the market is,” he said. “And right now, people are dying to get into the funeral home.”

Vultures are currently seeking air rights over major airports. “Like all capitalists, we vultures think that regulations stop the natural free market,” Zerbeak said. “We have to be able to fly to any spot in the state without running into limitations.”

The move to seek air rights has nothing to do with the strange email Zerbeak received that talked about commercial flights having carrion luggage.

When asked about vultures flying over fields where humans congregated after losing their homes from the mortgage crisis, Zerbeak said, “They’re only running away from bank collectors who are capitalists — do they think they are entitled to a life?”

The flurry of vulture activity has also included moves to run cemeteries. The vultures promise to create more land available for industrial growth once they clean up the former cemetery sites.

The turnout during the race for the Republican primary failed to show human resentment toward the vultures. “I’m a Libertarian,” said Memi Only, a human supporter. “As long as a vulture doesn’t fly over my head, I could care less what he does with others.”

In the move to take over the Chamber of Commerce, the vultures promised to ease the national debt by chewing on old bank notes. “The more we eat, the less problem people will have in the future,” Zerbeak said.

Image Courtesy of gizmodo.com

Laughs Abound

New York City — Reindeer Arrests Stir International Butter Crisis

The arrest last week of five reindeer by New York City police horses has brought the support of European dairy farmers and the opposition of Canadian Caribou attorneys.

The reindeer were arrested when they refused to help police horses with crowd control. Busy shoppers were bothering the horses with signs of, "Only the One Percent Can Afford Butter Cookies.”

The reindeer were read their rights and hustled off to Rikers Island stable before being rein arraigned.

A police horse veteran said through an interpreter that reindeer visiting New York should aid the civil control that keeps the city moving, especially for the top one percent of horses who qualify for extra hay and oats.

A spokeself for Thorsnowfall, Santa’s chief of staff, denounced the arrests. He said, “The reindeer were planning the new weight allowance demanded by air carriers for Santa’s sleigh.”

Those weight allowances were changed to dairy farmers. Thor said, “That does not help the 99 percent of people who believe in Santa’s giving.”

New carrier weight regulations were set into effect as a response for the dairy farmers in Europe who wanted to keep more butter in Europe and noticed that most extra weight came from carriera shipping butter to US gourmet stores that helped the one percent.

The news about the butter crisis has been noticed at National Public Radio, which broadcast a recent story about the butter crisis affecting Norwegians. The usual display of butter cookies for the holidays decreased to where butter hungry children sought friendly cows who would let them churn milk drops.

The Norwegian crisis extended to the border where people tried to smuggle Turkish butter through Finland and Russia. However, butter sniffing dogs at checkpoints threatened the smugglers as new teams of the agency Minimizing Emulsifier Liquids Taskforce (MELT) acted to stop the smuggling.

The US is considering forming such a MELT unit and adding it to the bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.

“Now all we need is another weapon, like the powerful butter knife to be added to the bureau,” said Norman Cloture, the ATF spokesman. “And people forget how hurtful those ice cream scoops can be when you bite on them.”

The European dairy farmers were appalled that reindeer would support the 99 percent because the farmers wanted help from the Santa faction. “When we succeed, everyone is better,” said Chloe Estarole, the butter spokeswoman.

Butter petitions were faxed to New York City in support of the horses’ decision to arrest the reindeer.

However, a Caribou lawyer from Québec, who specializes in reindeer civil rights, has traveled to New York with briefs signed by animal notaries that verify the reindeer right to have international status. “These are not nationals of New York or even the US,” said Ann Tler, the Caribou through an interpreter. When asked what she thought of the horses’ blatant display of force, she said, “Grunnn…blu.”

New worries abound as the smugglers arriving into Norway from Russia seem to be aided by the Russian Mafia who take some butter off the top to supply their illegal quantities of potatoes.

Russian bars are now opening in places as scattered as Oslo and New York where people can pick up butter in ounce bags to sniff at private parties. One Russian bar even specializes in offering butter on top of caviar.

The new income from the Mafia is leading to increased crime where the mob charges increased amounts from buyers. Those buyers then resort to crime by stealing Velveeta from convenience stores in the hope of creating new butter by free-basing at home.

The leading imprisoned reindeer, Vixen, promises to keep up the protest in Rikers until all US animals realize that if any one species can be imprisoned to support human greed, then all animal species are threatened.

Image courtesy dailymail.co.uk