[Home] [Headlines] [Latest Articles] [Latest Comments] [Post] [Sign-in] [Mail] [Setup] [Help]
Status: Not Logged In; Sign In
|
Religion See other Religion Articles Title: Springmeier Laments "Merciless" Attitude to Criminals Editor's Note: In a letter to Henry Makow dated Feb. 2, Fritz writes that he still does not know why he was re-arrested on January 12. He is told only that he is "under investigation." He still hopes and believes his release date will remain March 26. "I was not doing anything illegal, nor was i doing anything wrong, so all I can do is speculate about what pretext was used to arrest me." Fritz is "trying to make the best of the situation. it's difficult ...when you're locked up 20 hours a day,not to mention poor living conditions and marginally nutritional food. It is what it is. Prison is prison. I've done it before and I'm able to do it again. At the moment I know basically nothing about what is happening in my situation. My current address is: Fritz Springmeier Reg No. 65941-065 Federal detention center P.O. 6000 Sheridan, OR 97378" Here is a new article written by Fritz, included in this letter. Fritz has served eight years for a crime he did not commit. by Fritz Springmeier (for http://henrymakow.com) Sometimes a bad idea is passed down for so many generations it becomes entrenched in a culture that has lost track of where the mistaken thinking originated. In 1623, beginning with a separatist Puritan group called the Pilgrims, and then continuing with a mainstream congregationalist Puritans under John Withrop a few years later in 1630-31, a great experiment was started to create a model Christian community. As the Puritans believed in predestination, you were either of the elect or you weren't, and that was that They didn't believe in evangelism or grace, so much as identifying whether you were of the elect. And if you weren't -- well, there wasn't anything that could be done for you because obviously God made you an object for destruction. Many Old Testament concepts were used as the basis of their rules. As there was no segregation of church and state in their theocracy, the state was run by the church, and yet only stock holders of the Bay Company were allowed to vote. The company and church ran things. If you broke the rules, you were obviously not of the Elect, and as a convicted criminal you were held to be unredeemable. That is why the Puritans tortured and actually branded their faces for breaking the law. Or as a lighter punishment, whipped the person until his or her back was a bloody mess and forever scarred. Once a convicted criminal, always a criminal, because that obviously was the person's nature and his state of being predetermined by God Himself. This was not a one-time mistake, a lapse of proper thinking or perhaps immaturity, but a sign that the person was permanently lost and not of the Elect. The criminal was supposed by them to have had a permanently depraved soul which was permanently lost. It could be interjected at this point that this unmerciful attitude not only is self-fulfilling prophesy ensuring that the Puritan's criminals remained criminals; but also it had the effect of helping the Puritan experiment to fail. Such harshness was no shining model to the world. And yet years later, this unmerciful attitude was still the common view in New England when the Bay Colony became the new state of Massachusetts in the new USA. This new nation created the world's first two penitentiaries which served as models as models around the world. Representatives from around the world studied these first first two pens, the one at Auburn NY, based on Puritan thinking, the one at Philadelphia, Eastern State Pen, based on Quaker thinking. Like the American invention of toilet paper, the concept of penitentiaries soon spread worldwide. Europe liked the Quaker idea. American liked the Puritan model. One of the original wardens, Warden Elam Lynds, who grew up with the Puritan view that criminals are unredeemable, permanently flawed characters, promoted the Puritan view. His promotion worked as the cynical attitude persists and permeates America today, even to the point of many criminals accepting it. History could teach us the negative consequences of this Puritan thinking, but who cares, let alone studies history? After all, the Puritan experiment to be a model community came to nothing Will the great experiment called the USA also cease to be a shining model for the world as we lead the world in incarcerating, criminalizing and demonizing our population? While criminalizing large segments of our population during Prohibition proved counter productive, we persist in doing the same today, doing more harm than good. On my part, I refuse to accept the label of unredeemable. It takes a strong self-image to ignore most peoples' misguided judgmental viewpoint, but to acquiesce is to allow the "flock of chickens" to peck one to death." None of us has to contribute to the prejudicial stereotyping. It is a choice. So why can't we make better choices? Poster Comment: Link to article re: Springmeier's frame-up http://educate-yourself.org/cn/makowspringmeierframed03jan11.shtml
Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread
|
||
|
[Home]
[Headlines]
[Latest Articles]
[Latest Comments]
[Post]
[Sign-in]
[Mail]
[Setup]
[Help]
|
||