Readers Write: Hurricane Helene, Lowertown shooting, Lebanon, football

Opinion editor’s note: Strib Voices publishes letters from readers online and in print each day. To contribute, click here.

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How can anyone see the devastation across the southeastern states and then listen to former President Donald Trump, who has called climate change a hoax and joked about how rising sea levels will just make more oceanfront property available? They’ll vote for him because their grocery bill is higher than it was some years ago (when wasn’t it?) and because immigrants must go.

While people are dying and billions of federal and state dollars (our money) will go into recovering from yet another unprecedented storm, just keep in mind when you vote for this man and he herds up all the immigrants, agriculture will lose 50% of its hired workforce. Food processing plants will close.

When storms keep getting stronger, when the warmer planet reduces food production, when there are no workers to process our food and when the price of food skyrockets, will you finally realize this man doesn’t know what he’s squawking about?

Mary Alice Divine, White Bear Lake

Reading “Man linked to killing shot by police” (Sept. 27) I was particularly bothered having known someone who created a mural in Lowertown. What on earth inspired this man to walk up and shoot a woman and artist in the head in St. Paul, immediately extinguishing the life of a loved and loving, complex and unique, living and breathing human being? So I read on with no explanation until far down in the story, where the article stated that he had “a criminal history in the Twin Cities that includes convictions for nonviolent crimes including illegal gun possession, burglary, fleeing police and receiving stolen property.” OK, but still not enough. He killed this woman — a complete stranger — in cold blood. But then I got even farther down in the story, and there it was: “Court records show that Murdock’s mother previously petitioned Scott County District Court to have him committed as mentally ill.”

Folks, we have the ability to remedy this, but it’s going to require well-thought-out policies (see Sue Abderholden at NAMI Minnesota) that I assume would include ongoing mental health care and housing for as long as it takes, so this will cost real money. But it would rid the world of so much suffering on the part of the person, family, friends, community and, yes, of this sort of violent crime, which is so often the result of someone simply not getting the mental health care they need, which may have been the case here, and that we all deserve. It isn’t that complex but will require the money and the will of the people. A mental health moonshot. Everybody wins. I say we pony up.

Luke Soiseth, Lake St. Croix Beach

The invasion of Lebanon should have never have happened. We could have stopped this war from spinning out of control if we used our willpower instead of firepower. We are in the same circumstances that occur over and over again with the same countries, the same victims and the same results, massive killings, total destruction and lack of direction and no solution. Israel’s intent is to occupy southern Lebanon as it has done twice before.

I’m second-generation Lebanese, born and raised in Iowa, and I totally object to our country saying to Israel with a wink that we are OK with its decision as long as it is “limited.” Let’s see: We are OK with a least a thousand or more Lebanese who have already been killed. We are fine supporting Israel’s bombing the hell out of towns and villages and the displacement of more than 1 millions Lebanese citizens. We have recognized Israeli’s extreme government as it calls the shots and we witness the destruction of Gaza, the West Bank incursions and now Lebanon.

As a nation we seem to object to every other invasion by other countries into sovereign nations yet we encourage Israel as we talk about being “concerned.” We are siding with the most extreme government in Israel’s history that does not know the meaning of peace or negotiation for a cease-fire.

We need a new vision, a new strategic plan and our own solution to end this war, not another invasion. We do not need any more excuses, 2,000-pound bombs and a tolerance level higher than 41,000 civilians deaths in Gaza.

Policies must change dramatically as Iran enters into this insane scenario with the potential of other countries becoming involved. We are not innocent bystanders; we are in this war because of very poor decisions and mistakes we made again and again.

Kamel Aossey, Minnetonka

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If the letter writer of “Mourning what Israel has wrought” (Oct. 1) feels uneasy being Jewish in Minnesota, he should try imagining life as one of the 7 million Jews in Israel, surrounded by deadly threats. These threats are not from mere street gangs but from well-financed, well-armed terrorist organizations, backed by nations whose clear objective is the destruction of Israel. If the letter writer, despite being Jewish, is uncomfortable with that identity, he’s free to dissociate himself from his people.

He has the audacity to describe Hezbollah as “a Lebanese political party that seeks to defend its country against military attack,” conveniently ignoring that it was Hezbollah that chose to attack Israel on Oct. 8 in solidarity with Hamas’ murderous rampage the day before. How is attacking Israel defending Lebanon?

Some people defend terrorists like Hamas and Hezbollah with their bodies. Others do it with their words. And the last thing we need are Jews defending the enemies of their own people.

Ted Flaum, Eagan

I would like to push the recent conversation about the injuries happening in football a bit further (“Increasing discomfort with the game,” Readers Write, Sept. 30, and “Football, maybe I actually can quit you” and “Football glory has high price,” Strib Voices, Sept. 27). Football is a somewhat rule-restricted and entertainingly enriched expression of violence. My point is that violent impulses need to be recognized as an inherent, natural, biological aspect of human nature, just as is the impulse to love and care for others. I would note that in general there seem to be gender differences in these impulses to a significant degree. Looking back at history as well as at the present, we can plainly see what it means to be a member of our species and that the violent nature of humans has continuously expressed itself in the debasing, exploiting, torturing and killing of others. Thanks to various religions, there have evolved idealistic or moralistic expressions of social concerns, such as the Golden Rule, which are also inherent but in opposition to the violent aspect of our nature.

Because our violent nature is often judged immoral or pathological, it is often repressed, rationalized or simply ignored. I think we need to give our violent nature the same reality status as our altruistic nature. Violent impulses need to be recognized as part of what it means to be human. Once they are recognized as such, it becomes our option and even our responsibility to make a conscious choice, hopefully a choice that overcomes the violent urges. (It should be noted that such choices are very much influenced by our growing-up experience, which is a good reason to aim toward helping all people to have basic needs met.)

Personally, I can recognize my own violent impulses; however, given my upbringing and the fortunate life I felt I have had, these impulses may never be acted upon. As long as my mind is sane, I will always hope to put love and caring above my inherent social antagonisms. (An exception could occur in being forced to defend others and oneself from violence.)

So, back to football. Let it be an outlet for a controlled expression of violence. Perhaps improve football equipment and modify rules to try to reduce injuries. Also, make the possible mental damage explicit to present and future players and make that element more apparent in the choice. Finally, not only does football express an individual’s aggressive impulses in a moderate form, but it may also alleviate the acting out of violence by those whose impulses are allowed expression through such vicarious experiences.

John Robertson, Minneapolis

The writer is a retired psychologist.