Dave's Place

If Christians reacted to every slight and every bit of humor at their expense the way these Muslims have, they would have killed off the rest of the world by now.

I thought I had a lot more to say about this, but the matter has skyrocketed since I started this post, and frankly, enough has been already said by better than I. I will say this much though: western cultures do not really understand the Muslim cultures even fractionally as well as they think they do. And it goes the other way as well. There is no other way to categorize the response to these cartoons than as over reaction. If the Danish publishers understood the offense they were causing, they likely would have elected not to publish them. And if the Muslims protesting that publication so violently really understood the mindset that led to that publication, they probably would still have been offended, but they would not have taken their protests so far.

The best analogy I can think of is of someone telling jokes at a dinner party. Let’s say this person has decided to joke about the mentally retarded, and, unknown to him, one of his listeners has a retarded child. If he knew, it’s likely he wouldn’t make the joke; but even if he did, should the rightfully offended father pull out a gun and shoot him for it? No, at the most, he would coldly tell the man how distasteful the joke was, and more than likely the joker would apologize and that would be that. The relationship would be strained, perhaps, but it’s unlikely there would be violence. The father knows this guy was just making a joke, but it was too personal to be funny. If he was telling fat people jokes, or dumb blond jokes, or lawyer jokes, he would be laughing along with the rest. Likewise, the Muslim community needs to let the rest of the world know that they do not consider this humorous – it’s too personal, too sacred to them. But destroying property and killing people is not the way to express it. They are only strengthening the cultural divide, and nothing good can come of that.

Those who would have “Intelligent Design” taught in schools will have their day in court soon. Their detractors have had their say all over the Net as well, and it looks like the debate will rage on for some time. I seriously doubt it will end with this case.

I have no problem with faith. I am a person of faith myself, and hold my own beliefs quite strongly. But I think both sides of this argument are hurting their own causes going at this debate the way that they are.

Continue reading →

The Democratic primaries for the NYC mayoral race took place this week, and it reminded me of an aspect to modern American culture that I am finding increasingly alarming. Remember when it used to be said, “may the best man win?” That’s nonsense now, the current mantra is “may the best spoken” win.
Our modern pipers step up on their stages and bandstands, and boldly play their tunes – generally strident, aggressive songs with bold melodies and an upbeat rhythm. Their hired accompanists stand around them, and dance and clap to the beat; before long a group of sycophants and clingers-on are singing along…often louder and more stridently than the main act. The growing crowds attact bigger crowds, until critical mass is reached…and whoever gets the most people to dance along, wins the election. Lyrics are inconsequential, as long as they resonate properly with the tune. Content is inconsequential, as long as it’s politically correct and contains all the current popular buzzwords and catch phrases.
Even more frightening to me personally, is our tendency towards this kind of intellectual laziness does not limit itself to politics. Heaven forbid we actually truly find out about a candidate, or vote on a wholistic view of issues rather than the current hot topic. Double-forbid we should actually research anything else we hear. We blithely accept what is presented on scientific issues, religion…pretty much everything. All it takes is someone with a clear, confident voice to stand up and start declaiming, and that person will have a following. Get enough followers repeating what they say, and it is generally accepted as The Truth.
In one of the most brilliant twists of irony I have ever seen, some people have awakened just enough to this effect to angrily rise up and shake their fists at “The Media.” It’s their fault for presenting only the fluff and the drama! I have to ask, how about we take some responsibility ourselves? It’s not The Media’s fault that we only tune in to what we want to hear, rather than what we need to hear. They are making their living off of it, they really have no choice but to cater to our choices. And we get what we ask for. Just like we get the politicians we deserve.

There has been a lot of flap about the holes in the evacuation plans of New Orleans, and aid reaching those who have been stranded there. The stories are horrific, there is no other way to put it. The shortfalls in the planning for such a disaster and implementation of aid are very real, and I for one won’t try to excuse them. But more and more I keep hearing things like, “it’s just because they are poor and black,” and ,”if these were white folk, they would have help by now.” The truth, I suspect, is that the failures in relief have nothing to do at all with who these people are. It’s who they are that got them in the position of in the first place – anyone who had the resources to get out did so. Those who had no where to go, or no means to escape, were stuck. Of course it was the poor of the city. Being the deep south, where the large majority of the poor are “people of color,” of course it was the poor and black who were stuck in such dire straights.
I truly believe that reducing this problem into mere racism is overly simplistic, and, in the end, counterproductive. It’s not nearly so much about race as it is about class, and class issues are endemic to the human race – as much as we like to believe we are progressing, the progress is miniscule. Racism does exist, and the obvious correspondance between racial divides and social divides make it seem more like racism than it really is, but we aren’t going to get rid of “racism” until we get rid of the ingrained belief that because a certain class of people are doing better than others, they must naturally be better.
Here’s a perfect example. I was having a conversation with an aquaintance about an Indian fellow we both knew. My aquaintance had an awful lot of derogatory things to say about this person’s “people,” until I finally told him to shut up, and that I had no use for those who judged someone by the color of their skin. He essentially said, “nice knowing you,” in response; nothing would so much as dent his bigotry.
The kicker is this guy is only of second generation immigrant extraction himself. He is Italian, proud of it; his parents came here from Italy. Now, I remember very well the day when Italian immigrants were considered the lowest class riff-raff imaginable…they were the dregs of the area, and commonly referred to as WOP’s (which was a dealy insult at the time). You would think this guy would have compassion on new entrants to the country based on how his own parents were treated – but no, he’s as bad or worse. His parents’ generation worked hard, learned to fit in, and mostly overcame the stigma. No doubt, the SE Asian community eventually will too. But the disdain has nothing at all to do with race or country of origin, not really – it’s the fact that they are different, and mostly poor. The ones that aren’t poor are treated like they must have cheated somehow, and “stole” their prosperity from those more deserving. They haven’t clawed their way up the social ladder – yet.
Now African-Americans are something of a special case. I still believe that most of the disdain leveled towards them is class-based rather than racial. But, as a race, they have been given a very raw deal in this country. Brought in as slaves, then cut loose generations later with absolutely no idea how to function as free people, it is no wonder that a great many have not been able to escape the cycle of poverty they are trapped in. The disdain they are treated with only makes it harder to break free of it.
Only when we get our noses out of the air and accept that poverty and lack of opportunity do not make a human being less valuable will we even begin to settle this issue. It will be a long time coming.
Edit 9/4/05: Seems I’m not alone in this opinion; Ursula, a blogger currently living in the UK, but formerly of the US, agrees with me that this is a class issue, and her race puts more weight on her opinion than mine does. I might also say she puts it more eloquently than I as well.