Optimism and Justice

In explaining to one of our daughters, who is going to school in Florida, what I wanted to write about this time, she told me that I am probably a delusional optimist.  I would agree, since if there is life, there is hope, or, hope springs eternal.  I suppose there are many other clichés out there regarding hope, but those are the only two that pop into my memory at the moment.  And since I intend writing about terrorism, I need hope.

Somewhere in between CE 1 and CE 2000, the Western nations, such as they were, initiated several Crusades to overrun the Middle Eastern Muslim countries, and to convert Muslims to Christianity.  These Crusades were bloody, and not particularly successful.  What they did accomplish was to leave a particularly bad set of memories in those living in the Middle Eastern countries toward the Western European nations.

Fast forward to the end of World War I when England and France, without input from the Arab countries, drew the boundaries of Middle Eastern countries without any input from those living there, any regard to existing tribal and religious considerations. England and France took those arbitrarily written boundaries to the then League of Nations, where the boundaries were ratified, with the assent of the United States, and the intent that the Western nations had the right to tell the Arab nations what they should do.  And many of these countries were outright colonies of European nations. 

From the end of WWI to the present, Western diplomacy did not dwell overly long on what the desires of the Arab countries might be, but heavily emphasized what would be in the best interests of the Western countries – primarily oil.  The oil corporations, with the aiding and abetting of the United States government, would put leaders in power that would do the bidding of what we wanted – not what was the best for the people in these arbitrarily created nations. 

And then we had 9/11.  19 hijackers killed some 3,000 people in the attack.  The attackers were from Saudi Arabia.  In the immediate aftermath of 9/11, Saudi businessmen, diplomats and their families were allowed to fly out of the US back to Saudi Arabia.  26 days after 9/11, the US began bombing Afghanistan, who actually had nothing to do with 9/11.  Then, as the Bush administration had been planning on doing anyway, the invasion of Iraq began 3/19/2003.  Since that time, it is estimated that nearly 4,000 American military were killed, 21,000 Afghan civilians, and nearly 100,000 Iraqis were killed, and that number is still growing with the ISIS uprising, and with our own drone attacks that kill hundreds of innocent Iraqi civilians whose only crime is to be in the vicinity of someone we have deemed an enemy.

The Western nations, and in particular the United States, has not acted in a just manner in the Middle East.  We have treated the people of that region as much less human as we are; we have plundered their natural resources – primarily oil – for our benefit, not theirs, and, in general, have been pretty rotten neighbors.

I do not believe that our actions in any way condone the rise of jihadist terrorism, nor do I believe that these terrorists are living the tenets of the Muslim religion.  They claim they are, but anyone can claim anything without making it so.   But reverse these actions we have taken against the Middle East.  Make it the United States that has had all of these actions taken against us.  Imagine Middle Eastern countries coming over here and redrawing the boundaries of our states without ever asking our opinions.  Imagine being invaded on spurious made up charges against our leaders when actually what they want is our copious natural resources.  Imagine being at a wedding reception with crazy Uncle Ralph who spouts all sorts of anti-Middle Eastern rhetoric, and having the reception being hit with a drone explosive with many killed along with crazy Uncle Ralph.  What would the reaction of our people be? 

It will take several generations to erase the agony in the hearts of Middle Easterners, but we need to start somewhere with a foreign policy based on justice, not oil.  Western nations need to realize that the Middle Easterners are just as capable of making their own decisions as we are.  Instead of sending more and more violence, we should start sending food, medical supplies, educational supplies, and any other humanitarian item we can think of.  As is cited in the Old Testament, “The sins of the fathers are visited unto the sixth and seventh generation.” 

I guess I am the perennial optimist, but we have to start somewhere.  Confucius has reportedly said, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”  It is time we started that thousand miles by walking in their shoes, carrying justice in our arms.

 

 

 

Free Speech and Violence

On the news last night, I think it was Chris Hayes but am too lazy to actually look it up, there was a comment that I cheered out loud over.  Researchers in Psychology, Sociology, and related fields of study have begun looking into the root causes of terrorism.  Why is it so attractive to some?  Where does it start?  Why does it continue?  Questions such as these have needed to be asked for a whale of a long time, going back to the Irish Republican Army, and the uprising in various countries under colonialism, including the Mau Mau insurrection in South Africa in the middle of the last century, and probably a long time before that.  Terrorism is nothing new. 

Often religion is used to justify the horrific actions that terrorists indulge in.  In Ireland, it was Catholic against Protestant.  In England it was Protestant against Catholic.  Now it is Islam against Christianity and Judaism.  The only thing is, none of these religions in their mainstream teachings espouse the use of violence.  It is a perversion of the religion that takes over the thinking of the adherents.  When the veneer of religion is scraped away, generally there is an underlying secular reason for the terrorism – generally power and/or greed.  After all, Mahatma Ghandi achieved freedom from English colonialism without violence, and our own black civil rights movement achieved more of its goals through the practice of non-violence.

And now we have these obscene terrorist acts in Africa and Europe.  At least 2,000 people were slaughtered by Boko Haram in Africa, and the spate of terrorism in Europe.  At the same time, there is much discussion about freedom of speech, and whether we should, or should not, curtail freedom of expression.  Since I was raised during the time when people were taught to be polite in their speech, not because you might offend someone, but that non-politeness was an indication you were not a “nice” person, this is a really a complex issue for me.  For one thing, when I saw a website that indicated it had the cartoons that Charlie Hebdo had been printing, I had to look and was terribly offended at one of the cartoons, and I’m not even a Muslim.  It was supposedly a depiction of Mohamed’s hairy butt!  That wasn’t even bad satire; it was just disgusting!!

I am a firm believer in our concept of freedom of speech.  I believe that I have every right to write whatever I want to on this blog, and I will certainly defend my right as firmly as I can.  But at the same time, I believe that if I choose to write something that is deeply offensive to someone else, then I must expect some sort of negative response.  It may be the loss of a good friend all the way to something very unpleasant.  In our insistence on our own right to say what we want, I believe that we have lost the fact that words can be as abusive and as hurtful as physically or sexually abusing that person.  There is a big difference between satirizing an idea or policy of a religion, and rudely, crudely and obnoxiously denigrating the very basis for that religion’s existence.

As an example of a really good cartoon satirizing my own church’s teaching on birth control was a Conrad cartoon of U.S. Senator Henry Hyde kneeling before an obviously poor (from her clothing) pregnant woman and patting her stomach, saying, “Ah, the miracle of life!”  The next square had the same mother with the now born toddler, and Henry Hyde saying, “Disgusting little welfare cheat!”  Now that was good satire. 

What we as a culture have forgotten is that actions and words have consequences.  If we are going to not only invade other countries for our own greed (oil), indiscriminately kill their people during the invasion, continue to kill their people with the use of drones after the invasion is supposedly over, and then after all of that , denigrate their religion in the most disgusting manner possible we have to assume there will be consequences.  Perhaps our academics studying the effects of what we have done can come up with some way we can walk back some of the horrific things we have done to the Arab states over time.  To make a great understatement, our Western world has not treated the Muslim states with any degree of respect whatsoever.  We are now reaping the violence and destruction that we have sown.

Probably there are some who will say that I am a Communist, terrorist sympathizer, pot-smoking lefty liberal.  But who would have thought that the author of the Book of Proverbs, written some 3,700 years ago was also a Communist, terrorist sympathizer, pot-smoking lefty liberal attempting to deny American their First Amendment rights of free speech.  Amazing, is it not?  Proverbs 15-1:  A mild answer calms wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.” 

In short, actions and words have consequences.  We have the right to say what we want to.  But just because we can, should we?

The Tea Party and the Ship of State

Ever since the Tea Party was first formed one of their mantras has been “Take Our Country Back”.  Take it back from whom?  I hadn’t noticed any less ability to indulge in any activity, civil, religious, or otherwise in the recent past.  As far as I was concerned things were chugging along quite slowly economically, but otherwise pretty much the same.

I knew that ever since the Civil Rights legislation in the 1960’s, more and more black and brown people were on TV, in our colleges and universities, were doctors, lawyers, teachers, law enforcement and in  government, all of which I thought was a really good thing, but I was busy in my life, and didn’t give it too much thought.  When Barack Obama was a candidate in 2008 a friend of mine was hesitant to vote for him, but couldn’t tolerate Senator McCain. I convinced her to vote for Obama’s white half, which she did.  I was also aware that there was a real residual of racism in this country left over from our abominable history of slavery, and a fear and dislike of anything that was not like “us”.

Then when the Governor of Michigan, Rick Snyder, got the state legislature to allow him to set aside any lower government body he didn’t like and to appoint his own city manager in its place, he quickly decided to eliminate the duly elected City Council of Bel Haven, a predominately black community, because he thought they weren’t running the City the way he wanted it to be run. I was pretty disturbed because I had been an elected official, and took that responsibility pretty seriously.  It turned out that what the developers wanted was the City Park, the land for which had been donated years before for the exclusive use of the city residents.  It was lake front property.  Oh, yes.  I heard recently that the park had been sold to the developers, and is now a commercial development.  The black residents lost out.

Then the governor did the same thing to the City of Detroit.  What was wanted there was all of the art, etc. in the city museum, to be sold to the highest bidder to pay for redevelopment in the downtown area of Detroit.  Fortunately for the City, that proposal was blocked.  Detroit is a predominately black city.  When that ploy didn’t work, and the city really tanked under the appointed manager, the manager cut worker’s pensions, fired whoever they could, and then cut off water service to those who had trouble paying their water bills because they had been let go.

A great many of these states who had predominately Republican-led governments, after the last census gerrymandered congressional districts in their states so that Republicans could not be voted out of office, even though more Democrats voted in the total of the entire state.  Needless to say, the gerrymandered districts were predominately white, and the others were predominately black. 

At the same time, state after state was passing bills to disenfranchise minority voters using a variety of means.  Most of these bills were struck down by the federal courts, but the impression left was that minority, poor and senior votes counted far less than the votes of conservative evangelical Christian white people.  Those who used to be called WASPs.  That is, White Anglo-Saxon Protestants.  These lesser black and brown people ought not to be allowed to vote at all.

Then we had the rise of Rush Limbaugh and Fox News, along with Lou Dobbs and Glen Beck spewing their racial, sexist, and religious right views into the general public.  It was pretty obvious that this racial and sexist disparagement of the “other” was beginning to make further inroads into the unconscious minds of many of our citizens.  Not racial hatred, per se, but a distinct devaluing of the lives of those who are not “like us”, who do not have “our” values of respect for the law, who by nature are violent, and who need to be controlled by whatever means. 

I write this because it is my opinion, and I have no documentation or proof, that this devaluing of the lives of minorities has infiltrated some, and let me emphasize, only some of our law enforcement officers.  Particularly those who watch Fox News or listen to Rush Limbaugh. Thus, with these relatively few officers, considering the thousands out there, when they are confronted with a black or brown male whom they perceive, rightly or wrongly, to be questioning their police authority, the young male definitely needs to be controlled less he become violent, and the situation gets quickly out of control as a result.  It is wrong to assume that the officer “hates” the other person.  He, or she, probably does not hate anyone.  But fears the black or brown male?  Most definitely!  And since that black or brown male is already a danger by his simple existence, it is OK to shoot first and ask questions later.

It is incumbent, once again in my opinion, that the thoughtful, non-Fox News, white community needs to take an active role in fighting against this denigration of minorities, poor people, women and seniors.  We all, whatever our skin color, have a lot to lose.  Our safety nets like food stamps, Medicare, Social Security, medical care for women in all circumstances, health care, a healthy environment, healthy food and water, and decent schools for all of our kids.  Black lives matter, as do the lives of all poor people, women and seniors.  Death by shooting is a terrible thing.  But so is death by starvation, cold, or lack of proper medical care.  There used to be a poster during the 1960’s: God Doesn’t Make Junk.  That applies to all of us because we are all in this ship of state together.

An Ardent Wish for a Happy New Year

The following is my ardent wish for our world for this New Year.  Originally I was going to sort of pick and choose items from A Global Ethic to express this wish, but when I extracted this from my filing cabinet and began reading it, there is no way one can pick and choose.  So, I am sending the initial declaration verbatim.  The entire Global Ethic can be found by simply by googling the name.  All of the rest of this is a quote, taken from Churchwatch, October-November, 1993.  Only the initial Declaration will appear here.

"At the Parliament of the World’s Religions Aug. 28-Sept.5, 1993 in Chicago, 250 of the world’s religious leaders signed “An Initial Declaration Towards a Global Ethic”, developed by Father Hans Kung.  The 6,000-word-document is in two parts:  a one-page declaration, and an eight-page elaboration of principles.  The opening declaration is printed verbatim, followed by selected quotes from the lengthy principles.

The Declaration of a Global Ethic

The world is in agony.  The agony is so pervasive and urgent that we are compelled to name its manifestations so that the depth of this pain may be made clear.

Peace eludes us … the planet is being destroyed … neighbors live in fear … women and men are estranged from each other … children die!

This is abhorrent!

We condemn the abuses of the Earth’s ecosystems.  We condemn the poverty that stifles life’s potential; the hunger that weakens the human body; the economic disparities that threaten so many families with ruin.  We condemn the social disarray of the nations, the disregard for justice which pushes citizens to the margin; the anarchy overtaking our communities; and the insane death of children from violence.  In particular we condemn aggression and hatred in the name of religion.

But this agony need not be.

It need not be because the basis for an ethic already exists.  This ethic offers the possibility of a better individual and global order, and leads individuals away from chaos.  We are women and men who have embraced the precepts and practices of the world’s religions:

We affirm that a common set of core values is found in the teachings of the religions, and that these form the basis of a global ethic.

We affirm that this truth is already known, but yet to be lived in heart and action.

We affirm that there is an irrevocable, unconditional norm for all areas of life, for families and communities, for races, nations, and religions.  There already exist ancient guidelines for human behavior which are found in the teachings of the religions of the world and which are the condition for a sustainable world order.

We declare:

We are interdependent.  Each of us depends on the well-being of the whole, and so we have respect for the community of living beings, for people, animals, and plants, and for the preservation of Earth, the air, water and soil.

We take individual responsibility for all we do.  All our decisions, actions and failures to act have consequences.

We must treat others as we wish others to treat us.  We make a commitment to respect life and dignity, individuality and diversity, so that every person is treated humanely, without exception.  We must have patience and acceptance.  We must be able to forgive, learning from the past but never allowing ourselves to be enslaved by memories of hate.  Opening our hearts to one another, we must sink our narrow differences for the cause of the world community, practicing a culture of solidarity and relatedness.

We consider human kind our family.  We must strive to be kind and generous.  We must not live for ourselves alone, but should also serve others, never forgetting the children, the aged, the poor, the suffering, the disabled, the refugees, and the lonely.  No person should ever be considered or treated as a second-class citizen, or be exploited in any way whatsoever.  There should be equal partnership between men and women.  We must not commit any kind of sexual immorality.  We must put behind us all forms of domination and abuse.

We commit ourselves to a culture of non-violence, respect, justice, and peace.  We shall not oppress, injure, torture, or kill other human beings, forsaking violence as a means of settling differences.

We must strive for a just social and economic order, in which everyone has an equal chance to reach full potential as a human being.  We must speak and act truthfully and with compassion, dealing fairly with all, and avoiding prejudice and hatred.  We must not steal.  We must move beyond the dominance of greed for power, prestige, money and consumption to make a just and peaceful world.

Earth cannot be changed for the better unless the consciousness of individuals is changed first.  We pledge to increase our awareness by disciplining our minds, by meditation, by prayer, or by positive thinking.  Without risk and a readiness to sacrifice there can be no fundamental change in our situation.  Therefore we commit ourselves to this global ethic, to understanding one another, and to socially-beneficial, peace-fostering, and nature-friendly ways of life.

We invite all people, whether religious or not, to do the same."

(The four Principles of the Global Ethic follow, and may be found on the web site.) 

Wishing all people everywhere a very Happy, and Justice-filled New Year.