Oh, Racism.

2007-10-30

I've seen things. Not that I am some gray-beard, capable of defeating any potential objections by merely referencing my years. But by this assertion of ocular experience, you should apprehend the mildly somber tone of my intended discourse.

In the Baha'i Faith, racism is described as America's most challenging issue. This makes sense to me, as racism is not based in logic. There are no proofs one can assemble, no flow charts to be constructed in Powerpoint. Racism is inimical to logic; Anathema to reason.

Certainly there are the obvious examples. Tattered remnants of the KKK that appear like so much flotsam on documentaries. The "N word" thrown about with an accompanying quantity of spittle. But what really bothers me about racism in America are it's subtle manifestations.

I went to an affluent, upper-middle class highschool, and one only had to walk down the hall for a few seconds to hear some racial slur said in jest.

In jest. Ingested. Injustice.

It is more than ignorance, though ignorance is a part. It is more than hate, though hate is present. It is a fundamental misapprehension of the unity of humans, as distasteful to the sensibilities as shouting is to the ear. What a perverse, inverted world we inhabit that we who were born of the same substance choose to differentiate ourselves based on so paltry a thing as skin color.

The subtle things. Jokes about mexicans. Cracks about blacks. The same thrown the other way and rinse, lather, repeat until all is red, red, red. And all to what? Raise ourselves? It doesn't take a genius to realize that there is a difference between raising oneself and lowering others.

Racism really is everywhere, because everywhere there is a lack of appreciation of unity. But the worst are we who occasionally dip into it, like the employee who wins awards by day and steals from the place he works by night. Not quite a full fledged thief but not a character of virtuosity either. It seems to me that we who have freedom have a great burdon when it comes to using it. And if there is one thing worse than a thief, it's a hypocritical one.

Keywords

2007-10-22

 I was just searching through the site statistics, you know, just checking to see if anyone actually reads the stuff we write, and I came across a list of search phrases that bring up our site.  Those phrases are:

how you make candy coating
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when harry met sally and eros
what is candy coating
sweet wordsfor lover
i m the freakin batman

The fact that "I'm freakin Batman," pulls up our site on a google search is awesome in my world view.  I can't help but feel we've accomplished something special.

Yogi Was a Rcaist and Other Such Musings

2007-10-16

That's right, as in the bear...  Smarter than the average and all.

So,this line of thought started harmlessly enough.  I was walking down the stairs at work, on my way to lunch, when I overheard a man speaking of a picnic.  Ok, so I'm not sure that that's what he was actually talking about, he could have actually been speaking on freaknik for all I know, but what I heard was "picnic."  Naturally, the loveable childhood favorite, Yogi Bear springs to mind anytime I hear picnic, as in "Eh Boo Boo, let's go steal some pic-a-nic baskits,"  too which his nebbish cohort would reply "I don't know Yogi, that doesn't sound like a good idea..."  Wuss.  Boo Boo is so not hardcore. 

Everytime I find myself encountering the word picnic (which was surprisingly frequent, during summer), I immidiately channel my inner Yogi... "Let's steal some pic-a-nick baskets...."  and it was on thisday that I realized, Yogi Bear is a racist...

Ok, so maybe not really.  If you don't know to what I'm referring, I speak of the urban myth of the etymology of picnic.  As far as urban myths go, it's a fairly good one.  Its certainly easier to believe than the idea that some nice men in Ghana want to sell me their gold at very low prices.  For the record, it turns out that this myth is very much, well, mythical.  The actual etymology of picnic is far more French in nautre.  I know, right?

Ok, so Yogi is off the hook, but what I found interesting about the whole thing is that it reminds me how media is sometimes aweful loose in itsstandards on race relations.  Especially back around the time ofYogi... Ah, those were simpler times, or so I hear.

Even today though, after the nuisance of the so called "civil rights movement,"  I still find that sometimes we're not as evolved as we would like to think of ourselves.  My favorite most recent example comes by way of Jazz from the new Transformers movie.  If you didn't see it (or somehow couldn't tell), he was the "black" robot.  I mean, what does that even mean.  How would that even happen?  Did they build him in Brooklyn?  Now, I understand the idea of archetypes and caricatures, they give your audience a way of immidiately recognizing and connecting with characters, especially when they are mice, and dogs, and 14ft tall robots, but it's one thing to chacterize a trait, the smart guy, the cool guy, the evil guy, but when we start characterizing the black guy, the chinese guy, and the mexican guy... well that's just they start of a bad joke (here's a hint, they're probably walking into a bar).  What's worse is that often these characters are presented for our children's amusement.  Now, I'm no child psycologist, but I'm not sure that I would call that a "good" thing.  I hardly think that it will lead to irreversible social delinquency, but still, I think we have an obligation to demand more from our society.  Oh, and as for the black robot Jazz, and here's a spoiler alert, ... he dies.  Seriously, double-you tee eff.

Paul-lo-Tics

2007-10-09

The other day I was cheerfully ambushed on the street by a young person representing the Green Peace organization. She started by saying "You look like you care about the environment!" Once I got over the momentary annoyance necessarily inflicted by the manipulative nature of this line, I proceeded to engage in a wonderful discussion (she spoke while I nodded sagely) about Green Peace, which then lead to an even more wonderful discussion about Politics and the Baha'i Faith.

At the basic level, Baha'is are completely non-active in politics. By this is not just meant mere refraining from partisanships, but rather a complete detachment from political involvement. This was brought up in the context of the aforementioned ambush because eventually I informed her that, as a Baha'i, I really couldn't join Green Peace due to it's inherent political ties.
 
And thus we have reached the stark white bone of the issue. I know that many people are somewhat confused by this aspect of the Baha'i Faith. I also know that it is easy to confuse this policy with apathy and a lack of caring. So, here are the facts!

Firstly, Baha'u'llah prophet-founder of the Baha'i Faith, wrote: "The remedy the world needeth in its present-day afflictions can never be the same as that which a subsequent age may require. Be anxiously concerned with the needs of the age ye live in, and center your deliberations on its exigencies and requirements." So, this rules out the apathy theory, as Baha'is are specifically told to be concerned.

Having established our concernedness, we are lead to the next point (you know, secondly): Why Baha'is can't be politically involved. For the answer, we can look to Shogi-Effendi, the Guardian of the Faith: "Fully aware of the repeated statements...that universality is of God, Baha'is in every land are ready, nay anxious, to associate themselves by word and deed with any association of men which, after careful scrutiny, they feel satisfied is free from every tinge of partisanship and politics and is wholly devoted to the interests of all mankind.

And this leads us to our conclusion. It is not that the intent of politics is not also shared by Baha'is; most people want to change the world for the better. But to associate with one specific group is to almost inherently exclude another group. Most politics (even the well-intentioned ones) are fundamentally devisive. Instead, how much better to focus our attentions on the unification of humankind as a whole, and to work in accord with all people to reach this aim.

Oh, and, of course, Baha'is can vote.