Equality August 1, 2009
Posted by shwaldman in Family, Politics, Society.Tags: differences, discrimination, equality, prejudice, Racism, Religion
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Last night, I finally watch the movie “Milk”. It stars Sean Penn as Harvey Milk, the gay civil rights activist and city supervisor in California. It is based on his life from 1972 and 1978. (He turned 40 in 1972.) Being only six years old at the time, it was a period of history I have no memories, especially of the cultural events during that time. However, I was struck by the parallels to the recent news of Havard professor Gates arrest this past week. Complete discrimination! I don’t understand it. What I was surprised about with the Gates situation is the amount news focused only on the police officers actions, and not those of Gates or the 911 call center… which is where the race was actually brought into the situation. It was not the good neighbor who mentioned race, but the 911 operator.
And as much progress as Harvey Milk was able to accomplish we are still struggling 30 years later… why is gay marriage still an issue? Again, I do not understand. Why is discrimination by anyone, against anyone else okay?…. And now, as I write this, I am watching several episodes of Morgan Spurlock’s 30 Days. These shows are 45 minutes of enlightening insights into various situations of differences. On this DVD was 1) a border patol officer moving in with a family of illegal aliens 2) an American computer programmer who was laid off moved to India to work in a call center and 3) an atheist woman moved into the house of family of devoted Christians.
Spurlock read the results of recent US surveys that found atheists were the single least trusted people in the country, less trusted the Muslims, recent immigants and homosexuals in terms of sharing Americans vision of society. In a country founded to separate church and state, providing people with complete religious freedom and equality to everyone, we are failing miserably. What strikes me most about the episode on religion is the way the devoted family has no recognition of their close-mindedness. They were not open to the possibility that there were other views of spirituality out there… this is how religious wars are started!
I am always interested in how other people see things. However, I do not judge those feelings nor do I care how others feel about mine – except if it results in discrimination. But as I think back, I apparently do. In my post about our next car, I realize now that one of the primary reasons I would not get a foriegn car is the feeling of others looking poorly upon my choice of vehicles. Why is it that in this country, we can not feel comfortable or safe being different?
Historical Questioning of Text July 11, 2009
Posted by shwaldman in Society.Tags: History, KERA, podcasts, Religion, Think
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I was listening to a podcast of radio talk show in Texas, called Think on KERA the other day. They were discussing a book written about the books of the Bible by a university history professor. And I will admit that I know quite little about the Bible. However, I know enough about the Christian religion that it is supposed to teach openness and forgiveness. The author was discussing the different books of the Bible have discrepancies that can not be explained.
What I found interesting (at least enough to blog about)…. was how someone called in and made very disparaging comments about the author and his findings. She even went as far as saying she would not listen to this radio show any longer. Her tone was obviously one of anger and almost fear – the host, author and other callers were all clearly taken aback by this woman’s reaction.
My interest in this interaction took two directions… 1) was in the findings of the book and 2) was the reaction of the caller. Even I know, that the Bible is made of my several books, written by different people. These people all had different viewpoints and recollections. Much like the childhood game, Grapevine, where a message or story is passed down the line and everyone waits to hear what the differences are between what the first person said and what the last person heard. To me, these types of things are not at all surprising and after 2000 years, one would think most people would recognize these problems without surprise.
But the real concerning interest that I had in this call was the true energy and what I think was fear this caller was expressing. It really troubles me that a belief system that is supposed to give someone faith and enlightenment could cause such a reaction at the acknowledgement of discrepancies. I would not at all classify this person as a religious fanatist, but it looks like this is what religion is becoming. Everyone is right and everyone else is wrong. I hope that people start to understand what religion or any spiritual beliefs truly are… a person method to guide and lift the individuals through their personal life… no one is right or wrong when it comes to spirituality.
Rainn Wilson’s Soul Pancake March 26, 2009
Posted by shwaldman in Society.Tags: Enlightenment, Judgement Free Zone, Open Communications, Oprah, Rainn Wilson, Religion, Soul Pancake, The Office
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I listened to Oprah Winfrey’s podcast with Rainn Wilson from early March yesterday. She posts these episodes from her Sirius radio show about religion and enlightenment. As a big fan of the show “The Office”, I think Rainn Wilson’s character Dwight is hilarious along with the rest of the cast. And having seen him play other odd characters in things like “Six Feet Under, ” I get the sense he is a little off-beat in real life, too. This perception has been cemented by listening/watching this podcast.
I have been thinking about posting about my thoughts about religion on the Internet and while this is over-do, I am not going to get into my deep thought today. What I want to point out is that this radio interview seemed to be publicity event for his web site: Soul Pancake. The way he described this web site was as an effort to open a dialog, free of judgment about religion, spirituality, and enlightenment. So, I went to the site and there was nothing there. I clicked through several links and continued to be taken to an empty search page. Every search I tried, returned nothing. I even tried signing up and it still showed me nothing.
So, I decided to write this review of the site and here I am… I go back to the site today and it was full… there is lots of questions and open discussions going on. WOW! I must have just caught the site on a bad day… now this story is almost irrelevant. Although, I am all for the open discussion and a site that can open communication without people intentional or unintentional hurting each other. I am looking forward to seeing what this site, and all the people that contribute to it, have to say.
My big concern over this site having looked it for a few minutes is that there is come of the expected very “happy go lucky” and “everyone should just get along.” I do not think that is an effective dialog. Sure, everyone (every sane one) wants these things, but saying them over and over does not get the job done. But I do see that there is a lot of open debate of topics the acceptableness of lying, religion vs science, technologies effect on human relationships… all interesting things to me – I plan to read more.
