Respect for Diversity? Calling a Spade a Spade

Doc got me thinking about the concept of diversity with her theme for the Country Fair this month. "As per usual," as N. likes to say, I didn't have anything to submit at the time. I'm a day late and a dollar short, Doc, as they like to say in my hometown. But I was thinking about it. And then I read this post from Big Mama over at Weaving Our Circle. And it reminded me of a story. And that reminder got me thinking about the whole issue of diversity in the United States.

This could turn out to be a two-part post. But first, the story. This is a true story and I think it says a lot about how comfortable the dominant culture is with differences and diversity in these United States. And that's not much.

The "Jews are Really Christians in Disguise" Story:

I used to be a member of a Jewish-Catholic Dialogue group. We would get together once a month to discuss an assigned reading and once a year, we ran an educational day to bring others in the community to discuss some issue or another. The more we met, the more I got the sense that the group did not want to discuss the hard stuff--like the role of Christian Europe in the Shoah, or even the differences between us. There seemed to be a sense in which the group wanted to get together and feel good about how diverse and accepting we all were. But differences? Well, they make people uncomfortable. Best not to talk about them.

This was confirmed for me when we got together to discuss two articles published in the Jesuit magazine, America. One article, by a self-labeled "conservative Catholic" archbishop, very matter-of-factly discussed some important theological differences between Catholicism and Judaism. And it was clear that the archbishop, speaking from his perspective, thought that Judaism had gotten it wrong about Jesus. This article was not suprising to me and some of the other Jews there. Nor was it offensive. After all, as a very small minority in the United States (somewhere around 2% if we are lucky), we are well aware that we think differently about the identity of Jesus than Christians do. The Archbishop did not express any contempt for Jews. He did point out the areas of disagreement. Strongly. And that had some of the Catholic members of the group falling all over themselves to show how very liberal and tolerant they are by refusing to acknowledge that we do, in fact, have very different beliefs about Jesus.

The second article, by a self-identified "liberal Catholic" was very different. Nothing was strongly worded at all. It appeared on the surface, that the writer was very "acccepting" and "tolerant." But I found his position to be extremely offensive. He argued that essentially Jews are really Christians who just don't know it yet, and therefore are worthy of "salvation." And the Catholic members of the group just couldn't get enough of it. They thought this neatly solved the whole problem of "salvation" for Jews.

For me, that was the problem.
In order to prove how "diverse" they were, the Catholic members who approved of this notion, and not all did, were essentially erasing our identity as Jews. And so I said something like this:

"Look, some of you have a problem with the Christian doctrine that salvation through belief that Jesus was the Messiah is the only way to relate to G-d. This is a Christian problem. It is about Christian doctrine. It has nothing to do with us as Jews. We do not agree with you about that doctrine. And we understand that it is part of the structure of your belief. And it's a free country. You have the right to believe that if you want to. As long as you do not exert force against those who do not agree with you, I am not offended by your belief. But when you take away my identity as a Jew because you are so uncomfortable with the fact that I disagree with you, then I am offended."

As you can imagine, in that group my statement set off quite a---well, discussion. I took some heat. And ultimately, the subject was dropped. Probably because it was too uncomfortable for some of the touchy-feely types who wanted to feel good about how liberal and accepting of diversity they think they are.

And that is the nub of the problem. Accepting diversity means that one accepts that others are not exactly like you. It means looking deep within and recognizing that your way of seeing the world is unique to you. It's a lonely realization. It means recognizing that yes, we are all human beings and members of the same species, with the same evolutionary heritage and genome. We are all very similar. The words Shakespeare puts into Shylock's mouth are:

"If you prick us, do we not bleed?
If you tickle us, do we not laugh?

If you poison us,
do we not die?..."

(Shakespeare, Merchant of Venice Act III Scene I)

However, within this human species of ours, each of us has a unique combinaiton of alleles, making each of us an individual within populations that have different allelic frequencies, making us different enough that we notice. And we also have had handed down to us different cultural memes on what it means to be who we are.

I am sure that everyone who is the object of "diversity" has a story of feeling as patronized as I was in the story above. "Oh, I didn't notice you were black." "Some of my best friends are gay." " I just love the Jews." And so forth, ad nauseum. (To the last, I am tempted to say, "All of us? I don't even like all of us.)"

And we can make excuses for them. I have heard over and over again about how "well-meaning" these people are. About how they are trying to be inclusive, accepting, etc.

But they are not. They are people who, for whatever reason, cannot accept differences. For whatever reason, they are made uncomfortable by people who have different coloring, a different culture, different beliefs, different ways of being human. They are quite willing to erase the identity of another rather than recognize and acknowledge their own fear and discomfort. And that is not "respect for diversity." No, it is a pretense that differences do not matter. And that's a lie.

And it is a scary lie. Given enough power and the right circumstances, could people who tell themselves this lie to allay their discomfort go from erasing the identity of another to erasing the existence of another?

Hmmm. Anne Frank. Matthew Sheppard. Sand Creek. "Strange Fruit."

I think its time to call a spade an " 'f'...'in' " shovel.

Walking through the Meadow Early in the Morning

I could sleep late this week.

But the sun is up early of a summer morn.
And the cool of the night is still over the meadow. And in the meadow, the flora is burgeoning and blooming.

Staying in bed is just not an option with beauty like this just out of the door.
So I rise with the sun and walk with the dogs in the meadow--early in the morning.




The wildflowers look new and fresh--and very tall--in early morning.

Here is yellow sweet clover and purple "pinks" abloom where the road meets the meadow path.

The wet spring has given us an abundance of tall grasses and wildflowers, early summer blossoms.









And now at mid-summer, the grasses are flower in the meadow.

The morning sun slanting on the grass flowers makes them pale gold against the green of the grass stalks.








Here are yellow asters blooming in the rocky soil just where the meadow path intersects the forest trail.

They are in the sun, but the path is still in the long shadow of the ridge behind.

Although these asters are now in the bloom, the New Mexico sunflowers are not yet in bud. The stalks are growing, but they flower later in the summer.

Coming 'round to the house by the forest path, we get to pass by the Mexican Lilacs blooming in the dooryard.

Growing up in Illiniois, I loved the lilacs that bloomed in April and May next to my window. They had a wonderful, strong lilac scent that lasted only a few weeks.

The Mexican Lilacs bloom from mid-summer until fall. They have a more delicate lilac scent that lasts all summer. As the day progresses, the dooryard will hum with the activity of bees coming for lilac nectar. But in the early morning, the dooryard is quiet, waiting.

After our early morning meadow walk, the rest of the day is almost an anticlimax.

I can't imagine sleeping late and missing the cool freshness of the meadow in early morning.

On these summer morns, I come to breakfast with a heart full of wonder and graditude. I am so fortunate to be alive one more day to see the great sights of life around me, to feel the cool morning breeze off the mountain, and to hear the morning greetings of the birds.

Summer Field Studies Curriculum Has Commenced

The last twenty-four hours have marked the beginning of N.'s intensive "summer field studies curriculum."

Yesterday, after services we had several errands in town, so our Shabbat was, alas, somewhat abbreviated.

We had to visit the Boy Scout Shop to get a few things because N. was leaving for camp this morning, bright and early.
We had to drop off N.'s gear at Mrs. W.'s house, because he was assigned to her car. By packing her car a day early, she hoped to avoid accidently leaving anything behind. Smart woman, that one!

And finally, we had to go to one of the Big Box Home Improvement stores to rent a Superduty truck, go to the lumber discouter and pick up our Wood Flooring.

That was an adventure!

The pallet was stacked with 34 boxes, 4 across and 7-8 deep. It was loaded onto the drop-side bed of the rental truck with a forklift and put right in the middle. It was held together with plastic straps and shrink wrap.

Bruce assured me that it would not move. When we got to the I-25 south to I-40 east fly-over, I recommened to Bruce that we stay in the far right lane and go very slowly because there is a curve with a short radius. Bruce said, "Don't worry!" And took the curve at 50 mph in the left lane. The load shifted and two boxes appeared to be sliding off.

I reminded Bruce that there is a reason that G-d told Abraham, "Listen to your wife!"

We had to pull over and check, but Bruce could not move the heavy pallet back into place. In order to relieve my worries for the rest of the trip, I used the situation as an object lesson for N. We discussed Newton's 1st law and what is actually happening as you accelerate around a curve. We talked about centripetal force and the issue of equal and opposite forces. There's nothing like real-life, high-stakes examples to cement an idea in a kid's mind! N. demonstrated his knowledge with diagrams and equations--algebraic, though. We are not up to calculus, yet.

Thank goodness, Bruce drove slowly and sensible for the rest of the trip and the boxes of flooring are now stacked in our living room where they will sit until Thursday, when we begin our work. If you look closely you can see Bruce resting in the recliner after we man-handled 34 boxes into the house in less than 30 minutes! We're buff. And tired.

Last night, we got the last-minute stuff together for the first unit in N.'s summer intensive field studies: Boy Scout Camp.

This year the troop is spending a week at a Boy Scout Camp near Fort Davis, Texas, and I did not have to drive. In fact, we did not even have to take N. into town. The caravan agreed to meet us at the I-40 Sedillo exit.

N. was so excited last night that he could barely sleep, but he was still "bright-eyed and bushy-tailed" (we are working on metaphors) this morning when we met the caravan as the sun rose over Sedillo Hill.

There was one little hitch. I had filled out the medical form required, but the troop leader had neglected to tell me that he needed N.'s insurance card. We are waiting for the camp to call with a fax number, although we did give the information on the medical form. Since no one has called, we are guessing that the information given is probably good enough. They should be there and eating dinner by now!


The camp will be a better field experience than anything I can devise. N. has signed up to work on the following merit badges:

• Horseback Riding
• Outdoor Survival
• Rifle Shooting
• Archery

Aspects of Outdoor Cooking and Camping skills will also be taught. That's a lot of learning packed into one, short week. As I looked at the requirements for each of these, I realized that he is going to be a very busy Boy Scout this next week. And he'll come home pretty tired. And this is only part I. He'll be home a short time before he gets to fly to Chicago by himself (non-stop). That's part II of the three part field studies.

I waved good-bye with a brave smile as the caravan pulled out. I know this is good for him. I know he will have a ball. And I know he is going to learn more in the next week than he has in the last month.

But....it's going to be awefully quiet around here!

Summer Solstice: The Long, Busy Days of Summer

I woke N. up this morning saying: "Rise and shine, sleepy head! Today is the longest day of the year!"

He replied: "All days are the same length. Twenty-four hours." And buried his head under the pillow.

I said: "I mean, today is the longest daylight of the year. It's the..."

"...summer solstice," N. responded. "Yep." And he winked at me. "I may rise, but I refuse to shine!"

Do you get the sense that he is playing with our expectation of his 'Aspie" literalism? I do.

That's definitely progress. He is beginning to understand irony.

Here is a picture of the sunrise from our front porch today. Not only did the sun rise to the farthest north that it will for the whole year--but it is sure rising early. I got this picture at about 6:15 AM MDT.

The summer solstice is the beginning of astronomical summer in the nothern hemisphere in the modern calendar. It is the time when the sun shines directly on the Tropic of Cancer at noon and the time of maximum insolation of the northern hemispere. This is because the northern hemispere is tilted toward the sun at this point in our yearly revolution around our star, Sol.

To the right is a picture of the sunrise on the Vernal Equinox, three months ago. You can see from the position of Henry the truck that the location of the sunrise has appeared to move quite a distance since then.

In the old calendar, the summer solstice was Midsummer, an occasion for celebrations of fruitfulness. Weddings were common around the time of the solstice. This is the time of when the goddess was worshipped in her aspect of motherhood and fecundity. When Christianity came to Europe, the solstice became St. John's Mass. There is no Jewish holy day associated with the summer solstice since we have a lunar calendar. So we mark the solstice and celebrate the joy of summer, but it is not a holiday for us.

The long days of summer have traditionally been a busy time for human beings. We tend to sleep for fewer hours and there is light for many more hours in order to get work done.

We have been in the grand tradition this week!On Monday, we had a BSA Court of Honor for N.'s troop to attend. N. got his Totin' Chip for the use of knives, axes, and saws. Here he is, getting his award!

On Tuesday, I had to get the master suite and the guest suite ready for recarpeting.

Bruce and I then stayed overnight at our synagogue as volunteers for Interfaith Hospitality Network.

And yesterday, we had the master suite and the guest suite recarpeted. It was a long day, even though we had the 'carpet guys' come out to do the work. It was long because we couldn't really do the things we normally do, spreading all over the house. We had furniture in the living room and dining room, and the 'carpet guys' were tromping through to get the work done.

I spent a lot of time catching up on reading blogs, going through mail and trying to keep out of the way of the 'carpet guys.'

There were two of them and they worked most of the day, taking only about 20 minutes for lunch. One of them brought his son who spoke almost no English. But he and N. played on the swings together, climbed the tree, watched movie, and played Rollercoaster Tycoon. It is really interesting how well they got along, playing Horse...or is it Caballo? :)

At one point, I was talking to the little boy and said to him, "Como se dice...?" And pointed at the microwave. (He was heating up lunch for himself, his padre and his companero). N. turned to me and said, " I didn't know you could speak Spanish. I said, "Solamente un poco. But I used to be fluent. I had six years in junior high and high school, and then two more years in college. But I found I could no longer remember the past tense! Oy!

N. and I joined the 'carpet guys' and the boy on the porch for lunch. There was too much furniture in the dining room. They had the burritos. We had turkey sandwiches. I gave everyone root beer.

It was a long job. They were finally done at about 6 PM.

But they still had to move the furniture back inside! See it there outside the French doors?

I think the carpet looks pretty good, though.

Once they were gone and dinner was over, I still had to put the room back together. And I was really tired. So tired that I felt like I couldn't string more than two words together.

And we still weren't done...

Because today, Henry the Little Red Truck got a brand new look!

Just in time for the solstice.

Tomorrow I plan to do laundry. That's it. I'm not going ANYWHERE.

Except out to look at Henry.

Carnival of Homeschooling # 77: Roadtrip!

I'm late! But I won't miss the road trip!

The weeks Carnival of Homeschooling Roadtrip is up over at Consent of the Governed.

I have all sorts of excuses, including an overnight in town last night.

Bruce and I had a commitment to spend the night at our synagogue as volunteers for the Interfaith Hospitality Network.

Today I am having carpet installed in the two bedroom suites--the master and the guest suites. So before I left yesterday, we had to get those rooms ready for the installers.

You know: remove lamps and breakables and the small furniture and throw rugs. Remove clothing from the lower closet racks---etc. Just so we can put it back again tonight!

And I stayed up too late last night. My fault. I reached the climax of Tom Clancy's The Sum of All Fears at 10 PM. My husband sensibly turned in on our roll-away in the volunteer classroom.

I foolishly read on in the synagogue library until worldwide nuclear holocaust was averted.

So I think that this afternoon, I will sit out on the porch with an iced tea and take a virtual roadtrip! It will be fun! It will be relaxing.

I need that.

The Return of the Country Fair

It's back!

The Country Fair, a carnival of homeschooling voices, is back again.
This means summer is really up and running!

I'm getting a cherry limade at the concession stand in my kitchen and heading on over for the 7th Country Fair: How We Celebrate Diversity.

You can go there, too and get diverse wisdom from a wide-open homeschooling community.

But, first, read on below...
As usual, I missed the deadline with "Neither Left nor Right..."
but I think it fits in with theme!
:)

Neither Left Nor Right...

"I'm sentimental, if you know what I mean.

I love the country but I can't stand the scene.

And I'm neither left nor right, I'm just stayin' home tonight

and getting lost in that hopeless little screen..."

----Leonard Cohen, Democracy

Last week, when I blogged about some political issues related to homeschooling in Creeping Fascism, my political thought juices began flowing again. It helps that I have recently read several books of fiction that have political themes or subthemes, as well as a biography of John O'Niell, the FBI Assistant Director in Charge of Counterterrorism, who died in the Twin Towers on 9/11. That book is called The Man Who Knew: The Life and Death of John O'Niell by Murray Weiss. It was a good but disturbing read.

Another book that I finished last week is Empire: A Disturbing Look at a Possible Future by Orson Scott Card. I was hooked on Card when a friend lent me Ender's Game in 1991. I started reading at about 1 in the afternoon, and continued reading in between picking my daughter up at pre-school, attending a class in Cell Biology, making dinner and so forth. I finished next morning at about 4 AM. (I was younger then...). I read it over again immediately, over the next week or so. Although I generally re-read good books eventually, it takes a really good book, one that causes me to enter "alternative reality," so to speak, to get me to re-read it immediately.

Empire is a novel released in conjunction with a computer game with the same name. The premise is a civil war based on political divisions ("red" v. "blue" ideologies) in the United States in the not very distant future. It is, as usual for Card, an excellent read. And it is as disturbing as the O'Niell biography. And for similar reasons.

In reality, and the science fiction based on our reality at the moment, there seems to be a growing understanding that ideology is getting in the way of truth. In the case of John O'Niell, the political wonks in the FBI were unwilling to see clear warnings about American vulnerability to terrorist action on our own shores. Their ideologies from the past made it difficult to imagine terrifying possibilities that were just around the corner. In dealing with a maverick like John O'Niell, they used rules and procedures to ultimately force him out of the FBI during the summer before 9/11. This was at the time that people in the field were beginning to gather information that suggested that commercial passenger planes might be used as terrorist weapons. But the person who might have been able to connect the dots and get the politicals to listen to him was being forced out. So the dots were never connected.

This was not about negligence on the part of one political faction or another. It was about the very human tendency to ignore the imagination and also the equally human tendency to bureaucratize and routinize use of information. This tames the imagination and makes us feel more in control of it. Life is a lot less scary if we ignore certain, not-within-our-world-view information, but it is also a very dangerous thing to do.

This was also about a very real unraveling of our national institutions, in which thought has been replaced by an increasingly complex web of procedures and regulations. A "systems" approach to running institutions rather than a personal, problem-solving approach. And what is even more alarming about this, is that we do not seem to have learned from it, yet; we seem to prefer to stay within the boundaries of world-views that are stereotyped and out of date. And this brings me to the "left-right" culture wars still continuing in our country, even 6 years after 9/11.

Last week, I wrote: "...I'd like to see the words "conservative" and "liberal" banned from polite discourse so that citizens could talk to each other on the level of issues rather than shout at each other from ideological positions," (Creeping Fascism).

Sometimes, serendipity is really amazing! I wrote the above on Tuesday. On Thursday, I was reading the Afterword in Empire and came across the following:

"But any rational observer has to see that the left and right in America are screaming the most vile accusations at each other all the time. We are fully polarized--if you accept one idea that sounds like it belongs to either the blue or the red, you are assumed--nay, required--to espouse the entire rest of the package, even though there is no reason why supporting the war against terrorism should imply you're in favor of banning all abortions...; no reason why being in favor of keeping government-imposed limits on the free market should imply you also are in favor of...banning nuclear reactors." (Card, pp. 341-342, emphasis in the original. Ellipses mine--I edited to reflect my own supposedly "contradicting" veiwpoints).

I quote Card at such length because he says it even better than I can! It is absolutely irrational to make assumptions that pigeonhole ideas such as the examples above within ideologies, and yet you can turn on almost any talk-radio show or look at any newspaper editorial and see these irrational assumptions being made.

I experienced this when attempting to comment on a blog supporting patriarchy. (The writer's word and definition). I wanted to point out why some of us might be uncomfortable with some of his proposals and also to widen the conversation. But the author made assumptions that if I believed X (what I wrote), then I also must believe Y and Z (irrational assumption). And he attempted to shift the discussion to an argument about the minutia of Y and Z. After several go-arounds, I called it quits because it was bound to become an ideological argument rather than a broader discussion.

And that is the problem. When people cannot have a conversation about some proposal X, without the irrational assumption that if you support X, you must also support unrelated proposals Y and Z, it is difficult to speak and listen to each other about the real merits and problems surrounding X. It becomes an ideological argument in which neither party to the discussion can express doubt, shift their position, or amend the idea. When this happens, no real listening can happen, no respect of opposing viewpoints can be tendered, because it is no longer a discussion of reality. It has become a discussion of ideology.

As Card says (again better than I can):
"...A good working definition of fanaticism is that you are so convinced of your views and policies that you are sure anyone who opposes them must either be stupid and deceived or have ulterior motives. We are today a nation in which almost everyone in the public eye displays fanaticism with almost every utterance." (Card, p. 342, emphasis in the original).

This is scary. Although there are many important issues that we as a nation need to confront and resolve as we move toward a crisis period, we are distracted by disrespectful and divisive ideological "culture wars." As citizens, we must ask ourselves, who benefits from this fanaticism? I believe that those who benefit are those who want to concentrate power into the hands of a few in government rather than remain public servants of We the People of the United States. Whether they are "right" or "left," "liberal" or "conservative," "red" or "blue," those who continue to foment this divisive rhetoric are anti-democractic. They are like sociopaths who stir passions and create controversy so that their own grab for power and fame is not recognized.

As an ordinary citizen, I have frequently felt powerless in the face of the hatred and anger expressed by the fanatics on either end of the political spectrum. And I have often felt angry that the issues that are of importance to the rest of us are lost in a sea of nasty rhetoric. It has gotten to a point where Congress is unable to compromise on bills that are of vital interest to the nation.

Fortunately, though, we do have the power to change how our political discourse is conducted in this nation. And our individual discouragement at what we see can be allayed through the community of ordinary Americans. Although I have personally been feeling pretty discouraged, I got this message from another citizen that I have not met personally.
Susan of Corn and Oil Blog wrote this comment to Creeping Fascism:

" I hate labels. Just hate 'em unless they're telling me what I'm putting in my mouth or on my body. (And then it's still sorta questionable whether those labels are fully accurate.) A lot of labels are so derogatory in usage. Fundies, et al..." (June 14, 2007, 9:38:00 AM MDT).

And that's the answer. We must refuse to have ourselves labeled as A or B. Or whatever the label is. We must insist that we are not that simple-minded. Our ideas and our views are multi-dimensional and complex. They are individual. And we must also refuse to label people we are talking to or about. We must develop the patience to really listen to what they have to say. To ask ourselves, "What is true about what this person is saying? Where are the points of agreement here?" And build on them, no matter small or fragile.

And as for the fanatics in the "public eye"--well, we are the public. We can take them out of the public eye, the public ear and the public vote. We must refuse to give them our valuable time. We must insist that we will not participate in their staged "debates" and simplistic division of ideas. We must not support their access to the "public eye."

In a way, I think we are doing this already. According to the ratings gurus, the ratings of all the talk-shows and news shows and news analysis are down this summer, in the print media, in radio and television. They are down more than usual in the summer. Instead we are focusing on diversions, like the arrest of certain "celebrities" for drunk driving. So we are removing the fanatics from our eye, albeit in a solipsistic sort of way, by "staying home tonight and getting lost in that hopeless little screen."

But we could choose to do it in a more outward looking, positive way. By refusing to let the fanatics define us. By talking to each other directly. By refusing to let the fanatics label us and draw us into to their tidy but irrational set of divisive definitions. They may control the TV and radio stations and the print media. But we have the internet, the blogosphere and You-Tube. It is possible. The psychologists tell us that the best way to change bad behavior is through extinction. We can ignore the fanatics, bypass them and carry out discourse for ourselves.

We can do this. If we choose it. And make no mistake about it, we are choosing what we do even if we do nothing.

"...I'm as stubborn as those garbage bags that time cannot decay.

I'm junk, but I'm holding out this little wild boquet.

Democracy is coming to the USA."

---Leonard Cohen, Democracy.