Category Archives: politics

I Hate Intolerant People!

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Yeah!  I hate’em!  And I thank they should be all lined up and shot!

Ok, ok.  I hope you understand irony.  I speak in jest.  But it is important to recognize that even those we deem “intolerant” deserve a certain amount of respect.  But how much is a judgment call.  There is certainly a time when one must speak out against intolerance; but certainly not every time.

Sometimes it takes patience to respect people that are different than us.  It is just so very apparent that they should see things differently  But, of course, there is the catch—who gets to define “should”?

And here I am in the morass of “relativism”, that murky domain which I was taught to eschew as a child.  Oh how wonderfully safe and secure it was!   (Oh, to be honest, it was not a very pretty world!  It was unreality.)

More re “Our Thoughts Become Us”

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I would like to share further re my variant of Mike Dooley’s wisdom, “Thoughts are things.  Choose the good ones.”  We are teeming with thoughts and these thoughts make up our reality.  According to cognitive behavioral therapy, they shape our behavior even though reciprocally our behavior shapes out thoughts.  It behooves us to pay attention to our thoughts from time to time, perhaps to practice the “mindfulness” taught by the Buddhists, and not allow maladaptive thoughts to hold sway over our lives.

For example, if one realizes that hatred often predominates in his/he heart, he/she needs to be given pause.  In our current political climate, hatred appears to predominate more so than I ever remember.  And I do not mean mere disapproval or dislike of the other party or candidate; that is to be understood.  But pure, unmitigated hatred often appears to be the ruling force in this political campaign and often it is the media which is fomenting this poison.

Let’s take O’Bama.  Now he is a liberal Democrat and I can certainly understand conservatives firmly opposing him and even doing so with great passion.  But when those who find themselves actually hating him  they really need to get honest with themselves and realize they are full of hatred which has nothing to do with O’Bama.

But intense emotion, especially hatred, is a powerful political tool.  People are much more likely to vote on the basis of emotion than reason though they are always going to announce with great conviction the “reasonable” nature of their convictions.

Political Evisceration

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Political Evisceration

I live in Northwest Arkansas where chickens rule. Don Tyson and Tyson Inc. is one of the world’s largest chicken producers and chicken farms and related enterprises are an essential part of the local economy. In the processing plants, “eviscerator” is one of the job titles and these poor souls have the task of gutting the poor fowl as he heads toward our dinner table. One good natured insult we “high brows” can trot out to friends is that they are only talented enough to look for work as an “eviscerator”.

Well, the Democratic eviscerating machinery is now working on Paul Ryan. It was watching this intricate, well-oiled mechanism spring into gear when Ryan was named on Saturday. And now he is being carved up like a Christmas turkey…to switch my metaphor.

Now my point here is not to praise Ryan or his party. I’m a liberal Democrat. My point is the mindless and ruthless evisceration by the media and that of course draws on the antipathy springing from the political process. Sure, Ryan’s positions need to be viewed critically. But the petty, relentless fury of this criticism makes it appear like Ryan is merely a piece of red meat that has been tossed to a pack of hungry dogs.

The focus needs to be on the values reflected in the positions of the candidates and their parties. And, focus on values always amounts more or less to a spiritual enterprise. But the subtleties of a spiritual enterprise will not score big with the “bread and circus” mentality of us news consumers

 

Macbeth and the Unconscious

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Macbeth confessed, “My dull brain is wracked by things forgotten.” Thus, he admitted that he was haunted by things his brain had “forgotten” which is to say his “dull brain” had not really “forgotten” them. In other words, he was beset by his unconscious.

Such is the human lot. We cannot escape the haunt of our unconscious depths, those unseemly fears, anxieties, and beastly impulses which civilization does not permit. And they have this unearthly way of slipping out when we are least expecting it. For example, I can’t help but speculate what led Michelle Bachman to select the term “deep penetration” recently in reference to her perceived infiltration of our government by Muslim extremists. Or, perhaps I’m just a dirty old man!

And the unconscious has a collective as well as an individual dimension. For example, note the present conservative emphasis on drawing boundaries between “us and them”, most obviously in their emphasis of building a fence to keep the Mexicans out. Yes, I do think they over emphasize boundaries. But, I readily acknowledge that we liberals are too prone to not set boundaries readily enough, that we are too quick to trot out the Bill Clinton “I feel your pain” and attempt to do too much to assuage the public ills.

 

A Thought about Mormonism

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The current issue of The New Yorker has an article on Mormonism entitled “The Birth and Evolution of Mormonism” by Adam Gopnik. This article provides a very good historical summary of Mormonism and its efforts to adapt over the past two centuries to a culture that has always looked askance at it.

It would be easy for a Southern-born Redneck like me to be real critical of Mormonism. But I’m not much more critical this “ism” than I am with all the rest of ‘em. AND, all of us are knee-deep in some “ism” or another, whether we like it or not. I guess I’m a social scientist at heart and enjoy reading someone’s thoughtful account of a religious expression, especially one that is so prominent in our country at present moment.

It is easy to see the lunacy of Mormonism. (I’m tempted here to trot out a few of my favorites, but will leave that selection to your devices!) But it is not so easy to see the lunacy of our own belief system and believe me, it is there.

 

Rumi’s Oyster Shell and Politics

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Everyone is afraid of death, but the real sufi’s just laugh; nothing tyrannizes their heart. What strikes the oyster shell does not damage the pearl. (Rumi)

Rumi’s concern is the distinction between what is real and what is unreal; or, as noted yesterday, between the ephemeral and the essential. The inability…or unwillingness…to recognize this distinction permeates our culture and is apparent where ever we choose to focus. For example, let’s take our current political morass. The prevailing focus of our politicians appears to be one thing—electability and then getting re-elected. To accomplish these purposes, they are willing to prostitute themselves to their base, to focus groups, and ultimately to the electorate. It is as if nothing else matters. Our country suffers. Our world suffers. And yet these politicians continue to focus on one thing—How do I get elected or re-elected and how does my political party get in power or maintain power?

Of course, these politicians merely reflect the values of our culture. Our culture produced them. If someone happened along who actually believed in something, someone who represented value, he/she would not be “electable” in our current environment.

So, what is the answer? Hmmm. Well, the answer lies in the realm of the Spirit but I hesitate to tender that notion as it opens a can of worms. I could discourse at length on the subject…and have…but let me cut to the chase and say this involves looking beneath the surface of things. But we don’t believe there is anything underneath the surface. We believe only in the oyster shell.

No less a luminary than Einstein deigned to look beneath the surface and he found there what he called a “mystery” and said that this evoked a “religious sentiment” in his heart. But we are so afraid of the “mystery” as it would threaten our illusion of being in control.

 

Living in the Light of a Dead Star

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Le Monde recently ran an interview by Greek playwright, Dimitris Dimitriadis, in which he provided a critique of the current Greek/EU crisis which is relevant to our own country. He described recent Greek history as like “living in the light of a dead star” and described his country as refusing to accept its “own transience, and is hostile to other identities—a country which…cannot accept what it calls the enemy, and is unable to see that the ‘enemy’ is the prospect of its own future. Greece is characterized by a sort of stagnation, and an unchanging mentality: we stick with our old psychological and social habits, our lives are sustained by a dead tradition, which we never think of renewing.” He noted the marvelous history of his culture then noted that it is “stuck in the mechanism of history…and has been petrified in the form of clichés and stereotypes.”

Dimitriadis also made reference to the spiritual nature of this problem, declaring that the only resolution is the acceptance of a death of an old way of life out of which can come the new. In other words, he was saying that we have to accept change. And, change does not have to destroy tradition but, if brought about with mature leadership, can actually revivify sterile and moribund tradition

(AFTERTHOUGHT: I read this Le Monde interview in Presseurop on the internet. Presseurop is a composite of various European newspapers available in English. It provides an interesting perspective on the European circumstances which we hear so much about daily, all of which is very relevant our own country.)

 

O’Bama Care Decision

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The conservative extremists’ reaction to the John Roberts role in the recent Supreme Court decision re O’Bama Care illustrates my obsessive concern with ideologues. When you are dealing with an ideologue, you are dealing with someone who is out of touch with reality, someone who would prefer “winning” over anything else, someone who must be “right” over anything else. And when someone who is “on their side” suddenly gets an independent streak and thinks contrary to the party-line, their welfare is in jeopardy. (By “welfare”, I mean their approval by their in-group; but in rarest extremes, even their physical welfare will be in jeopardy.)

And as noted so frequently, this extremism is not the exclusive domain of conservatives! I encourage you again to watch the video posted last week of Jonathan Haidt regarding moral absolutism. Google his name and there are several other videos of him available, including one with Stephen Colbert.   AND, though he is an avowed “liberal”, his conclusions are not always in favor of “liberals.” Imagine that!

Here is the Haidt link from last week:

http://www.ted.com/talks/jonathan_haidt_on_the_moral_mind.html

Jonathan Haidt on Morality & Politics

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Jonathan Haidt is a psychologist who studies morality and emotion and how they vary from culture to culture.  He has an excellent TED talk which I will post below and several other on-line interviews, including one by Stephen Colbert.

Haidt’s studies attempt to address the issue of the human tendency to isolate into groups which become very smug and very dismissive of others.  I am particularly pleased to see him apply his theory to our particular political culture at present moment. He reports that, “Morality, by its very nature, makes it had to study morality.  It binds people together into teams that seek victory, not truth.  It closes hearts and minds to opponents even as it makes cooperation and decency possible within groups…To live virtuously as individuals and as societies, we must understand how our minds are built.  We must find ways to overcome our natural self-righteousness.  We must respect and even learn from those whose morality differs from our own.”

Now in his TED talk in particular, it is quite apparent that he is a liberal.  But he reports that as a result of his research he was given pause and had to note at one point that the conservative view point has a whole lot to offer. What his research teaches is that we must be given pause, take a look at the other view point, and stop demonizing each other.

This election is not about winning!  If we are so immature that we merely mindlessly want our pony to win the race, then we really need to do some growing up.

http://www.ted.com/talks/jonathan_haidt_on_the_moral_mind.html

Do I need to be right?

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“The need to clarify, explain, or justify oneself in personal relationships, is always self-serving.” Mike Dooley shared this recently on his daily post.

There is certainly a time to explain oneself, to defend one’s position. But so much of it is unnecessary waste of energy, merely trying to “cover our ass.” There are so many times when we merely need to “offer our deed to oblivion”…verbal or otherwise…and then practice the wisdom of the Beatles—“Let It Be.” So much needless disputation amounts only to egos sparring with one another for dominance, each insistent on being right. And, of course there is no better example of this than in the nonsense which has created this current deadlock in Washington.

And, as is always the case, I speak from experience. So much of my life has been spent in trying to convince others that I was “right”, in belief and in behavior. I have now given up. But, having given up and living with ambivalence, I have firm confidence that there is a Right that graces the universe and that in some faint fashion I am part of that process.