Sunday, February 28, 2016
we aren't rats, what are we?
There has been talk of 6th great extinction. This one is not being caused by meteor strikes, or volcanic ash or an Ice Age. It is instead, just like everything we buy regularly--manmade.
Estimates are that there are fewer than 3200 tigers left in the wild. Tigers are dangerous predators and make great coats.
There are about 100,000 gorillas but only 600 of those are the mountain gorillas (like in the movie). Gorillas are dangerous animals and make great knickknacks.
Giraffes number the same. Its not like they are good for anything, they just stand around and eat out of trees.
The sperm whale population is thought to number in the hundreds of thousands, but when your backyard is all the seas and oceans of the world, that seems a rather low number. It is also an estimate due to the difficulties of tracking something with such a large area to wander. They were hunted for a substance used in perfume and cosmetics. While legal hunting is no longer a threat, ocean noise, pollution, and fishing equipment accidents are still making their lives dangerous. They are no longer considered endangered, but are still a vulnerable population. ( Not that it affects most of us humans very much)
Ten years ago, there were about 3500 rhinoceros, but right now, there are only 3 white rhinos, 2 female and 1 male, and the black rhinos are mostly under armed guard due to idiots that prefer rhino horn to viagra.
Of the 44,838 species assessed worldwide using the IUCN Red List criteria, 905 are extinct and 16,928 are listed as threatened to be extinct. Millions of species still need to be assessed to know their status. As a result, the number of extinct and threatened species is definitely much higher than the current estimate. A species of plant or animal is classified Extinct when scientists have concluded the last individual has died. Usually exhaustive surveys in known and/or expected habitat, at appropriate times throughout its historic range failed to record an individual, and the species is listed as extinct.
Not all the extinctions are directly related to human hunting prowess, the passenger pigeon and the near extinction of the American Bison were hunting and food related. The African elephant population is about 10 millions but is in constant danger due to people wanting to buy ivory. But a lot of extinctions occur because humans want to move into some other species living space. We destroyed their habitat.
On the flip side of that, the earth is now home to over 7 billion people. There are probably over 7 billion rats and 7 billion cockroaches, also. Truly, we humans are the only large creature that is so numerous. And while we like other humans better than rats and cockroaches, there are some things about us that are worse than either rats of cockroaches.
Rats don't kill other lifeforms to make themselves look pretty or decorate their lairs.
They carry disease, but so do we.
They don't leave the environment cleaner than they found it, but also don't create trash that kills other animals when they are accidentally trapped in it or eat it.
They don't spray deadly chemicals all over to stop other creatures from sharing what they don't want.
They don't destroy food so other animals can't use it.
They don't kill trees.
They don't blow each other up.
So who cares if there are no tigers or elephants or whales or whatever creature disappears forever so we can use more land, have more erections, eat more delicacies and wear more hides? What does that matter. What does that do to humans?
Who knows?
Monday, February 15, 2016
The Purposeful Life
Why do we do so many crazy, ridiculous, meaningless things in our lives.
We work really hard, or try to find a job really hard, or give up and find an illegal job and work really hard or we find a crappy job and try really hard not to work really hard because maybe then, we still have won.
When we meet someone; we get their name and what they do for a living.
We judge each other and ourselves by the hierarchy of the jobs: that is a real thing, but not a real labeled thing. We all know that the President is at the top and that the President of the Nation is only under the President of the world and the President of the universe. (President can be replaced by any number of hierarchical names like king, emperor, man-made-god, whatever) and travels downward to the lowest level, which is either beggar man or thief, depending on whether or not you recognize the legitimacy of the organized criminal, in which case the Godfather is similar to President, but not usually at a national level.
I said usually.
Presidents go all the way down to Mom and Pop businesses where one is the president and the other is everything else. It's still an hierarchy.
Why do jobs and titles and hierarchies mean so much to us humans? Is it real? Is it just a man-made construct for a group that finds competition necessary to knowing if we are successful?
Is it just a way of avoiding why we are on the planet?
WHY ARE WE HERE?
Why do we struggle?
Why are we only happy when we feel we are valuable, important, purposeful?
Why do we search so hard for our purpose, for a reason to be?
Why do we think that our life has to be compared to anyone else's life. Is that even possible? What is a struggle to one person is a given success to another.
How do we simplify, learn to live as a part of the life on earth and also find our purpose.
We keep hearing about mindfulness. Being fully in the moment. Keeping your mind where you are, doing what you are doing, not judging the experience, just feeling it, living it, being it. It is very similar to what artists describe when they are working on their creation. Its like the athlete's "Zone".
We can live there. Be one with the carrot we are peeling, vacuuming in the "Zone".
So what about empathy? If you are mindful, is it possible? Is it needed? If you are being without judging, do you need to try to put yourself in the other person's place?
I don't know if anyone can live mindfully all the time. But self-awareness is a good start. Aim for the best you, the noncompetitive best you, the you that is doing everything you do mindfully, but knows when you are not there. Know yourself: be aware of your own buttons, your own character flaws, your quirky connections to certain things and aversions to other things that seem to be fine with your friends.
Maybe your purpose is to know yourself--the you that everyone else sees, the you that you see in the mirror, the you that you try hard to pretend does not and has never existed--all of you.
Or maybe being is the only real purpose anyone needs.
Whatever, live with purpose. You are part of the universe and why-ever you are here, its important.
We work really hard, or try to find a job really hard, or give up and find an illegal job and work really hard or we find a crappy job and try really hard not to work really hard because maybe then, we still have won.
When we meet someone; we get their name and what they do for a living.
We judge each other and ourselves by the hierarchy of the jobs: that is a real thing, but not a real labeled thing. We all know that the President is at the top and that the President of the Nation is only under the President of the world and the President of the universe. (President can be replaced by any number of hierarchical names like king, emperor, man-made-god, whatever) and travels downward to the lowest level, which is either beggar man or thief, depending on whether or not you recognize the legitimacy of the organized criminal, in which case the Godfather is similar to President, but not usually at a national level.
I said usually.
Presidents go all the way down to Mom and Pop businesses where one is the president and the other is everything else. It's still an hierarchy.
Why do jobs and titles and hierarchies mean so much to us humans? Is it real? Is it just a man-made construct for a group that finds competition necessary to knowing if we are successful?
Is it just a way of avoiding why we are on the planet?
WHY ARE WE HERE?
Why do we struggle?
Why are we only happy when we feel we are valuable, important, purposeful?
Why do we search so hard for our purpose, for a reason to be?
Why do we think that our life has to be compared to anyone else's life. Is that even possible? What is a struggle to one person is a given success to another.
How do we simplify, learn to live as a part of the life on earth and also find our purpose.
We keep hearing about mindfulness. Being fully in the moment. Keeping your mind where you are, doing what you are doing, not judging the experience, just feeling it, living it, being it. It is very similar to what artists describe when they are working on their creation. Its like the athlete's "Zone".
We can live there. Be one with the carrot we are peeling, vacuuming in the "Zone".
So what about empathy? If you are mindful, is it possible? Is it needed? If you are being without judging, do you need to try to put yourself in the other person's place?
I don't know if anyone can live mindfully all the time. But self-awareness is a good start. Aim for the best you, the noncompetitive best you, the you that is doing everything you do mindfully, but knows when you are not there. Know yourself: be aware of your own buttons, your own character flaws, your quirky connections to certain things and aversions to other things that seem to be fine with your friends.
Maybe your purpose is to know yourself--the you that everyone else sees, the you that you see in the mirror, the you that you try hard to pretend does not and has never existed--all of you.
Or maybe being is the only real purpose anyone needs.
Whatever, live with purpose. You are part of the universe and why-ever you are here, its important.
Thursday, February 11, 2016
Is the power of the vote just a lie?
So far, I have watched one state use coin tosses to determine the winner of a vote, and have seen something called a "superdelegate" used to make the loser of the vote have more representation than the winner.
We have voting districts that don't represent the shape of anything except the areas of a place that are most likely to vote for the side creating the voting map.
And if the primary choice of the states doesn't coincide with the established parties plans, they can ignore the primary votes and chose whoever they want.
Then, at the actual election, we the people, who think they are voting for the person they want, are voting for a representative in the electoral college who can vote however they want.
If every single person in the USA wrote in the same name, a 100% agreement, the electoral college would still be able to choose whoever that wanted.
Its time for each person born in the USA to be given the vote at age 18, whether or not they register, we all have a social security number, it should come with a vote. And if the total vote for a person is higher than the other person, that person should win.
It should not be that if 49% wants one and 51% wants the other, then that state is all voting for the 51% person.
Every vote should count.
If the people screw up, it should be because they screwed up, not because the rules were made so convoluted that the people have no idea who won the vote. And not because they were manipulated by those same rules to feel that the person in office is who most people wanted, so they deserve what they get.
Popular vote may not have worked in ancient Greece, but it was ANCIENT Greece, a place without equality except for the citizens, not the servants, not the slaves, not the females, just the very special citizens. And it didn't work forever there.
Its time for real equality, real democracy. Its time for the Vote of the People to be the Truth.
We have voting districts that don't represent the shape of anything except the areas of a place that are most likely to vote for the side creating the voting map.
And if the primary choice of the states doesn't coincide with the established parties plans, they can ignore the primary votes and chose whoever they want.
Then, at the actual election, we the people, who think they are voting for the person they want, are voting for a representative in the electoral college who can vote however they want.
If every single person in the USA wrote in the same name, a 100% agreement, the electoral college would still be able to choose whoever that wanted.
Its time for each person born in the USA to be given the vote at age 18, whether or not they register, we all have a social security number, it should come with a vote. And if the total vote for a person is higher than the other person, that person should win.
It should not be that if 49% wants one and 51% wants the other, then that state is all voting for the 51% person.
Every vote should count.
If the people screw up, it should be because they screwed up, not because the rules were made so convoluted that the people have no idea who won the vote. And not because they were manipulated by those same rules to feel that the person in office is who most people wanted, so they deserve what they get.
Popular vote may not have worked in ancient Greece, but it was ANCIENT Greece, a place without equality except for the citizens, not the servants, not the slaves, not the females, just the very special citizens. And it didn't work forever there.
Its time for real equality, real democracy. Its time for the Vote of the People to be the Truth.
Wednesday, January 20, 2016
END SLAVERY NOW!!!(didn't we already do that?)
NPR had an article about a man that is working to end slavery. It was a good story and perhaps the worst story I have ever heard.
Despite the current trend to show slavery in the USA as happy slaves and happy owners, we all tend to view slavery as ending 150+ years ago and good riddance.
Despite many of our exaggerated complaints about our lives and jobs being barely better than slavery--and some of us are living pretty close to the bone, in horrible conditions, without shelter from weather or nutritious food or even potable water, very few of us understand how bad slavery is. We can imagine, we can empathize, we can be horrified, but most of us have not been there.
So when this person starts talking about current slavery, right now, I'm thinking---OMG! where is this happening?
The slave trade in Africa was officially banned in the early 1880s, but forced labor continues to be practiced in West and Central Africa today. UNICEF estimates that 200,000 children from this region are sold into slavery each year. Many of these children are from Benin and Togo, and are sold into the domestic, agricultural, and sex industries of wealthier, neighboring countries such as Nigeria and Gabon.
http://www.infoplease.com/spot/slavery1.html
We are not talking about people in low-paying jobs, with poor access to education and very poor access to opportunities. We are talking about domestic servants, hereditary slavery where groups of people have been held for generations to work mines, or sold young as concubines, laborers on farms, mines, factories, and sex workers.
When we hear about such things in India,Pakistan, the Sudan, the Dominican Republic, Thailand, Mauritania, Arabia, we think, "oh, well of course, those places" But it is estimated that over 60,000 slave are in the USA.
http://www.dhs.gov/blue-campaign/indicators-human-trafficking
The above site on our own government Homeland security page showed the signs of human trafficking, so we can all recognize it and know what to do when we find it. Who knew we needed that information. But in my own little geographic area, I have seen a small news storm over a local factory business that had brought in immigrants to work, then fixed it where they couldn't leave, slept on the premises, ate what they were given and had no contact. Someone got loose is how it was discovered.
More recently, in a strange little recreational vehicle park, they discovered women from another country working as prostitutes that described their own lack of freedoms. They had been promised jobs and a start in the land of the free, and were being sold by the hour.
It is estimated that there are 60,000 slave in our country right now. RIGHT NOW!
How can that happen. What kind of people are all right with using people, owning people, treating people like property?
Has slavery always been present? Is it coming back? Why does it exist? How can someone do that to someone else?
I'm going to go have a good cry.
Despite the current trend to show slavery in the USA as happy slaves and happy owners, we all tend to view slavery as ending 150+ years ago and good riddance.
Despite many of our exaggerated complaints about our lives and jobs being barely better than slavery--and some of us are living pretty close to the bone, in horrible conditions, without shelter from weather or nutritious food or even potable water, very few of us understand how bad slavery is. We can imagine, we can empathize, we can be horrified, but most of us have not been there.
So when this person starts talking about current slavery, right now, I'm thinking---OMG! where is this happening?
The slave trade in Africa was officially banned in the early 1880s, but forced labor continues to be practiced in West and Central Africa today. UNICEF estimates that 200,000 children from this region are sold into slavery each year. Many of these children are from Benin and Togo, and are sold into the domestic, agricultural, and sex industries of wealthier, neighboring countries such as Nigeria and Gabon.
http://www.infoplease.com/spot/slavery1.html
We are not talking about people in low-paying jobs, with poor access to education and very poor access to opportunities. We are talking about domestic servants, hereditary slavery where groups of people have been held for generations to work mines, or sold young as concubines, laborers on farms, mines, factories, and sex workers.
When we hear about such things in India,Pakistan, the Sudan, the Dominican Republic, Thailand, Mauritania, Arabia, we think, "oh, well of course, those places" But it is estimated that over 60,000 slave are in the USA.
http://www.dhs.gov/blue-campaign/indicators-human-trafficking
The above site on our own government Homeland security page showed the signs of human trafficking, so we can all recognize it and know what to do when we find it. Who knew we needed that information. But in my own little geographic area, I have seen a small news storm over a local factory business that had brought in immigrants to work, then fixed it where they couldn't leave, slept on the premises, ate what they were given and had no contact. Someone got loose is how it was discovered.
More recently, in a strange little recreational vehicle park, they discovered women from another country working as prostitutes that described their own lack of freedoms. They had been promised jobs and a start in the land of the free, and were being sold by the hour.
It is estimated that there are 60,000 slave in our country right now. RIGHT NOW!
How can that happen. What kind of people are all right with using people, owning people, treating people like property?
- The people growing Tobacco for Phillip Morris (why expect the tobacco industry to care about people, but just because you are addicted to nicotine doesn't mean you don't care.)
- People growing Cotton for Victoria's Secret
- People making electronics in China for Microsoft, XBox, HP, Apple, Nokia (why? why? aren't they fortune 500 companies? don't they make more profit than God?)
- Cotton grown for Forever 21, Aeropostale, Toys R US, and Urban Outfitters
- Cocoa Beans for Hersheys.
Has slavery always been present? Is it coming back? Why does it exist? How can someone do that to someone else?
I'm going to go have a good cry.
Sunday, January 10, 2016
geniuses and weird vegetables
I listened to an NPR story about the growing of geniuses and their definition--genius is whatever society says it is. I won't argue--genius isn't genius unless someone recognizes it. Every family has it's odd ducks, handimen and handiwomen, fixers and makers and thinkers of things that make everyone else say "what???" Those unique ones are rarely called genius by families, at least not unless the greater community calls them that first.
Among farmers and gardeners and those that make money off of produce, there are all those genius creations--100 pound pumpkins, square watermelons, unbruisable tomatoes, and they get their pictures in the local paper and are trialed by stores and even, in the case of the rubber tomatoes--sold all across the land. They are genius.
Why?
What about those 100 of pumpkins in the pasture at an old garbage site, the watermelon that is supremely sweet that fluked up in some unknown garden, or the sadness we feel for tomatoes that taste like tomatoes. What about those untended fruits and vegetables that are amazing to the possums and bears, those blackberries and those pawpaws?
Gifted education, which is not really funded anymore due to its reputation of elitism, is aimed at the top, those people that were identified as the most 3-1%ish of the population--IQ score wise. (And the students identified were usually more high achievers than genius--those children will be high achievers where ever you put them.) In other words, there should be 1-3 individuals in any hundred with genius potential. Of course, we do know that just because we have a test for it, doesn't mean that it is always accurate or that everyone is tested. We have acres and acres of unidentified potential geniuses in the world, but since society has not identified them as geniuses, they remain their families' oddities and secret treasures. They become drug addicts, depressed, outcasts due to not understanding that what is wrong with them, why no one can relate to them, is not something wrong.
Society has always used the "whatever society says it is" to identify genius. Of those people identified, and we don't go out and try to identify them, so we are already only seeing the tip of iceberg--only a very small number are ever considered to be geniuses. While most of us think "big bang theory", "scorpion" is a much better example of the kinds of genius that exist. For every amazing IQ score, there is a person so capable of understanding behavior that he or she scares his peers, the child so focused on building or making that they never develop the "normal" social skills, the child that must be "slow" because the teacher can't capture their attention in a "normal" classroom.
We are not good with non-normal people. We like average. We like those that do what everyone else does and sees they world like they are told to. We want none of that wandering from the "normal" path and wondering about things that no one else is concerned about.
If you recognize someone you know in this, be kind to them, they might do something truly amazing someday--with sunlight and the right amount of care.
Among farmers and gardeners and those that make money off of produce, there are all those genius creations--100 pound pumpkins, square watermelons, unbruisable tomatoes, and they get their pictures in the local paper and are trialed by stores and even, in the case of the rubber tomatoes--sold all across the land. They are genius.
Why?
What about those 100 of pumpkins in the pasture at an old garbage site, the watermelon that is supremely sweet that fluked up in some unknown garden, or the sadness we feel for tomatoes that taste like tomatoes. What about those untended fruits and vegetables that are amazing to the possums and bears, those blackberries and those pawpaws?
Gifted education, which is not really funded anymore due to its reputation of elitism, is aimed at the top, those people that were identified as the most 3-1%ish of the population--IQ score wise. (And the students identified were usually more high achievers than genius--those children will be high achievers where ever you put them.) In other words, there should be 1-3 individuals in any hundred with genius potential. Of course, we do know that just because we have a test for it, doesn't mean that it is always accurate or that everyone is tested. We have acres and acres of unidentified potential geniuses in the world, but since society has not identified them as geniuses, they remain their families' oddities and secret treasures. They become drug addicts, depressed, outcasts due to not understanding that what is wrong with them, why no one can relate to them, is not something wrong.
Society has always used the "whatever society says it is" to identify genius. Of those people identified, and we don't go out and try to identify them, so we are already only seeing the tip of iceberg--only a very small number are ever considered to be geniuses. While most of us think "big bang theory", "scorpion" is a much better example of the kinds of genius that exist. For every amazing IQ score, there is a person so capable of understanding behavior that he or she scares his peers, the child so focused on building or making that they never develop the "normal" social skills, the child that must be "slow" because the teacher can't capture their attention in a "normal" classroom.
We are not good with non-normal people. We like average. We like those that do what everyone else does and sees they world like they are told to. We want none of that wandering from the "normal" path and wondering about things that no one else is concerned about.
If you recognize someone you know in this, be kind to them, they might do something truly amazing someday--with sunlight and the right amount of care.
Friday, January 1, 2016
2016 should be Magick!
I thought I would start the year with my version of reality. I'm aware that I sound crazy to many people when I go off on this particular tangent.
After a 20 year slog through comparative religions, eastern philosophies, western philosophies, mythologies, shamanic practices, animism, and 20th century fads, I found that I had gathered my own set of beliefs. When an evangelical asks me what religion I am or where I go to church, I explain I have my own religion and go to my own church regularly. I can say it honestly enough, and few continue their quest to add me to the ranks of their own mega church after that. (I realize it might be the crazy look in my eye that makes them drop it).
But while it is not a lie, it doesn't fully explain anything. Early on, I made the mistake of getting more detailed, and those same people that are so very literal with their own holy book, get quite demeaning of beliefs that "stretch the boundaries of believability" I fully understand that statement, as it is what started the 20 year trip into libraries and esoterica when I was 19.
Amazingly, few of my beliefs are set in stone. Most of those are fully compatible with physics laws--though perhaps utilizing those holes in what we know to allow for the mystical. I love that light is a particle and a wave, and that we can't mate Quantum to Relativity---still. Keep working on it, though, because I'm quite sure that my changeable beliefs can accommodate that.
I like the words GOD and GODDESS, though goddess is currently my favorite, as all the God-headed religions seem to focus on keeping women in roles that are both subservient and convenient to men's usage. That definitely stretches my boundaries of believability. It almost defines the reason that those beliefs were not just thought but also spread about and maintained.
I also like Magick and I like it with the K at the end, because it seems to make it less Vegas and more mystical and amazing.
When I was 17, I wrote a stupid research paper about early hominids focus on God and finding explanations for the world around them. The whole point was that humans hunt for god, for meaning, not just scientific explanations but a mystical, spiritual connection with the world. Science explains, but spiritual things connect us.
I knew even then that it was possible that was some instinct; like the salmon returning to the same place to reproduce or the swan mating for life. It is part of what makes us human. It might be some sort of crossed wire that makes our brains need more mystery or purpose, but it is a part of us.
Traditional religion can meet this need, although I think it might be why fundamentalism becomes so insane. The need for a connection gets warped. The need for that feeling of connection to something more is not necessarily filled by organs and and hymns, tradition and ritual. While the beliefs contain stories of Magick--transmogrification, miracles, healings--promises of eternal life, eternal virgins, eternal paradise, they don't really involve current magick, just stories of it.
I think we need to live with magick.
I see a movie where lightning bolts shoot from the mans hands, a witch creates a fog out of dried bat and fresh herbs, an elf touches a snowflake and changes it to a diamond that can guide you to your destination---I'm entranced. Those things should be possible. When someone annoys me I want to be able to point at them and have their ink pen change to a feather.
So my beliefs include Magick. Although, like most that believe in Magick in this day and age, I don't expect it to be a fireworks show, but subtle, ritualized, reconnecting me to the earth and the sky.
I think we all need that connection. Need it with our souls, our spirits, or just our cross-wired neurons, but we feel the need. We need the mythology to help us, like poetry or art or ritual--feel that connection. Need the freedom to think things that are not already set in stone, to dream our dreams and wish our wishes and feel a part of the song that is where and when we live.
I'm hunting for Magick this year. I'm going to find it..
After a 20 year slog through comparative religions, eastern philosophies, western philosophies, mythologies, shamanic practices, animism, and 20th century fads, I found that I had gathered my own set of beliefs. When an evangelical asks me what religion I am or where I go to church, I explain I have my own religion and go to my own church regularly. I can say it honestly enough, and few continue their quest to add me to the ranks of their own mega church after that. (I realize it might be the crazy look in my eye that makes them drop it).
But while it is not a lie, it doesn't fully explain anything. Early on, I made the mistake of getting more detailed, and those same people that are so very literal with their own holy book, get quite demeaning of beliefs that "stretch the boundaries of believability" I fully understand that statement, as it is what started the 20 year trip into libraries and esoterica when I was 19.
Amazingly, few of my beliefs are set in stone. Most of those are fully compatible with physics laws--though perhaps utilizing those holes in what we know to allow for the mystical. I love that light is a particle and a wave, and that we can't mate Quantum to Relativity---still. Keep working on it, though, because I'm quite sure that my changeable beliefs can accommodate that.
I like the words GOD and GODDESS, though goddess is currently my favorite, as all the God-headed religions seem to focus on keeping women in roles that are both subservient and convenient to men's usage. That definitely stretches my boundaries of believability. It almost defines the reason that those beliefs were not just thought but also spread about and maintained.
I also like Magick and I like it with the K at the end, because it seems to make it less Vegas and more mystical and amazing.
When I was 17, I wrote a stupid research paper about early hominids focus on God and finding explanations for the world around them. The whole point was that humans hunt for god, for meaning, not just scientific explanations but a mystical, spiritual connection with the world. Science explains, but spiritual things connect us.
I knew even then that it was possible that was some instinct; like the salmon returning to the same place to reproduce or the swan mating for life. It is part of what makes us human. It might be some sort of crossed wire that makes our brains need more mystery or purpose, but it is a part of us.
Traditional religion can meet this need, although I think it might be why fundamentalism becomes so insane. The need for a connection gets warped. The need for that feeling of connection to something more is not necessarily filled by organs and and hymns, tradition and ritual. While the beliefs contain stories of Magick--transmogrification, miracles, healings--promises of eternal life, eternal virgins, eternal paradise, they don't really involve current magick, just stories of it.
I think we need to live with magick.
I see a movie where lightning bolts shoot from the mans hands, a witch creates a fog out of dried bat and fresh herbs, an elf touches a snowflake and changes it to a diamond that can guide you to your destination---I'm entranced. Those things should be possible. When someone annoys me I want to be able to point at them and have their ink pen change to a feather.
So my beliefs include Magick. Although, like most that believe in Magick in this day and age, I don't expect it to be a fireworks show, but subtle, ritualized, reconnecting me to the earth and the sky.
I think we all need that connection. Need it with our souls, our spirits, or just our cross-wired neurons, but we feel the need. We need the mythology to help us, like poetry or art or ritual--feel that connection. Need the freedom to think things that are not already set in stone, to dream our dreams and wish our wishes and feel a part of the song that is where and when we live.
I'm hunting for Magick this year. I'm going to find it..
Monday, December 28, 2015
The power of one.
This blog began with my feeling of powerlessness at where the world was going. I made some suggestions--I rarely even take them--and I became more aware of what is going on around me.
Now, I'm annoying to many, but my world is becoming populated with other people that are also more aware. I have windows into the lives of people from other places and people with different experiences. My job has even become more diverse and less 60-year old working WASP. And we have survived and thrived under a biracial president and have a democratic socialist running in the current election.
During this time, we have had ugliness in the news, although much of it is more like the pimple coming to an obvious head than like any new ugliness being found.
Our PC is no longer just theater make-up to make everything pretty. We are having discussions about institutional racism---and while black comedians have gotten a lot of mileage out of "______ while black" jokes, that is not funny when it is true. For those of us with our eyes open, we know that stuff happens on a routine basis. We work with people scared to walk past black men on the street, that expect every Native American to be intoxicated and that never see danger or criminal when the person looks like them.
We have had the influx of immigrants from south of the border that was predicted with such dire warnings in the '70's and '80's that has created a need for hispanic translators--the best I have met is hispanic and born in my home town so she is as comfortable in one language as the other, and we have seen a browning of our population from wars and coups and just plain hate. They have improved our selection of foods and given us a broader view of what it means to be a good person. We have seen the growth of the first group of internet children, and they are not quite as easy to lead by the nose. They can find other sources for their information and they can look at multiple conflicting stories and know that they are not all right or all wrong. Our schools may not be teaching them good critical thinking skills, but the choices of sources of knowledge is available and being well used by many of them.
So what does any of this have to do with the power of one? Nothing and everything.
Each of us change and grow individually. We are all responsible for our own self-awareness. We are each voting, everyday, every minute for what is right, what is needed, what is good--or not. And we will all move forward as quickly or slowly as the individuals in the group that is all humans, progress. I do not allow for us to not move forward, although, I realize there have been time that progress was so slow that it looked like regression. I do think that I can see some movement. I think that when an entire planet of souls are causing movement, sort of like Brownian Motion, it is hard to get a clear view of what is happening, where we are heading.
But, I am hopeful. The people I meet these days generally give me hope (perhaps those that don't have just lost their ability to scare or shock me) and the internet, with its many accesses and sources, gives me hope, and the knowledge that most people, the vast majority of people just want their loved ones to be safe and happy and able to keep living their lives.
No fear--we just all need to do what we know is right in our souls.
That is the power of the individual--the power of one.
Now, I'm annoying to many, but my world is becoming populated with other people that are also more aware. I have windows into the lives of people from other places and people with different experiences. My job has even become more diverse and less 60-year old working WASP. And we have survived and thrived under a biracial president and have a democratic socialist running in the current election.
During this time, we have had ugliness in the news, although much of it is more like the pimple coming to an obvious head than like any new ugliness being found.
Our PC is no longer just theater make-up to make everything pretty. We are having discussions about institutional racism---and while black comedians have gotten a lot of mileage out of "______ while black" jokes, that is not funny when it is true. For those of us with our eyes open, we know that stuff happens on a routine basis. We work with people scared to walk past black men on the street, that expect every Native American to be intoxicated and that never see danger or criminal when the person looks like them.
We have had the influx of immigrants from south of the border that was predicted with such dire warnings in the '70's and '80's that has created a need for hispanic translators--the best I have met is hispanic and born in my home town so she is as comfortable in one language as the other, and we have seen a browning of our population from wars and coups and just plain hate. They have improved our selection of foods and given us a broader view of what it means to be a good person. We have seen the growth of the first group of internet children, and they are not quite as easy to lead by the nose. They can find other sources for their information and they can look at multiple conflicting stories and know that they are not all right or all wrong. Our schools may not be teaching them good critical thinking skills, but the choices of sources of knowledge is available and being well used by many of them.
So what does any of this have to do with the power of one? Nothing and everything.
Each of us change and grow individually. We are all responsible for our own self-awareness. We are each voting, everyday, every minute for what is right, what is needed, what is good--or not. And we will all move forward as quickly or slowly as the individuals in the group that is all humans, progress. I do not allow for us to not move forward, although, I realize there have been time that progress was so slow that it looked like regression. I do think that I can see some movement. I think that when an entire planet of souls are causing movement, sort of like Brownian Motion, it is hard to get a clear view of what is happening, where we are heading.
But, I am hopeful. The people I meet these days generally give me hope (perhaps those that don't have just lost their ability to scare or shock me) and the internet, with its many accesses and sources, gives me hope, and the knowledge that most people, the vast majority of people just want their loved ones to be safe and happy and able to keep living their lives.
No fear--we just all need to do what we know is right in our souls.
That is the power of the individual--the power of one.
Sunday, December 27, 2015
Thoughts for the coming year after christmas but before its resolution time
I have always thought that the great drive to make a resolution, fix yourself, make the world a better place, was due to the whole symbolism of new beginnings with the new year. I was sure that is all it was.
This year, I think I'm working on a "reduce, reuse, recycle" plan, that involves only getting and giving gifts that are experiential--you know, consumable (not like consumerism, but like "I can eat it, make something with it, go somewhere I haven't been for a while--or ever, or share time with someone I haven't seen in a while)
I think maybe we are all just consumering ourselves out. That is like--"I haven't eaten chocolate since I was a freshman at college and there was nothing over a long weekend with the dorm cafeteria closed except my roommates chocolate stash. Every time I look at it now, I'm nauseated."
Don't get me wrong. I love getting gifts and giving gifts. But there is a part of the Christmas season giving that has nothing to do with what anyone wants or what anyone wants to give. It is more of a panic, an anxious feeling of "oh no, i didn't give everyone enough, I didn't spend enough, I am a failure and my shortcomings can't be fixed"
I looked back at Christmases past, for those trees I remember exploding with gifts, of smiling faces, of great memories and warm feelings, and what I see in photos is not so shiny. Parents looked tired, kids over-stimulated, trees covered in tinsel and cheap ornaments. Apparently the memory and the hope for next year being better always kept us trying again.
My daughter, who is cheap, but also right, was aghast that she watched every child she knew receive over $500.00 dollars worth of items, many of them that will be taken to the trash or goodwill next year so that new gifts will not overwhelm the storage of the house. Many of those gifts will not be touched for months as the amount of free time that children have to play with toys is limited. Clothes and shoes that are both durable and fun will be better used, but for children that received to many to wear more than once before they outgrow them, also very crazy.
I partly blame the media, the advertisings never show crappy plastic toys sitting there doing nothing. They are animated, and have glowingly happy children playing with them or receiving them with such utter joy in their faces that the toy must be magic. There are no disclaimers attached to the toy packages or advertisings warning, "this toy was made by small children in a poor country, and there might be missing parts" no where does it mention that the company made a 1000% profit off the toy or that is contains $0.50 cents in materials and under a dollar in labor, or that the cost of shipping one package to the store, as one of a gazillion items, is also less than a dollar. They certainly don't want you to know that the people at the top of the toy company made more money than god this season. And last but not least, they don't mention that the amazing toy either does none of the things the animated version does or that the cheap materials gives it a usable life of 3 hours.
There were some positives this year, more toys that you did something with, made something with, or maybe that is just part of gift-buyers hunting harder for something that made sense.
And I'm guilty. I now have enough baking supplies to give cookies to every person in my town.
I'm fat.
Everyone is watching their calorie intake and trying to exercise more.
Cookies are not good for you.
What are we all missing? What are we all trying to accomplish?
Next year, I'm giving hugs.
This year, I think I'm working on a "reduce, reuse, recycle" plan, that involves only getting and giving gifts that are experiential--you know, consumable (not like consumerism, but like "I can eat it, make something with it, go somewhere I haven't been for a while--or ever, or share time with someone I haven't seen in a while)
I think maybe we are all just consumering ourselves out. That is like--"I haven't eaten chocolate since I was a freshman at college and there was nothing over a long weekend with the dorm cafeteria closed except my roommates chocolate stash. Every time I look at it now, I'm nauseated."
Don't get me wrong. I love getting gifts and giving gifts. But there is a part of the Christmas season giving that has nothing to do with what anyone wants or what anyone wants to give. It is more of a panic, an anxious feeling of "oh no, i didn't give everyone enough, I didn't spend enough, I am a failure and my shortcomings can't be fixed"
I looked back at Christmases past, for those trees I remember exploding with gifts, of smiling faces, of great memories and warm feelings, and what I see in photos is not so shiny. Parents looked tired, kids over-stimulated, trees covered in tinsel and cheap ornaments. Apparently the memory and the hope for next year being better always kept us trying again.
My daughter, who is cheap, but also right, was aghast that she watched every child she knew receive over $500.00 dollars worth of items, many of them that will be taken to the trash or goodwill next year so that new gifts will not overwhelm the storage of the house. Many of those gifts will not be touched for months as the amount of free time that children have to play with toys is limited. Clothes and shoes that are both durable and fun will be better used, but for children that received to many to wear more than once before they outgrow them, also very crazy.
I partly blame the media, the advertisings never show crappy plastic toys sitting there doing nothing. They are animated, and have glowingly happy children playing with them or receiving them with such utter joy in their faces that the toy must be magic. There are no disclaimers attached to the toy packages or advertisings warning, "this toy was made by small children in a poor country, and there might be missing parts" no where does it mention that the company made a 1000% profit off the toy or that is contains $0.50 cents in materials and under a dollar in labor, or that the cost of shipping one package to the store, as one of a gazillion items, is also less than a dollar. They certainly don't want you to know that the people at the top of the toy company made more money than god this season. And last but not least, they don't mention that the amazing toy either does none of the things the animated version does or that the cheap materials gives it a usable life of 3 hours.
There were some positives this year, more toys that you did something with, made something with, or maybe that is just part of gift-buyers hunting harder for something that made sense.
And I'm guilty. I now have enough baking supplies to give cookies to every person in my town.
I'm fat.
Everyone is watching their calorie intake and trying to exercise more.
Cookies are not good for you.
What are we all missing? What are we all trying to accomplish?
Next year, I'm giving hugs.
Tuesday, December 15, 2015
Hitler, ISIS, and Donald Trump
What do Hitler, ISIS and "the Donald" have in common--beyond the obvious obnoxiousness?
They have in common the roots of their popularity and success with those people that have been led to a state of arousal---by truly impressive rabble-rousers.
It is not just the actions of these men/groups, but where the most willing followers were before they were roused. There are old films of Hitler's speeches being cheered, arms waving, faces impassioned. There are young men leaving their homes and going to other lands with no more purpose than to use themselves as a human explosive for the cause. And we have that same group, the fearful, the hopeless, those that most want to return to a "better time" although not one of them has actually experienced that better time/place/world.
They are hate-mongers, war-mongers, and pot-stirrers. There only enemy is thinking people that can see the holes in their logic. We need more thinking people. We need more people that understand history in the context of the people and politics and perspective it was written (this is why no one should flunk history for not remembering the dates of anything, although a chronology is very helpful) We need people that are self-aware of their own fears and anxieties and understand that the person desperate enough to try to stick a sirloin steak in his coat is not so much a criminal as he is a desperate, hopeless person. We need empathy for those whose lives seem to hold no hope, no future opportunities. And we need to not let big-talking cheerleaders get us all riled up and ready to do something crazy or stupid or horrifying.
"if you friends jumped off a cliff would you follow them?"
Fear must never lead. We lost so many people to the verbal powers of Hitler, a man that rose as much because of the economic depression that covered the world, making people open to fear and hate due to there own feeling of unfairness, their own need to blame someone for their suffering. ISIS because of the horrible confluence of world oil grubbing (worse than the gold-rush of 1849), political destabilization by outside powers that wanted that oil, and a euphoric desire to return to the rule of the Caliphate.
And now we have Donald; a man that has risen from humble beginnings as the son of a very wealthy man, a Hotel Magnate, a man that is not afraid to brag when we goes bankrupt repeatedly since he never personally lost a dime (someone lost, guess they don't count), and went on to become the older and more masculine version of Kim Kardashian. (you know, twitter feeds, reality tv) He's became a household name, first via the National Enquirer, then on his own reality TV show. He flaunts his bad comb-over. He is loud, rude, and proud to be the son of one of the Leaders of the KKK.
How does this equal hope? He promises nothing but hate, meanness, and a return to a time when rich white men could treat everybody else like human garbage. And every poor white person I meet is thrilled. They are thrilled because they can now openly blame their financial strife on immigrants and people of color. They can shoot someone for scaring them by looking different. They can go back to being better than someone else based on no personal attribute except their birth.
This country has problems. Those of us with brains, eyes, ears, need to not let the hysteria bring us all down.
Be an agent of PEACE.
They have in common the roots of their popularity and success with those people that have been led to a state of arousal---by truly impressive rabble-rousers.
It is not just the actions of these men/groups, but where the most willing followers were before they were roused. There are old films of Hitler's speeches being cheered, arms waving, faces impassioned. There are young men leaving their homes and going to other lands with no more purpose than to use themselves as a human explosive for the cause. And we have that same group, the fearful, the hopeless, those that most want to return to a "better time" although not one of them has actually experienced that better time/place/world.
They are hate-mongers, war-mongers, and pot-stirrers. There only enemy is thinking people that can see the holes in their logic. We need more thinking people. We need more people that understand history in the context of the people and politics and perspective it was written (this is why no one should flunk history for not remembering the dates of anything, although a chronology is very helpful) We need people that are self-aware of their own fears and anxieties and understand that the person desperate enough to try to stick a sirloin steak in his coat is not so much a criminal as he is a desperate, hopeless person. We need empathy for those whose lives seem to hold no hope, no future opportunities. And we need to not let big-talking cheerleaders get us all riled up and ready to do something crazy or stupid or horrifying.
"if you friends jumped off a cliff would you follow them?"
Fear must never lead. We lost so many people to the verbal powers of Hitler, a man that rose as much because of the economic depression that covered the world, making people open to fear and hate due to there own feeling of unfairness, their own need to blame someone for their suffering. ISIS because of the horrible confluence of world oil grubbing (worse than the gold-rush of 1849), political destabilization by outside powers that wanted that oil, and a euphoric desire to return to the rule of the Caliphate.
And now we have Donald; a man that has risen from humble beginnings as the son of a very wealthy man, a Hotel Magnate, a man that is not afraid to brag when we goes bankrupt repeatedly since he never personally lost a dime (someone lost, guess they don't count), and went on to become the older and more masculine version of Kim Kardashian. (you know, twitter feeds, reality tv) He's became a household name, first via the National Enquirer, then on his own reality TV show. He flaunts his bad comb-over. He is loud, rude, and proud to be the son of one of the Leaders of the KKK.
How does this equal hope? He promises nothing but hate, meanness, and a return to a time when rich white men could treat everybody else like human garbage. And every poor white person I meet is thrilled. They are thrilled because they can now openly blame their financial strife on immigrants and people of color. They can shoot someone for scaring them by looking different. They can go back to being better than someone else based on no personal attribute except their birth.
This country has problems. Those of us with brains, eyes, ears, need to not let the hysteria bring us all down.
Be an agent of PEACE.
Saturday, November 28, 2015
not by chance
I had wanted to show an actual graph of the incomes of 100% of the U.S. population, to show how skewed it was, but for 98 percent of the population, the graph looks like a flat line almost on the x-axis then zooming almost straight up at the end. I may still try one without maintaining interval space between the zero to almost zero of the 500,000 homeless at the bottom to the approximately 350 at the top--the top 99.999999 making up to 11.5 billion per year.
The normal or bell curve is basically a representation of a probability formula. Most of nature follows such a formula on the population level. You expect the majority of people to fall in the middle 80% then the remaining 20% will be divided at both ends.
Normally (pun intended, if you were to divide up the $11.5 billion in a naturally occurring way, you would expect the same number of people on either side of the median--by definition, the 50%ile, where half the people are on the right and half the people are on the left.
The median income in the USA in this time period (plus or minus 3 years) is about $52,000 per year. The 10th percentile is about $13,493 and the 90th percentile (the same number of people on the other end of the curve) is about $150,000. That is not as outlandish a shape for a bell curve, but shows that 50% of us are not making half of the income, or even close. if those 10th and 90th were completely a function of probability, then we would expect the median to be about $75,000 a year, then half making upward and half downward.
When you look at the homeless who are closer to 1.56 percent of the population, and since they are at the bottom they are also at about the equivalent of the 1% we used to hear about, only on the left of the curve, you would expect a median closer to $325,000 per year. (I think I could live on that) but instead of being the median, it is the income of a person at the 97th percentile.
If you use the zero on the left against the $11.5 billion on the far right, you move the expected median to $5.5 billion, which sounds ridiculous and in truth,a person at the 99.9th %ile is only making $2 million per year.
This is not a normal curve and it is not a natural effect of probability. Someone has rigged the system. We have a very few people benefiting from the rigging, and a whole lot of people being forced to peddle as fast as they can for a future success that will never happen.
If you can't picture the curve, then try a verbal pictogram:
There are 100 people in the room,
Probability has no formula that would create this, human-made laws created this inequality. Time to fix the laws.
The normal or bell curve is basically a representation of a probability formula. Most of nature follows such a formula on the population level. You expect the majority of people to fall in the middle 80% then the remaining 20% will be divided at both ends.
Normally (pun intended, if you were to divide up the $11.5 billion in a naturally occurring way, you would expect the same number of people on either side of the median--by definition, the 50%ile, where half the people are on the right and half the people are on the left.
The median income in the USA in this time period (plus or minus 3 years) is about $52,000 per year. The 10th percentile is about $13,493 and the 90th percentile (the same number of people on the other end of the curve) is about $150,000. That is not as outlandish a shape for a bell curve, but shows that 50% of us are not making half of the income, or even close. if those 10th and 90th were completely a function of probability, then we would expect the median to be about $75,000 a year, then half making upward and half downward.
When you look at the homeless who are closer to 1.56 percent of the population, and since they are at the bottom they are also at about the equivalent of the 1% we used to hear about, only on the left of the curve, you would expect a median closer to $325,000 per year. (I think I could live on that) but instead of being the median, it is the income of a person at the 97th percentile.
If you use the zero on the left against the $11.5 billion on the far right, you move the expected median to $5.5 billion, which sounds ridiculous and in truth,a person at the 99.9th %ile is only making $2 million per year.
This is not a normal curve and it is not a natural effect of probability. Someone has rigged the system. We have a very few people benefiting from the rigging, and a whole lot of people being forced to peddle as fast as they can for a future success that will never happen.
If you can't picture the curve, then try a verbal pictogram:
There are 100 people in the room,
- 1 of them will be homeless,
- 9 of them will be making about $13,000 and depending on what state they are in and whether they are male or female or have children or not they will qualify for SNAP, or housing assistance or even some supplemental cash (because it is not currently possible to live a happy/healthy life on $13,000 a year anymore).
- 15 of those hundred will be making more than the $13,000 but under the poverty level of $23,283, and if they are not a healthy and single young person with no kids, may still qualify for some government assistance. These people would like to be middle-class.
- 9 people will be making about $32,000 and will be struggling but will not qualify for any help. These people are trying to be middle-class
- 15 people will be making around the national median income of about $51,939, and if they are married to a working spouse they may be doing tolerably well, but if they are single or worse, single with dependents, they may still be struggling, and who am I kidding, that is a tight budget, it is not the kind of income that enables people to create and envision a better future. These people should be middle-class by definition.
- 17 people will be making around $72 thousand a year and they can buy better things and eat better food and maybe put a little in a retirement account. They consider themselves middle-class.
- 13 of those people are making about $100,000 a year and those first 50 people dream of that and what they could accomplish if they made that. They consider themselves middle-class.
- 9 of those people make $150,000 and next to the previous 80 people, there is some disposable income in that. Those designer jeans might not be second-hand and the car cost more than the first 25 people in the room can spend on housing. They consider themselves middle-class.
- 6 people make around $250,000 per year and the government considers them middle-class even though they make about 5 times what the median group makes. They buy homes, different homes in different neighborhood than the first 50 people in the room, can afford a private education, vacations every year, passports, summer homes, than those first 50 people in the room think they are rich--not middle-class.
- 1 person makes about $325,000, which means they have as much money every year as one of the previous six people, plus the income of 9 people making $13,000 a year.
- 1 person makes about $450,000 which is as much as the first 20 people in the room.
- 1 person makes at least $750,000 a year, which is more than the first 25 people make in a year.
Probability has no formula that would create this, human-made laws created this inequality. Time to fix the laws.
Sunday, November 22, 2015
one!
The Western world has been raised in dualism. Opposites, when they hear 2 sides to every coin, the sides are separate and that coin in the middle is nothing at all. We believe in GOOD and EVIL, black and white, male and female, war and peace, love and hate.
OPPOSITES--antonyms are not the same, for while they have opposing meanings, they are not big, and they are not the basis for having a very concrete mind. For a lot of people, KISS is the answer, from a menu to the way to run the world. (KISS is an acronym not an exchange of body fluids in this paragraph)
In nondualistic philosophies, the coin is ONE. One coin, two sides of ONE coin. Perception is not concrete. Good and evil are not opposites but a continuum--like ombre'. Black and white are nothing more than the degree of presence of light. Male and female are both humans but have either XX or XY. War and peace are not opposites, but choices of how we handle disagreements--and in peace, people still die and sometimes treat each other horribly and in war, sometimes people live and show their most humane side.
No opposites, just continuums of one thing.
ONE.
What if we focused on that oneness. What if we started with our labels. And not to take anyone's choices, but what if we start with those many RACE, ETHNICITY, CULTURE questions that are all over every form we are asked to fill out from birth on.
If we just added HUMAN to the race choices, how many people filling it out would start only using that choice. And Ethnicity, ( to a shared culture and way of life) is currently used to mean Hispanic, although it is frequently used as a choice under race where the KISS was overused. Not to overdwell, but hispanic is not a culture or ethnicity or race, its a language group, and if we expanded it to include french and italian we could use the label Romance languages. It is a choice on our labels choosing lists, because we have become obsessed with the number of people coming to the USA from noneuropean nations. I have also seen people that are here in the USA very confused by the fact that their only choice is AFRICAN-AMERICAN. I have never seen anything that offered the choice of European-American or Australian_American. And apparently, black people from Europe or Australia are also African American. If we are going to settle for a label of ultimate cradle of life--African would fit us all.
But shared culture and way of life? We all eat, sleep, drink, reproduce, are born, live, die. We all share that. But the people 2 blocks over eat different food than I do, believe different things about where we come from and where we are going when we die. They choose different words to describe things, have different goals, make different amounts of money, and like doing different things for fun. And we have all the same labels on those category choices.
Don't get me wrong. I am not asking for more choices for specificity. I'm asking if we can't have a choice of being less specific, less divisive. Why ask my sex? If you want to know if I speak English or need a translator, ask that--it could be important, but wanting to know what language my greatgrandmother spoke has no purpose. And race is not a single answer for that many people. Great and great-great grandparents occasionally led more complicated lives than the Victorian stories would like us to believe. We are complicated individuals, but we--the totality of we are pretty simple.
WE ARE ALL HUMAN.
OPPOSITES--antonyms are not the same, for while they have opposing meanings, they are not big, and they are not the basis for having a very concrete mind. For a lot of people, KISS is the answer, from a menu to the way to run the world. (KISS is an acronym not an exchange of body fluids in this paragraph)
In nondualistic philosophies, the coin is ONE. One coin, two sides of ONE coin. Perception is not concrete. Good and evil are not opposites but a continuum--like ombre'. Black and white are nothing more than the degree of presence of light. Male and female are both humans but have either XX or XY. War and peace are not opposites, but choices of how we handle disagreements--and in peace, people still die and sometimes treat each other horribly and in war, sometimes people live and show their most humane side.
No opposites, just continuums of one thing.
ONE.
What if we focused on that oneness. What if we started with our labels. And not to take anyone's choices, but what if we start with those many RACE, ETHNICITY, CULTURE questions that are all over every form we are asked to fill out from birth on.
If we just added HUMAN to the race choices, how many people filling it out would start only using that choice. And Ethnicity, ( to a shared culture and way of life) is currently used to mean Hispanic, although it is frequently used as a choice under race where the KISS was overused. Not to overdwell, but hispanic is not a culture or ethnicity or race, its a language group, and if we expanded it to include french and italian we could use the label Romance languages. It is a choice on our labels choosing lists, because we have become obsessed with the number of people coming to the USA from noneuropean nations. I have also seen people that are here in the USA very confused by the fact that their only choice is AFRICAN-AMERICAN. I have never seen anything that offered the choice of European-American or Australian_American. And apparently, black people from Europe or Australia are also African American. If we are going to settle for a label of ultimate cradle of life--African would fit us all.
But shared culture and way of life? We all eat, sleep, drink, reproduce, are born, live, die. We all share that. But the people 2 blocks over eat different food than I do, believe different things about where we come from and where we are going when we die. They choose different words to describe things, have different goals, make different amounts of money, and like doing different things for fun. And we have all the same labels on those category choices.
Don't get me wrong. I am not asking for more choices for specificity. I'm asking if we can't have a choice of being less specific, less divisive. Why ask my sex? If you want to know if I speak English or need a translator, ask that--it could be important, but wanting to know what language my greatgrandmother spoke has no purpose. And race is not a single answer for that many people. Great and great-great grandparents occasionally led more complicated lives than the Victorian stories would like us to believe. We are complicated individuals, but we--the totality of we are pretty simple.
WE ARE ALL HUMAN.
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I have always been told I have too much imagination. I am not realistic. According to these people, we live in a democracy. Democra...
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It's Memorial Day. When I was a child, we would have gotten together and taken flowers to all the cemeteries we could drive to with rel...
