I spend the day excited about going to class. I look forward to it like someone who is thirsty anticipates a cool glass of water. Time moves so slowly I begin to think it will never arrive. When finally I leave, I let John talk me into leaving Yeager behind. This is my first mistake.
John encourages my excitement but reminds me this is an introductory class at a community college in Panama City. He tells me I shouldn’t over-expect. I lower my expectations – but not enough. This is my second mistake.
I plan my trip to class with extra time allotted to buy my book. Since the schedule says the class begins at 6:15 pm, I leave my house at 5:55pm. I get my book and head to the room where they say the class will be. The class is full of some other class and there is a sign saying my class has been moved. They do not say where. I find it anyway. The desks in this new room are crammed together tightly but there are only three people in there. I take the center row, front seat so I can see without having to worry about having a tall person sit in front of me. Still, I assume this will be a small class since we are five minutes from starting and there aren’t many people in the room. This is my third mistake.
I watch the "professor" while waiting for the class to begin. He is an awkward man who doesn’t seem to know he’s odd. Maybe he knows but just doesn’t care. When he speaks white foam forms on his lower lip. I find this very distracting for the whole night. He has an ink stain on his pants and his socks don’t match his clothing. He needs a haircut but not in a hippy, bohemian Berkeley professor way, more in a "I can’t tell I look bad" kind of a way. "I’m in Panama City," I remind myself, "I expect too much." People continue to file into the room. It’s filling up with bodies. Some of the students are older than me but most are young and thin. The men are dressed like gansta extras from a bad rap video. They sit on the back row. Yeager is not with me and I feel the anxiousness begin to percolate. The woman that takes the desk behind me is a nurse. She smells of old cigarettes and beer. She coughs without putting her hand over her mouth because I feel her hot fetid breath on the back of my neck when she hacks. The smell is intense and disgusting. Panic begins to wriggle his pointy tail deep in my gut. He’s awake. No good will come from this. "Maybe it will get better when class starts," I think, attempting to fool Panic back to sleep. This is my fourth mistake.
The class, it turns out, begins at 6:30 pm and not 6:15 pm as the schedule states. It’s cold in the room. I’m cold. My joints ache. I’m under the fan but can not move to a different desk because if I stand up everyone will see me. People will notice I’m there. The room is too full anyway. I have to endure the cold for the next three hours. Because I’m out of my pain medication and have been for over a week, I have no analgesics at all in my bloodstream. My pain has been worse this past week and this cold and stress are not helping. I’m aware of each space between bone. The pain shoots from muscle to bone and back. The dull roar of the twenty different conversations in the class room is being drowned out by the pounding of blood in my ears. Panic rouses more and his claws scratch my belly as he begins to come to life.
The professor watches the clock intently, waiting for the second hand to hit the 12 before starting the class exactly at 6:30pm. He is proud of this promptness. He announces it to one of the students. I think this is an odd thing for him to be proud of when he is so disheveled. I wonder if this is a sign of bad things to come. I’m right. He introduces himself and tells us about his family, his degrees, and his working life. He says that his primary degree is in theology, but he works as a Marriage and Family counselor. Now I am sure this class won’t be anywhere near what I wanted. He is a theologian first and foremost. Not a therapist. The sound of my bubble bursting is deafening. It is eventually drowned out by the chatter of the woman two seats over from me who has a huge beer gut and is wearing a t-shirt two sizes too small and talking too much. She is telling someone about herself and providing too many personal details to a stranger. I wonder what makes her do this...she seems needy.
He begins class with the video of the Virginia Tech Shooter. In the video the shooter compares himself to Christ, saying his death will provide a message for the world as well. The professor stiffens. His theology gets in the way of his ability to see what the young man is trying to say. After the rant is over, the professor asks an open question about what we think would make someone do something like that. Different people in class offer different ideas. Most think it’s a joke and are laughing. "He’s stupid." "He’s crazy." "He doesn’t like Americans." My blood begins to boil. The professor says "We all have our breaking points but we don’t all do this. Someone cuts you off in traffic and you don’t get mad and shoot 37 people. What was wrong with this guy?" I can’t stop myself. I blurt out, "What that boy went through for the whole of his life is no where close to being cut off in traffic. To make that correlation is to diminish his pain, his anguish and the complicity of those who allowed him to be victimized for over a decade." The professor backpedals at this point and says he knows nothing of the shooter’s early life and wasn’t trying to say that being cut off in traffic was the same thing. Others in the room say he had access to all the help he needed if he wanted it. All he had to do was get it. I counter with "You know so much about Korean society that you know if getting mental help was acceptable?" One girl argues with me. "He could have done it anyway. And teasing isn’t that bad of a problem. Some people can’t take a joke." She is thin and pretty. I assume she was probably one of the mean kids in school. She doesn’t know what it’s like to be different. Another student says "I’m tired of immigrants saying they get treated differently than the rest of us. They have more opportunities than I do." I notice the Black and Hispanic students fall silent now.
The professor moves the class on to a less contentious subject. He tells us he wants to create a fictitious student for our class. He begins by asking someone to name the child and give the child a cultural background. One student says the child’s name is Dominick and another says he is "an A-Rab"...the professor doesn’t correct this obvious attempt at cultural insensitivity. The professor says the child is two years of age, a boy, of Arab descent and is traveling with his parents who love have given him a solid foundation in love and trust, when they are in a car accident. His parents are killed. They leave no will and have no relatives. Dominick is now an orphan. He asks another student to tell what happens next. That student says "He goes into a group home." He then asks another student to say how long the child stays there. "2 months" is the answer. We are tossing a ball around the room, and the person who catches it adds layers of details to the child’s life. The next ball catcher says the child is then placed with a foster family. The next person says the foster family is a gay couple. The professor says the gay couple keep Dominick and decide to adopt him. He announces that Dominick is a stable and happy baby. The foundation of his life from birth to age two means that Dominick won’t have any significant issues to deal with. No RAD, no shutting down, he will be a normal child. Again, I can not stop myself.
"You have traumatized the child no less than three times in the space of 6 months. How can you say he wouldn’t shut down?"
The professor stops and looks at me. "One time. His parents died. That’s one trauma."
"That is at minimum three major traumas but then there are a host of other issues that he would have to deal with." I counter.
"Where do you get three?" he asks me.
I tick them off on my fingers, "The car accident and his parents die. Then he’s placed in a group home where just as he’s beginning to get settled and trust someone, he’s ripped away and given to another stranger. That’s three...maybe four. Then he has to deal with no longer having a mommy. New foods. New smells. New sounds. Maybe this couple have a dog and he doesn’t understand about dogs and is scared. Maybe he’s in daycare now but wasn’t before. Maybe this couple fights. Maybe they don’t...maybe it’s a dream placement but you can’t discount what the child went through in a short amount of time."
The professor takes a moment to think about this. "Before age two we don’t really have many memories and the parents have given him a good solid foundation of love and trust. He’d be fine."
Again I can not help myself. "If he loved and trusted his parents so much and was able to bond with them, then he would grieve the loss. He would grieve the placement in the busy group home and the loss of that. He would grieve. He may be angry or he might shut down. If the adopting couple isn’t aware this is a possibility they may think he has mental issues. Maybe they will say he has autism."
The professor presses his finger to his lips and stares at me. He doesn’t like to be challenged. I’m probably tanking my grade but I don’t care. He has stumbled onto a hot button for me and set it off. Panic is feeding off my increased blood pressure. Other students are making noises of exasperation from the back of the room. I’m in 6th grade all over again. This time, although I believe I am too fat and unattractive to be allowed to speak, I know I’m smart enough to express an opinion and I go after this issue with all the protectiveness of a mother bear. The class and the professor don’t know about Xian Yi but I don’t care about that. I’m angry about the assumptions being made by someone who should have been educated not to make these kinds of mistakes.
The professor attempts to bring the conversation back to some kind of happy place and the ball gets tossed to another student and he is asked what happens next. He chuckles and says, "The gay guys realize they aren’t gay, divorce and begin dating women." All the men in class laugh. The professor shoots a look in my direction and says "No, let’s not add more tragedy right now. Let’s say he has a good three years and he’s five now and ready to go to school. We’ll leave it here for tonight." So that is how that ended. This will be a problem for this professor for the whole semester. No one is taking it seriously but me. To all these 18 yr olds it’s a joke. And the professor doesn’t seem to care that people think childhood trauma is funny.
He hands out the syllabus. A quick read through reveals that students will be teaching the class each week as our group project. I hate this. I’m paying to be educated by someone who is supposed to have credentials. Not a bunch of idiot kids. He announces we have to break into groups. I’m hoping he assigns groups. But of course he does not. He wants us to break into our own groups. I am in 6th grade again. No one will want me in their group. I will be an outcast once more. Panic roars to life. My fingernails turn blue. I can not breathe. He is crushing my lungs. He clamps his jaws on my heart and squeezes hard. I drop my hand down looking for my dog for comfort. He is not there. Panic’s laugh rumbles in my chest. I feel lightheaded. I force myself to breathe from my diaphragm so I do not pass out. I’m cyanotic. I need oxygen. Behind me groups are forming. I have to do something. I offer to group with the guy next to me and the talkative girl. There is a surge of panic as I await their response. They agree. Though he still has a grip on my heart Panic moves a bit and air fills my lungs. Then we get our chapter assignments. Ours is Conditioning and Learning. We present in October. Panic has to let go of my heart when I realize that this is something I know a lot about. Panic reminds me I’ll have to stand in front of the class and give a presentation. Panic gnaws on my heart once more. It’s not that I have to speak in public that frightens me, it’s that people will be looking at me and thinking I shouldn’t be there. Or that they don’t like me. Or I’m too fat and ugly to be allowed to be in class with them. No matter how far I come, it always comes back to this for me. The damaged part of me...this is the part that Panic feeds on. This is what keeps him alive.
The professor moves on to actually discussing psychology after more than an hour of other stuff and one of the first topics he introduces is "Where do we see psychology?" Again the students are asked to toss out ideas and I say "marketing and advertising" to which he agrees. Then he brings up some add for a drug that says there is no cure for Bipolar Disorder and he starts a rant of his own saying that statement is untrue. Bipolar Disorder can be cured even though marketing says it can’t. He believes this to be irresponsible. Even I, who have no formal medical nor psychological training know that Bipolar Disorder can not be cured. It can be managed effectively with medications and therapy but at this time there is no cure for the disorder. This obvious error on his part has caused whatever faith I had in this man to completely disappear. I did not want to know more than my professor.
The remainder of the class was filled with little mistakes and differences of opinion save for the one joke he made by calling Barack Obama "Osama" and then calling it a Freudian slip. I found this little "joke" to be in extremely poor taste and I wonder what he meant by that. Is he remarking on Obama’s skin color? It couldn’t be his personal politics because Obama is certainly more liberal than Osama bin Laden. Perhaps it is because Obama isn’t an Evangelical Christian. Once again, the professor’s theology degree gets in the way of doing the job he is being paid to do.
I am left with an odd problem as I’m not really paying for the credits, I am not paying for the prerequisite, I am paying for the experience and this man seems to be incapable of providing the experience I wanted from this class. As a consumer I want to complain bitterly, but I probably don’t have any recourse. If there is a student evaluation form after the class is over, I will not be kind. I think this man is probably a bigot, is definitely "one of THOSE Christians", and does not have a good understanding of his area of expertise. I do not understand how a marriage and family therapist can have no understanding of the impact of chaos on children. And so I sit here wondering if I should print off the page on Bipolar Disorder from the National Institute of Mental Health portion of the National Institute of Health website where it states that there is no cure for Bipolar Disorder at this time or should I let it go? How important is it to be right?
Sunday, August 26, 2007
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Is Michael Vick a criminal?
Anyone that has been watching the news knows that Mike Vick has had his troubles with the law of late. We all know his family is pretty crappy and they may have gotten him into trouble. When I first heard about this story, I was very upset. I don't like dog fighting and it's the people who fight dogs that are making the rest of us have so much trouble keeping our dogs. But the more I read about this story the more uneasy I am becoming. If Vick just let one of his family members stay in the house and that family member was a dog fighter, then Vick shouldn't be held legally liable. I mean, if you own a house and someone renting it is involved in child porn should you be held liable because you own the house? No. Unless you knew about it. If Vick knew about dog fighting on his property, then he was bound to report it. To not report is to make one an accessory. BUT, simply having pit bulls on a property does not make one a dog fighter. I've seen a few stories where they report other things found on the property: a rape stand, pry bar and treadmill. OK well that shows tremendous bias and furtherance of the Left's agenda of no dogs over 40 pounds. (Yeah, look at breed specific legislation and almost without exception the politicians pushing it are liberal democrats. Yet another example of "if it feels good do it....unless we think you shouldn't." The Liberal mission statement.)
A rape stand??? Sex between dogs is NOT rape. I suppose if you follow the spirit of the definition it is but then we'd have to grant dogs rights they don't currently have. And if we did, then they couldn't be banned. But a breeding bench is an invaluable tool for dog breeding because some bitches won't stand for a dog. You have to keep her still some how. And a quick look around the farm will show you the same types of things for breeding cows and horses but no one gets upset about those. The "pry bar" is more correctly called a "breaking stick" and ever home with a dog should have one. If you ever have to get something out of your dog's throat a breaking stick, which is a wooden shim type thing, will keep the dog from slamming his mouth closed on your hand. It is NOT a tool for dog fighting. Neither is a treadmill.
The only damning piece of evidence found in the home was a blood soaked piece of carpet. That certainly isn't a good sign. But again, doesn't mean Vick absolutely knew about the fighting if there was any. Now, I'm no Vick fan, and I am tired of celebrities getting away with felonies, but simply owning pit bulls isn't a crime. I know someone is ticked off that the feds are involved in the case, and that it might be racially motivated. I don't know about that, but I do know that I am glad that someone who probably isn't an Atlanta Falcons fan is involved in investigating this. I am worried about Branch and the Falcons "circling the wagons" around Vick because he's a star and without him, they have no quarterback.
Anything that Pacman Jones and Tank Johnson had to deal with, Vick should too. I just hope the fallout doesn't make things harder on the rest of us that love bull breeds.
A rape stand??? Sex between dogs is NOT rape. I suppose if you follow the spirit of the definition it is but then we'd have to grant dogs rights they don't currently have. And if we did, then they couldn't be banned. But a breeding bench is an invaluable tool for dog breeding because some bitches won't stand for a dog. You have to keep her still some how. And a quick look around the farm will show you the same types of things for breeding cows and horses but no one gets upset about those. The "pry bar" is more correctly called a "breaking stick" and ever home with a dog should have one. If you ever have to get something out of your dog's throat a breaking stick, which is a wooden shim type thing, will keep the dog from slamming his mouth closed on your hand. It is NOT a tool for dog fighting. Neither is a treadmill.
The only damning piece of evidence found in the home was a blood soaked piece of carpet. That certainly isn't a good sign. But again, doesn't mean Vick absolutely knew about the fighting if there was any. Now, I'm no Vick fan, and I am tired of celebrities getting away with felonies, but simply owning pit bulls isn't a crime. I know someone is ticked off that the feds are involved in the case, and that it might be racially motivated. I don't know about that, but I do know that I am glad that someone who probably isn't an Atlanta Falcons fan is involved in investigating this. I am worried about Branch and the Falcons "circling the wagons" around Vick because he's a star and without him, they have no quarterback.
Anything that Pacman Jones and Tank Johnson had to deal with, Vick should too. I just hope the fallout doesn't make things harder on the rest of us that love bull breeds.
Sunday, May 27, 2007
Is your breed banned?
As amazing as it seems, or perhaps simply because it does not surprise me at all, here is a list of breeds that you now cannot own, or get insurance if you own, or if you own your freedoms are severely limited:
"The information here comes from the Responsible Dog Owners Of The Western States (RDOWS) , which has just updated the list of breeds that have been banned or restricted in the U.S." (Side bar, since a lot of you won't bother to visit the link, I'm going to paste the meat of why this is happening into this post. You think it can't happen to you because you own a chiuhuahua or some overpriced mutt...you are wrong.)
Here's what is happening:
Breed bans - an outright ban on owning a specific breed of dog
Breed-specific sterilization - owners are forced to spay or neuter animal
Breed-specific measures that include mandatory registration in a database similar to a sex offender database, forced microchipping, forced containment or signage
Breed-specific insurance requirements - forces owners to obtain the unobtainable "vicious" breed insurance - in reality this forces owners to surrender dogs or move
Weight or size restrictions - banning dogs over an arbitrarily determined weight or size - as in Fairfield, Iowa where all dogs over 100 lbs are banned (St. Bernard, Irish Wolfhound, Great Dane, etc.)
BTW - your insurance company is happily waiting in the background too - waiting to exclude coverage of your dog, waiting to drop your policy, or waiting to outrageously raise your rates.
And because I know you are anxious here's the list of breeds so DANGEROUS so UNCONTROLLABLE, so completely ROTTEN to the core they must be banned...*drum roll*
1. AIREDALE TERRIER
2. AKBASH
3. AKITA
4. ALAPAHA BLUE BLOOD BULLDOG
5. ALASKAN MALAMUTE
6. ALSATIAN SHEPHERD
7. AMERICAN BULLDOG
8. AMERICAN HUSKY
9. AMERICAN PIT BULL TERRIER
10. AMERICAN STAFFORDSHIRE TERRIER
11. AMERICAN WOLFDOG
12. ANATOLIAN SHEPHERD
13. ARIKARA DOG
14. AUSTRALIAN CATTLE DOG
15. AUSTRALIAN SHEPHERD
16. BELGIAN MALINOIS
17. BELGIAN SHEEPDOG
18. BELGIAN TURVUREN
19. BLUE HEELER
20. BOERBUL
21. BORZOI
22. BOSTON TERRIER
23. BOUVIER DES FLANDRES
24. BOXER
25. BULLDOG
26. BULL TERRIER
27. BULL MASTIFF
28. CANE CORSO
29. CATAHOULA LEOPARD DOG
30. CAUCASIAN SHEPHERD
31. CHINESE SHAR PEI 3
32. CHOW-CHOW
33. COLORADO DOG
34. DOBERMAN PINSCHER
35. DOGO DE ARGENTINO
36. DOGUE DE BORDEAUX
37. ENGLISH MASTIFFS
38. ENGLISH SPRINGER SPANIEL
39. ESKIMO DOG
40. ESTRELA MOUNTAIN DOG
41. FILA BRASILIERO
42. FOX TERRIER
43. FRENCH BULLDOG
44. GERMAN SHEPHERD DOG
45. GOLDEN RETRIEVER
46. GREENLAND HUSKY
47. GREAT DANE
48. GREAT PYRANEES
49. ITALIAN MASTIFF
50. KANGAL DOG
51. KEESHOND
52. KOMONDOR
53. KOTEZEBUE HUSKY
54. KUVAZ
55. LABRADOR RETRIEVER
56. LEONBERGER
57. MASTIFF
58. NEOPOLITAN MASTIFF
59. NEWFOUNDLAND
60. OTTERHOUND
61. PRESA DE CANARIO
62. PRESA DE MALLORQUIN
63. PUG
64. ROTTWEILER
65. SAARLOOS WOLFHOND
66. SAINT BERNARD
67. SAMOYED
68. SCOTTISH DEERHOUND
69. SIBERIAN HUSKY
70. SPANISH MASTIFF
71. STAFFORDSHIRE BULL TERRIER
72. TIMBER SHEPHERD
73. TOSA INU
74. TUNDRA SHEPHERD
75. WOLF SPITZ
Did you notice that you don't recognize over half the breeds on this list? Yeah because there are like 5 of them in the whole country! Did you notice that the pug, the Frenchie and everyone's favorite the Labrador Retriever made it to the list? Yeah...because it's not just pit bulls and Rotties anymore. There is a quote that I've always thought goes well with this situation although it orginally was not about dogs but I'm going to close with it anyway...but before I do. Let this be a lesson to you. The politicians that ban breeds are overwhelmingly Liberal Democrats. (You can look that up.) Yes there are Republicans too but the percentage of Repubs doing this is very small. Liberals like to say they are open minded and don't want to tell anyone what they can and cannot do, but then they go and do something like this. Be mindful of who you vote for people. If there is a dog curled up at your feet while you read this, remember that the sum total of politics in this country is NOT the Iraq war, healthcare and abortion on demand. There are other issues. Make sure you know where your guy stands before you vote.
"In Germany they came first for the Communists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist. Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me, and by that time no one was left to speak up." -- Martin Niemoller
"The information here comes from the Responsible Dog Owners Of The Western States (RDOWS) , which has just updated the list of breeds that have been banned or restricted in the U.S." (Side bar, since a lot of you won't bother to visit the link, I'm going to paste the meat of why this is happening into this post. You think it can't happen to you because you own a chiuhuahua or some overpriced mutt...you are wrong.)
Here's what is happening:
Breed bans - an outright ban on owning a specific breed of dog
Breed-specific sterilization - owners are forced to spay or neuter animal
Breed-specific measures that include mandatory registration in a database similar to a sex offender database, forced microchipping, forced containment or signage
Breed-specific insurance requirements - forces owners to obtain the unobtainable "vicious" breed insurance - in reality this forces owners to surrender dogs or move
Weight or size restrictions - banning dogs over an arbitrarily determined weight or size - as in Fairfield, Iowa where all dogs over 100 lbs are banned (St. Bernard, Irish Wolfhound, Great Dane, etc.)
BTW - your insurance company is happily waiting in the background too - waiting to exclude coverage of your dog, waiting to drop your policy, or waiting to outrageously raise your rates.
And because I know you are anxious here's the list of breeds so DANGEROUS so UNCONTROLLABLE, so completely ROTTEN to the core they must be banned...*drum roll*
1. AIREDALE TERRIER
2. AKBASH
3. AKITA
4. ALAPAHA BLUE BLOOD BULLDOG
5. ALASKAN MALAMUTE
6. ALSATIAN SHEPHERD
7. AMERICAN BULLDOG
8. AMERICAN HUSKY
9. AMERICAN PIT BULL TERRIER
10. AMERICAN STAFFORDSHIRE TERRIER
11. AMERICAN WOLFDOG
12. ANATOLIAN SHEPHERD
13. ARIKARA DOG
14. AUSTRALIAN CATTLE DOG
15. AUSTRALIAN SHEPHERD
16. BELGIAN MALINOIS
17. BELGIAN SHEEPDOG
18. BELGIAN TURVUREN
19. BLUE HEELER
20. BOERBUL
21. BORZOI
22. BOSTON TERRIER
23. BOUVIER DES FLANDRES
24. BOXER
25. BULLDOG
26. BULL TERRIER
27. BULL MASTIFF
28. CANE CORSO
29. CATAHOULA LEOPARD DOG
30. CAUCASIAN SHEPHERD
31. CHINESE SHAR PEI 3
32. CHOW-CHOW
33. COLORADO DOG
34. DOBERMAN PINSCHER
35. DOGO DE ARGENTINO
36. DOGUE DE BORDEAUX
37. ENGLISH MASTIFFS
38. ENGLISH SPRINGER SPANIEL
39. ESKIMO DOG
40. ESTRELA MOUNTAIN DOG
41. FILA BRASILIERO
42. FOX TERRIER
43. FRENCH BULLDOG
44. GERMAN SHEPHERD DOG
45. GOLDEN RETRIEVER
46. GREENLAND HUSKY
47. GREAT DANE
48. GREAT PYRANEES
49. ITALIAN MASTIFF
50. KANGAL DOG
51. KEESHOND
52. KOMONDOR
53. KOTEZEBUE HUSKY
54. KUVAZ
55. LABRADOR RETRIEVER
56. LEONBERGER
57. MASTIFF
58. NEOPOLITAN MASTIFF
59. NEWFOUNDLAND
60. OTTERHOUND
61. PRESA DE CANARIO
62. PRESA DE MALLORQUIN
63. PUG
64. ROTTWEILER
65. SAARLOOS WOLFHOND
66. SAINT BERNARD
67. SAMOYED
68. SCOTTISH DEERHOUND
69. SIBERIAN HUSKY
70. SPANISH MASTIFF
71. STAFFORDSHIRE BULL TERRIER
72. TIMBER SHEPHERD
73. TOSA INU
74. TUNDRA SHEPHERD
75. WOLF SPITZ
Did you notice that you don't recognize over half the breeds on this list? Yeah because there are like 5 of them in the whole country! Did you notice that the pug, the Frenchie and everyone's favorite the Labrador Retriever made it to the list? Yeah...because it's not just pit bulls and Rotties anymore. There is a quote that I've always thought goes well with this situation although it orginally was not about dogs but I'm going to close with it anyway...but before I do. Let this be a lesson to you. The politicians that ban breeds are overwhelmingly Liberal Democrats. (You can look that up.) Yes there are Republicans too but the percentage of Repubs doing this is very small. Liberals like to say they are open minded and don't want to tell anyone what they can and cannot do, but then they go and do something like this. Be mindful of who you vote for people. If there is a dog curled up at your feet while you read this, remember that the sum total of politics in this country is NOT the Iraq war, healthcare and abortion on demand. There are other issues. Make sure you know where your guy stands before you vote.
"In Germany they came first for the Communists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist. Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me, and by that time no one was left to speak up." -- Martin Niemoller
Let's talk about race
I was googling something else and ran across this study which has absolutely shook me to the core. One, I didn't know anyone was doing this research. Two, I didn't know this would be the result. And three, I'm horrified by the duality of the sterotypes found by this research. The text of the full article can be found here:
http://www.adl.org/misc/american_attitudes_towards_chinese.asp
The study findings included these gems from the American people:
Findings included:
A significant minority, 25%, of Americans indicated strong negative attitudes and stereotypes towards Chinese Americans.
23% of Americans are uncomfortable voting for an Asian American to be President of the United States. This is in contrast to 15% compared with an African American candidate, 14% compared with a woman candidate and 11% compared with a Jewish candidate.
24% of Americans would not approve of inter-marriage with an Asian American. This number is lower than that compared to an African American (34%), but higher than a Hispanic (21%) and a Jew (16%).
7% of Americans would not want to work for an Asian American CEO. This is in contrast to 4% for an African American, 3% for a woman and 4% for a Jew.
OK, first of all, 25% of the Americans they talked to indicated strong negative attitudes and sterotypes towards Chinese Americans? Are they serious? That's horrible. I don't delude myself, we all have prejudices, yes even YOU Mr and Mrs Liberal Elite...we all have them. But 25%??? That seems outrageously high to me. Makes me wonder though where they sampled from...where they farmed this information. I would like to see the demographics on this study to see who these "Americans" are. I mean, were the people sampled all from some rural population or a mix from all over the country and all socio-economic backgrounds? In any event, this statistic shocks me.
If you read the whole article it doesn't get any better. The sentiments seem to be "Once a communist always a communist." I wonder if they (the responders) feel the same way about Cubans and people from the Eastern Block? China is a communist country, but if you spend any time at all with the Chinese, you'll find they are overwhelmingly a Capitalist society. Even their Communism is colored over with Capitalism. The only vestiges of Communism I see in China is their tight reign on demonstrators and information transfer but that is a symptom of Communism. And for what it's worth, I don't think democracy would work in China. It's too big and too much of the population is uneducated.
That's right, Democracy requires a certian amount of literacy and at least a soupcon of education although our country seems to be limping by even though I'm convinced that like they say on South Park, "one 1/4 of Americans are retarded" if not by the numbers retarded they are retarded by their won stupidity and lack of passion to understand and make things better. Anyway, although Communism isn't the answer for China, I don't know what is. Perhaps a beneveolent dictator or go back to a royalty based system. The Chinese certainly need more freedoms and more civil rights, but without being literate and much of the huge country being rural and without even basic services like electricity and heat, there isn't really a way to get them out to vote so the rural populations would be under represented in any Democratic society and that might make their plight even worse. But I digress...
I don't know People, read the study and then look inside yourself. It's about time people stop being so worried about intermarriage (except religious intermarriage where that causes trouble) but objecting to a marriage based upon the amount of melanine in a person's skin...that's just stupid. We all know PLENTY of same race couples that shouldn't be married to each other, let alone anyone else! Race is NOT a filter for marriage. And I say that even with my own prejudices!
One final word on prejudice. We all have prejudice. No matter how open minded we are. There is some group that we don't like or expect certain things from based upon previous experience or learned response. ALL of us. Its not something to be proud of certainly, but I think the move in this country has been to make prejudice such a bad thing that no one is willing to talk about them and by making the subject verbotten, we have made it so very powerful. I admit to having some personal prejudices...the big one for me in the past has largely been dispelled because I was able to explore it and learn the truth, and even see the ugly truth for what it was. Because of that, I've been able to let it go. The new one is in place firmly, because of almost daily doses of fear delivered by the world news. I'm scared of Muslims of Middle Eastern extraction. I'm not proud of it. I hate that I feel this way, but there it is. But here's the thing, I don't know ONE person, not ONE Muslim of Middle Eastern extraction and I think that's the source of prejudice, limited exposure to that group, the one group we hold our prejudices against, keeps the myth alive and the truth from being found.
Seek out your fears, confront them in the light, and see that in the end, we are all just people. We all have prejudice. We all love our children and our mothers. We eat, we celebrate, and we grieve. This is a lesson I'm trying hard to put into practice with my fear of Muslims...but it's not exactly easy here in the Second Circle of Hell I'm living. But maybe I can do something proactive and put my money where my mouth is...I'll report later.
http://www.adl.org/misc/american_attitudes_towards_chinese.asp
The study findings included these gems from the American people:
Findings included:
A significant minority, 25%, of Americans indicated strong negative attitudes and stereotypes towards Chinese Americans.
23% of Americans are uncomfortable voting for an Asian American to be President of the United States. This is in contrast to 15% compared with an African American candidate, 14% compared with a woman candidate and 11% compared with a Jewish candidate.
24% of Americans would not approve of inter-marriage with an Asian American. This number is lower than that compared to an African American (34%), but higher than a Hispanic (21%) and a Jew (16%).
7% of Americans would not want to work for an Asian American CEO. This is in contrast to 4% for an African American, 3% for a woman and 4% for a Jew.
OK, first of all, 25% of the Americans they talked to indicated strong negative attitudes and sterotypes towards Chinese Americans? Are they serious? That's horrible. I don't delude myself, we all have prejudices, yes even YOU Mr and Mrs Liberal Elite...we all have them. But 25%??? That seems outrageously high to me. Makes me wonder though where they sampled from...where they farmed this information. I would like to see the demographics on this study to see who these "Americans" are. I mean, were the people sampled all from some rural population or a mix from all over the country and all socio-economic backgrounds? In any event, this statistic shocks me.
If you read the whole article it doesn't get any better. The sentiments seem to be "Once a communist always a communist." I wonder if they (the responders) feel the same way about Cubans and people from the Eastern Block? China is a communist country, but if you spend any time at all with the Chinese, you'll find they are overwhelmingly a Capitalist society. Even their Communism is colored over with Capitalism. The only vestiges of Communism I see in China is their tight reign on demonstrators and information transfer but that is a symptom of Communism. And for what it's worth, I don't think democracy would work in China. It's too big and too much of the population is uneducated.
That's right, Democracy requires a certian amount of literacy and at least a soupcon of education although our country seems to be limping by even though I'm convinced that like they say on South Park, "one 1/4 of Americans are retarded" if not by the numbers retarded they are retarded by their won stupidity and lack of passion to understand and make things better. Anyway, although Communism isn't the answer for China, I don't know what is. Perhaps a beneveolent dictator or go back to a royalty based system. The Chinese certainly need more freedoms and more civil rights, but without being literate and much of the huge country being rural and without even basic services like electricity and heat, there isn't really a way to get them out to vote so the rural populations would be under represented in any Democratic society and that might make their plight even worse. But I digress...
I don't know People, read the study and then look inside yourself. It's about time people stop being so worried about intermarriage (except religious intermarriage where that causes trouble) but objecting to a marriage based upon the amount of melanine in a person's skin...that's just stupid. We all know PLENTY of same race couples that shouldn't be married to each other, let alone anyone else! Race is NOT a filter for marriage. And I say that even with my own prejudices!
One final word on prejudice. We all have prejudice. No matter how open minded we are. There is some group that we don't like or expect certain things from based upon previous experience or learned response. ALL of us. Its not something to be proud of certainly, but I think the move in this country has been to make prejudice such a bad thing that no one is willing to talk about them and by making the subject verbotten, we have made it so very powerful. I admit to having some personal prejudices...the big one for me in the past has largely been dispelled because I was able to explore it and learn the truth, and even see the ugly truth for what it was. Because of that, I've been able to let it go. The new one is in place firmly, because of almost daily doses of fear delivered by the world news. I'm scared of Muslims of Middle Eastern extraction. I'm not proud of it. I hate that I feel this way, but there it is. But here's the thing, I don't know ONE person, not ONE Muslim of Middle Eastern extraction and I think that's the source of prejudice, limited exposure to that group, the one group we hold our prejudices against, keeps the myth alive and the truth from being found.
Seek out your fears, confront them in the light, and see that in the end, we are all just people. We all have prejudice. We all love our children and our mothers. We eat, we celebrate, and we grieve. This is a lesson I'm trying hard to put into practice with my fear of Muslims...but it's not exactly easy here in the Second Circle of Hell I'm living. But maybe I can do something proactive and put my money where my mouth is...I'll report later.
Saturday, May 26, 2007
Contentious Thought
I've long been looking for an outlet for all the various thoughts of a socio-political nature that bounce around in my head. Now that I've been blogging for a bit and getting better at it, I thought I'd see how this goes. Would be nice if someone would read this blog but we'll see soon enough if that comes to pass.
Welcome to my contentious thoughts!
Temptabo
Welcome to my contentious thoughts!
Temptabo
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
