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Laughing and Crying

Submitted by Susan Livingston on September 1, 2006 - 9:52pm.

I don't know whether to laugh or cry. I guess I'll start with the bad news so I can end on a pleasant note.

I usually insulate myself pretty carefully from TV news, but today I was stuck in the waiting room of a local tire store and subjected to about forty minutes of broadcasting. I don't know what station it was, but it had to be one of the "dedicated" news stations because it was the middle of the afternoon. There was a banner up behind the talking head - a woman - that said, "End the American Love Affair with the UN." My heart wanted to cry out, "And what love affair might that be?"

I cried all the way home. Here I am editorializing, "Empower the International Community," and a major broadcasting network is presenting this biased view. Here I am living in the nation that won't go along with the Non-Proliferation Treaty, won't go along with the Kyoto Protocol (although TruthOut had a story today about some 300 cities that are enacting Climate Protection Agreements), won't even adhere to international treaties it has pretended to endorse, and our "leaders" claim there's a love affair going on? GET REAL!

I gave it a larger share of my attention and heard some fat white suit-dude - I didn't catch the name and serial number (er, I mean "title") going on about how ineffective the UN is at stopping Iran's alleged nuclear weapons development program, and how the UN is supporting Israel's enemies. GIVE ME A BREAK! At this point, I'm wondering which of our allies is NOT objecting to Israel's US-like imperialist aggression! I've refused to take sides on the Israel problem because I KNOW their people are just as opposed to their leadership as we are to ours - they even have the equivalent of an impeachment movement over there - but this is the last straw! And as for Iran, the key word in the above sentence is "alleged," and that is as much as I'm willing to concede to a leadership that has repeatedly rejected diplomatic solutions PROPOSED BY IRAN. Is there ANYTHING the propeace community can do to put pressure on the media to give equal time to the opposing view?

Well, the good news is that within an hour of my returning home, I got interviewed on the telephone TWICE! I wasn't of much help to Organic Consumers, I'm afraid, because I'm not 100% organic, and I don't have any money to give them; all I could do was refer them to four people who would probably enjoy receiving Organic Bytes, their newsletter, and our local health-food supermarket.

But the second call was from Jennifer Kuiper, one of the organizers of the Declaration of Peace; she wanted to talk about what we were planning in support of events in DC the week following the International Day of Peace. I was so glad to hear from her because I hadn't had a chance to post the events I'm helping to organize. She even offered to post the events for me and gave me an email address to add to my distribution list. And in return, I was able to connect her with our local Military Families Speak Out/Veterans for Peace leader, who will be in DC for their civil disobedience training and actions.

It was a golden opportunity to take advantage of the new spotlight that's been shining on SC since our '08 presidential primary was moved to January because Jennifer's media contacts are interested in hearing from the exact same population that we're targeting with our events - the one-third of SC citizens that favored the invasion of Iraq but now opposes the continuing occupation, or is at least leaning in that direction. They want to know what made our citizens change their minds. I told her about the link between Iraq and Katrina, and how the link between Charleston and New Orleans in terms of culture, architecture, and cuisine probably accounts for the fact that, according to the polls, the consciousness shift has been greater in SC than in any of the other "red" states.

SO! WOW! Maybe my events will actually get some national media coverage! FAR OUT!

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A wish for Christians too

Submitted by MTOLincoln on September 4, 2006 - 8:48pm.

Kareem,

I can well understand what you are saying in your post. I would just add a similar thought with regard to Christians: so few understand what their faith really means, and so many act in a way that is diametrically opposed to what is supposed to be the very core of their faith and belief. The chief commandments are supposed to be Love God above all (which would seem to fit well with my understanding of Islam also); and love your neighbor and forgive those who offend you. I wouldn't be surprised if that fit well with Islam also. Here I confess to being more ignorant than I would like.

It's a well-known phenomenon in political psychology, however, that fundamentalist Christians often act quite contrary to what their faith is about. What they actually believe and do is quite contrary to what their Faith is officially about. Their professed beliefs and beliefs in practice are not consistent or integrated. (This happens in other areas as well. Many Americans who think of themselves as intensely patriotic and proud of the American way will act in ways that are very undemocratic and opposed to the Bill of Rights. It the same kind of phenomenon, imo. I think President Bush and his far-right supporteers who are trying to spread democracy in the Middle East at the point of a gun, or by invasion and conquest and force, entirely miss the point of what democracy is all about. What he/they export is not democracy at all, but imperialism. They actually seem to not know the difference.)

I think we face a common problem in that Christian fundamentalists, and Islamic fundamentalists, and Jewish fundamentalists, don't really sufficiently understand their own professed beliefs. I suspect the problem is not with believers of any Faith so much as with fundamentalists within each group. Fundamentalism arises, I believe, out of a state of psychological and intellectual immaturity that is developmental in its origin. And the people involved, in each case, are legitimately scared and fearful, as well as confused and hateful.

Sometimes I think being able to label something more or less accurately is very helpful in understanding and dealing with the phenomenon involved.

I wish more Christians, Jews, and Muslims appreciated that they worship the same God, share many of the same Scriptures, share much history, are children of the same God (call him what you will), and therefore are also brothers and sisters and cousins of one another in a common family of man. If each grew into becoming more truly and authentically what they officially profess, they'd move closer together, in my view.

FWIW.

Peace,

Mike O'Brien

sharing ideas, sharing humanity

Submitted by Jason White on September 3, 2006 - 2:57pm.

Kareem, so many Americans are sick of the cycle of intolerance and violence -- on all sides. We no more want to be targets of Muslim extremists than we want to see our own government engaging in extremist behavior. All sides, and Americans especially, have to become better at communicating, not in a domination/subordination mindset, but from a posture of tolerating difference, sharing resources, sharing ideas and sharing humanity.

Please read this article about the efforts of one U.S. Congressman, who is a visionary in this regard:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&add...

Peace.Jason.

Islam means Peace

Submitted by Kareem D on September 3, 2006 - 12:46pm.

As an American muslim.My heart truly aches from what I see all over the world.I wish that more Muslims understood what it means to be a Muslim.The word Islam actualy means peace.However,I don't see many practicing this and living by this code.There is so much anger and judgement on both sides of the coin.Three sides to every story.A problem cannot be solved with the same thinking that has created it.I am tired of having to defend my beliefs to others who think that we are all "terrorist".And having to defend my more "liberal" beliefs to other Muslims.You don't have to be a particular faith to be asleep.I hope that the world wakes up.

language of fear

Submitted by Jason White on September 2, 2006 - 6:39am.

The Administration and it's followers seem so terribly fearful. Almost everything out of their mouths has to do with some imminent threat. These people are scared. Their reason has been swept away by fear and perhaps more than a touch of greed. And the mainstream media loves to report this kind of drama.

Luckily we have so many alternative sources of information and discussion. The Internet will reach more and more people, and since it gives We The People the power to publish, the mainstream media will become less and less important in people's daily lives. A new consciousness will be created on the Internet. It will be created by The People.

When I happen to catch a mainstream media broadcast, I feel outraged at what they are reporting and not reporting. But I have a persistent vision that this is the thrashing of a cultural machine that is diminishing in influence and fighting against the onset of its inevitable impotency. The more conservative among us will take longer to abandon the dying culture of fear than we did. Our job is to make sure their thrashing does as little harm as possible while that shift is taking place.

Congratulations on your interviews! Even if you reach only one person and make a difference in their outlook, you have succeeded spectacularly. As my brother likes to say:

my brother wrote:
Change the world:
1) make a difference in your own life
2) make a difference in someone else's life

If we all did just that, the world would indeed be transformed.