Us & Them

Dr. James Rohrer, "A couple of years ago I was teaching a college class on American Democracy. I sent my students to various political sites, including AlterNet, to get a range of viewpoints on the issues that we were discussing in class. I encouraged my students to share their own opinions online, to leave comments on any articles that hit a chord. One of my students, an eighteen year old from a small Nebraska town who was raised in the Catholic Church and a member of the Catholic student group on campus, responded to a post on AlterNet. The particulars of the article and the nature of her views are not relevant; her comment was thoughtful, polite and (unlike many thread comments) actually focused on an important point raised by the original article. Although I did not share her opinion, I thought that she had successfully raised legitimate questions, and of course I believe that she was engaging in a process that is fundamental to democracy.  

In response to her thoughtful comment, she received a stream of terribly hurtful messages, including “Catholics can fuck themselves.” 

In any moral universe, this is not rational discourse. It is simply intolerant meanness. To try to justify it by an appeal to freedom of speech is absurd. I am a member of the ACLU, and I will defend to my last breath the right of a fool to speak foolish things, just as the ACLU has defended the right of the Klan to spout hatred. But let’s not kid ourselves. It IS hatred, it is not moral, and I repeat my caution that such remarks do indeed harm the cause of progressive social change."

From an article by Dr. James Rohrer, Associate Professor,

 Colonial & Revolutionary America, American Religious History  

Read the article on A Gentleman's View.

Let's not kid ourselves.  The intent behind hurtful speech is not to inform, but to beat down, to cause harm, distress.  

Trying to justify it by an appeal to freedom of speech is absurd.

Such behavior, a remnant of playground bullying, illuminates not the issue but the character from which it originates.

Much of political speech today approaches that line, fanning the ideological flame of us vs. them, polarizing, ignoring the fact that we must share a country ... and our children, a future.  Perhaps we might learn and choose well for their sake.  

Trouble with the Western Mind

Rwanda village - Panaramio

(in Rwanda) "... we've had a lot of trouble with Western mental health workers, especially the ones who came right after the genocide."

"What kind of trouble did you have?"

"Well, they would do this bizarre thing," he explained. "They didn't take people out in the sunshine where you begin to feel better. They didn't include drumming or music to get people's blood going. They didn't involve the whole community. They didn't externalize the depression as an invasive spirit. Instead what they did was they took people one at a time into dingy little rooms and had them talk for an hour about bad things that had happened to them."(Laughter) (Applause)

He said, "We had to ask them to leave the country." (Laughter)                   
~ A Rwandan describes post-genocide assistance efforts; from the transcript of Andrew Solomon's TED Talk on Depression, the Secret We Share.

Dragging a Western mind into a non-western culture can be entertaining and perhaps unsettling, to say the least.  It's likely to disassemble much of our thinking.

Whose viewpoint is correct?  Is there clarity between what's right and what's just different?

What's right? Principles of right and wrong, generally universal (fortunately), the standard by which behavior is judged; e.g., stealing is wrong everywhere.

What's different?  There are standards of behavior within a given culture or social grouping; e.g., uncovering a woman's face in public is inappropriate (in some places and social groupings).

Bikini vs Burka:   Consider the tension.  The burka and bikini themselves are simply pieces of cloth, nothing more.

OK, we could have used a picture with a bikini ...

• Is the bikini an expression of the woman's personal freedom, or is it the imposed style of a male-dominated social norm?

• Is the burka an expression of the woman's personal choice of modesty, or is it the oppressive burden imposed by a male-dominated social norm?

To both questions, the answer is yes and sometimes, yes.

From an illuminating article on Beliefnet.com, 

 hijab tutorialCHOICE

"Many women choose burka freely, as well as lesser variations such as hijab or ridah. ... My own wife wears ridah full-time, even to medical school, though I was initially against the idea. But I supported her in her desire to achieve her modesty, and the result has been astonishing. But the benefits she derives from wearing ridah are a topic for some other time."

"Contrast the Qur’anic prescription of modest dress with the tribal custom of imposing oppressive dress on women. It’s not exaggeration to say that Islam, Judaism, and Christianity brought the first concepts of equality between genders to tribal peoples who at the time had decidedly primitive notions of gender roles. 

Afghan Taliban beating woman in Kabul

To take one self-aimed example, pre-Islamic customs of burying first-born daughters alive was stridently condemned by Muhammad SAW. Yet these practices still persist in modern times – for example in Nigeria, where a woman was sentenced to death by stoning for adultery. Also recently a woman was sentenced to be buried up to her neck in sand and again stoned, for having a child out of wedlock.

Violence against women fueled by patriarchal social values, lack of adequate laws and enforcement.  From UNICEF, the percentage of women aged 15–49 who think that a husband is justified in hitting or beating his wife under certain circumstances is as high as: 90% in Afghanistan and Jordan, 87% in Mali, 86% in Guinea and Timor-Leste, 81% in Laos, and 80% in the Central African Republic.[UNICEF]  A 2010 survey conducted by the Pew Research Center found that stoning as a punishment for adultery was supported by:  82% of respondents in Egypt and Pakistan, 70% in Jordan, 56% Nigeria, 42% in Indonesia.[PEW Research]

"These kind of barbaric decisions are always made in remote villages by a band of grizzled elder men, who invariably call themselves an 'Islamic court'. The truth is that these are immoral primitive tribal customs, which are used by the tribal elders as a power play of enforcing their authority. They are wrapped in poorly-argued Islamic reasoning, often bundled with some selective out-of-context Qur’anic verse, so that no one dares argue. But this is not Islamic, it’s purely a primitive cultural practice, with its sole aim as a power play of I-have-control-over-you."

"These tribal impulses of control are the root cause of the Saudi burka, and the absurd punishments in Nigeria and Pakistan, and the concept of honor killings. They also, to a lesser degree, are the underlying philosophy behind the bikini, which is the real subject of this essay."

"I am not saying that the woman wearing a bikini is immoral, though that opinion is shared by many, not just Muslims. We can leave that open to debate. But for the purposes of this essay, the manifestation of men’s control over women, is what I am labeling immoral. I am careful to only use the word “immoral” in the context of forcing women to wear burka, or the power play which makes (some) women (sometimes) want to wear a bikini to please men. The burka and bikini themselves are simply pieces of cloth, nothing more."       

~ see the original Article

Crossing cultural lines can be a bit of a minefield excursion, but there is much understanding that can come with doing so.  With understanding comes some clarity about right and wrong.

A soldier's heart

A football match breaks out between British and German

soldiers on the Western Front as they abandon their

trenches. [World War I, 24 December, 1914]

Not every German soldier was a 'Hitler' at heart.  In fact, not every soldier is 'all in' on the real reasons that lead to conflict.

An American soldier holds the hand of a young

 Afghan girl. [Afghanistan War, 2010]

Like most of us, soldiers hope to serve well, to do what's right; they have to trust that their leaders understand the larger moral context and choices.  As they are sent off to war, they're stuck with the information they're given from the top.

In WWI, emperors and dictators sent their armies to conquer new lands, to expand their empires. Soldiers were told it was right and just to do so. Ten million soldiers died along with six million civilians.

A German soldier shares his rations with a Russian

 mother and her child. [World War II, c. 1941]

For WWII, power players like Himmler and Hitler were indifferent to the human cost.   

Nazi propaganda justified invasion on the pretext of 'protecting' German ethnic minorities in other countries.  Sixty+ million died in the war that followed, half of whom were soldiers. Ten countries lost millions each.  Eighteen more lost hundreds of thousands.

German civilians and regular soldiers in the field didn't know the details of the 'final solution', but became progressively more aware as deliberate 'desensitization' was managed through the national media. Afterwards, being brought to the reality was a horror from which many could not recover.

U.S. General Walton Walker began the practice of bringing German civilians to the concentration camps after they were liberated. He ordered the mayor of Ohrdruf and his wife to visit the Ohrdruf labor camp  discovered by American troops in 1945. After their visit, the Mayor and his wife returned home and killed themselves.

An East German soldier ignores orders

to let no one pass and helps a boy
found separated from his family by
the newly formed 'Berlin Wall'. 
[Cold War, 1961]

A soldier runs from the  battlefield with Vietnamese
children in his arms.  [Vietnam War, 1955 - 75]

As we discovered at the end of the cold war, regular folks behind the iron curtain were just like us.  Same hopes, same dreams for their children, and once they were delivered from government propaganda, similar values.  

As it turns out, most folks are reasonable and want to do the right thing.  

Farther up on the power-pyramid, what is it that rots the soul? What is it that converts reasonable intent to unreasonable actions?  Alongside power and wealth we note a lack of moral restraint, or perhaps fear and a deeply broken mind.  Depravity such as we've seen is not a single decision, but an extended decline from right thinking.  From the power-mongers to Wall Street (but I repeat myself), it's the same problem.

Christians protect Muslims as they pray during the 

Egyptian revolution. [Cairo, Egypt, 2011]

Egyptians embrace the army after they refuse 

orders to fire on civilians [Egyptian Revolution, 2011]

The good news, we can be 'normal', can we not?  We can be delivered from such wrong thinking. True?  Can ISIS? Al Qaeda?

Perhaps the sacred duty of leadership is to lead virtuously, to foster in those who follow a right heart and mind.  When the accounting comes, each will be responsible for their own actions, but the one who leads others astray will be judged accordingly.

A soldier chats with a young Iraqi girl while holding his position near Basra's main street as coalition forces take control of Iraq's second city. [Iraq, 2011]

CTF 4-2 broadcaster coaches local Afghan children - FEB 2013; they're curious, like kids pretty much everywhere, and you've just got to stop for a minute so they can see.

*T.E.C.E. - 001

From a Peace Corps worker's story...

"Music is an important part of my life and so as a teacher in the Peace Corps, I knew I wanted to share music with my students.  When I arrived with my group of volunteers in Benin and they asked us what the most unusual item we brought with us was, mine was a small ghetto blaster.  The thing was clunky and it took a lot of space in my suitcase, along with lots of DD batteries, but I anticipated that it would be well worth it.

School girls greet their Peace Corps school teacher,
holding on to her bicycle basket ...

In my village, the high school where I taught English had little amenities.  There was no electricity, no glass for the windows, no textbooks, no visual aids, and students squeezed together and shared desks.  The Beninese style of teaching was very disciplined, but dry.  Due to the lack of textbooks, students spent most of the class period copying information from the board.
With such necessary but tedious learning tasks, I was excited to introduce some creative teaching methods to the classroom and get the students engaged.   I was especially eager to share music with my students in my English lessons.

So one day, during the fall when the harmattan winds were blowing, I schlepped the ghetto blaster into my backpack, hopped on my bike and rode to school prepared to play some songs at the end of class for my older students (roughly 9th grade).  This class was large, 70 students, and managing it was always a challenge.  I worried that playing music may be too disruptive and when I pulled the ghetto blaster out of my backpack, my fears came true.  Students rushed up to the front of the classroom to see my contraption and marvel at it.  I yelled, “Get back in your seats!” feeling my head getting hot and starting to regret this exercise.  After everyone was finally seated I pulled out the flipchart with the lyrics to “Three Little Birds” by Bob Marley.

We studied vocabulary words in the song and went over each lyric.  As soon as I played the song, chaos erupted again.  Many of male students stood up and did a funky dance down the aisle much to the hilarity of the rest of the class.  Seventy students screaming and laughing drowned out my admonishments to quiet down. No one was listening to the song anymore.  My temper flared again.  After several unsuccessful attempts, I finally got the class to quiet down and be seated.  Reluctant to continue, I pulled out the flip chart for the lyrics to the next song – “At Last” by Etta James.  We went over each line:

At last
My love has come along
My lonely days are over
And life is like a song
Oh yeah yeah
At last
The skies above are blue
My heart was wrapped up in clover
The night I looked at you
I found a dream, that I could speak to
A dream that I can call my own
I found a thrill to press my cheek to
A thrill that I have never known
Oh yeah yeah
You smiled, you smiled
Oh and then the spell was cast
And here we are in heaven
for you are mine...
At Last

Suddenly, my teenage students were listening.  Such romantic lyrics peaked their interest.  God, I just might have their attention now, I thought.   Then with nervous anticipation on my part, I put Etta James in and pressed play.

Now this is what I mean by a moment of being because I swear as soon as I hit play, you could hear a pin drop and a brightness of being took over.  First, the violins singing, then Etta James’ booming voice soared out of the classroom, through the windows, out into the windy sunny day and touched some strange unseen chord strung down from heaven.  Here was Etta James’ voice slowly and clearly expressing this universal elation of finding love.  And my students understood.  We all understood.   It could be my imagination or fondness of memory, but that moment was simply magic.

At the end of the song, the class cheered and some students with moist eyes gave me the thumbs up and said, “Yes teacher, we like!” They asked me to play it again.  Who would have thought that a 1960’s American love song would be such a hit with teenagers sitting in a rural village classroom in West Africa?  After class, I practically floated out of there.

Sometimes on warm, dry, windy days when I am alone and it is quiet outside, I think of that day in an African village."




*T.E.C.E. - things evolution cannot explain

Music is among the artistic and philosophical expressions for which evolutionary science and theory have no adequate explanation,*  There is a great gulf between 'survival of the fittest' and what appears (only in humans) to be, for lack of a better term, a soul.

*The dominant evolutionary theory is that music is about sexual selection.  Try fitting that to Handel's Messiah or early Egyptian Cheironomy. 

If only

Harry Nilsson was an extraordinary musician/composer and a cornerstone of the 70's music world. His childhood was spent in poverty; abandoned by his father at age three, ....

Harry Nilsson, extraordinary talent - his
personal story is a tough one ...

If only I could find a place
Where smiling strangers knew our faces
I would take you there




A place with constant melody
Where you and I could wander free
I would take you there

Seems like such a waste of time
Just trying to unwind the facts of life
If I could find a place, I'd take you
Where the pain don't cut you like a knife
I would take you there

If only there were time enough
Or word enough, or rhyme enough
I would take you there

If only I could find a place
Where smiling strangers knew our faces
I would take you there


A place with constant melody
Where you and I could wander free
I would take you there.

~ 'I will take you there', a song by Harry Nilsson

Nilsson in the 40's, Brooklyn

Harry Nilsson was an extraordinary musician/composer and a cornerstone of the 70's music world. His childhood was spent in poverty; abandoned by his father at age three, he struggled to make his way.

From the opening to his song "1941":

Well, in 1941, the happy father had a son

And in 1944, the father walked right out the door...
Harry of necessity began working early and managed to finish the ninth grade. Fortunately, he was brilliant.

From '69 to '72, his music was a major success.  Harry and John Lennon spent long days together, cocaine and alcohol, hangovers and women they didn't know and trying to remember what had happened the night before.  LSD with Timothy Leary, brief marriages (like his father's) before the last one, a life without apparent shape or restraint. Years were lost, consumed perhaps by the pursuit of wealth and success, both of which were temporary.  He died after just half of a lifetime.

Like most folks, the young Harry Nilsson had every good possibility still ahead of him.  Some of his choices were expensive.

Being a success in the celebrity world seems to have marred so many lives, you can't help but wonder if being non-celebrity, non-rich, and non-popular isn't an immeasurably greater blessing.

Nilsson's lyrics, and especially those in the song, "I will take you there" make the most sense when you realize where Nilsson was coming from.  The place he longed for but couldn't find, just a little peace, a little acceptance, a little real love.

His later years are less popularized.  You can't help but wonder (and hope) if perhaps he found what he was looking for before passing.  Remembered as a loving father, he is survived by seven children. 

Like Nilsson, each of us carries the shaping of our childhood.  We hope and intend to understand ourselves, to choose who we will be, to build well on our beginnings.  Not an easy task.  Is help available?  Or is it as lonely a path as Nilsson's lyrics suggest?

Point of View

Your view of things may be useful, particularly if it's different from the norm.  

It's not at all uncommon for everybody to agree until someone asks the question a bit differently. Suddenly, everyone can see that elephant, just like you.

(Happy Monday)