The soul has greater need of the ideal than the real for it is by the real that we exist, it is by the ideal that we live

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Where are we going?

Are we headed for a race war?

Are we so blind that we'd rather divide ourselves and fall than see that it doesn't matter who voted for Prop 8 and the other three hate amendments around the country?

Are we so unfocused in our rage that we'd rather look for someone to blame than to set about using constructive ways of getting back our civil rights. And by that I DO NOT mean we should subscribe to that asshole Solomnese's methods of "being nice."

Rather I mean that we should stand up, be counted, not allow anyone to trample on our rights. Which, yes means that we will have to be outspoken and take risks in an already risky world. We may lose jobs, we may lose position, we may lose "friends."

But these are calculated risks one must take if we are EVER to be counted as equals in the eyes of the law.

This means just what I said, "in the eyes of the law," not the people. We will never be wholly accepted in the eyes of all the people, just ask any person of color.

I get the fact that our struggle is unique, that we haven't been forced to sit in the back of the bus, nor use separate facilities, etc, but we do have a struggle, and it's not really with a scourge like institutionalized racism.

It's with the scourge of Christianity.

I am constantly dumbfounded that many African Americans, who are normally sane, level-headed people would fall for a scam like organized religion. Particularly when that very scam is the primary mechanism that was used to maintain control over their enslaved ancestors! It makes no sense to me that people can rail against a system while at the same time embracing one of it's most basic and horrific tenets.

Last night I watched a co-worker wend her way in the back door for a job responsibility that she could have had if she'd just asked. But she felt compelled to play the race card, which was moot since there already is a racial mix in the job she's not getting any more money to do. Now, I get that it means something about self-respect and getting ahead. But where is the integrity if she had to force her way into it?

And where is our integrity if we have to come in the back door(no pun intended) to our equal rights?

Where do we then find the self-respect that we hold so dear, or at least should, if we hang our heads and then take whatever crumbs are offered by those who already have and enjoy their civil rights.

Europeans aren't exactly welcoming Americans with open arms when it comes to immigration, but it IS possible And I have to wonder if it's worth a try since the institutionalized discrimination created, and liberally enforced in this country by organized religion, would never be tolerated there.

The struggle for civil rights does not belong to one group of people. It doesn't belong to African-Americans, to Jews, to Muslims, to Women. It belongs to all of us!

It's not apparently our birthright though. Even though I'm a middle-aged, (ahem) white male I can be denied my civil rights just because of who I love. Because of who I love!

Does that make any sense?

Does it make any more sense than being denied my rights because of the color of my skin? Or because of who or what I worship?

I keep thinking of my personal position on cinema. That films that are violent shouldn't be as readily available as films that show graphic sex. That two sweaty people wrestling in a bed are much more appropriate viewing for ALL AGES than two sweaty people wrestling over a gun in an alley.

Christianity has everything to do with these "mores."

The imposition of the Hays Code on the motion picture industry is a perfect example.

The following are excerpts from the Wikipedia entry on Will Hays:

"Hays attempted to reduce studio costs (and improve the industry's image in general) by advising individual studios on how to produce movies to reduce the likelihood that the film would be cut. Each board kept its "standards" secret (if, indeed, they had any standardization at all), so Hays was forced to intuit what would or would not be permitted by each board. At first he applied what he called "The Formula" but it was not particularly successful. From that he developed a set of guidelines he called "The Don'ts and Be Carefuls." In general his efforts at pre-release self-censorship were unsuccessful in quieting calls for federal censorship...

Ironically, Catholic bishops and lay people tended to be leery of federal censorship and favored the Hays approach of self-censorship; these included the outspoken Catholic layman Martin Quigley, publisher of Exhibitors Herald-World (a trade magazine for independent exhibitors). For several months in 1929, Martin Quigley, Joseph Breen, Father Daniel A. Lord S.J., Father FitzGeorge Dinneen S.J., and Father Wilfred Parsons (editor of Catholic publication America) discussed the desirability of a new and more stringent code of behavior for the movies. With the blessing of Cardinal George W. Mundelein of Chicago, Father Lord authored the code, which later became known as "The Production Code", "The Code", and "The Hays Code". It was presented to Will Hays in 1930 who said, "My eyes nearly popped out when I read it. This was the very thing I had been looking for."

Now just exactly who was it that wrote the Hays Code? Why it was those hypocrites from the Catholic Church of course. I recall a copy of this being posted prominently in the library of my elementary school in the early 60's. I also remember thinking then that it made no sense to me.

So let's not let religion, race, nationality, immigration status, nor any other thing divide us. Let's stand up and say that civil rights are for ALL PEOPLE, regardless, and put no further qualification on it. Let's put religion back where it belongs, in the hearts and minds of people who want to learn to love and include all of their human brothers and sisters in their lives. Who want to embrace all beliefs, and all forms of feeling and love. Not to use hate and fear to rule by intimidation. That's nothing more than fascism. Let's return to upholding the "values" this country was founded on. That all men are created equal.

Then we'll truly be a democratic society.