On Balancing Diverse Opinions

http://mobile.nytimes6/05/29/opinion/sunday/the-liberal-blind-spot.html

 I was reading this article called "The Liberal Blind Spot" regarding how universities have lately been censoring conservative speakers and,  while I agree that we shouldn't censor opinions that differ from our own, I feel the author misunderstands some of the reasons there is that knee-jerk reaction. He suggests that, like Islamophobia is more common among those who have never met a Muslim, perhaps  bias against Evangelicals is due to not having Evangelical friends. Obviously this person has never been harassed to convert to Christianity. As a Wiccan, I've experienced this many, many times over the last 15 years, with some people becoming quite aggressive about it. I may be minding my own business, silently reading tarot cards or wearing a pentacle necklace that gets their attention.

 Now, I am fascinated by religion and happen to be fairly knowledgeable about Christianity- in fact, more knowledgeable than the last person who wouldn't leave me alone. He admitted he was recently "born again" and had only read part of Genesis out of the whole Bible, and when I tried to engage him in an intellectual conversation with a few poignant questions, he responded that his pastor would know all the answers and I was wrong because only the Christian God was real and good. I decided to end the conversation because it was like trying to debate with Donald Trump- facts didn't matter to him. But he continued to press the issue, aggressively telling me about Satan in child-like terms. When this is a typical experience, it makes sense that people whom the Church has been known to demonize- pagans, LGBTQ folk, and other outsiders- might be concerned about having a conservative speaker on their college campus. It is an awkward situation when a person feels that God wants them to impose their opinions on others, and I have yet to find a graceful method of diffusing those situations.

So the question becomes, how do we strike a balance between allowing all opinions to be heard while making sure no one is unfairly treated? It has been an ongoing process for me to learn how to listen, and I work hard on it, but it's extremely difficult to maintain that presence of mind when the other party seems unwilling to reciprocate. How do we engage those who do not wish to engage us? And what do you do when a core belief of another person is to try and change or subvert an integral part of your being? Ironically, it was Jesus who told us to "Turn the other cheek" when slapped in the face, but who wants to get slapped in the first place?

On Trump's tax returns

Donald Trump loves to boast about how he made over $500 million last year, but also that he pays as little as possible in taxes. While he refuses to release his tax returns, old returns available to the public show that he paid $0 in taxes those years. We can assume he continues the same tactics and still pays no taxes. This should be a very concerning thing to those of us who struggle to get by and still pay a good chunk of our hard-earned paychecks to Uncle Sam.

By my estimation, Trump should be paying about $175 million in taxes for last year, without considering any deductions of which he takes advantage. At least, that's what an average person who suddenly won a $500 million lotto would be expected to pay. That's what our tax system says is fair.

But as the favorite pastime of the American wealthy, tax evasion means that the huge financial burden of running the country falls on the working class. Why is it OK for us to struggle to make ends meet while people like him get a free ride? That's not fair play, but the Donald makes it clear he doesn't believe the rules apply to him.

Trump benefits from the taxes WE pay- our nation's infrastructure can't be supported without those taxes, and he looks down on the rest of us as "stupid" for paying those taxes.  America can't be great without income, and his "great business mind" knows this. But his "very good brain" only thinks about helping his own business interests and not the greater economic state, which is ironic- he can't make money of people who don't have any. The mindset he espouses is directly responsible for the recession of which we're clawing our way out (and from which he personally benefitted, i.e., he made money when you lost your home). But rather than using his "very good brain" to solve the economic crisis for the good of the many, to recognize that his contribution to the shared struggle of America could be far more impactful than 1,000 people with my wages, he still strives to leave us high and dry when the tax collector calls for contributions to the true Greatness of America.

It shocks me that so many are willing to support a man who so gleefully rapes our economic system, who openly says he will change or ignore any rules he doesn't like... How can we trust such a man to be a wise and benevolent leader? To put all our fates in those money-grubbing hands and expect him to help the people on whose backs he stands? This is a very dangerous possibility, and we would be fools to allow it.

On the Bathroom Laws of North Carolina

I've been watching the controversy regarding North Carolina's "bathroom laws" with great interest, because they affect several people close to me. The jist of the law is that people have to use the bathroom corresponding with the gender assigned at birth, and that cities cannot create their own laws protecting LGBTQIA people, nor can public buildings provide gender neutral bathrooms. Supporters of the law claim it is to protect women from predators dressing in drag to access women's restrooms. This urban legend not only has no basis in reality, but sexual predation is still illegal in localities where trans rights are protected.

 Ted Cruz supports the law, saying that "trans" is what happens if Donald Trump dresses as Hillary Clinton. But this shows a massive amount of ignorance about the people who this law affects and even puts at risk.

Transvestites are indeed people who dress in the clothing of the opposite sex, but they rarely go out in public dressed as such, except to places accepting of this behavior. There is a lot of stigma associated with the practice, and most transvestites are not out of the closet.

Transgendered people actively take hormones or otherwise alter their bodies to become more like the opposite sex. The younger they start the hormore therapy and the longer they use it, the more they resemble the opposite sex. These are the people who are most damagingly affected by the bathroom law. You may not realize that an individual is transgendered until they are forced to choose: break the law and us the bathroom that feels right, or reveal their private medical history and risk getting beat up by bigots (which happens all too frequently). These individuals are already in a dangerous position, just because many people consider being trans perverse or immoral. I remember what happened to Matthew Shepherd; crimes against LGBTQIA people happen all too often.

Intersex ndividuals are born with gender ambiguity. I was a child when I first heard about such a thing, on some talk show where a boy about my age and his mother were discussing the choices the doctors had made at his birth. He had been born with a tiny penis and yo-yo testicles, and the doctors thought he was a deformed girl and performed surgery to make his genitals look female. He always identified as male, though, and when puberty began, it was clear he was genetically male. Today, doctors don't make those decisions at birth, and allow the child to make the choice themselves at puberty, or even postpone puberty until the child makes a firm decision. As these persons were not assigned a gender at birth, do they have the right to use a bathroom at all in North Carolina?

The governor has decried protests of the law as "political theater," and completely ignores the plight of those it affects. It causes undue hardship on this specific group of people and refuses them protection. It perpetuates prejudice by lumping trans people in the same category as sexual predators. The law needs to be repealed immediately, as legislation has already been put forth, or declared unconstitutional. May it be so.

An open letter to President Obama on marijuana legalization

Dear Mr. President Obama,

I recently signed a petition regarding the acting DEA chief, which has since gathered over 125,000 signatures as of this writing, and have been eagarly awaiting a response from the White House. I hope your delayed response is due to deep consideration on the matter.

 I have decided to write this letter because I am not entirely satisfied with the scope and wording of the petition- I feel much was left unsaid.
Several congress members have also sent you a letter on the subject, which makes several of the important points the petition didn't address so I won't waste the words repeating theirs.

Mr. President, you have said in the past that young people should be concerned about climate change, jobs, the economy, war and peace, and that marijuana legalization should not be our highest priority. I absolutely agree those are important concerns. But someone needs to point out that the marijuana industry in Colorado has been the most successful economic and jobs booster the country has seen since the recession, and the state has profited to extremes.

 If we should be worried about climate change and the environment as you have stated, we should allow farmers to grow industrial hemp- it's a green source of biofuel, bioplastics, construction materials, paper products, clothing, food, and more. A cheap, drought resistant crop, it would stimulate our economy from farmer to consumer.

 There is no good reason this plant should be illegal. There is nothing negative about marijuana that isn't also true about alcohol or cigarettes, except its legal status, a draconian double standard. The mere fact that it is illegal creates far more problems in the world and costs the country much more money than if it were a taxable commodity. The only ones who benefit from this system are Big Money groups.

 I understand you may be concerned about the stereotypical stigma of being our first African-American president and legalizing marijuana, and the role model you present to your daughters. But the status quo is based on Victorian morality to which most of the country no longer ascribes, propaganda and corruption from Big Money, and a legacy of racism as demonstrated by the very use of the word "marijuana," as opposed to "cannabis" or "hemp."

 I have no doubt you read the recommendation to legalize from the Global Commission on Drug Policy in 2011, signed by many respected world leaders and intellectuals. They agree: it's really in the best interest of the people. But if you're unwilling to effect that, please at least overhaul the DEA so it no longer hinders progress. If the government seriously thinks that medical marijuana involves smoking the "leaves" as the acting DEA chief said, and that's what is being sent out as research grade marijuana, it's no wonder we're getting skewed results from government approved science- it's the wrong part of the plant. Research grade marijuana needs to equal the standard of medical grade marijuana buds available in dispensaries. Period.

Thank you for your time and consideration. This affects millions of Americans in our everyday lives, and we depend on you to do the right thing.

Respectfully yours,

Raven Wildchild

Response to Bill Maher, "Why do they hate us so much?"

The other day, Bill Maher asked a question regarding ISIS that stumped his panel: "Why do they hate us so much?" It's a great question, and I'm sure the Daesh have a laundry list of reasons, but those are only excuses as to why they chose to level their hate at Western society. The real question, whose answer has fueled Middle East unrest for millennia, is, "Why do people hate?" The "they" and "us" labels translate to whatever situation presents itself.

Chances are, there are things or people you hate, dear Reader. Turn on Lewis Black, and he'll have you laughing about all the things he hates. It's "cool" to hate teen pop stars if you're not a fan, and "moral" people often think they should hate wrongdoers, so as to identify oneself as "good." So hate is pretty universal, and for some reason appears easier to identify with than love.

We see it every day: acceptable, "harmless" hatred, even expected- your job, for instance. Hatred is used to influence us and to unite us. And people who hate together reinforce the rationalisation for that hatred, and what starts small escalates. The U.S. has its own history of lynch mobs and witch hunts, and even has its own religious extremists, like the ones who bomb Planned Parenthood clinics.

People turn to hate when times are tough- look at Germany between the first and second World Wars. I think there is a primal part of our brain that responds with hatred because it's easier for the primal brain to create a perceived enemy to fight than to accept the unknown in it's struggle to survive. Part of what makes us human is the ability to rise above primal instinct, so there is always hope, but rising above takes effort and people have to be motivated to do so.

 Presidential hopeful John Kasich wants to create an agency to "spread Judeo-Christian values" in the Middle East, as he believes it will promote peace and inclusiveness. Kaish is completely ignoring a number of historical events if he thinks this will actually work, like the fact that there have been Christian missionaries in the Middle East for centuries with no luck, and like the fact that Christian nations have never in practice been peaceful or inclusive (the Inquisition and the Crusades come to mind- inclusiveness is found in secular countries, like the U.S.) Any messages we try to send to the Middle East will fall upon deaf ears unless they fit into the listeners' preconceived paradigm. That is, a Muslim is going to reject Judeo-Christian messages as fervently as Christian lawmakers have rejected Wiccan prayers to be offered before meetings.

 Really, there are a lot of parallels between Islam and Christianity. Both are Abrahamic religions, broken off from Judaism, both have a messianic figure who dictates the religion's beliefs and values, both have followers who attempt to suppress alternative viewpoints and lifestyles (gay marriage, for example), and both have extremists who are willing to become violent to "defend their beliefs."

Ironically, beliefs themselves do not need defending- truth will go on being true regardless of who believes it or not, the world will go on being round whether or not the Inquisition convicts Galileo. Boys whose mother is insulted ("Your mother is a hamster, and your father smells of elderberries!") are not actually protecting their mother from whatever the other boy said when they start the fist fight. The winner of the fight will not determine whether one's mother was really a hamster or not, and no act of violence will ever prove one's religion to be true or greater than another. The idea is childish, yet we see it regularly, if in less extreme forms. People defending Christmas? From what- the right to celebrate Chanukah or Yule or Kwanzaa? It's awfully disrespectful to insist your holiday be acknowledged to the exclusion of all others. If Jesus really is the reason for the season, listen to his preaching on the Golden Rule- if you want your holiday acknowledged, do the same to others.

But there's the problem. People get so bent out of shape about who's right that they forget to follow what their divine figure taught them about peace and love. Those people have Belief, but they do not have Faith in their God's wisdom and power, which shows it's OK for people to be different, because that's how things are. If God wanted some country blasted off the face of the Earth, the Old Testament tells believers He is perfectly capable of doing so, but chooses peace. His followers are instructed to do the same. But on some level, people want to hate, and I don't understand why.

Would you go back in time to kill Hitler as a baby?

An online poll asking, "Would you go back in time to kill Adolph Hitler as a baby?" has shown that the majority of would indeed do that, given the opportunity. Presidential hopeful gave a resounding "Hell yes!" when asked the question, stating "You've got to step up."

A lot of controversy is going around regarding the Butterfly Effect of such an act, because we have no idea how that would affect the timeline. For one thing, Israel would not exist. Hitler had a huge impact on the modern world, down to American human rights- we strove to be more inclusive in our society to separate ourselves from them. Without him, who knows how history would have played out? Perhaps some other country commits the same atrocities, or another dictator takes Germany down the same path. The risk really isn't worth it.

And what about the morality of the situation? Under the historical circumstances, yes, that child did grow up to be Adolph Hitler, genocidal maniac, but at the time of his birth he was as innocent as any human being. There's another paradox here: by killing the baby Hitler, you erase his crimes, and it's no longer justice, just infanticide. You become the monster, a Herod. And isn't Jeb Bush a pro-lifer? Does he really not see the irony here? He's so proud of his Christianity, but does he forget the 10 Commandments when it matters? Other GOP candidates have suggested that only Christians are fit for the office of President (completely the opposite of the constitution), but one needs to uphold their ideals even under the most dire of circumstances, else those ideals mean nothing. Jeb, don't be a hypocristian.

EXIT The American Dream, ENTER American Despair

It hit a little close to home when I heard there was another school shooting at a small Oregon college, as I work at one. I believe I read that this was the 142nd school shooting since 2012, and the 45th this year alone. Very disturbing numbers indeed. The politicians are calling for gun control again, which I do think there should be better background checks and the like, but it's not the root of the problem. My school had its own tragedy last year, when one of our football players was stabbed to death while waiting in line at 7eleven across the street from campus. The suspect was dispatched by police shortly after, but no motive was ever uncovered, and the murderer had apparently never even met his victim before. The weapon choice is incidental, based on whatever is available, just like the homemade bombs favored by Muslim extremists.

This blog makes some good suggestions for prevention of such tragedies.
 The community outreach-type work described in the blog has been shown to be more effective than federal programs and policing, but that is still only treating the symptom. We need to consider what has caused us to skyrocket to 10 times the rate of youth violence seen in other developed countries.

When I was younger, people said that apathy was problem with our culture; I'd say we've moved from apathetic to despairing. What else could we do? The American Dream has become a taunt from the financial elite; the hard work that once paid off only manages us to keep us stationary, which seems better than sinking back into the quagmire. Our culture has become stuck in it's old patterns because there was once honor in what we did, and we are desperately trying to fill outdated expectations and somehow revive that honor. Capitalism worked well for most everyone while it was regulated, but now it's corrupted and we're still behaving like we expect it to work as it did before. We clock in to our regulated lives now, with little free time, less spending money, no room for advancement, and lots of neurotic attempts to comfort ourselves with how responsible we're being, because this is the way it's done. We went to college because we didn't want to "throw our lives away," loaded ourselves with debt, and got stuck working in food service anyway. And when we ask, "Is this all there is to life?" we are answered with a resounding "Yes."

Despite the obvious flaws in the corrupt system, the culture here is still very attached to capitalism, and alternative lifestyles are rather frowned upon. But if we don't address the issues of income equality and life satisfaction soon, the population will fall further into poverty and the crime rate will rise. But if I'm right about despair being a motivating emotion behind these mass shootings, then I believe we can ward off despair with curiosity, creativity, and passion (they became way uncool around apathy o'clock and are due for a comeback). All three emotions can be triggered by the Arts, and it's time we bring the arts back to our schools and communities. Currently in our culture, the perceived value of art is generally very low, a perception that has in recent years had a powerful effect on the quality of films and other arts industries here. Remember how much better movies were in the '90s? Today, tired plotlines and poor CGFX dominate because Hollywood no longer values its artists. (Or really, any of its workers, but most of them have unions.)

The oversupply of workers and shortage of jobs that pay reasonable salaries make employees less valuable to the companies than they were 15 years ago. On a certain subconscious level people believe that their paycheck defines their human value. And as we take those subconscious beliefs into the macrocosm, it should be no surprise that we are growing a disregard for that human life that is worth so little. To those who give up on the world and take out their frustrations through violence, it must seem like going down with guns blazing and a legacy attached to their name is more success than they will ever otherwise achieve. And success = value in our corrupted capitalist society.

So, my challenge to everyone in America is to apply some creativity this week and as often as possible to make the world more fun, beautiful, or intriguing in some way. Encourage someone's passion or curiosity if you can't find an idea of your own. Let's make living in America a little better by all taking responsibility for a single moment that could be improved with a song or a game or friendly encouragement. Because when we stand together, we're too big to fail.