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Bobbing in the Brain
By lindamuralidharan on 2015-06-12 23:40:35
Since a group of women including myself decided to blog about our personal experiences and views on working toward
peace from the perspective of being both US citizens and voters and world citizens as well, we have done a lot of that over
the years as well as making efforts to educate people on key issues and opening up a space for many viewpoints to discuss
the various issues that have to do with non violent conflict resolution. This time, I really am going at it in a personal way
with a number of concerns that keep bobbing up in my mind as I study the news and other information about our world.
Thus I am putting out thoughts and feelings about more than one subject.
kinde Kgrten
school district that the kindergarten curriculum there is again going to include play activities along with the academic
lessons that had monopolized classroom time since the cumulative effects of No Child Left Behind and the Common Core
Guidelines have dominated school curricula and funding. I feel elated. Along with friends and family who have had a
background in education...and all being parents as well...we have tried to say all along that extremes are not good for the
mental health of the kids (and will have some downside effects as the kids grow older) and probably hinder some aspects of
learning as well. Educational theory and practice have shown for years that experiential learning is often superior to rote,
lecture or book learning alone. Sure, the teacher can have the kids drilling on numbers and maybe even simple addition.
However, when the kids are at the play store, the sand table, the book corner, all kinds of learning can supplement what the
teacher assigned in the structured format. How many play cookies will the seller sell for a play nickel? How many cars can
fit in the two story parking garage located at the end of the sand road?
Who gets the next turn to read
the favorite book? Cooperation, colors, counting, space relationships...the process is almost endless. Hey...and maybe a
little laughter! Caveat: children from impoverished homes often have had little reading or number readiness experiences
before entering kindergarten.....in such cases an emphasis on the academics can be significant. Again...how is a balance to
be maintained? Possibly more opportunities for structured play where a teacher or aide is guiding some lessons that grow
out of experience and other, more creative ideas can be implemented. On a less happy note, the messages from the
McKinney, Texas abuse of teenagers by police is very disturbing. I know a great deal has been said about the causes of the
police arrival and subsequent overreaction. I know the officer...the supervisor and trainer of other officers I
understand....who was the most physically and verbally abusive of black teens has resigned. I know he has said that he was
foolishly and mistakenly out of control because he had been emotionally devastated by attendance at two previous calls that
very day (these involved a successful suicide and another, suicide attempt). I know that people have talked about how his
presumed training as a law enforcement officer to keep emotions in check somehow failed him or were not adequate. Next I
want to further emphasize what a few people are also saying. First, he revealed his racist attitudes when conveying his
unhappiness from the earlier calls. He said he saw the body of a black man who killed himself in front of his family. He
said he went to a call about a teenage female threatening to commit suicide. But... he only mentioned the race of the black
person. Are we to "assume" she is white by default? Which is racism. Or did he forget to tell us she was Hispanic or black
or Asian???? Second, he has prior charges involving excessive force and racial issues. Third, his language was clearly
practiced. All the put downs and vulgar language he used against the teens he probably uses regularly with his own children
as well as with or about the poor or black people in his community when he is asked to investigate a crime. That kind of
language and thinking does not just pop in to the head of a person out of the blue following an emotionally distressing
event...or consumption of a quantity of alcohol. Fourth, right from the beginning we had witnesses, including white teens,
who said that the nasty approach to some uninvited guests trying to enter the pool area to join already those legitimately
invited or permitted to be there was started by some white adults. One of these, a man, at first denied all the allegations and
then had to admit he was one of the people trying to get black kids to leave but not white kids and that he was among those
who made derogatory "racial" remarks such as "go back to your government subsidized housing " (many of the teens were
clearly middle class and said to live in that residential community). How often these days do we finally see the people
exposed who want to oppress or condemn others for what they themselves are doing, often in secret? Dennis Hastert,
anyone? Oh, yes, the white man at the pool had originally said it was black teenagers who played the race card. And, of
course, the only people we know of that day who were violent are two white women and one white police officer. So...what
bobs up in my brain is the sadness and the urgency I feel at how much educating we need to do to help people accept
themselves so they can accept others better. I don't believe people with genuinely high self esteem need to put others down
in order to feel secure. Another topic that distresses me is mingling religion with public policy. We have a dangerous trend in
this country when more and more supposedly rational politicians and voters think it is okay to mix religion with government
actions...despite the clarity of our Constitution and cultural beliefs (to the contrary) for centuries. Some of this started with
efforts to limit the use of birth control and marriages for same sex couples and the slippery slope...as predicted... is leading
to the denial of freedoms for people of many choices and characteristics.
I think the absurdity of mixing
religion and laws can be exhibited by noting a variety of behaviors around the globe. In the US, it has been the practice of
certain racially motivated people to say the Bible demands the "races" be separated. (And I won't even go into the details of
how illogical our American definitions of "black" and "white" are.) In the South Pacific nation of Vanuatu some of the
people believe Prince Philip of England is the second coming of their main god. I don't think they try to force others to
believe it, though.... On the other hand, in Malaysia this year, people who believe a certain mountain is sacred claim that
law breaking foreigners who pranced nude on the mountain caused a subsequent earthquake. Well, the government went so
far as to prosecute the foolish behavior of the young people without actually blaming them for the earthquake. As to
whether the government thinks the mountain is sacred or not, there is confusion. I did read that urban Malaysians don't
believe in the myths about the mountain. However, many places in the world will prosecute for public lewdness in locations
that are purely secular so this is only a partially cautionary tale!
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And here in the state of Hawaii
a great deal of animosity and wasted tax dollars is brought about by people who want a religious view to dictate whether or
not we can build a major job producing, scientific inspiring telescope...I guess it will be the largest in the world and many
foundations and universities worldwide are cooperating in its planning and funding. Approvals were given some time back
by all kinds of local agencies and, with employment diversification critical for this state and with a lot of Native Hawaiians
suffering from underemployment and undereducation, the new jobs and internships and the like would be a great boon for
our society. Despite the usual claims that the majority of Native Hawaiians have long since adopted Christianity...from
missionaries Protestant, Mormon, and even Roman Catholic....a group of Native Hawaiians now say we cannot have the
telescope because their gods or a goddess in particular of that sacred mountain will be offended. The governor is trying to
finesse this one...he has a component of vociferous and demanding public opinion to contend with (although many Native
Hawaiians are in favor of studying modern astronomy and having the telescope here) and trying to move the process
forward slowly. A few voices have managed to point out that it's not clear how a Christian community is defending ancient
deities or that we can't have any of the religions determining public policy in America.
However, elsewhere in this country severe miscarriages of justice are looming as a result of the actions of some states that
think Christian people deserve protections that are actually special privileges and these privileges may be exercised to the
detriment of others living in this country. The logic is so distorted one hardly knows where to start, so I will illustrate by
one governor's apparent misfirings of key neurons in his brain. This is a quote from the governor of Michigan, Rick Snyder,
as he explains the value of a law that says anybody with a religious objection and serving in the capacity of an official
evaluating people wanting to adopt a child can refuse to approve any adoption the person says is against his or her religion:
"Our goal is to get the maximum number of kids adopted by loving families regardless of the loving families background,
whether they're straight or gay." , _.So....in order to get loving families
approved....they don't evaluate whether the child is some kind of menace and would be so disruptive the family could not
provide a good home, they don't evaluate whether the couple is a functional, mentally healthy and potentially loving pair of
people as opposed to say.....folks who have a serious criminal history or are linked to ISIL...no, the issue is the character
(loving and tolerant or mean and prejudiced and narrow minded) and belief system of the official.
That emphasis is quite likely to produce the opposite result from what the
governor "said" he i is aiming for. Meanwhile we have a similar situation in another state where mixed race couples, or gay
people or atheists or anyone not conforming to the beliefs of the official can be denied a marriage license if the official
claims her religion is against such a marriage. A recent law to this effect was just passed in North Carolina. Aside from the
brutality that all too often grows out of any one religion being preferred over another in governmental affairs or in places
where religion per se is used to establish law systems....how is the approach of Michigan and North Carolina any different
from Sharia Law which says you gotta govern according to what our god says?...these arguments pervert both logic and
decency and our Constitutional safeguards. [caption id="attachment_7130" align="alignleft" width="300"]
= ase Multi Ethnic Family Portrait[/caption] If a clerk or magistrate is required to
issue a license to all who come > before her or him with the proper documentation and fee (do we even require blood tests
anymore?), this employee is not being denied the freedom to worship. The person can still go to his/her own house of
worship, can still believe whatever he/she wants, and can rail against such perceived abominations all they want at home and
in their congregation. They also don't themselves have to marry anybody who they think their god says they should not.
[caption id="attachment_7129" align="alignright" width="300"] Family
which adopted[/caption] If it is too painful for them to issue licenses to people or approve an adoption i in certain situations
(probably a small percentage of the cases that they preside over), they are in the wrong job. I am not a teetotaler, but I see
too much alcohol abuse promoted at bars and liquor or beer distribution businesses...so I would not work for them. I see
certain banks and lending agencies and other businesses making profits at the expense of customers and/or employees. I
would not work for these because all of the above are against my own personal value system. Nobody is forcing
pharmacists to be pharmacists if they don't like prescribing birth control. Nobody is forced to work at an adoption agency.
[caption id="attachment_7131" align="aligncenter" width="400"]
~“<"" Interracial Family[/caption]
