there isn’t nearly enough privacy advocacy today, and these are difficult times to push for civil liberties that are often in more immediate danger than our safety is. somehow we’ve got to juggle security while preserving an unfettered mode of living that’s worth keeping.
i recently made an exception (albeit with misgivings), even though there are only relatively few extremists in any group who cause trouble and shed their unfortunate image onto everybody else. it’s quintessential unfairness to blame all for the actions of a few.
bias can’t survive without its oxygen of polarized thinking, so let’s consider how tedious this is.. it’s issue laden, a source of umbrage, and even worse — polarity’s omission of context can make it dangerous.
but for sundry political irksomeness, the current squeezing du jour we’re subjected to forces us to choose between statements that are either: all muslims are good or all muslims are bad.
talk about the fallacy of false dilemma.
any ethnic or religious group is going to have its share of wonderful, amazing people, along with its bungholes and problematic persons replete with pathologies. that’s nearly all humans over a certain count.
the problem is less frequently individuals; it’s when humans start clumping together in tribes and groups and are pressed through their institutions and governments. start with a good sweet person, fold in human groups, add institutions, and we’ll invariably produce some gargantuan mixed results, occasionally lofty leaps for humankind, and massive cluster f*ck-ups.
group-think can easily blur into group-stink with unconsciously developed cranial voids when we’re propelled along by our alleged ‘rightness.’ perhaps society has rendered all of us too busy to deeply ponder, and our love of specific cluster affiliation eschews the idea of the wider human schmorgesborg — even though diversity is what improves us. an axiom of, ‘the tighter the group, the bigger its..’ ah, well, nevermind.
why not insert some contextual thought while attempting to pull the polarity out of people? anybody can do this with whatever rolls by, and mine happened to be with the subject of religion again. since dogma doesn’t rely on logic, but instead claims authority from the invisible-minus-proof, better to chance erring on the side of skepticism.
religion has too much in common with gangs, cults, and white collar criminals. yes, i’m lumping them all together: they’re unified in their ends justifying their means, valuing group adherence over positive and flexible change, insisting on hierarchy with leader worship, and being severe in executing punitive measures when anyone flees or attempts reforms.
icky sick stuff.
but religion is unique in kicking up the crazy several levels without a logical leg to stand on. stoning people to death for having the naughty outside of a relationship is only one horrific example, and having anti-blasphemy laws in american cities like michigan and massachusetts* are not exactly comforting thoughts in our supposedly modern era.
i ordinarily concur a good bit with political economist robert reich, including his calling out of another donald trump lowlight during a rally that involved trump advocating for physical violence and religiously based surveillance. reich mentioned how the abhorrent genocide of jewish people was carried out by the use of government compiled religious databases.
as long as we’re contemplating logical fallacies, there appears to be a false equivalency because we didn’t have any jewish suicide bombers and mass shooters during nazi germany, even though the idea of government surveillance going beyond what’s good for us big bro style is spot on. just don’t forget its twin — big corporate bro, and we’ll consider it point well made.
my response to reich’s petition included asking, ‘What if a mosque or two did need to be surveilled? Due process of the law should be followed and this should be able to be accomplished.’
recall how this sentiment came from a privacy and civil liberties advocate.
government shouldn’t be garnering citizen info under the banner of safety, especially when we consider how frequently data and power are misused, abused, and hacked into these days.
yet due to religion’s exceptionalism, we should ensure it can’t be complicit in brewing up any more toxic batches of societal harm. it’s a complex and daunting task which invariably is going to take time to develop as there aren’t any simple, easy solutions.
let’s commence by learning from our mistakes. an obvious one that created a national embarrassment was the arrest of student ahmed mohamed who toted a homemade engineered clock to school. adolescent mohamed has exemplified the ridiculous, bipolar nature of the political brain-muting process that resulted in jailhouse proceedings first and taking appropriate actions later.
no one should be faulted for their concern and action over a device, yet pressing the panic button onto a presumably guileless teenager apparently has resulted in: the permanent destruction of his innocence, the family requesting 15 million in damages, and also, according to time magazine, the family meeting up with foreign dignitaries, including the sudanese president who is a genocide darling from darfur days.
quite an accomplishment for a one act wonder, and so much for the myth that conservatives are smarter about fiscal matters.
the city of irving, texas should send that 15 mil bill to those stirring up all the dumbing down: the republican national committee, fox news, and conservative talk radio.
how do you like them now?
the rest of us with craniums still affixed to our shoulders should unceremoniously dump polarity — it should be recognized as the farce it is and how it insults everyone’s intelligence.
while closed minds won’t open on their own, nobody said we can’t take a jackhammer to them on occasion. a little loosened and flying concrete couldn’t hurt at this juncture (be sure to wear your construction helmets though!).
it could also be considered a civic duty to decrease the opprobrium of polarity, so let’s recommend we attempt this graciously by starting with some ‘i feel’ statements. here’s mine: i don’t fear people, but i definitely feel afraid of their institutions and what they can produce.
better to address systemic problems rather than blame individuals, especially when we consider how we’re all the result of whatever our genetics have been ushered or forced into.
feelings and thinking combined first ought to do it, instead of one over the other.
i think
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*courtesy of pew research:
THE MICHIGAN PENAL CODE (EXCERPT)Act 328 of 1931 / 750.102 Blasphemy; punishment. Sec. 102. Punishment—Any person who shall wilfully blaspheme the holy name of God, by cursing or contumeliously reproaching God, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.
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notes:
apostasy is the act of chucking one’s faith and includes transferring over to a different religion.
blasphemy involves words or actions by a human that indicate disapproval of a god or gods. in other words, ‘god’ can frown and allegorically pee on you but never the other way round. no criticizing the invisibles!
i regularly blaspheme and am proud of it — if only because we could use more public demonstrations of sanity, not the reverse. although i may need to avoid traveling in the states of michigan and massachusetts!
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We found that laws restricting apostasy and blasphemy are most common in the Middle East and North Africa, where..70% criminalize blasphemy and ..60% criminalize apostasy. While apostasy laws exist in only two other regions of the world – Asia-Pacific and sub-Saharan Africa –blasphemy laws can be found in all regions, including Europe (in 16% of countries) and the Americas (31%).
http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/05/28/which-countries-still-outlaw-apostasy-and-blasphemy/
About eight-in-ten Muslims in Egypt and Pakistan (82% each) endorse the stoning of people who commit adultery; 70% of Muslims in Jordan and 56% of Nigerian Muslims share this view.
http://www.pewresearch.org/daily-number/stoning-adulterers/
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a salon article decries the polling methodology:
..the more the questioned citizens are coerced into religiosity, the more likely they are to pick the safest answers—those consistent with what they were force-fed about religion since they were kids—when a pollster comes around.
what about the unfortunate strength that indoctrination from early childhood carries into adulthood, and especially its potential under different future circumstances? the lack of outcry from all religions, especially the current violent one, lends a person to believe that religious institutional preservation is overarching both individual and wider human social preservation in most areas.
let’s also duly note how other religions, including christianity, used to advocate violent penalties for lack of conversions.
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one more sad historical notation:
Pakistan’s blasphemy laws have their origins in the country’s colonial past, when British colonial rulers first introduced penalties for insulting religious beliefs. These laws remained in effect after Pakistan’s independence in 1947 and have since increased in severity.
http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/05/28/which-countries-still-outlaw-apostasy-and-blasphemy/
musingsgetspolitical 