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Rock the vote...!
Nov. 2nd, 2004 06:23 pm*grumbles* Computer ate another one!
From this point I'm waiting to learn a lot of things tonight. First, has Shaun decided to extend his visit? I'm hoping he has because I want to get to know him better. I feel like I've just started and have a long way to go.
Second: Will Kerry win?
Third: Who shot J.R.?
I got my first real chance to talk to Shaun last night and I really enjoyed it. The main thing I came away feeling is that he maintains a 'mask' to protect his feelings. I think to some degree every person does that. It's a natural reaction really. We, as a species want to 'fit in'. Isolation is to be feared.
I know that I do it. I know others who do too. You could say that any mask is a personality, but I think it goes beyond even that. I think that masks are a reflection of the personality that emphasize a certain aspect of it.
So let us say they are the personas, the facets of personality that we choose to share among others. The problem then lies in knowing when to expose our selves wholely to others and risk ridicule and expulsion from the group. Some people live the persona to such an extent that they no longer know themselves. Think of the gay kid who has to act straight. That says it right there.
We expect to be shown a persona... as a society we occassionally demand it on pain of death. What happens when society pushes someone too far? As a whole, we seem to be 'shocked and amazed' that the person who has been marginalized and abused finally stands up and fights back. -_-
In a way it's as reprehensible as poking a caged animal with a stick. Ocassionally they bite back! Perhaps we aren't to blame though... perhaps this trait is bred into us. Like blue eyes. But it is far more pervasive than any single trait could ever be.
I think that this is rooted in our desire to reproduce. To have children and a mate. Unless it were a single celled organism reproducing by fission, there is a strong attractor at work to keep organisms socialized. So we recognize those that 'belong' to our group and fight to exclude the ones that don't.
Even the folk who have been excluded fight to find common ground amongst themselves; a group to which to belong. The cycle continues. Perhaps it should be good enough to all belong to the same species. I'm human....aren't you?
But that sort of intangible feeling doesn't work the same way as sight, sound and smell do. Ultimately, it is the weaker thing. Thought, it seems, is too new a 'trick' for us. Every year we fight to expand the awareness of what is within our 'group'. What is acceptable. What I hate to see is the fight that our country is waging right now to narrow group definitions. To exclude more and more people from the sense of community.
Somehow it all seems terribly wrong to me. I think there is a very real risk that we could go too far down this road and reach a point where control and acceptance lies in the hands of the few and the vast majority find themselves excluded. That is when this country will fail. Utterly. Without redemption.
We may continue on in some form but it won't be the same. Perhaps as David Brinn envisaged in his novel, 'The Postman', we will revert to militias and feudal states. Each forming its own community, its own sense of fellowship. Excluding all others. Wouldn't that be shameful?
The intent of our founding fathers is much debated in the world. From the end of a 200 year long tunnel it is seen in the light that we wish it to be seen. A bold and noble experiment in freedom. That freedom has been contended again and again throughout our history. We may suffer now for what our choices have wrought but still, one man; one President even, should not be allowed... nay, permitted to sacrifice our ideals on the altar of vanity!
We all act for personal reasons. Even I can't say that my actions aren't without outside consideration in all that I do. But some reasons are repugnant and some just shameful. *shakes head sadly*
Our religions are meant to counter these impulses by teaching that actions for the common good are needed. Not selfish grandstanding. But even these vehicles have been corrupted by the intention of vain men and women throughout history.
I once considered myself Christian. I can't take any joy in those thoughts any longer and have sought spiritual renewal in Wicca. I've studied long and hard to learn what I thought were the tenets of my faith only to see the churches themselves acting against that very faith.
The tales of our bibles are cautionary but they are written by man himself. No matter how divinely guided they were. Even within the community of Wicca I see the influence of exclusion. The striving for personal gain, the secrecy even, these things hurt faith! The beliefs of Wicca, much like the Christian church caution against doing things for personal gain and yet you can walk into bookstores and pick up 'spell kits' to bring you wealth, Love and happiness. O.o;;;
*shakes head again* Can this really be the right message?
I'll finish by saying this...open up! Accept your own flaws before you seek them in others. Act because not acting would be wrong. Believe, because faith is more powerful than fact... and vote, because a single voice, raised high, can have an effect.
From this point I'm waiting to learn a lot of things tonight. First, has Shaun decided to extend his visit? I'm hoping he has because I want to get to know him better. I feel like I've just started and have a long way to go.
Second: Will Kerry win?
Third: Who shot J.R.?
I got my first real chance to talk to Shaun last night and I really enjoyed it. The main thing I came away feeling is that he maintains a 'mask' to protect his feelings. I think to some degree every person does that. It's a natural reaction really. We, as a species want to 'fit in'. Isolation is to be feared.
I know that I do it. I know others who do too. You could say that any mask is a personality, but I think it goes beyond even that. I think that masks are a reflection of the personality that emphasize a certain aspect of it.
So let us say they are the personas, the facets of personality that we choose to share among others. The problem then lies in knowing when to expose our selves wholely to others and risk ridicule and expulsion from the group. Some people live the persona to such an extent that they no longer know themselves. Think of the gay kid who has to act straight. That says it right there.
We expect to be shown a persona... as a society we occassionally demand it on pain of death. What happens when society pushes someone too far? As a whole, we seem to be 'shocked and amazed' that the person who has been marginalized and abused finally stands up and fights back. -_-
In a way it's as reprehensible as poking a caged animal with a stick. Ocassionally they bite back! Perhaps we aren't to blame though... perhaps this trait is bred into us. Like blue eyes. But it is far more pervasive than any single trait could ever be.
I think that this is rooted in our desire to reproduce. To have children and a mate. Unless it were a single celled organism reproducing by fission, there is a strong attractor at work to keep organisms socialized. So we recognize those that 'belong' to our group and fight to exclude the ones that don't.
Even the folk who have been excluded fight to find common ground amongst themselves; a group to which to belong. The cycle continues. Perhaps it should be good enough to all belong to the same species. I'm human....aren't you?
But that sort of intangible feeling doesn't work the same way as sight, sound and smell do. Ultimately, it is the weaker thing. Thought, it seems, is too new a 'trick' for us. Every year we fight to expand the awareness of what is within our 'group'. What is acceptable. What I hate to see is the fight that our country is waging right now to narrow group definitions. To exclude more and more people from the sense of community.
Somehow it all seems terribly wrong to me. I think there is a very real risk that we could go too far down this road and reach a point where control and acceptance lies in the hands of the few and the vast majority find themselves excluded. That is when this country will fail. Utterly. Without redemption.
We may continue on in some form but it won't be the same. Perhaps as David Brinn envisaged in his novel, 'The Postman', we will revert to militias and feudal states. Each forming its own community, its own sense of fellowship. Excluding all others. Wouldn't that be shameful?
The intent of our founding fathers is much debated in the world. From the end of a 200 year long tunnel it is seen in the light that we wish it to be seen. A bold and noble experiment in freedom. That freedom has been contended again and again throughout our history. We may suffer now for what our choices have wrought but still, one man; one President even, should not be allowed... nay, permitted to sacrifice our ideals on the altar of vanity!
We all act for personal reasons. Even I can't say that my actions aren't without outside consideration in all that I do. But some reasons are repugnant and some just shameful. *shakes head sadly*
Our religions are meant to counter these impulses by teaching that actions for the common good are needed. Not selfish grandstanding. But even these vehicles have been corrupted by the intention of vain men and women throughout history.
I once considered myself Christian. I can't take any joy in those thoughts any longer and have sought spiritual renewal in Wicca. I've studied long and hard to learn what I thought were the tenets of my faith only to see the churches themselves acting against that very faith.
The tales of our bibles are cautionary but they are written by man himself. No matter how divinely guided they were. Even within the community of Wicca I see the influence of exclusion. The striving for personal gain, the secrecy even, these things hurt faith! The beliefs of Wicca, much like the Christian church caution against doing things for personal gain and yet you can walk into bookstores and pick up 'spell kits' to bring you wealth, Love and happiness. O.o;;;
*shakes head again* Can this really be the right message?
I'll finish by saying this...open up! Accept your own flaws before you seek them in others. Act because not acting would be wrong. Believe, because faith is more powerful than fact... and vote, because a single voice, raised high, can have an effect.
