Forwarding the Conversation

Sometimes you just need to let beauty speak for itself…

So I recently saw an interview, on MSNBC, with Orly Taitz regarding Barack Obama’s birth certificate. Apparently, Orly is one of the leading spokespeople for the “Birther” movement, which claims that Barack Obama was born in Kenya, and therefore not eligible to be President of the United States.  You can check out the video below…

After watching the video a few different emotions swelled up. I felt pity for Orly, anger towards the MSNBC “journalists” who set her up, and regret about the level of political discourse in this country. In my opinion, the two MSNBC interviewers simply had Orly on the show to give her a public flogging. I don’t know if the interviewers felt better after publicly humiliating themselves and Orly, but if they do it should be short-lived.

I believe that the only thing the interview did was further strengthen the views of those on the political, social, and cultural extremes and make moderates sick to their stomach. If you are someone who either believes the allegations that President Obama is not a US Citizen, and/or you believe the mainstream media is a liberal propaganda machine, this interview only made you more resolute in those ideas. If you are a liberal who believes everyone on the far right is a nut-case then this interview made you glad that none of your friends are Republican.

This type of “journalism” divides our country, and if we ever want to have anything more than an entertaining political discourse people must push back against this behavior from the media and elected/non-elected leaders.

We are currently in the midst of one of the most important debates of this century regarding the future of healthcare, and all I hear are Republicans jeering Democrats for wanting to take away people’s choices and for wanting to kill old people (thanks Rush Limbaugh). And Democrats respond by calling Republicans greedy insurance company salespeople who only care about money. This CANNOT be the healthcare debate that the American People deserve.

It’s time for our elected officials to step up and tell us what is really going on. It’s time for the American People to hear a debate based on substance and issues, rather than a propaganda campaign being fueled by Insurance Companies, Lobbyists, Doctors, Chambers of Commerce, etc. Universal healthcare has been undertaken by three politically skilled Presidents: FDR, LBJ, and Bill Clinton. We are not going to pass comprehensive and effective legislation if WE - the American People – continue to allow our representatives to grandstand and demagogue. It’s time for all those who say they want change to truly demand it. Instead of going to your townhall meeting with signs, ready to shout-down your representative, go with substantive questions. Go to these meetings and demand that your elected officials cut through the talking points and really level with you. It will be far more difficult and far less rewarding in the moment, than yelling “socialist” or “facist” at the top of your lungs, but maybe… just maybe… you will actually get some straight talk from your elected official. AND maybe… just maybe… your elected official will remember that conversation when they go back to Washington.

The short answer to that is that I am not 100% sure, though I am confident that most of the impacts would be positive. It would mean that my gay friends would be able to have the same legal rights as straight couples. That  translates to, among other thins, that they would have the legal right to adopt children, see their partner in the hospital, share insurance coverage, open bank accounts together, etc. From my perspective all of these things would be a step forward and would positively impact my life. It would tear down many of the legal barriers that have been constructed to keep a group of people from enjoying legal rights and priveleges. My sense is that this would raise the quality of life for gay couples. That would impact me in that I am friends with, work with, and love many who are gay. The logic here is that when those that surround us are allowed to be free and happy that we become freer and happier as a result. I get that this the logic here is quite simple, but I think there’s something to it. 

None of this is to say that even if gay couples had the legal right to marry that all of the world problems would cease to exist. There will still be individuals who hate others if, for no other reason, than they are simply afraid of those who are different. There will still be hate crims committed against homosexuals and other groups. There will still be people who think that gay marriage is akin to beasteality and incest.

Therefore, it is with sorrow and pitty that I post the following video. The organization who funded this ad – which is running in California – calls itself the National Organization for Marriage. Before watching this video ask yourself, how would your daily life change if homosexual couples had the legal right to marry? Please post your responses in the comments section!

Sometimes you just have to celebrate the beautiful. This is a video done for 4th Estate Publishers, produced by Apt Studios.

Over fourty years ago Bobby Kennedy gave a speech about how we – as a Country – measure our worth. I think the ideas expressed in the speech are of value now more than ever. We currently live in a world where former institutions of American ingenuity are crumbling before our very eyes and people are losing their jobs and savings in the blink of an eye. It is now – more than ever – that we must remember that our worth cannot be measured by dollars and cents. Out true value comes from the strength of our relationships, our families, and our communities.

It is also time for us to remember that by pursuing puntative measures that we hurt ourselves. When we incarcerate individuals for long periods of time, criminologists and sociologists find that when the person released from prison that he or she is more dangerous than ever before. Punishment for the sake of justice is not justice at all. When we target bank executives hateful and slanderous remarks who benefits? When we legislate out of populist rage how does that impact the average citizen? It’s time for us – as a people – to come together and work through the current challenges that we face. We may not agree on every issue, but we can certainly reach out a hand to those who are struggling. 

When you pass a serious car accident on the highway what do you do? Do you stop and ask the people what happened? Do you drive by without batting an eye? Or – do you call 9-1-1 for help? 

My only questions are: what will move you to take action? How will you be moved/stirred into action?

This afternoon, in typical Sunday afternoon fashion I found something incredibly trivial to do with my spare time. So, my girlfriend and I went to redbox and rented Milk.  It was a great movie, and somewhere in the middle Harvey Milk speaks about the words engraved in the pedastel of the Statue of Liberty. Below is the full poem, I wanted to post it because I think that it truly reflects not only my own ideals and values, but those of our Nation.

“Where the Wild Things Are” is one of the most storied children’s books ever written and holds a very special place in my heart. When I was young, my parents sent me to my room regularly. Each time, I would sit down in the center of my room and concentrate for hours, hoping that – through strength of will – I could force the jungle to suddenly sprout from the stale white carpet. After I’d squinched my nose for so long that I began to feel dizzy, I would run downstairs and apologize to my parents and beg for them to feed me. Some things haven’t changed…

To me, “Where the Wild Thins Are” is more than just a childrens’ book, it’s an exploration that drills into the core of our shared humanity. It’s a book of love, fear, and struggle. It’s a book about basic human emotions that we all experience, but are often too proud to show.

All of this to say that this afternoon I discovered this trailer for a movie to be released in the near future. As soon I saw the trailer had been posted I became skeptical. How could someone make this book into a movie? How could this movie ever measure up to the the pedestal I’ve held the book on for so long? Then, I watched the trailer and realized that there is no comparing the book to the movie. The book will always be special to me, but this movie will provide me – and various others – with a new interpretation of how Max became the King of the Wild Things. It’s not that the movie will be better or worse than the book, it will be different and should be celebrated in it’s own medium.

This general theme has been something I’ve been struggling with lately. I’ve recently fallen into the habit of seeing things as “good” or “bad” rather than seeing the facts as they truly are. Watching this trailer re-focused my mind on seeing what is there, rather than focusing on interpreting what is there. This may sound wonky, but all this really amounts to is a simple recognition that each of us sees the world and then interprets what we see. Very rarely do we simply see what is going on around us and say “there that is.” So, I’d like to say thank you to Warner Brothers for taking on this project. I know many will assert that this book should never be made into a movie, but I think that’s the wrong thing to focus on. What we should do is look at this movie within it’s context, on a movie screen, and see what is actually there. All I ask is that you watch, observe, and enjoy the images as they flicker across the screen. I promise that if you do that you’ll find things that you never thought were possible.

While I don’t like to take political stands on this blog, I feel that this humorous video gets to the heart of much of what is wrong in our country right now. While separation of church and state is not overtly written into the Constitution, one of our founding fathers – and author of the Delcaraton of Independence and Constitution – coined the term “separation of church and state.” Thomas Jefferson had the opportunity to see – first-hand – the awful and destructive power that organized religion can have when it is used to promote intolerance. Many of our country’s founding fathers had forebears who left Great Britain due to religious persecution that ranged from legal sanctions to death. 

This video tells this story in a painful and humorous way.

Questioner: How can we put into practice what you are telling us?

 

Krishnamurti: You hear something which you think is right and you want to carry it out in your everyday life; so there is a gap between what you think and what you do, is there not? You think one thing, and you are doing something else. But you want to put into practice what you think, so there is this gap between action and thought; and you ask how to bridge this gap, how to link your thinking into action.

 

Now, when you want to do something very much, you do it, don’t you? When you want to go and play cricket, or do some other thing in which you are interested, you find ways and means of doing it; you never ask how to put it into practice. You do it because you are eager, because your whole being, your whole heart and mind are in it.

Think on These Things   Krishnamurti