Back in the Fold

Well, it has been awhile since I have written anything. Not that it matters much since very few people will read this. But in the end, who cares? Thus, the explanation for my absence from the blog, Facebook, and all other Internet pursuits. As George Harrison wrote and sang "It's All Too Much." I was simply overwhelmed by all of the causes, opinions, arguments, rants, etc... that are found in the electronic media.

Should I join group A, get behind cause B, donate to charity C, like music D, back candidate E, live in place F, follow blog G, befriend friend H, and am I green enough? I think I've always been a little apathetic even as a child. I had no problem quitting little league baseball after one year in second grade, opting out for the school flag football team instead of little league tackle football, and quitting wrestling my senior year in high school. On top of this I started to be skeptical of the Catholic Church in first grade. Of course, my father doesn't believe me but it is true. It certainly wasn't the college professors like he thought persuaded me down the path of agnosticism.

In my freshmen year of college I related to the detached individualism of Thoreau. I earned a degree in Sociology to try and understand society. I later earned a degree in history because understanding the past interested me. So, although pursuing knowledge leads to wisdom we can't always put everything into perspective. Enter the modern digital age where information true and false abounds and opinion is taken as truth. Rhetoric is rampant. On top of this people have etched out their digital niches that allow them to filter information so that the information that they peruse fits into their specific worldview. Nothing is what it is because there is a counterpoint or alternate interpretation to almost any event. In many cases this is warranted in others it is pure contrarious thinking.

I have to admit that the time away from the Internet was really liberating and I still question whether it is better to connect or stay disconnected. As a teacher in the digital age I ultimately need to stay connected and embrace the new era. It is fraught with nefarious individuals and groups looking to make a buck by stealing your identity but ultimately it allows ideas to be exchanged at lightning speed.

In the end staying connected both digitally and face to face seems the best way to travel at this point in my life. I am happier if I can remain somewhat detached from causes and movements. If I donate to this cause and not to that cause then so be it. It is what it is. The only thing I will always commit to and advocate for is rational thought. This will no way be the end of my struggles to adjust to the ever changing world but it marks my commitment to push ahead without dropping out and saying "for-ged aboud id." As the fictional George Castanza said, "I'm back baby!"

On Racism.

I was at a friend's family get together last night. Somehow the brutal beating of a student of Belleville West High School came up and a woman in an angry voice stated, "If that would have been white kids beating a black kid then Johnny Scott and Jesse Jackson would have been crying racism." The next comment was, "You didn't hear the president commenting on that case!" Immediately following this comment was, "And he shouldn't have gone to Denmark!" My immediate response was for the woman to "mellow out" and since I was a guest I went no further. 

My friend warned that we were in conservative country. I am becoming increasingly alarmed at the lack of analytical ability of people considered "conservative." The arguments that I hear are essentially regurgitations of the right wing media voices like Limbaugh and Beck. However, they have internalized these viewpoints because quite frankly it is too difficult to think through an issue within one's own mind. 

Let's think through these issues right now. First, concerns the general white outrage at the scene of two black kids beating up a white kid. If a black kid would have been the recipient of the beating perhaps Johnny Scott and Jesse Jackson would be shouting racism? However, if this would have been the case, would white people be outraged? 

If you look back at the history of the United States and the well documented cases of whites beating or many times killing blacks, there was little outrage by whites about these horrible events.  The facts are that the majority of white people sat mute in these cases. Of course, any ethnicity can be racist, but history is still clear on this matter in the United States. WHITE people have committed the sheer majority of violence toward other ethnicities. Certainly all beatings by anyone is reprehensible, yet we are only concerned when the recipients of the beatings look like one's own ethnicity. 

However, now that other ethnicities have gained the civil rights that were granted to white males for centuries, whites are now suddenly feeling like victims of a system that has simply become more equal and less favorable to white dominance. Yes, the comfort of being DOMINANT is no longer quite as obvious to white people. This is why whites feel so outraged if a white is the victim of minority induced violence. It is really the realization that whites do not have racial superiority over other groups. 

If you are horrified by a black beating up a white ask yourself if you are equally as horrified when a black gets beaten up by a white. If you are not then, I think you harbor a sense of racial superiority. 

Second, the president of the United States does not need to comment on every event that takes place within the United States plain and simple. Third, why can't the president advocate for a city in the United States? The argument is made that there are other issues going on. Come on people, it is one day. How many days did George W. spend in the last Olympics simply watching the games while there was a war in Iraq? It is OK. It is great that a president wants to watch the Olympics, and it is great that a president wants to make a gesture in the support of acquiring the Olympics. The fact that the latter comments followed talk of black on white violence lends some supporting evidence to the statement that Jimmy Carter made in regard to all of the outrage about whatever President Obama does. The outrage has racial roots. You can disagree and not even like presidents, but ask yourself why? It is very difficult to confront our own prejudices, but confronting them is better than harboring bitterness.

New Format and Misconceptions

Well, I've changed the format of this blog because strictly discussing alternative education is too restricting for me. My life consists of much more than just alternative education.

One of my main jobs at our school is to manage students and their coursework. Most students manage themselves quite well. However, many students hold perceptions of the world that causes them to run into roadblocks in their daily lives. In the greater population, many people hold perceptions of the world that may not cause them to run into roadblocks, but certainly restricts their access to greater understanding. 

Two examples follow:

Student example: One of my students stated that she had no problem with men homosexuals but could not tolerate "dikes". The reason males will not hit on you while the girls will. "They'll try and turn you out." I tried to stress to the student that generalizing behaviors of any group is stereotyping and can be dangerous because you will invariably misjudge people who are nothing like the stereotype that you created. The misjudgment will lead to a lifetime of REgress instead of PROgress. You will sever relationships with people instead of trying to meet each individual and judge each by their character.

Adult example: Recently the news has been filled with loud, angry citizens shouting that this is not the country they grew up in which has also been uttered by Sean Hannity and who knows who else. My simple comment to these people is "the United States, like societies everywhere, change. The past was not some utopian dream world where everything was perfect. Do I have to mention these obvious facts: segregation, Vietnam War, Korean War, World War II, Great Depression, etc... Life is a struggle in all time periods. Open up some history books, hell, watch the History Channel and you may catch a glimpse of the hard times that have come before.

Both are examples of people with misconceptions and both seem unwilling to look more deeply into their perceptions of people in the first case and the past in the latter. I will continue to try and change misconceptions in my students. As for the adults, I fear the work is much more difficult.