Tag Archives: dehumanization

Living Ornaments

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Posted by on in Assistance, collaborating, Community, Inspiration, Personal Values, Social, Spiritual, Striving

May 21, 2023- Who are we, to one another? I know that I am an inspiration to some, a guidepost to others and a nuisance to maybe a few. There are many who are beacons of light and warmth to me; others who represent the bar of achievement-my consciences, quite definitely, and a few, very few, who are the darkness, against which I can only gauge my own light.

Forms of taking advantage of one another have existed since mankind first formed social groups. Slavery and indentured servitude, differing form one another, only in degree, are themselves as old as warfare. The commercialization of those practices came later, of course, and set in motion genetic memory and social attitudes that persist in several areas of society today. Crimes against persons have also likely stemmed from the very mindset that has warfare and conflict as necessary evils.

Viewing others as mere ornaments, or appendages, to oneself is arguably the basest form of narcissism. None of us exists as the be all, the end all, of the human race-or of Creation. Yet, when we stumble, the legitimacy of other people’s existence is called into question-and even if this happens to a minute degree, the effect on the one doing the questioning is just as nefarious as the effect it has on the intended victims. No one who rapes, kills or even beats, another person can be said to go off into a blissful sunset-unscathed. No one who dehumanizes a group of other people, or a segment thereof, can truly feel honourable and blessed among humanity, much less in the sight of the Divine.

If we are to feel ornamental at all, let it be as living signs of the Gem of Wisdom.

The Price of Cancellation

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Posted by on in Community, distraction issues, Historical, impediments, Personal Values, Social, Spiritual, Striving

August 17, 2019-

I read, this morning, about Sarah Silverman’s having had a role canceled, by a director who was furious that she had done a Blackface skit-sometime in the 1990’s.  It turns out that the skit was a parody of someone else doing Blackface, and that it was intended as a cautionary message to people, not to do likewise.  Undeterred, the Red Queen of a director maintained the ‘majesty’ of that decision.

We have run amok, with the notion that an offense, however real or imagined, is sufficient to remove a person from one’s social circle, employment or from society itself, for that matter.  Criticizing a move by the Israeli government, apparently makes one an anti-Semite (never mind that Arabs, who usually end up wearing that label, are themselves Semites, as are, of course, Jews).  Having a discourse with one’s political or philosophical opposites makes one “dangerous to society” (I’ve seen this behaviour from both the political Right and Left.)  Now, comes the film-making community, with the search, flashlight in hand, for ANYTHING in a performer’s past that violates a narrow code of acceptable conduct.

People, rightfully, note signs and behaviours of late, that remind them of pre-World War II Germany and Italy.  These do need to be called out.  Case in point: A person driving a truck into a crowd of protesters is NOT exercising his rights, under the law.  At the very least, he is acting as a vigilante,  At worst, he is committing an act of domestic terror.

Dismissing those, with whom we disagree, from the realm of existence, though. is a slippery slope.  We have a prime example of this:  The French Revolution.  It was a far more complicated mess, of course, but the dehumanization of those who are of opposite persuasions  almost always ends with the opposite of what was originally intended.

So, I think of my present life.  There are two people who have verbally threatened me, over the past three years.  I have taken steps to ensure they are of no further consequence in my life- but they are certainly free to live their own lives, without my hectoring or interference.  I disagree, strongly, with several people on certain issues.  To carry on and try to deprive them of  life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness would be ludicrous.

We go on, and hopefully will do two things:  1. Carefully review and verify any report of a public outrage (i.e. the false report of people dousing a reporter with quick-drying cement, in Portland, several weeks ago).  2. Remind self that, in a world created by a Higher Power, one’s own likes and dislikes do not necessarily need to be indulged by the Universe.

Cancellation is always an option, and it comes with a price.