Not a time to blur reality with religion
Each day victims of hurricane Katrina proclaim their faith in God and their reliance on prayer as reasons for their survival. Following 9/11 there was a resurgence in religion in the US, driven both by the insecurity of American people and an administration tied closely to the religious right. With the growth of faith-based groups under Bush, Christian charitable organizations will form the backbone of support for Katrina survivors. Religion will play a large role in the recovery of areas destroyed by Katrina and today many Christian priests chose to pray for victims of this tragedy. Muslims have also offered sympathy for the plight of survivors. Alternatively, some Israeli media outlets are claiming that Katrina is the wrath of God brought on by Bush's support for the withdrawal from Gaza. A senior Kuwaiti official wrote a letter claiming that Katrina represented "the wind of Allah" and quoted the Koran as a predictor of future disaster in the US, "The disaster will keep striking the unbelievers for what they have done, or it will strike areas close to their territory, until the promise of Allah comes to pass, for, verily, Allah will not fail in His promise."
A core concept of Judeo-Christian belief is "love thy neighbor as thyself". Does anyone not feel that this country let down the poorest amongst us in Mississippi and Louisiana? Mississippi is the poorest state in the union, New Orleans the poorest city. By ignoring their plight we allowed this catastrophe to occur. We will blame the President, congress, the governor of Louisiana, FEMA and the department of homeland security, but as citizens of the United States and neighbors to the people of Louisiana we should bear some of the responsibility. Instead of turning to God and faith for comfort and security it's time to face some reality. This is a time to push faith aside and embrace a secular debate on poverty and race in this country.
Bush is going to talk a lot about the importance of faith and generosity in the coming weeks. Many Americans will be galvanized by his call to arms and give assistance to survivors. These people will then go on with their lives placated by that self-righteous emotion associated with acts of benevolence. But this isn't enough, not nearly enough. As a population we need to address racism and poverty, the relationship between them and the fundamental causes. This is not a partisan argument they are issues we have to address as a country. Black people were slaves in this country, then they were afforded rights, now they are they poorest amongst us. This issue isn't going away and religion shouldn't be used to blur the debate.
A core concept of Judeo-Christian belief is "love thy neighbor as thyself". Does anyone not feel that this country let down the poorest amongst us in Mississippi and Louisiana? Mississippi is the poorest state in the union, New Orleans the poorest city. By ignoring their plight we allowed this catastrophe to occur. We will blame the President, congress, the governor of Louisiana, FEMA and the department of homeland security, but as citizens of the United States and neighbors to the people of Louisiana we should bear some of the responsibility. Instead of turning to God and faith for comfort and security it's time to face some reality. This is a time to push faith aside and embrace a secular debate on poverty and race in this country.
Bush is going to talk a lot about the importance of faith and generosity in the coming weeks. Many Americans will be galvanized by his call to arms and give assistance to survivors. These people will then go on with their lives placated by that self-righteous emotion associated with acts of benevolence. But this isn't enough, not nearly enough. As a population we need to address racism and poverty, the relationship between them and the fundamental causes. This is not a partisan argument they are issues we have to address as a country. Black people were slaves in this country, then they were afforded rights, now they are they poorest amongst us. This issue isn't going away and religion shouldn't be used to blur the debate.
posted by mochi at 5:39 PM
9 Comments:
How does one fight poverty, Mochi?
-Jack
From my friend, Thomas Sowell:
The physical devastation caused by hurricane Katrina has painfully revealed the moral devastation of our times that has led to mass looting in New Orleans, assaults on people in shelters, the raping of girls, and shots being fired at helicopters that are trying to rescue people.
Forty years ago, an electric grid failure plunged New York and other northeastern cities into a long blackout. But law and order prevailed. Ordinary citizens went to intersections to direct traffic. People helped each other. After the blackout was over, this experience left many people with an upbeat spirit about their fellow human beings.
Another blackout in New York, years later, was much uglier. And what has been happening now in New Orleans is uglier still. Is there a trend here?
Fear, grief, desperation or despair would be understandable in people whose lives have been devastated by events beyond their control. Regret might be understandable among those who were warned to evacuate before the hurricane hit but who chose to stay. Yet the word being heard from those on the scene is "angry."
That may be a clue, not only to the breakdown of decency in New Orleans, but to a wider degeneration in American society in recent decades.
Why are people angry? And at whom?
Apparently they are angry at government officials for not having rescued them sooner, or taken care of them better, or for letting law and order break down.
No doubt the inevitable post mortems on this tragic episode will turn up many cases where things could have been done better. But who can look back honestly at his own life without seeing many things that could have been done better?
Just thinking about all the mistakes you have made over a lifetime can be an experience that is humbling, if not humiliating.
When all is said and done, government is ultimately just human beings -- politicians, judges, bureaucrats. Maybe the reason we are so often disappointed with them is that they have over-promised and we have been gullible enough to believe them.
Government cannot solve all our problems, even in normal times, much less during a catastrophe of nature that reminds man how little he is, despite all his big talk.
The most basic function of government, maintaining law and order, breaks down when floods or blackouts paralyze the system.
During good times or bad, the police cannot police everybody. They can at best control a small segment of society. The vast majority of people have to control themselves.
That is where the great moral traditions of a society come in -- those moral traditions that it is so hip to sneer at, so cute to violate, and that our very schools undermine among the young, telling them that they have to evolve their own standards, rather than following what old fuddy duddies like their parents tell them.
Now we see what those do-it-yourself standards amount to in the ugliness and anarchy of New Orleans.
In a world where people flaunt their "independence," their "right" to disregard moral authority, and sometimes legal authority as well, the tragedy of New Orleans reminds us how utterly dependent each one of us is for our very lives on millions of other people we don't even see.
Thousands of people in New Orleans will be saved because millions of other people they don't even know are moved by moral obligations to come to their rescue from all corners of this country. The things our clever sophisticates sneer at are ultimately all that stand between any of us and utter devastation.
Any of us could have been in New Orleans. And what could we have depended on to save us? Situational ethics? Postmodern philosophy? The media? The lawyers? The rhetoric of the intelligentsia?
No, what we would have to depend on are the very things that are going to save the survivors of hurricane Katrina, the very things that clever people are undermining.
New Orleans can be rebuilt and the levees around it shored up. But can the moral levees be shored up, not only in New Orleans but across America?
Of course the people of New Orleans are immoral and brought this on themselves. I'm was blinded but now I see the light. What a crock of shit.
Wow. That quote is pretty awful, Jack. I get the point that our values seem to be ebbing, but man, his points are all over the place.
Speaking about morals that...
our very schools undermine among the young, telling them that they have to evolve their own standards, rather than following what old fuddy duddies like their parents tell them
What the crap? Schools undermine morals!? It seems as though he's commenting on the absence of religion in school, not morals. My wife and Mochi's are both teachers and they try like hell every day to teach morals. That paragraph is a repugnant slap in the face to all hard working teachers. Thomas Sowell should be ashamed of himself.
Mochi,
I think you miss the point. Evidently you missed Thomas' opening paragraph altogether:
"The physical devastation caused by hurricane Katrina has painfully revealed the moral devastation of our times that has led to mass looting in New Orleans, assaults on people in shelters, the raping of girls, and shots being fired at helicopters that are trying to rescue people."
The points Thomas makes are undeniable. They are points that many of us blacks are beginning to understand about the true oppression of our race. My people have been hobbled by white elitists and black opportunists. We have been held back by the likes of the "elitist" left who pretend to be so concerned about our welfare, yet drown in their own condescention. Its not about our advancement, its about promising us things to get our vote. The current liberal is not liberal at all. They are political opportunists who exploit the ignorance of many of us in order to garnish votes. Yes, we are used, and used badly. One thing I will note is that I have rarely been looked down upon by many conservatives or Republicans while I have been by many "liberals" or Democrats who think of themselves as self-proclaimed saviors. Well, I rarely see liberals put their own money where their mouth is--most often wanting to use other people and their money to advance their own agenda. I realize there are some out there who genuinely want to help, but they need to start using their heads and figure out what really helps vs. what just continues the problem. My race is learning this, slowly but assuredly we are beginning to climb out of the dependence and slavery that has been self-imposed on us after the emancipation
proclamation. We are beginning to empower ourselves to become as much or more than those who would continue to use us. N.O. is a corrupt and backward city. It is a poor city that has accepted the white-man handouts for decades. It is a violent cesspool of ignorance. No wonder it is largely poor. Pardon me, I hate to pull the race card, but you white people are clueless as to what really faces the American black man, and many of the "ivory tower" policies have not helped us, but hurt us. My family, my friends, all of us have risen to our current state through the adoption of good morals, a respect for law and order, and a propensity toward hard work and sacrifice. As we say down here, "no one gave me nothin'!". Mochi, your Democrat Party is in decline because they value power over empowering. At one time they didn't. There are no real Democrats left, or if there are, their voices are buried under the cacophany of useless chatter. We see, we live what you white people pretend to care about. The difference though, Mochi, is that we African Americans are beginning to wake up, while the left Americans are going to sleep. I know Jesse well. He is from my hometown. He is also the consumate opportunist. The likes of he and Al are becoming extinct as we begin to see what has truly held us back as a race.
Smorg, I headed up a political action committee fighting "outcome based education" in Pennsylvania. I know its aims, I also know its agenda. It has become infused within our school systems, and at its basis is moral relativism and social conditioning. I have no idea what your wife or Mochi's teaches, but I do see the failure of the public school system in many avenues. I would be happy to discuss with you behavioral/discipline issues in the public school system as well as its academic standing internationally.
I guess all I'm looking for from my comment (can't speak for Mochi) is exactly what morals our schools are undermining. When/how are children told "they have to evolve their own standards, rather than following what old fuddy duddies like their parents tell them"?
That line doesn't make any sense to me.
Thanks
Ah, I understand. I think that what Thomas meant was the whole outcome based agenda. It has often been the aims of the nanny state to replace parenting in the child's life. Smorg, I was not disparaging teachers in any way. God knows many of them have tough jobs and many go way beyond the call of duty. What most don't realize, is our current public school system is based on Nazi Germany's model. The underlying goal is to turn students first and foremost into "good citizens of the state". In order to do that, the education process becomes one of social engineering. If the state fancies itself "atheistic" for instance, then the goals of the socialist education system work toward those aims. If there are "environmental aims", then there is a large emphasis on environmental empathy. This isn't conspiracy theory or anything, it is just evidenced in what the U.S. Department of Education promotes.
Another good example would be the recent "tolerance" education. The homosexual lobby is strong in Congress and it therefore gets promoted from the ground up by working its way into the education system. Therefore, children are given "Tolerance Bookbags" and course materials specifically engineered toward tolerating and accepting homosexual people/behavior. As it is not scientifically proven whether homosexuality is a medical condition, a genetic predisposition or a moral abberation, the education system has made up its mind about how it wants to approach it and has gone about it the way it wants to. This is manifest in many issues. (I am not critiquing homosexuality here, just making the observation).
The education system was largely responsible for helping to dispel a lot of racism too, so the outcomes are not always wrong--but there is no denying the social engineering component. (BTW, I do not currently view homosexuality as being commiserate with being black. I don't "do" black, whereas homosexuals engage in a particular activity. What one does and what one is are two different things to me--until science proves me otherwise)
Getting back on track, in the example above, though, in order to advance the notion that homosexuality is normal and that people who are should be accepted, a condition of moral relativism has to be brought about. In other words, "what is right for you, may not be right for me, etc." So it goes about trying to undermine moral absolutes which are often established by parents and families. In other words, you have to convince someone else that the act of homosexuality is not "wrong". There are many people who feel that cheating on a spouse is wrong, sex outside of marriage is wrong, sex with animals is wrong, etc., and these same people often think that homosexual sex is wrong. There error arises when you try to convince someone that thinks something is immoral that it isn't. Instead of that, one should be teaching good sound principles of mutual respect and of course the golden rule. If we stuck with this, then we would not have to convince anyone to treat homosexuals with respect and dignity, or anyone else for that matter.
Outcome based education also gives license to a variety of behaviors that are counter-productive to the welfare of the individual. A good example would be a "hip" white school administration that decides that they will endorse and embrace "ebonics" as a form of communication. I don't know where you work, Smorg, but no one on the executive level here communicates in ebonics nor accepts it as a means of communication. To accept it in our children limits their chance at success in a real world.
Thomas is one of the brightest economic minds I know. He also has his finger on the pulse of black America, and cares deeply for it. I have seen him kick many a kid in the "victim mentality" backside and set them up for lifelong success.
Smorg, like all of us, Thomas sometimes paints with a broad brush (geez, I have to CONSTANTLY remind myself not to, because I often do), but he means well. I apologize too for a bit of overreaction earlier-- I should not 'blog when tired, and the effects of this weekend are heavy both physically and mentally.
Know you guys always mean well.
Yours,
-Jack
I suppose this comment string is getting pretty far off topic, but I'll address one thing:
There error arises when you try to convince someone that thinks something is immoral that it isn't. Instead of that, one should be teaching good sound principles of mutual respect and of course the golden rule.
That's exactly what the teacher's I know do. Exactly. Not one of them that I know tries to change students' morals. They simply teach universal respect. That's what "tolerance" is all about too. It seems strange to make an issue out of tolerance.
Also, with regard to people "doing" homosexuality, I disagree. Being homosexual (almost always a predisposed condition, like heterosexuality) may lead to "doing" things, but it doesn't have to. Besides, what people "do" is their business if it isn't hurting anyone.
Being homosexual, in my experience, is the same as being black, Jewish, or Chinese. It's simply how the person was born.
Smorg,
I don't pretend to know the ins and outs of homosexuality. I have read tons of information, but nothing that affirms it as genetic or otherwise. Being a purist when it comes to science, I am unwilling to say either way. If homosexuality is a genetic condition, then I would be willing to consider it differently. Till then, I view sexual appetites largely as one of choice--pedophilia, necrophilia, bestiality, etc. Of course I may be wrong and it wouldnt be the first time. Of course, as you said, this is way off topic. Originally what I was saying was that homosexuality which some consider a realm of morality is taught (in other words some people think the homosexual act is a sin) vs. being black (what sin does one commit to be black?). I understand where you are coming from, but just wanted to give you examples of where I think many others come from and are offended.
Good discussion, though, Smorg.
Our schedule has changed and we are leaving tomorrow, so I will get back to you guys when I am back on Monday. I hope to blog in the hotel if I can.
Till then,
-Jack
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