The dark stain of eugenics...
Think for yourself...
As we all struggle to articulate how to communicate our thoughts in these dark days...here's a start (emphasis on start--by no means complete) to my thinking...
NOTE: If you rush to judgement or assumption without reading the entire bit (or what is yet to be written)...it will be difficult to dialogue.
If you'd like to have a proper chat...let's meet for coffee like humans and look one another in the eye with mutual respect and love as fellow brothers or sisters (I'm ok if we disagree--that's normal and this is life).
So, for what it's worth...
The thick black ooze of eugenics (both physiological and ideological) is beginning to seep into all of us.
It's evil stench is damning and dangerous...not just for some...for all.
We are all -- all of us -- a part of the problem.
And we are all -- all of us -- a part of the solution.
I've seen, traveled and worked in more than 29 countries on 5 continents (more than some and less than a LOT of other folks), over 4 years I've lived and worked in 10 countries on the continent of Africa. I lived in Europe for 3 years and the Middle East for over a year.
I've seen a lot of the best and worst in humanity and I've seen a lot of sh**.
My world view is that evil is evil--past and present--everywhere and always...no matter how it comes or who it comes from.
My wife is black...or she's white--depends on who wants to give her credit for being a blend...it's ridiculous how some who hate (any and all categories) only wish things to be black and white -- zero sum...that's not how life works. She's beautiful.
I have a step son (hers) who is an African-American blend...a son (mine) who is just like me (I'm a 3rd generation Swedish blend) and 2 daughters who are a beautiful African-American-Swedish blend (ours together).
Nothing happens in a vacuum. Mainstream and special interest narratives break down really fast when you can acknowledge evil for who and what it is but at the same time ask mature questions about a progressive (vice regressive looting and rioting) future for all of "we the people."
As long as there is an "other" there is an enemy.
If there is no "other" there is no enemy.
What if there was no "other" and we saw one another as equals out of mutual respect for our common humanity?
It's a legitimate question and if it's not...why not? Keep reading before you respond.
Differences are just that--differences. Our diversity is what makes this an incredibly interesting and beautiful planet--a planet we should celebrate.
I see color (ALL of them) -- and THEY are beautiful. I see religions -- and they are super interesting when practiced according to their "books" and not the twisted emotions of radicals (within all or any religions). I see gender, sexual preference, political ideology etc... and etc...
Some people, when they say "color blind" or "category blind" -- that's what they are trying to say, they just don't know how to articulate it nor how it sounds to some.
If we were all "pistachio" (one homogeneous flavor of humanity) it would be a very boring and uninteresting planet. The 7 wonders of the ancient world would be the same: stupid and uninteresting.
Differences are to be acknowledge and celebrated, not to be used as excuses to hate, show contempt or show violence against a fellow human being.
If you really think there are differences in the categories (physical or ideological) that make some tribes superior to others you are on a path that damns humanity to self-destruction...read next:
Anyone who believes there is measurable difference between a black, brown, white (or any blend) of human, Muslim, Christian, Catholic, Jew, Buddhist (all religions), Atheist, Chinese, Italian, French, Australian (all countries) gay, straight, left, right, center (ALL ideologies and all categories no matter their flavor) is traveling the same dark, sinister f**king evil path of eugenics that Adolph Hitler and Joseph Goebbels sped to the Holocaust.
If this continues to become a contest for "who hates worse" or "who has been oppressed the most" no one wins. We must condemn evil and seek justice for sure--and EACH and EVERY victim of ANY kind of evil deserves equal dignity and justice.
If we continue to stereotype entire categories and entire countries based on the words and actions of one or even a few (who are always in the minority of any category)--how far back do we trace the evil that led to the evil that led to the evil that led to today?
It's a legitimate question and if it's not--why not?
For some it traces back to an apple on a tree...and for others it traces back to whatever beginning of mankind (none of us today were present at either) we might conceive--doesn't matter because evil, hate and contempt have lived along side us since "we" began.
Regardless, you can't do it (trace evil) in a vacuum...it doesn't work.
It's f**king evil no matter who harbors Hate or Contempt for an "other" -- even over a disagreement of any kind. You won't agree on where to go to dinner tonight with half your friends--do you hate them for it?
What are you willing to hate for?
What are you willing to commit or condone violence for?
Only when all -- all of us -- can drop the stones of hatred and contempt for "the other" will we ever get past this.
I've written a very simple book about this, lectured at the U.S. Army's National Defense University, the U.S. Dept. of Energy, Washington D.C.'s Busboys and Poets, and a multitude of middle and elementary schools in N. Virginia about this...and am (as a Christian) co-authoring a sequel with my Muslim friend and brother titled "What if there was no 'Other'?" about this.
We are the problem...and we are the solution.
More to follow...
Peace.
