Complex Frustrations (Part I)

The world continues to revolve at such a speed that it seems just as I begin to grasp one new development – and its multiple complexities and contradictions – another one comes along that is just as demanding of my attention. I have meant to write a number of posts the last few weeks, but every time I’ve tried, the issue has either seemed so complex that more research and investigation into the influences and consequences was necessary, or I have become so emotionally involved in the subject that I forgot the reassuringly indifferent words on which this blog is based: even though things seem to be getting worse (or occasionally better), in fact history is merely repeating itself and nothing ever really changes.

 Recently, I’ve been considering a number of events and developments taking place that, at the time, seemed compelling in the new and unique challenges that present us with. They all demanded a great deal of consideration. Often, I found myself so worked up; I couldn’t find the words to properly express any of it, and so neglected writing for this blog. One issue in particular has left me feeling particularly betrayed, and I’ve wasted a lot of brainpower silently ranting to myself and dreaming up resolution scenarios, culminating in nothing other than mental exhaustion and emotional frustration.

All of the things that have been going on recently deserve in-depth review and consideration. They deserve posts of their own, but they are so numerous and so very frustrating that I cannot seem to compartmentalize enough to write about each one at any given length. So I’m going to take a page out of Cracked.com’s book here and list some of the things that have been stressing me out recently. I might return to some of them in later posts and address them as they deserve. But for the moment, the best way to calm down seems simply to get this out there. These appear in no particular order of importance, because truthfully, they are all equally apart of what is currently upsetting about the world. In the end, though, I am striving to remember the words of Dunne: that we live in a constantly revolving, rather than evolving, world.

The Green Movement’s Failure to Bloom

We’re supposed to be more environmentally friendly these days, aren’t we? Well, aren’t we? But that doesn’t seem to be the case. There’s been two stories in particular in the news lately that seems to highlight the failure of the green movement’s ability to accomplish anything of any real significance. They’re the kind of incidents where it just seems obvious that our earth is not only down for the count, but is being maliciously kicked!

The first is the story that was followed by Democracy Now! concerning the solar panels that once belonged on the roof of the White House. They were installed there during the Carter years, with the president, interestingly enough, remarking that these solar panels could be: “a curiosity, a museum piece, an example of a road not taken, or it can be just a small part of one of the greatest and most exciting adventures ever undertaken by the American people.” These solar panels were taken down during the Reagan administration and transferred to Unity College, where they remained until the second weekend in September of this year, when a group of college students, having faith in the Obama administrations professions of environmentalism, returned the panels to the White House. And President Obama declined their offer.

I think we've settled on "a road not taken." Sorry, Mr. President.

Why? What could possibly have been the reason? I would have hardly taken any effort to install them, and it would certainly have gained the president some much-needed points in popularity. This seems like such a small matter, and such a promising gesture, that to reject it seems absurd. I can understand the president currently being too busy to meet with these young activists and thank them for their efforts. But to simply reject the entire matter out of hand? “No, we don’t want to put a few solar panels on the White House! What kind of message would that be sending?” That so simple a matter – which would have had both positive PR for the administration and been a boost to the green movement – received such a response is an example of the failures of that movement to have recently gained even superficial ground.

Attached to this story is another, concerning the oil giant British Petroleum. It’s not an uncommon process to bring corporations in one some panels to assist public departments to developing their policies. So when you read that BP was involved in developing the curriculum for public schools in California, that has to be taken under consideration. And yet, does it really make any sense at all for environmental education policy to include the insights of oil companies? Aren’t we attempting to teach our children to be friendlier to the environment? My question on this matter would be: what exactly does BP bring to the table? What is it about their perspective that is necessary to include in classes on protecting and preserving the environment? I can understand – say – logging companies or fishing industries. As much as many environment activists promote protection, we need to consider conservation and proper management. Some areas can be logged, to prevent over-growth forest fires; wildlife populations need to be controlled so they do not consume the entirety of their resources. But oil companies teaching about conservation? I have a hard time picturing it.

Revision of the American Dream

Once upon a time, there was the American Dream . Supposedly, everyone knew what it was, and that they were supposed to achieve it, and there were guidelines laid out and milestones established that helped people get from where they were to where they wanted to be. This American Dream was built in the concept of what America is – as a nation, as a society, as an imagined community. The problem with this, however, is that nothing is ever always something. The America that is an ideal has never and will never exist, and attempts and/or failures to achieve that ideal have led to the reimagining of that America. If we can’t achieve the American ideal, or the America we have now doesn’t seem to be what we want it to be, we have set ourselves on a course to redefine it.

The American Dream as it was originally conceived – to quote Eddie Izzard , was to “be born in the gutter...to grow up and get all the money in the world and stick it in your ears” because you have so much wealth you can do that – no longer really applies. Neither does the American Dream of owning a house, a car, a dog, and having a wife and 2.5 ids, as it was conceived of in the post-war boom of the 1950’s. Those ideals are either no longer available to the twenty-somethings because of the economic recession, or because of a shift in social and cultural norms, no longer wanted. When we talk about spreading the American Dream overseas – a highly ironic phrase given our foreign policy – we’re bringing democracy to Third World countries. This philosophy proposes that democracy gives birth to capitalism, which will raise these countries up out of the economic dirt that our financial hegemony and cultural imperialism has subjected them to, and create a nation as great as our own. But does that American Dream even still exist? Perhaps our insistence on spreading this spirit of America overseas has ore to do with our own need for it right here at home.

Is this the American Dream?
New Orleans residents would disagree.

That would certainly explain our most recent revision of that dream which leads me into the next event I intended to write about, but which got me so worked up, I spent a week in an incomprehensible tizzy. Glenn Beck and the Rally to Restore Honor to America . I will agree with Beck on this one point and only – ever – this one point. America has lost its honor. Seemingly unbeknownst to Beck, however, it lost it long before now, and his sudden understanding of this fact has more to do with the current administration not supporting his views rather than the image of America and its belief system. Beck and his cohorts and followers are attempting to reconstruct the American Dream to suit their conception of the ideal. They are unhappy with current developments – and who wouldn’t isn’t – and while their solutions are often absurd and exclusionary, their intentions are valid. That is not to say that I in any way agree with any of the values of the Tea Party movement (which are what, exactly?). I do, however, recognize that a re-envisioning of the American Dream is taking place. And it probably needs to happen. The problem here, however, is that the wrong type of people are the ones presenting their reconceptualization of the American Dream to the masses for approval. Their's is exclusionary, and probably isolationist, which is not what we need right now.

Islamophobia

Do you remember in school reading about the Civil Rights Movement? There was something perplexing and agitating as a kid learning about practices of discrimination that are no longer prominent. When I was that age, I looked around the classroom and couldn’t fathom not sitting in a room where Whites, Latinos, Blacks and Asians mixed together. Sure, we had our differences, but most of us now in our mid-twenties grew up when discrimination – if not absent from our lives – at least was not openly encouraged. As a new school year starts, I watch the Muslim children in our neighborhood walk to school next to their Dominican and Jewish classmates, and wonder if the same lessons in diversity and tolerance are taught in today’s New York classrooms.

Considering so many of us were raised with an awareness of historical events like the Civil Rights Movement, the holocaust, the Rwanda Genocide – and those are just the big ones that just about everyone is familiar with – you would think that the societal aggravation galvanized by politicians and the news media against Muslims would result in a sort of mass déjà vu. There have been a number of incidents that occurred over the summer that should have us raising our eyebrows in both surprise and concern, and reigniting in us that same awkward bewilderment we experienced as school children attempting to understand historical circumstances of discrimination. And shouldn’t we have learned by now to be more wary of the shouting heads on television or the slick professions of sympathies offered up by politicians, especially with midterm elections fast approaching.

We need to ask ourselves the question: why aren’t we, a supposedly tolerant society, more concerned when we hear about some of the recent slander or hate crimes taking place against Muslims?

The Tennessee Lt. Gov referred to Islam as a cult, and now thousands of websites have sprung up denouncing one of the world’s largest religions as a cult. Usually this term conjures up images of Kool-Aid-assisted suicide, not millions of people worshiping the same god as the Judeo-Christian faithful. The Tea Party, with their mostly absurd beliefs and their obsessive following would be better categorized as a cult, with individuals like Glenn Beck as their leaders. As an example, consider the Restoring Honor rally. I’m actually reminded of a quote (and I’ll tell you in a minute where it came from):

There are illiterate men among them who, ignorant of the Scriptures, know nothing but wishful fancies and vague conjecture. Woe betide those that write the scriptures with their own hands and then declare: ‘This is from God,’ in order to gain some paltry end.

There was further slander of Muslims during the 9^th anniversary of September 11^th, when a right-wing lawmaker, Geert Wilders from Holland who opposes Muslim immigration remarked “ We must draw a line in the sand, so that New York, rooted in Dutch tolerance, will never become New Mecca.” The hypocrisy of this statement if, firstly, obvious: if the Dutch are so tolerant , why are you not only opposing the Islam center, but also attempting to deport the Muslims in Holland? And secondly, historic: if you believe the national myth that America was founded by pilgrims seeking religious freedom and tolerance (some of whom were fleeing the Dutch!) then shouldn’t that require tolerance of immigrants by contemporary Americans? You know, since we’re so enthralled with our traditional values.

This lack of rationality continues in the proposal that no more mosques should be built in America. Regardless of Islamophobic policies, the population in Muslim communities is going to continue to grow, and denouncing their right to worship by withholding the right to build mosques in areas of increased population is going to generate a sense of isolation, marginality, and eventually, homegrown anger against American policies. Essentially, we would be breeding anti-American sentiment right here, without the need for expensive overseas flights to the Middle East. Denying people their right to worship is not only unconstitutional, it’s hypocritical. If you’re going to taut American values, shouldn’t that mean you have to uphold them as well?

Then there can only be can be categorized as hate crimes, and yet have not been charged as such: the stabbing of the Muslim New York taxi driver, the drunk bursting into a Queen’s mosque  and peeing all over the prayer rugs. And nobody is about to forget Terry Jones’s Burn A Koran Day, in which a man threatened to burn the holy scriptures of a religion. How are these not classified as hate crimes? Is that how complacent we have become where discrimination is concerned?

I decided recently to attempt reading the Koran, hoping it would provide me with insight, if not into the Islamic religion, at least into the culture of a society or nation which bases their value system on it. That's where the above quote came from. It has been very interesting, but also very tough to tackle, mostly because the majority of the text is composed of repeating lines that warn the reader to both fear god’s wrath and to trust in his mercy. The text lacks subject coherency, jumping from topic to topic without any real structure. The Koran is similar to the New and Old Testaments in that it relies upon the construction of an Other, the non-believer, against which to pitch the believer. There are a number of contradictions, but overall, I’ve found it a rather fascinating – if slow – read. And while, yes, there are many passages in it which Terry and his followers – and myself, in some cases – disagree with in principle, there’s really nothing in the Koran that makes it worthy as kindling. The entire event smacks of publicity, rather than actual moral indignation.

This post is getting a little long, so I’m going to leave off here and return to the other events later. Please feel free to leave any comments, or address the questions I’ve posed here. This has helped to focus my frustration, at least concerning these events. The larger, more demanding concerns are still to come.

What the pic says.