Deadly Medicine

I have talked about going to the Texas Tech Museum to see the traveling exhibit "Deadly Medicine" http://www.ushmm.org/museum/exhibit/traveling/details/index.php?content=deadly_medicine&type=current from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.  I went today to hear a guided tour.  The tour was okay, and then I went through part of the exhibit. I did not complete it due to time constraints, and am hoping to return, maybe even tomorrow, to complete it. There is a LOT of information in this fairly small exhibit. It is in Lubbock until August 7, 2011, so there is time. And, it travels elsewhere around the country, including Boston.

The sadness of this exhibit is that we do not learn:  since World War II, there have been so many incidents of genocide in Europe, Asia and Africa.  The United States was slow to desegregate the Afro-Americans, and even slower to elevate the Native Americans to a respected group.  We still have racism, and we still have prejudice, lessons we have not learned from our own history and the history of the world.  We are trying. I can not say how much better we are doing. Many of the women in one of my book discussion clubs thinks we are treating Muslims much the same.  In many ways, I agree. 

I think we have some personal and political hysteria that every Muslim is bad, and we are vulnerable to attack from them.  Lubbock has a mosque, and on multiple occasions, it has been vandalized. http://lubbockonline.com/stories/102606/loc_102606030.shtml The community as a whole despairs at these attacks, but obviously, they have happened.  Many of the larger Christian churches in the community, after 9-11-2001, spent Sunday School time studying Islam.  That is such an enlightened response to that attack, it made me proud. 

I have learned some about Islam as many prisoners are Islamic. And, I am just interested in being more aware and open minded, if I can be, and education helps.

So, I am grateful to be able to view the "Deadly Medicine" display. I am grateful to learn about more about the horrors I of which I already knew, so maybe I can be more mindful if dignity, respect, civil and human rights as I deal with disenfranchised people in the course of my life.  I am grateful to keep alive the message we must work to stop people from going there again. 

Lazlo Toth and Corporate America

In the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s I frequently wrote letters to corporate American, generally with complaints, but sometimes with praise regarding the way they conducted business.  I was a fan of Saturday Night Live, and the character by Don Novello, Father Guido Sarducci. At some point in time, he started writing letters to corporate and government individuals, using the name of Lazlo Toth, with some success of response http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Novello.  I told a supervisor about my penchant for writing to corporations about various things, and she turned me on to Lazlo Toth. He has a few books. I already own a couple, and am ordering another.

I do not write to corporate American with the frequency I used to write, but sometimes, I still do let corporate America know what I am thinking.  Maybe I need to do more of that.  (Maybe we all do.)

Most recently, I wrote to the people who market the Acura http://www.acura.com/ModelLanding.aspx?model=TL. Their marketing campaign calls the car "aggressive."  I think we have too much aggression in society, and touting a car as aggressive will only add to our ills. An aggressive car begs for the driver to engage in road rage with no abandon, and no regard for consequences. 

I have sent a snail mail letter to the car company about my concerns.  But really, folks, are they not smart enough and wise enough to realize that advertising a car as aggressive is inviting road rage.  Are they not smart enough to realize that someone being sued for road rage will blame their advertisement as the precipitating or influencing factor?

The Good Soldier

My niece told me about a video depicting the story of veterans and their understanding about war. The Good Soldier  http://www.thegoodsoldier.com/.  It was hard to watch, but it was important to watch.

I would refer you to the post of 4/30/10 called "A Sickening Sensation" about my reactions to discussing the war, and the comments who would not talk about their experience in war.  We need people to talk about their experiences in war. We need to face the horrors of war so someday, maybe we can find alternatives.

My niece is trying to find alternatives: Her service in Habitat for Humanity, International, for example is an alternative to military service.

I am not saying we should not support our military.  Not only should we support our individual military members, we should so support them that they have what they need when they are in service, and then support them when they return from service.  But the biggest support we can offer to our military is to pray for peace.

The biggest support we can offer to our military, and our country is to work for solutions that recognize this is a small world, one world in which we are all together.  The sooner we understand that our well being is inter-related to the well being of every other individual on this earth, and our efforts to take care of each other will accomplish more than our efforts to dominate each other, the sooner we will learn that our fight is one for survival, not for destruction.

Thanks to my neice for sharing.

A Sickening Sensation

We had a gathering at work today, and the talk turned to the various ways our country shows support for the military. And there are many, personal, and corporate...It is amazing and touching.  It made my heart swell.  And it makes me proud to be an American!

Talk then turned to the difference between the way it is now, and how very different it was during the Vietnam War Era.  We talked about the civil rights climate, the political climate, the way minorities were funneled into the military, the way rank vs. soldiers were treated and behaved.
We also talked about how the returning soldiers were not supported or respected.

I am typing this now quite calmly, but as we discussed these things, I had a visceral reaction that included a churning stomach and weakness in my knees... The physical symptoms persisted for several hours, including an upset stomach for quite some time.

It was amazing to me that the younger members of our group did not have a sense of the political and emotional climate of the times.  But, I am sure I did not have that sense of the 50s or 40s or the Depression Era...

I had no idea I would react like that... I do not think of that era often, and I guess I know why.



Years ago, my 6th grade class asked a member to ask his father if he would talk to us about his experiences on Iwo Jima, when we studied World War II.  His response was there are some things you do not talk about.  When my uncle, who was in the Navy during World War II, was asked about what he did in the war, he would say "I went to England."  After his death, we found a commendation letter for his efforts during D-Day, signed by Admiral Nimitz. 

I have to think it is true, that real soldiers do not want war.  They know the horrors of war.

Violence

My Facebook had a comment about someone deserving a punch in the face.  I returned a comment that no matter what, no one ever deserves a punch in the face.  A responder made a comment about not taking life too seriously.

Violence is serious.  Accurate or not, I spent almost three years reading a graffitied quote in a bus stop on the Cornell campus:  "There are many things worth dying for, but nothing worth killing for" attributed to social protester, Rev. Daniel Berrigan, SJ.

When I find myself wanting to extract justice by anger and violence, I remind myself of that quote.   For years, I stared at the business end of a six shooter in the Lubbock Sunday newspaper, as part of an advertisement for a PHARMACY (no less.)   It insulted me...I finally wrote to the pharmacy and expressed my distress at the violence that ad bespoke.  It disappeared. 

I understand why that advertisement lived in Lubbock:  When I moved here in the late 1970's, most pick up trucks had gun racks that were loaded with guns... Even teenagers drove pickups with loaded gun racks...  Now, the pick up is a suburban mama vehicle, and less likely to have a gun rack.

I work in a psychiatric prison hospital.  I have learned a lot about life from the patients I work with. One thing I have learned is that violence begets violence. 

Many of my patients grew up in homes in which domestic violence is rampant... The model of solving any problem is violence. The way to gain dominance is violence.  Violence and revenge were the role model given to these men. How can they resolve problems any other way?

In the neighborhood, police are the enemy.  Problems with authority are the rule... The system did not work for the people in the neighborhood, so there was no using the system.  Everything was done outside the system. Chain of command was in the gang, not in established authority. There was no help, no relief, no uplift from established society... Police and authority were the enemy. Violence ruled.

So, violence becomes the norm.  And people become desensitized to violence... People are held hostage to violence, while the violator gets his way, in an effort to appease the violator. People give in to violators, in hopes the people will stay safe.  And the more violence there is, the more common it becomes, the more desensitized people are...

I worry about this because there is so much violence in our public media:  movies, news, TV shows, books. People learn that violence is a common way of life, acceptable behavior... So, a punch in the face, if well deserved, is okay... I am sorry, no matter how well deserved, a punch in the face is not acceptable...

And, the folks on Facebook were offended that I took exception to their comments about violence, about a "punch in the face." (Made in jest?)  Are we that crass, that unfeeling, that uncaring, that willing to subject people to violence that we think comments about violence are funny?

West Side Story

I am watching West Side Story http://www.westsidestory.com/ on TV tonight. It was made in 1961, based on the 1950s play. It is a favorite movie of mine.  Every time I see it, I am struck at how timely it still is.   Of course, it has been timely since Shakespeare wrote Romeo and Juliet. 

The love story is not lost on me... But if I focused on the love story, I would cry throughout the entire movie.

When I watch West Side Story two themes run through my mind:   The first is that there are so many places in the movie where an intervention would have made things turn out different. And at each instance, I cringe.... The corruption and prejudice of the police, the stupidity of the social worker, the passiveness of the store owner, the lying, angry, and vengeful acts. The bullheadedness at the rumble that something violent HAD to happen.

The second is how timely the theme is:  We have gang problems.  We have prejudice problems. We have inter-racial problems. True, they are less divisive and more subtle than 40 years ago.  But, They are still there.

I once watched the movie with a friend. He had not paid attention to the words of "America"  The irony, sarcasm, and juxtaposition of the have and have nots was not something he had noticed...

I also cringe at the "Officer Krupke" song... This is a classic rendition of passing the buck. From one professional to another.  And, frankly, it is still happening today.

Super Bowl Ads

Note:

I started this post shortly after the Superbowl, and found it the other day. I am upset with myself I never finished nor posted it....till now....., July 10, 2007

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Of course, one of the big draws of the Superbowl, especially for those of us who are casual football fans, or whose favorite team did not reach the game, is the new advertisements that are released for the Superbowl. This year, although as usual, I did not watch closely, I noticed a disturbing trend in the ads. I thought they were distasteful, exploitative, violent. Monday morning, there was a column in the New York Times about the nature and tenor of the ads. The column suggests that the ads reflect the war, and comments about the Coca Cola Hilltop ad, that wanted to "teach the world to sing, in perfect harmony," which was a response to war. But, the message was not anti-war this time; I think the author, Stuart Eliot, is saying that the violence in the ads was a way of condoning the war, or at least the violence was a reflection of the turbulence and violence in our society.. He writes that the ads are not patriotic, but they may reflect the toll of war. I am not so sure I agree with him...

I do not think we can blame the violence and disrespect in the ads on the war. I think we can blame the violence and disrespect of the military on the same thing on which we can blame the violence and disrespect of the advertising community. the lack of good moral values and good moral leadership.

I am not a fan of any Bush administration. But during the administration of George H. Bush, (Bush 1, as the news media likes to refer to him) I believe Operation Desert Storm had a goal and a plan. I believe the leadership had an understanding of respect for human life, and respected the values of the citizens of the countries involved. (I think of how much was made of "educating" the troops about the Arab culture, the taboos of women in public, the taboos against alcohol, for example, in Desert Storm. It would appear, this time around, the local culture was snubbed and violated, not respected.) War is violent, and violent deeds were done. But I think the atrocities were minimal. And, the war did not demolish the structure and fiber of a country, leaving chaos behind...

Not so this time, under the leadership of George W. Bush. There is no moral compass, no moral leadership. The war actions, from the beginning, have been fraught with atrocious and criminal behaviors

Which brings me back to the nature and tenor of the Superbowl ads. We accept violence when we become desensitized to it, when we do not speak out against it. Making violence funny makes it less meaningful, and less dangerous, more acceptable.

I remember a Star Trek that found a society that was waging a very long war. People were taught that when their time was up, they just turned themselves in. The pain and anguish of war was eliminated. Captain Kirk made them return to the pain and anguish of war, because THAT is the true motivation to stop war.

Okay, so were these ads a message about violence, and the need to stop it? No, these ads made violence and disrespect cute, fun. These were not anti-war messages, but, in my mind, they were condone violence messages. They made me uncomfortable, to think that main stream America thinks violence is funny...

Maybe I see too much hate and violence, self mutilation and self loathing to think violence is funny. I know that many of the patients I deal with every day in a prison grew up in a world of violence, chaos, lack of social order. So, for them, established authority is not to be trusted. Taking matters into their own hands is the only rule they trust. Violence is taking matters into one's own hands, instead of following the rules of society.

I work hard, everyday, to convince convicted felons that following the rules because they are the rules, is an important way of taking self control and feeling good about fitting into society: Not worrying about the consequences of doing something wrong; not worrying about getting caught, not always having to be vigilant for the authorities. Doing right because it is the right thing to do. I just do not see violence as the right thing to do.

I still do not see violence as the right thing to do, months after the Superbowl.. I do not recall the specific advertisements, but I know many of them did not stay with us, for which, I am thankful... Maybe we are a smarter public than advertisers and spin doctors give us credit for being.