Friday Soapboxing

If a tree falls in the forest, does it make a sound?
Yes.
Obviously.
Why do you think that the laws of physics cease to exist when you aren’t around?
Are you so important that your presence is necessary to verify all facts and circumstances?
You didn’t see the dawn of creation, so is all life on Earth a lie?

There’s a statement that’s being kicked around a lot lately, generally uttered in a dismissive tone, with a shrug: “I haven’t seen that.”
Racism?
“I haven’t seen that, so…”
Trafficking?
“Well, I haven’t seen that.”
Domestic violence?
“That hasn’t been my experience, so I’m sure the numbers are exaggerated.”

I’m confused.
Do we really believe that simply because we personally haven’t observed something with our own fancy ocular organs that it hasn’t happened? Or that our not seeing it qualifies as a valid argument, or even a useful contribution to a discussion? The implied point in such statements is, “I don’t know that your word is valid enough for me to believe what you’re saying, because such scandalous things have never occurred in my context. Therefore, this issue you’re describing is not really happening.”
Arrogant, much?
You’ll notice that in courts of law, witnesses are a necessary thing, but everyone in the courtroom isn’t required to be a witness. One listens to the witness and weighs the evidence, but one doesn’t insist on needing to be a witness as well.
“Well, I didn’t see the defendant smash that guy’s head in with a shovel, so he’s clearly innocent.”
“There are seven witnesses, Steve.”
“I didn’t see it.”
“SEVEN PEOPLE SAW IT, STEVE.”
“Their testimony is worthless!! I am the only reliable witness!! If I didn’t see it, then it didn’t happen!!”
Steve is obviously being a arrogant jerk… but that is, essentially, the same line that I’ve been hearing from people for the past few weeks.
I guess nonsense comes in waves.
I wonder if it has something to do with the moon.

Just because you have never seen a minority mistreated, that does not mean that it never happens anymore, and that minorities are whiny and entitled.
Are there whiny entitled minorities in the world?
Yes… because there’s an equal distribution of whiny, entitled people across all color lines… place is lousy with them… you can’t throw a rock into a crowd without hitting a whiny, entitled person… but that doesn’t, in any way, disprove racism, and you still can’t arbitrarily discount someone’s experience because you weren’t a personal witness to it.
That’s illogical.

Just because you haven’t seen a person being trafficked… I can’t even finish that sentence.
Yes, a person can be trafficked by being dragged kicking and screaming into a van (and I would assume that you would have called the proper authorities if you had observed that) but trafficking can happen in a variety of different ways that don’t involve car chases and shootouts and Liam Neeson. Just because you weren’t there at the very beginning, that doesn’t make the entire situation invalid.

Before you tell me that you’ve never seen an abused person, I’m going to go ahead and inform you that you probably have… There are lots of them, and all abuse victims don’t look like the ones in Lifetime movies.
Just to continue beating this horse to death (eww… beating horses is wrong), you don’t need to see a thing for a thing to exist.

Your eyes may be all pretty and sparkly and the bright, shining sun in the firmament of your face, but in the grand scheme of things, they really don’t change much for the rest of us. Your experience as a person of whatever color, socio-economic status, education, region, country, and religion that you happen to be is a valid experience… but your experience has no effect on my experience. Even if we are demographically identical, you still can’t invalidate my experiences because something similar has never happened to you… or your friends… or your mom’s hairdresser.

This is what people do when they’re uncomfortable with certain issues. Instead of looking directly at those issues and saying, “This sounds like a problem. How can it be fixed?”, we throw a little side-eye and say, “Well, I’ve never seen/heard/read about that, so this person can’t be telling the truth. I’ll just ignore it.”
I don’t think we can afford to ignore things anymore.

Silence in the Library

*cue Ray Lamontagne’s “Trouble”*

This year has been rather a year of new discoveries so far, as I’ve slowly immersed myself in geek/nerd culture online (as a spectator only). I’ve learned new things, and developed new obsessions (I use the term loosely), found new causes to be excited about, and also discovered that even in a group of super smart kids, we still can’t agree (or agree to disagree) on certain… issues.
I don’t know, I suppose I thought that people who had memorized every line from the original Star Trek series wouldn’t really have problems with sexism and racism.
Beneath my tough walnutty exterior, I am a soft, squishy idealist, I suppose.
So much for nerd utopia.

I toyed with the idea of writing a few blogs on those topics… but I don’t think I’m ready to expose those parts of my soft underbelly to the light of day and to opinions from other people who never mean any harm (but somehow manage to cause a bit everywhere they go). I might, eventually, delve into it, but now doesn’t particularly seem like a good time, what with the heat and state of current affairs and whatnot.

So, I thought to myself (you know, in those rare moments when I don’t think to other people… seriously, who comes up with these phrases?), “I’m not going to go there. I’ll go to the library instead. Libraries are friendly and neutral. Libraries don’t have any particular opinion on your femininity or skin color and libraries never ask you if you prefer to be called African American.”
Answer: No.
American will do.
I am not African.
If you must attach a color-based descriptor, black is fine and not at all offensive.

The folks over at Mental Floss have put together a list of the World’s Most Beautiful Libraries, and I was quite proud to see one of my favorites:
The Trinity College Library in Dublin (which often serves as my desktop background, so I can imagine that I’m working there… in silence… and a deliciously warm green sweater.

I did notice that some of the massive libraries on the list have tile flooring, which seems a bit counter intuitive, since people (myself included) like to wear clicky shoes, and libraries are supposed to be QUIET… but then, in my latest visit to my local library, I encountered people talking at the top of their voices, a man taking several business calls on his cell phone, and a beautiful, but noisy clock that chimed the hour… because people in a library love nothing more than to be jerked out of their reverie by the sound of many bells.
I don’t know, maybe we don’t have to be quiet in libraries anymore.
Was there a law passed about it? I don’t recall voting. Can we vote on this? I object.

I love the idea of libraries (except the noisy ones, of course) because libraries contain vast compendiums of knowledge, and yet, at the same time, are known as being places of peace and serenity. Imagine it… books with differing opinions and mindsets and agendas, standing side by side in peace… perhaps never agreeing, but never arguing either.

I wonder what would happen if humans could do that… learn and understand the “opposite” viewpoint, and clearly, calmly, and objectively state their viewpoint, and proceed on a basis of actual mutual understanding, rather than allowing the discussion to deteriorate into arguments and insults. I would love for there to be open frank discussions about issues, with the purpose of finding middle ground to stand on. We’re not at that place yet, even after all this time, and I suppose that the older I get, the more disillusioned I become with society that would rather be right and on top and at war.

Libraries are one of the few places where two opposing forces are together in a confined space and no one ever fires a shot. Again, it’s idealistic of me, but I would hope that we could learn something from that.

There is No Hive Mind

I had my usual Friday post all written out… and then I heard about the Boston marathon suspects.

I was born into a race (notice that I did not say a culture) of people that frequently gets lumped into a group.
What one person of similar color thinks, says, and likes, we all must as well, simply because our ancestors originated from the same continent.
We clearly must all share the same feelings and hurts, because we’re all… obviously… just alike.
This has been a source of frustration for me throughout my life, so you’ll have to forgive me if I react strongly to anyone being categorized or persecuted for something they haven’t done, endorsed, or been a part of.

I’m not merely a token representation of a race… or a religion… or a socioeconomic status.
I’m me.
I bellowed out “We Built This City” while driving to work this morning, I’m once again refusing to wear jeans on Casual Friday (you’re lucky I’m not wearing white gloves, people… don’t complain), and I’m perishing for sushi (it’s been two weeks… too long… too long). I love gloomy weather, I adore corn (not on the cob), and I have a phobia of working out in front of living people.
I’m not anything but entirely myself.
I have, only in the past few years, discovered a group of people that enjoy many of the same things, but we’re still all very different people. I don’t assume that the two sisters that come over to watch Doctor Who are two bodies with a single mind, nor do I assume that since the DW group is predominantly white, everyone shares the same background, food preferences, and tastes in music.

There is no hive mind.

I’m getting into this now because I’ve been listening to people shriek  in high-pitched, righteous voices about “The Muslims”… because there has been some information that the Boston Marathon bombers may have been been Muslim or converted to Islam.
I’ve been watching the fever spread all morning, and I’m waiting for people to start boiling over… per usual… so I’m just going to say this:
All Muslims are not terrorists.
I would go so far as to say that most Muslims are not terrorists… just as most white males in their 40’s are not serial killers.
All Muslims do not bomb things or kill people… any more than all blacks wear rags on their heads, love Tyler Perry, and despise white people… any more than all whites watch Duck Dynasty, only drink fancy coffees, and are terribly afraid of their differently skinned neighbors.

THERE IS NO HIVE MIND.

Are there people in the world with dangerous agendas?
Yes. Of course there are… but those people and those agendas do not solely belong to one group, nor is the entire group responsible for the outflow of that agenda.
People of every race and nationality (and certain religions, let us not forget) have banded together to do horrendous things, and will probably continue to do so. If we start hating and killing everyone who was vaguely or superficially associated with a horrific crime, would there be anyone left alive?
If I, as a Christian, were to step out of my front door and be assaulted because of the people slaughtered in the Crusades, would we not find that outrageous?
Should every Christian be blamed for the deadly bombing of an abortion clinic?

We all have the fundamental right to be viewed as individuals.
I am not a representative of all that is black, nor am I some sort of fascinating anomaly.
I’m just me, and I would like to be viewed and known as me.
I would hope that we could check our fears, question our assumptions, and extend that same basic courtesy to everyone… including the person who lives next door who happens to be a Muslim… who has never hurt anyone.
Let’s stop lumping people into boxes and categories, can we?