Thursday, November 18
Religio-ignorant displays
So I e-mailed a news story about that Texas camo day (see below) to my friend Krell, who's slyly been letting us know we should leave the edge of nowhere and move to Austin. I added my snarky "here's why I won't" comment.
He responds:
You should hear the TX School Board debate about how evolution should be characterized in my children’s future text books (uh, pretty much as a silly hoax).
Still, now I have to write an essay for your blog about your reaction to Camo Day. Not necessarily as a Texas defense, either. I keep taking note of subtle but pointed digs, particularly in the New York Times and the New Yorker (EA, careful of the intellectual company you may be keeping), about Texas and “The Heartland” – which seem to symbolize the Red States to the Blue team.
The thing is, no one can stay away from The Heartland or Texas. It is us, and we have to deal with it. As depressing and 1930s-ish (Taliban-ish?) as it sounds, there are battles to be fought against slapping “Evolution Only a Theory” stickers on high school science books. One can continue to remain aghast from the intellectually comfortable confines of the shrinking Blue Stadium, or venture out into The Heartland and, yikes, even Least Tejas to see what’s really going on. There are other reasons for the fear that causes one to cling passionately to stupidity. It’s kind of like if a 3-year-old keeps taking violent-looking swings at your 3-year-olds face – your (well, my anyway) first reaction is to pummel the kid. But, without getting too psychological, the toddler Tyson’s punches are a symptom of something else that have to be dealt with, right?
It’s easy to get really pissed off and freaked out by nasty, religio-ignorant displays of retro-suppression, but the roots of that behavior have to be battled rather than the symptoms. Why is pro-life so VITAL while children are ripped apart by bombs, children are starving due to battles/ethnic flare-ups, children are living in extreme poverty on the other side of the city not even worth a blink? How can so many people struggling financially get hoodwinked into future, much more extreme financial suffering by hollow promised of security?
I’m still formulating this line of thought – which has been building up and really hit home when I, at first, chuckled at the EA’s link (see below) to all the photos of people holding up “We’re Sorry” signs. On second thought, if I were looking at those “sorry” photos outside the U.S., I might be angry. A “sorry” pic before coffee and a quick look at the post-election spurt in our 401(k) balances – hey, not a bad consolation prize – would not cut it. At worse, it might look like the French (combustible comparison coming) shrugging and saying sorry after the Germans goose-stepped into Paris.
He responds:
You should hear the TX School Board debate about how evolution should be characterized in my children’s future text books (uh, pretty much as a silly hoax).
Still, now I have to write an essay for your blog about your reaction to Camo Day. Not necessarily as a Texas defense, either. I keep taking note of subtle but pointed digs, particularly in the New York Times and the New Yorker (EA, careful of the intellectual company you may be keeping), about Texas and “The Heartland” – which seem to symbolize the Red States to the Blue team.
The thing is, no one can stay away from The Heartland or Texas. It is us, and we have to deal with it. As depressing and 1930s-ish (Taliban-ish?) as it sounds, there are battles to be fought against slapping “Evolution Only a Theory” stickers on high school science books. One can continue to remain aghast from the intellectually comfortable confines of the shrinking Blue Stadium, or venture out into The Heartland and, yikes, even Least Tejas to see what’s really going on. There are other reasons for the fear that causes one to cling passionately to stupidity. It’s kind of like if a 3-year-old keeps taking violent-looking swings at your 3-year-olds face – your (well, my anyway) first reaction is to pummel the kid. But, without getting too psychological, the toddler Tyson’s punches are a symptom of something else that have to be dealt with, right?
It’s easy to get really pissed off and freaked out by nasty, religio-ignorant displays of retro-suppression, but the roots of that behavior have to be battled rather than the symptoms. Why is pro-life so VITAL while children are ripped apart by bombs, children are starving due to battles/ethnic flare-ups, children are living in extreme poverty on the other side of the city not even worth a blink? How can so many people struggling financially get hoodwinked into future, much more extreme financial suffering by hollow promised of security?
I’m still formulating this line of thought – which has been building up and really hit home when I, at first, chuckled at the EA’s link (see below) to all the photos of people holding up “We’re Sorry” signs. On second thought, if I were looking at those “sorry” photos outside the U.S., I might be angry. A “sorry” pic before coffee and a quick look at the post-election spurt in our 401(k) balances – hey, not a bad consolation prize – would not cut it. At worse, it might look like the French (combustible comparison coming) shrugging and saying sorry after the Germans goose-stepped into Paris.
