Seeking Relevance

Think Before you Persecute: The Mosque near Ground Zero

If you are an American Catholic or American Protestant and you are against an Islamic community center and mosque being built near Ground Zero, then you have absolutely no sense of your own religion or your religion’s history. And that is unfortunate. But if you are either Catholic or Protestant and speaking out against the Islamic Center, then you should be better informed before you persecute another religion or deny someone their constitutionally guaranteed rights.

 

Some history and examples …

 

Their farms were burned down. Crosses were burned at their homes. They were beaten. They were intimidated into joining places of worship not associated with their chosen religion. Rumors were spread through entire communities that they wanted to take over the American government and replace it with the leader of their religion. This was said to them:  “We say firmly to the Popish Bishops and Priests among us, give us your declaration of your relation to our civil government. Renounce your foreign allegiance to a Foreign Sovereign. Let us have your avowal in an official manifesto, that the Democratic Government under which you here live, delights you best. … Americans demand it.”

 

Who were they that were persecuted simply for their religious beliefs? They were Catholics -- persecuted in the United States of America by a group of Protestants that were bound together in the early part of the 1900s under the Ku Klux Klan.  And make no mistake: the Klan had great influence over certain parts of this nation back then. Mainly Protestants, the Klan were religious extremists.

 

Does that phrase sound familiar? Religious extremists.

 

An obscure but important book published in 1936 called ‘The Ku Klux Klan in Pennsylvania: A Study in Nativism” written by a college professor named Emerson H. Loucks, details the persecution and hatred of the Catholics by this extreme arm of the Protestant religion.  (The quote above is from that book.)

 

So, a question for all you Protestants who are against the building of the mosque: What do violent Muslim extremists have to do with Islam? Be careful of your answer – for if you apply the horrible actions of the Muslim extremists on 9/11 to all of Islam, you must brand the entire Protestant religion with the acts of the Ku Klux Klan from their height of power in the 1920s to now. Are you ready to do that?  Because there is no difference.  And if any Protestants wanted to build a place of worship in America, what would you say to protestors that were against it because of the past or present actions of the Ku Klux Klan? Think about that and now you know how peaceful, non-extremist Muslims around the world feel about the Islamic Center near Ground Zero.

 

And if you are Catholic and against the building of the Islamic Center/mosque, you really need to stop talking and start reading.  Start reading about how Catholics were persecuted for their beliefs in America. How false rumors spread through entire rural communities perpetuating that Catholics wanted to take over America and put the Pope as governmental leader.  Read about the oft-reported "danger" of Catholics being elected to office. Read this passage from the Loucks book:

 

“In the words of Grand Dragon H.C. Shaw, ‘the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church are fundamentally hostile to the spirits, ideals, and institutions of our Republic,’ which made it unwise to have persons brought up under this doctrine in public office here in America.”

 

And don’t think that the KKK was just a few people in the early 20th century; in Pennsylvania alone in 1925, there were around 200,000 Klansmen, according to the Loucks book. 200,000!

 

To define an entire religion by the violent acts of sick extremists (be they Muslim terrorists or the KKK) is sad and un-American. And if you can’t seem to understand the difference between terrorists who happen to be Islamic and Islam then look to your own religion and history.  To deny an Islamic group the chance to build a mosque near Ground Zero is a slap in the face of the ideals this country was founded on. But if you are not moved by the First Amendment of the Constitution, look to your own history – and start educating yourself  -- before you condemn another religion’s right to practice.

 

 

 

Hear That Siren? That’s the Sound of Socialism in America

If you are extremely wealthy or even merely rich, you can stop reading – this blog will not concern you. If you are not wealthy and favor robust health care reform in the United States that includes a viable public option – this blog will not concern you either.

 

But, if you are not wealthy but still do not favor robust health care reform that includes a public option because it smacks of socialism or “too much government” in your life then please read on.  This blog is about an America in a parallel “non-socialist” universe. Let’s call it Non-Socialist America (NS America).

 

Burning Down the House

In NS America, fire fighting is privatized. So picture that you can’t afford fire protection insurance from the various private fire fighting companies.  Now, your house goes up in flames but even with several private fire fighting houses nearby, no fire trucks come as your house burns to the ground. Paradoxically, your richer neighbor – who does have fire protection insurance – calls his private fire fighters who show up to ensure the flames from your house don’t jump to his house. So, a full service fire fighting outfit watches your house burn to the ground while they ensure your neighbor doesn’t get his lawn slightly singed.  Far-fetched? Not really. Read about how fire fighting in New York City used to be done by fire insurance companies – complete with full looting of the house or apartment building that was on fire.

 

This is 9-1-1: What is your emergency and account number?

Imagine your house is being robbed and when you call 9-1-1 they ask if you are a paying member of the private police force.  In NS America they say: “I’m sorry, sir, but you are not a paying member of our police department. Good luck.” If you sleep better at night knowing the police will respond if you need them to protect your family, welcome to socialism.

 

Tuition for Kindergarten

In this country, it is not uncommon for the hard-working and smart kids of poor folks to excel in public schools and then go on to attend top-tier colleges – many on scholarship. Money for college is out there for students who get solid grades in schools that are primarily supported by the property taxes and – gasp -- funds from the government.  In NS America, what do you think would happen? What do you think would happen if we didn’t have a strong public education program in the United States? You know exactly what would happen: the rich kids would go to the best schools and the lower or even middle-class students would go to low quality schools, if they went to school at all.  For all those that can’t afford to send your kid to private schools from K-12, why would you be against a public option for health care? Doesn’t that smack of at least a tiny bit of hypocrisy?

 

The lower and middle classes and even upper middle class should never take the fire department, police department and public schools -- all government-financed institutions – for granted.  Make no mistake: the rich do not care about you at all. And if these three critical institutions were all privatized in NS America, the rich would continue to sleep comfortably knowing they can afford all three.  But what would happen to you? What would you do?

 

So, if you buy into the security and benefits of publically financed police protection, fire fighting and K-12 education, why is a publically financed health care option such a stretch or so verboten? And you can take it even further – isn’t affordable health care as essential as police, fire and public education to a stable society that gives all of its citizens the chance to flourish.

 

We’ve tried a mostly private health care system in this country for decades and it flat out doesn’t work. Too many people are left behind. Just how many more children have to be without health care before someone steps in?

 

Armed to the Teeth

Sometimes artists just get things so right and there is no improving upon it.  Here is Ani DiFranco’s anti-gun ballad called “To The Teeth.”  And the lyrics are posted below as well.

(Please note: there is a short interview in French, but wait a minute and the song begins soon; it was the best version of this song I could find.)

 

To The Teeth lyrics
The sun is settin’ on the century
And we are armed to the teeth
We are all working together now
To make our lives mercifully brief
School kids keep trying to teach us
What guns are all about
Confuse liberty with weaponry
And watch your kids act it out
Every year now like Christmas
Some boy gets the milk-fed suburban blues
Reaches for the available arsenal
And saunters off to make the news
And women in the middle
Are learning what poor women have always known
That the edge is closer than you think
When your men bring the guns home

Look at where the profits are
That's how you'll find the source
Of the big lie that you and I
Both know so well
In the time it takes this cultural
Death wish to run its course
They're gonna make a pretty penny
And then they're all going to hell

He said the chickens all come home to roost
Yeah, Malcolm forecasted this flood
Are we really gonna sleep through another century
While the rich profit off our blood?
True, it may take some doing
To see this undoing done
But in my humble opinion
Here's what I suggest we do:

Open fire on Hollywood
Open fire on MTV
Open fire on NBC
And CBS and ABC
Open fire on the NRA
And all the lies they told us
Along the way
Open fire on each weapons manufacturer
While he's giving head
To some Republican senator

And if I hear one more time
About fool's rights
To his tools of rage
I'm gonna take all my friends
And i'm gonna move to canada
And we're gonna die of old age

Outraged Yet?

 

Please take the time to do a simple five-part exercise; it should take less than a few minutes.

 

1.       Please picture in your head a loved one. Could be a son, daughter, mother, father, wife, husband, etc.

2.       Picture in your head that your loved one dies in a horrific car accident (stay with me here).

3.       Picture an accident investigator at the local police department takes photos of your dead loved one hanging out of what is left of the car and then sends those horrible photos to their friends for some sick reason.

 

Are you outraged yet?

 

4.       Now picture in your head that the photos keep getting forwarded around the Internet and some random jerk builds a website solely to post the photos of your dead loved for everyone to see.

 

Are you outraged yet?

 

5.       Finally, picture that a judge rules that the website in question does not legally have to be taken down. In other words, you have no recourse to take those photos down from a website that has no reason for existing except for sick voyeurs who want to see a dead person (your loved one) in a car accident.

 

Are you fist-throwing, wall-punching, screaming-at-top-of-your-lungs outraged yet?

 

If you think this type of thing only happens in the movies or some far away place, think again. Read this heart-breaking story from Newsweek about the plight of a family from California.

 

Columnists and bloggers can write all day and night about privacy laws on the World Wide Web and about the ethical debate around what rights the deceased should or should not have. Unfortunately nothing screams injustice and the need to alter local and federal laws than a story like above – a story that could easily happen to anyone in this country. Everyone – and I mean everyone – should be outraged by the story above. Outraged enough to write a simple email to your elected representatives that privacy laws must be altered so jerk-offs don’t get to ogle your dead loved ones for nothing more than their amusement.

 

According to the Newsweek story, the family had no legal recourse to have the photos removed from the Web; moreover, they couldn’t even sue the California Highway Patrol for gross violation of privacy. This is what happens when law and legal precedence do not keep up with technology. The Seeking Relevance blog is a staunch defender of the First Amendment and takes a wide scope concerning citizens’ rights to express themselves. But a website dedicated to nothing more than photos of a car crash has no inherent First Amendment value – in fact it has no inherent value at all. It is merely a sick decision by an unfeeling A-hole. And the fact that the law gives this family no recourse is even more disgusting.

 

So, as this case continues to work its way through the court system and various scholars and lawyers debate the fine points, this story has not spurred the outrage it should. If the people of this country could muster the kind of passion they show for following celebrity shenanigans or voting for the next American Idol and direct it toward a real cause then we could wipe out this sort of nonsensical injustice.

 

What would you do if the daughter in the Newsweek story was your child, your spouse, your parent?

 

Are you outraged yet?

Militia? Well Regulated? Huh?

              A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

It’s quite inspiring to see citizens and residents of the United States exercising their Constitutional rights – whether it’s a newspaper exposing corruption or an average person on the street corner espousing their views on religion. And over the past two months some folks were feeling especially patriotic -- protected by the warmth of the Second Amendment (written above).

 

Name: Lovelle Mixon

• Member of the California militia

• If Charlton Heston was alive, the former president of the National Rifle Association would surely be beaming with pride as militia member Mixon blew away four police officers in Oakland, California. Always over-acting, Heston was fond of holding up a rifle and exclaiming, “… from my cold, dead hands.” I am sure the Oakland cops were grateful that Mr. Heston spent so much time protecting their Constitutional rights as they were sprayed with bullets by a criminal violating parole for assault with a deadly weapon.

 

Name: Suspect Richard Poplawski

• Member of the Pennsylvania militia

• The National Rifle Association (soon to be renamed the National Assault-Rifle-35-shots-before-needing-to-reload Association) surely must be considering putting Mr. Poplawski on their next promotional materials.  Militia member Poplawski could be the poster boy for the “cold, dead hands” movement as he ambushed three Pittsburgh cops checking on a domestic violence call. And how’s this for irony: it is reported that this gun-loving whack job was upset because he thought the Obama Administration was going to enact tougher gun laws. I am still waiting for someone from the NRA to explain that logic to me.

 

Name: Michael McLendon

• Member of the Alabama militia

• I wonder if the Founding Fathers had Mr. McLendon in mind when crafting the second amendment? Militia member McLendon killed 10 people including members of his family in March. This supporter of the second amendment was packing two assault rifles, a handgun and a shotgun – and more than 200 rounds were fired in the rampage.  The muskets used during the Revolutionary War could fire 1 shot every 15 seconds. The Bushmaster AR-15 assault rifle, one of the weapons used by Militia member McLendon, fires quite a bit more. Do you think any of the Founding Fathers might have altered the wording to the second amendment if someone could have squeezed off 60 rounds in two minutes in 1776 – hence wasting all 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence in 120 seconds?

 

Name: Suspect Robert Stewart

• Member of the North Carolina militia

• Many second amendment supporters like to reminisce about their childhood when their grandfathers taught them the family tradition of hunting. I would like to think that militia member Stewart was feeling nostalgic for his time with his grandfather in the woods as he calmly opened up his gun and killed eight people in a North Carolina nursing home – some of them in wheel chairs.

 

With the 10-year anniversary of the horrific Columbine shootings on April 20, let’s relish the security we all feel in our free state by sidestepping background check laws and picking up an assault rifle or two at your next gun show – you just never know when the Red Coats are gonna come marching down your street.

 

Well regulated, my ass.

Instant Replay is Instant Idiocy

The University of Michigan’s Chris Webber calls timeout when his team has none left in the 1993 NCAA hoops championship game – a classic sports mental error. A slow roller is hit to Bill Buckner of the Red Sox in the 1986 World Series, it scoots between his legs and the Mets go on to win the game and series – a classic sports physical error.

The sports world is filled with great players making plenty of mistakes on the field; watch any playoff game in any sport and rarely will you see a player go an entire game without some sort of lapse. Whether the mistakes are big or small, fans generally forgive the players knowing that playing the perfect game is not what it’s all about. Fans know these are human beings attempting to play their best (sans Manny Ramirez in a non-contract year) and mental and physical errors are expected

So why then do many sports fans demand perfection from the referees and umpires of the various sports? (And it’s not just pro sports; head down to any little league game and watch as knucklehead adult coaches berate the poor sap who has volunteered to umpire a game between seven-year-olds.) If our sports are going to have rules then impartial human beings are going to have to enforce the rules. And for the same exact reasons that athletes make errors during a game – the concentration it takes on every play, the speed of the game, the pressure of the situation, the subtle difference between when a rule is broken or not, etc. -- fans should also expect the referees and umpires to make mistakes.

However, for some reason, fans don’t expect miscues from refs and umps and that’s a shame. Moreover, it leads pro and college leagues to make ridiculous decisions like instituting television instant replays to overturn certain decisions during a game.  What a crock. Do we want to see robots playing sports? Can you imagine rooting for a bunch of non-humans trying to win games? Of course not.  Then why not do away with demanding perfection from the referees to the point that they can be overruled by the ability to slow the game down and actually freeze it to make a call. If a game has to be played in real time, then it should be judged in real time. No exceptions.

Some fans argue that a mistake by a ref/umpire should not decide the outcome of any game – and leagues should use any means possible to let them get the call right. That’s a specious argument at best; we’re talking sports here, not crime investigation. If part of the intrigue of sports is watching humans rise and fall to many challenges over the course of a game or season, why not embrace the human aspect of the rule watchers? Because the more we automate the ref’s job, we lose a human connection to our games. And that’s a slippery slope. Soon refs will be completely replaced by television cameras at every corner with unseen people in control rooms beaming down calls to the court or field. And, really, how far could we be away from coaches being replaced by computer data specialists to choose the next play based on a statistical roll up of likely scenarios? If a referee or umpire is consistently bad over a period of time then the same thing would happen to a player of the same talent level – he’s replaced.

  For all its faults, Major League Baseball still has it right – no instant replay of any kind; the umpires are even allowed to be somewhat colorful figures and express a little personality now and again. And the game is better for it.

So, as we watch the remaining games of March Madness, let’s embrace the referees who do a thankless job and do away with any sort of instant replay in our sports. And while we don’t have to cheer wildly when the ref makes the right call in a pressure situation, let’s at least forgive the zebras soon after we berate the hell out of them when they blow one.

Domestic Violence … sponsored by TMZ

In the media, exploitation continues to be big business. Although creating profit and seizing marketing opportunities that feed off suffering is nothing new in our culture, every so often an example arises that reminds you just how grotesque it can be.

 

The celebrity/gossip website known as TMZ.com, a part of AOL, recently snared an exclusive when it got a hold of what is reported to be an evidence photo of Rihanna, showing the result of an alleged domestic violence incident at the hands of Chris Brown. The caption with the photo on TMZ’s site simply reads: “TMZ has obtained a photo of Rihanna taken after Chris Brown allegedly beat her.”

 

Although the Los Angeles Police Department is still investigating the leak,  it is pretty clear that a police officer or someone associated with the domestic violence investigation gave the photo to TMZ – most likely for some cash. Now most respectable media organizations, even if handed the exclusive, would choose not to run a photo of a domestic violence victim. But TMZ not only ran the photo, but went one step further. They actually watermarked their logo over the top of the victim’s face and put their logo quite large at the top (see photo above). Why? So that when myriad media organizations around the world wanted to run the photo, it would be sure to have the TMZ logo on it, lest anyone forget who got the exclusive. The result? Exploitation of a domestic violence victim for branding and marketing purposes.

 

There used to be a time when journalism professors had to come up with hypotheticals to teach ethics to journalism students. But these days there is no need to make up egregious examples when editors armed with huge Web audiences are providing real examples -- anecdotes that should offend most non-journalists, not to mention those in the media.

 

But of course the TMZ example of branding violence for marketing purposes is not the first or even the most egregious example of such practices. That “honor” belongs to NBC News. Two days after a gunman killed 32 people on the campus of Virginia Tech in 2007, the killer’s manifesto showed up in the mailroom at NBC News.  The package contained photos, videos and writings from the killer. Now there was much opinion in the news media about how NBC News used the content from the killer – but that is not the issue here. NBC ran some of the content as they should have as it was a vital part of the news story. It was right to run a portion of that content given the importance of what was the deadliest shooting by a sole gunman in U.S. history.  However, NBC News went one step too far by branding the photographs of the killer with a full-color NBC News logo (see photo at left) – forcing many large media outlets (including The New York Times) to run the photo of the killer with the NBC News logo. Once again, ethics go out the window in order to further a brand. Even if NBC News had gotten this exclusive with hard-nosed reporting and investigation (as opposed to the manifesto just showing up in their mail), it still should not have released the photos with their logo. NBC News could have released the photos on the wires with the stipulation that any news organizations simply credit the photo to NBC News with basic type – perfectly acceptable and reasonable.  But a full-color logo within the photo itself? Huh?

 

The situation begs the question: does associating your logo with violence really further your brand? Does violence-infused marketing really work?

 

Apparently it does. What a shame.

Where in the World is ... Credibility

And to think it is now a very short trip from this photo to the anchor desk at CBS News. Edward R. Murrow would be so proud.

Maybe Matt Lauer should do his next interview with President Obama wearing that "Snuggie."

The Glass is Half Full

As the ball drops on the past year, 2009 reveals itself as a year for optimism. A new leader in the White House holds the promise of renewing America’s standing in the world, the economic situation can only get better (hopefully), and it is less than two months until pitchers and catchers report.

So, to ensure the glass remains half full, please enjoy some of what we call “good news.” Consider this blog post, if you will, an antidote to the horrific news programming seen nightly on the local TV news. (I just don’t understand why anyone would choose to watch local TV news except for the weather report and the sports highlights. There is a saying about such programming: “If it bleeds, it leads.”  And that is very true each night at 11 pm. For the love of God, watch Jon Stewart instead.)

Please enjoy this offering of “good news,” have a nice dose of the warm and fuzzies and return to some of these links whenever you need a blast of what is right with the world.

 

Carnegie Awards for Bravery

Each year the Carnegie Heroes Fund, founded by Andrew Carnegie, gives out awards for heroism. Some recipients in 2008 include people running into burning buildings to save children and heroes who gave their own life trying to rescue others.

Cable Guy does more than install broadband

Driving by an apartment fire, this brave Cable Guy uses his ladder to rescue several residents. I sure hope the person who was waiting for his cable installation was understanding of our hero’s late arrival. Good story by Washington Post.

Happynews.com

The credo for the Happy News Web site says it all: “We believe virtue, goodwill and heroism are hot news. That's why we bring you up-to-the-minute news, geared to lift spirits and inspire lives. Add in a diverse team of Citizen Journalists reporting positive stories from around the world, and you've got one happy place for news.”

Enjoy this site as often as you need it and especially right after you watch the local TV news.

Happiest stories of 2008

Here is a listing of the happiest news stories of the past year by MSNBC.

NPR good deeds

The biggest tearjerkers of good news might very well come from this collection of good deeds, compiled by NPR.  Sometimes it is the simplest of gestures that have the biggest impact on our lives. If you don’t get even slightly misty after reading about the young child who brought a coat to his class so one of his playmates could go outside for recess, then you are either a war correspondent or a social worker in a major urban area.

So, if you are fed up with all the death, destruction, corruption and general pessimistic news – or if you are just having a bad day – come back here, make your way to one of these Web sites and get your glass filled up again. Well, at least half-way filled.

The Collective Stupidity of Humanity

Albert Einstein famously said, “Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the former.”  

And even just choosing examples from the United States there never ceases to be a steady flow of evidence to prove Einstein’s Theory of Stupidity. So, as part of a recurring feature at this blog, “enjoy” the latest examples.

Case 1: Cyber Bully conviction

--- Short summary: A 49-year-old mother cyber-bullies a 13-year-old girl in the same town; the teenager then commits suicide.  The mother found guilty of only misdemeanors.

--- The full story here.

--- You don’t have to be Einstein to know that … Only a sorry excuse of a parent could have the myopia and meanness to psychologically bully a teenage girl. Every adult (parent or not) should know how sensitive teenagers are about many aspects of life, including love. Taking advantage of a teenager’s delicate psyche goes well beyond stupid into criminal; this whack-job mother didn’t pull a trigger but she led directly to the teen girl’s death. And for that she deserves jail.  Kudos to California prosecutors for taking the case to court even though the people involved live in Missouri. Reason #567 not to live in Missouri.

 

Case 2: Redefining an “adult”

--- Short summary: An 8-year-old boy confesses to killing his father and a second man with a gun; motive is unknown. Some call for him to be charged as an adult.

--- The full story here.

--- You don’t have to be Einstein to know that … The police force and prosecutors in the exurbs of Phoenix are not exactly competent. The first act of stupidity was how the police handled the case; they reportedly didn’t read the boy his rights and they questioned him without a lawyer or an adult family member present in the room. Can you imagine an 8-year-old alone in a room with guys with guns asking tough questions? As one expert in such matters said in The New York Times, you could get any 8-year-old off the street to confess to that murder. However, the bigger act of stupidity was the suggestion from the same police force that the 8-year-old be charged as an adult. Huh? Are they kidding? And to compound the stupidity, some commentator at FOX News actually defends the case for the boy to be charged as an adult.

 

Case 3: Auto welfare

--- Short summary: The Big Three of the auto industry are in dire straits and need $25 billion of the bailout funds or possibly go bankrupt.

--- The full story here.

--- You don’t have to be Einstein to know that … The chief executives’ decision to take private jets to the congressional hearings to plead for money was more arrogance than stupidity. The real stupidity comes in with how lawmakers and the lobbyists have allowed the auto companies and Big Oil to fight and thwart improved fuel efficiency standards in America. They are shameless. The Big Three auto companies dug their own grave; let them lie in it.  And let the American auto industry rise anew – ready to build a vehicle for the next 100 years.

 

Case 4: Hummers

--- Short summary: Some Americans actually buy huge trucks that cost over $50,000 and get 13 miles to the gallon in the city.

--- The full story here.

--- You don’t have to be Einstein to know that … Anyone buying a Hummer is a knucklehead trying to compensate for something they lack in life, be it hair, self confidence or perceived manhood size. Anyone driving a Hummer is just screaming out for therapy. To Hummer drivers: please buy a normal car and find a therapist fast.

 

Do you take issue with any stances above? Have any examples of human stupidity of your own to share?  Please send a comment below.