--- In [email protected], "Buck" <dhamiltony2k5@...> wrote:
>
> I think it is sinful, the carping that you haters and 
> detractors are doing on Hagelin here.  He's a good guy and 
> you are sandbagging anonymously on a public forum someone 
> who is doing some very high-minded good work who happens 
> to be modern, spiritual and a scientist.  What a bunch of 
> mean-spirited braying sophist ignorant asses.  This list 
> could use some firm moderation.
> -Buck in the Dome     

I've always been fascinated by a phenomenon that 
seems counter-intuitive -- the Abused-Abuser 
Flip-Flop.

You know, the way kids who grow up the victims 
of child abuse frighteningly often grow up to be
adults who abuse their own children. On one 
level, it just does not compute. On another,
more compassionate level, I understand that on
unconscious levels, humans are still just monkeys,
emulating the behaviors they see around them.

What I see as a similar flip-flop is how people
who have themselves been victims of narrow-minded
bias, discrimination and/or persecution, and 
attempts to censor them often then turn around
and do the same thing to others. 

As often happens to me when reading FFL, Buck's
post reminded me of a song by Bruce Cockburn. 
It's as insightful and relevant today as it was
when he first wrote it in 1981:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9uBiXTlIMg

What's been done in the name of Jesus?
What's been done in the name of Buddha?
What's been done in the name of Islam?
What's been done in the name of man?
What's been done in the name of liberation?
And in the name of civilization?
And in the name of race?
And in the name of peace?

    Everybody
    Loves to see
    Justice done
    On somebody else

Can you tell me how much bleeding
It takes to fill a word with meaning?
And how much, how much death
It takes to give a slogan breath?
And how much, how much, how much flame
Gives light to a name
For the hollow darkness
In which nations dress?

    Everybody
    Loves to see
    Justice done
    On somebody else

Everybody's seen the things they've seen
We all have to live with what we've been
When they say charity begins at home
They're not just talking about a toilet and a telephone
Got to search the silence of the soul's wild places
For a voice that can cross the spaces
These definitions that we love -- create --
These names for heaven, hero, tribe and state

    Everybody
    Loves to see
    Justice done
    On somebody else


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