> Hi Steve, > > > > You can’t have read Watchman “decades” ago because it only came out a > few years ago. It puts Atticus in a whole new perspective. > Why does that not surprise me? (that I would have made that mistake) I checked with Mary and the answer is she did recommend it for our "book group" in the last year and it would have only been Mockingbird that I read.
doh! > > > Nick > > > > Nicholas Thompson > > Emeritus Professor of Ethology and Psychology > > Clark University > > [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > > https://wordpress.clarku.edu/nthompson/ > > > > > > *From:* Friam <[email protected]> *On Behalf Of *Steve Smith > *Sent:* Saturday, September 5, 2020 6:07 PM > *To:* [email protected] > *Subject:* Re: [FRIAM] Today's Sermon:: a minor awokening > > > > Nick - > > I think I read /Watchmen/ decades ago... it is a good addition to my > reading list with Mary (she has mentioned it recently)... we read > books together (how quaint). Right now we are on Victor Klemperer's > diaries from the Nazi years in Germany as a Jewish man married to an > Aryan woman, and the slow erosion and decline of their circumstances, > his rights, and hers by association (in a time/culture where the man > of the family had primary status, and yet the Aryan of the family had > higher status in many ways). It is heartbreaking and very cautionary > as we watch the norms of a society get eroded away on one side as a > subset of ruthless and ambitious characters seduce and intimidate the > populace into normalizing pretty marginalizing (and ultimately brutal) > behaviour of one segment of population against the other. Spoiler > alert - the time-period is 1934-1944 so you can guess "how it turns out". > > Other (re)reads have included Moby Dick, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle > Maintenance, The Woman at Otowi Bridge (Edith Warner), a biography of > Maria Martinez (potter), the biography of Mabel Dodge-Luhan. Not > only do these books read differently the second time around (decades > later) but in the light of a new (2+ years) partner whose backround > and perspective is radically different. Mary is much more attuned to > the Civil Rights issues than I... she grew up in her own version of > remote (a tiny college town, Chadron NE near the Pine Ridge Rez) with > a mother who was a strong civic member and Democrat amongst mostly > Republican farm/ranch folks... her father was probably a Republican if > he voted... her brothers all rode to Sturgis, voted for Trump and are > likely to again, etc. but/and she loves them, even if she won't > speak her mind openly on those topics with them. > > My sister who dated her African American friend for a time is now in > her mid-60's asking her children, my children and even Mary and I for > "something she can read to understand 'all that'"... She and her > husband voted for Trump but probably won't again, and in her defense, > lived out-of-country in Spain and Chile for most of their adult lives, > as part of the colonialism of American Mining interests overseas. A > previous boyfriend was of a Mexican-American family in the border town > whose circumstance and status was somewhat higher than our own... > most of the merchant and professional class were the grandchildren of > Mexicans who lived there when it *was* Mexico (pre Gadsden > Purchase). My parents had a similar (though more muted) reaction to > him... that surprised me as well since well over half of our friends > and classmates from 1st Grade has Spanish surnames. They may have > also questioned her more Anglo-Normative boyfriends along the way, > maybe they were just overprotective? > > Rattling on about my sister and her family, they volunteer with > Central American refugees in Tucson because they are both fluent in > Spanish and just in the last year acknowledged that maybe Global > Warming was real AND anthropogenic and maybe they should try to > recycle or carpool or something (snarky, sorry)...so there is hope... > > Yes to "context and perspective"... > > - Steve > > On 9/5/20 3:27 PM, [email protected] > <mailto:[email protected]> wrote: > > Steve, > > > > Your story, like so many of your stories, cuts to the heart. If > you haven’t already, I recommend you read /Go Call a Watchmen, > /the pre-written sequel to /To Kill a Mockingbird, /in which Scout > discovers that, at least from seen from a Northern perspective, is > actually a flaming racist. That perspective thing, as Glen keeps > reminding me, is so important. I would love to know what you > (-all) think of that book. > > > > Nick > > > > > > > > > > Nicholas Thompson > > Emeritus Professor of Ethology and Psychology > > Clark University > > [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > > https://wordpress.clarku.edu/nthompson/ > > > > > > *From:* Friam <[email protected]> > <mailto:[email protected]> *On Behalf Of *Steve Smith > *Sent:* Saturday, September 5, 2020 1:27 PM > *To:* [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > *Subject:* Re: [FRIAM] Today's Sermon:: a minor awokening > > > > Nick - > > I think I may well know the man of whom you speak... he is in my > "second order circle" so I only see him while visiting certain > friends or at events we all share or the occasional criss-cross in > a public venue. I will try to remember to ask him if he > remembers YOU... question is which stereotype might I appeal to > to describe you to him? I won't speculate on what forms that > might take as I explore my own stereotypes, or worse yet, my > projections of what *his* stereotypes of you might be. If we > are talking about the same person I doubt he would have "avoided > you"... he has been fairly politely blunt with me a few times and > then resumed the jovial conversations we were having. He seemed > very practiced at navigating (not so) hidden judgements and > assumptions about him. > > My own mother had a modest amount of self-awareness, growing up in > KY fairly proud of being a "Yankee" in the sense of north of the > Mason-Dixon and from a subculture that was too poor to have ever > risked owning a slave or having a close relative who did. She > lived with her aunt in the city of Frankfort during the school > year in the depression for lots of reasons. She was therefore > raised as an only child, her cousins having recently grown and > moved out of the family home. She tells an anecdote of having > developed a friendship with a girl who lived *somewhere* between > *her school* and her aunt's house... she would pause to play with > her every day after school until it got to where she started being > noticeably late home... when she told her aunt why she was late, > she said "why don't you just invite your friend home next time and > you can play here!"... she asked her friend who resisted for > about a week and then finally came home (her aunt married a > Scottish Doctor, so their home was very meticulous and in a nicer > neighborhood, but they lived crazy-frugal anyway) and after the > first day, her aunt very politely told her not to invite the > friend back, and in fact, was forbidden to play with her > anymore. The little girl was apparently the first black person > she had ever met and it was years later that she guessed that that > was what it was all about... her aunt was too "polite" to make a > deal about it and too "authoritarian" to be questioned. Later > her mother gave her a family heirloom which was referred to > colloquially as a "tar baby" which her mother explained to her had > been a type of doll that young girls were given to "play with" in > the style and memory of how their ancestors had been allowed to > "play with" the slave babies. Her mother explained how wrong > *all* of it was, from the slavery to the treating even the babies > as property, to replacing them post-emancipation with effigies, > etc. I learned this when she was unpacking from one of our moves > and it showed up in a cardboard barrel amongst her mother's (our > aunt's) china that we never used... my sister saw it and was > intrigued and "wanted to play with it" whereupon my mother tried > to explain all of this to us and then declaring that "the best > thing I can do is get rid of it, it is just a reflection of a bad > piece of history". I don't know if it went in the burn barrel > with our other trash or if she figured out some more respectful > disposal method... I would like to think she knew of a historian > or similar for whom such an artifact could be made meaningful. > This and other similar instances made me think that my parents > were the least prejudiced people I knew, until at 19 my sister who > had a small group of friends from college, one of who was African > American... my parents liked him a lot, he was a very sociable > and interesting person (his father was career military and his > mother had died when he was young and he and two sisters were > raised by "help"). But at some point, the friendship drifted > into the boyfriend zone and they very sternly, albeit > embarrassingly disabused me of the thought that they were not > prejudiced. I don't remember the exact conversations but it was > clear that they were very much against the relationship, even if > they didn't quite try to forbid their (adult) daughter from > continuing. I think they even enlisted one of their (more > openly) racist friends to have a conversation with her. It did > not sit well at all with me. But made me realize how hidden some > of these judgements, stereotypes, opinions, etc can be. I'm sure > I'm laced with junk like that. > > - Steve > > Dear fellow congregants, > > > > One of the things we talk about is our bemusement at Trump > supporters. One expression you often hear these supporters > say is that they admire him because “He tells it like it is!” > They can say this while acknowledging that almost everything > he says is false. So, if he is lying most of the time, what > is he telling the truth about? > > > > I think I know. As I keep insisting, I am not a boomer. I am > from the Silent Generation, the Lonely Crowd. My mother’s > life hero was Eleanor Roosevelt. It was I, aged seven, who > brought the news of the President’s death to my parents, and I > was startled to seem my mother burst into tears. Crying was > not her thing. My folks were publishers. We had black, > Jewish, gay, lesbian, working class, authors visiting the > house. But – and here is the point – when they visited, they > visited /as such./ Not that I was told as a child explicitly, > but it was conveyed to me as a child, somehow, that these > folks belonged to a different category. And my education, in > Massachusetts, in the 40’s, was devoid of any explicit contact > with anybody in any of these categories. > > > > Ok, fast forward 70 years to Santa Fe. I befriend at Ohoris > an extremely tall black man, grizzled, slow moving, > thoughtful, with an intricate, international biography full of > remarkable connections and coincidences. He fits in every > conceivable way my childhood stereotype of the “old wise black > man”. I sit in rapt attention to his stories. I look up to > him, which, given his height, is my only choice. But, as we > continue to meet, a tension begins to rise between us that is > coming largely from me, but I cannot control. He becomes > aware that I am seeing him through the stereotype of the old > wise black man. Because I cannot admit to it, he is > imprisoned by it. /Our conversations are based on a lie./ He > disappears from Ohoris and I never see him again. He would > rather eschew good coffee, than live in my lie. > > > > This is what Donald Trump is truthful about. He tells the > truth about his own stereotypes. He is truthful about > himself. That what he believes is FALSE is irrelevant to his > base. He admits to thoughts which they know many others find > distasteful. It is hard to live in a world which has moved on > from one’s childhood, a world in which others find one’s basic > categorizations distasteful – in fact, a world in which one > finds one’s own basic categorizations distasteful. > > > > To break Trump we need to come to a new understanding and > acknowledgement of type-isms. There are always going to be > type-isms. We human beings do that sort of thing. Raised in > a particular way, at a particular time I see a tall grizzled > black man as wise, and everything he says and does is read > through that lens. That’s abduction. This person wears a > dress, this person is a woman, this person is gentle, that ‘s > abduction. (Well, it’s abduction-deduction, but let that > go.) Human beings naturally form identity groups that trap > ourselves and others in false abductions. So we need to > design our society to counter these. (Libertarians beware. > Here come Nick’s white vans, again) In this case the white > van takes the form of aggressive taxation of the rich and > aggressive education of the poor, and of institutions that > promote the random mixing of our citizens (like public > universities and armies – or conservation corps). > > > > Could my friendship with the tall black guy have been > rescued? Could we have laughed about my stereotypes? Perhaps > I should have said, early on, “Look, I’m sorry, I keep seeing > you as Uncle Remus. I am sure, as I get to know you better, > I will get over it. Please be patient with me, and please > call me out whenever you feel confined by it. ” > > > > A Liberalism that does not free me is not worth the name. > > > > Nick > > Nicholas Thompson > > Emeritus Professor of Ethology and Psychology > > Clark University > > [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > > https://wordpress.clarku.edu/nthompson/ > > > > > > > > > - .... . -..-. . -. -.. -..-. .. ... -..-. .... . .-. . > > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > > Zoom Fridays 9:30a-12p Mtn GMT-6 bit.ly/virtualfriam > > un/subscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com > > archives: http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/ > > FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ > > > > - .... . -..-. . -. -.. -..-. .. ... -..-. .... . .-. . > > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > > Zoom Fridays 9:30a-12p Mtn GMT-6 bit.ly/virtualfriam > > un/subscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com > > archives: http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/ > > FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ > > > - .... . -..-. . -. -.. -..-. .. ... -..-. .... . .-. . > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > Zoom Fridays 9:30a-12p Mtn GMT-6 bit.ly/virtualfriam > un/subscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com > archives: http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/ > FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/
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