#2 Musings Beyond the Bunker (Monday April 19)
Greetings,
HATE IS HATE
Hatred shares a universality. It is insidious and has a life of its own. The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, a forgery that has prompted generations of hate, rears its ugly head in antisemitic circles in every generation. So too does the familiar trope of the crazed, violent Black man, resulting in the spate of anti-Black lynchings in the Jim Crow South and fears of violence from the most innocent and unthreatening to this day. Then there is the canard that families attempting to cross our border, escaping terrible conditions at home, are dangerous and intend us harm. All of this furthers personal and political agendas motivated by irrational fears of “the other.”
I believe that to combat the hatred against all people of all religions, races, and creeds, we need to acknowledge the inter-relationship of that hate. The root causes—the need to vilify the other, the need to feel superior to the other, the need to manipulate the system to provide advantages over the other—are all of the same piece. This fear of “the other” has been with us at least since the Old Testament was written. Thirty-six times in the Torah (the Five Books of Moses) we are told to be kind to the stranger (this injunction is the most repeated rule in the Bible). We had to be told many times because we are so prone to forget.
As a Jew, I am hard-pressed to imagine anything worse than the rounding up and massive killing of Jews, Gypsies, Gays, and others under the Nazi brutality. But how can a Black person look at the world and see anything that is a greater evil than centuries of enforced, brutal bondage? And how can a Chinese person not believe that the predations inflicted by the European powers was not the greatest crime in history? Of course the answer is not based in determining which is more evil. There is no “hatred Olympics.” We need to appreciate that we must be watchdogs for each other in calling out hatred in whatever form, from whatever source.
People have asked about the panel on antisemitism on which I participated last week. I mention this idea in it. Here it is. Most of the action begins around the 15-minute mark and runs to the 60-minute mark. My fellow panelists were Steve Fink, Eve Kurtin Steinberg and Rabbi Yoshi Zweiback. Many of the above themes are discussed:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZkxqSvntoYU
"I LOVE YOUR MASK"
A year ago, I could never imagine those words being spoken, yet they were. Andrea and I were walking down the street in Montecito with my sister and brother-in-law. A young woman loved Andrea's bright red, very stylish, mask and said so. By the way, I owe Ed credit for naming "Musings Beyond the Bunker." A well-turned phrase is not his only talent. He does pretty mean impersonations and stand-up as well. I understand he is available for garden parties, car dealership grand openings and Bar Mitzvahs.
STAYING OFF OF SOCIAL MEDIA
We know it’s not healthy. While it plays only a small role in the movie Operation Varsity Blues: the College Admissions Scandal its problematic nature is in full view when seeing how Olivia Jade Giannulli (the daughter of Massimo Giannulli and Laura Laughlin) uses social media. Ugh. That said, even though you know how it all turns out, watching this mix of dramatization and actual footage is spellbinding. Social media is only one of society’s ills lain bare by this film on Netflix.
For the view of someone not on social media (Mark DiMaria):
“For whatever it's worth, while I am an avid consumer of print and online news media alike, I have eschewed social media sites since their inception. I can't claim any prescient awareness of their suitability to spread misinformation. Rather, I was more concerned with the mass consumption of my personal thoughts and information, which I reserve for those who inhabit my real, physical world…I do not see myself as some sort of quasi-Luddite curmudgeon, but then, who am I to say?”
Mark, I have known you since college. You are not a Luddite. As to being a curmudgeon, well, you’re not a Luddite…
Have a good day,
Glenn