A diary of life on the down side of Hubbert's Peak
Sunday, August 1, 2010
A Short Station Break While I Grade Papers
I have a lot to write about, but this weekend I also have a ton of student papers to grade from my short-term teaching gig. I'll try to have another post ready soon. Stay tuned...
Thank you for the link to my blog a few posts ago: far more than any traffic it might generate, it makes me very happy to know that thinkers far more rigorous than I - such as yourself - are using my thoughts as raw material.
While I understand - and can even sympathize with, to a small degree - the discomfort people feel as the culture shifts around them, I very strongly feel that the government has NO role to play in "preserving" the dominant culture. For one thing, there is no Just way to do so; but more fundamentally, it simply isn't part of the public sphere or the public good.
Now, this excepts issues that touch on human rights and child welfare. For example, I do believe that the government should prosecute as child abuse cases of female (child) genital mutilation practiced by certain African and Middle Eastern peoples. I could come up with other examples, but I think you get the point: the state does have an interest in preserving the life and health of it's residents.
However, there is no compelling public interest in what language people speak, what foods they eat, how they dress, worship, or vote. The impulse to coerce cultural homogeneity seems to be universal, but that impulse should be vigorously resisted, just as impulses toward random violence or rape should be. "Natural" does not equal "permissible."
Specifically as regards Mexican immigration and resource scarcity - well, that will be an endlessly repeated debate all over the world, wherever resource rich nations are in proximity with poor ones. As I said in my post, I have been aghast and horrified at the mainstream media's dehumanization of immigrants. Systematic dehumanization (historically) is the prelude to acts of mass atrocity. Americans are certainly not immune to group madness - as a person of color you know that we have only to go back less than a century to find examples of institutionalized mob hatred and violence in the era of lynching.
I don't know any way of resisting such trends other than doing what we are doing: writing, talking with friends, voting, and generally being brave enough to stand up for the right while the stakes are still low. I don't know about you, but I don't know if I'll be brave enough to do so when the stakes are high - so I better do it now.
1 comment:
Thank you for the link to my blog a few posts ago: far more than any traffic it might generate, it makes me very happy to know that thinkers far more rigorous than I - such as yourself - are using my thoughts as raw material.
While I understand - and can even sympathize with, to a small degree - the discomfort people feel as the culture shifts around them, I very strongly feel that the government has NO role to play in "preserving" the dominant culture. For one thing, there is no Just way to do so; but more fundamentally, it simply isn't part of the public sphere or the public good.
Now, this excepts issues that touch on human rights and child welfare. For example, I do believe that the government should prosecute as child abuse cases of female (child) genital mutilation practiced by certain African and Middle Eastern peoples. I could come up with other examples, but I think you get the point: the state does have an interest in preserving the life and health of it's residents.
However, there is no compelling public interest in what language people speak, what foods they eat, how they dress, worship, or vote. The impulse to coerce cultural homogeneity seems to be universal, but that impulse should be vigorously resisted, just as impulses toward random violence or rape should be. "Natural" does not equal "permissible."
Specifically as regards Mexican immigration and resource scarcity - well, that will be an endlessly repeated debate all over the world, wherever resource rich nations are in proximity with poor ones. As I said in my post, I have been aghast and horrified at the mainstream media's dehumanization of immigrants. Systematic dehumanization (historically) is the prelude to acts of mass atrocity. Americans are certainly not immune to group madness - as a person of color you know that we have only to go back less than a century to find examples of institutionalized mob hatred and violence in the era of lynching.
I don't know any way of resisting such trends other than doing what we are doing: writing, talking with friends, voting, and generally being brave enough to stand up for the right while the stakes are still low. I don't know about you, but I don't know if I'll be brave enough to do so when the stakes are high - so I better do it now.
Thanks for your insightful work.
Aimee
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