To all Mothers now and in the future I wish the warmest wishes for
Self-love and acceptance as a daughter,
affectionate connections with your loving partner and/or friends,
and the most loving, joyful and honest connections with your child or children, for your whole life.
Peace be with you and all of our children on Mother's Day, 2007.
Saturday, May 12, 2007
Evolutionary Psychology; Not knowledge and no longer fun
Several weeks ago I saw an article about this in the L.A. Times. The climate then was that this teacher was once again under public scrutiny because of the Southern Christian Leadership Council investigation, but that the professor's lawyers would protect him from any action by the PUBLIC school to censure him for his inflammatory rhetoric about a particular ethnic group that he views, "in a less than flattering light,"--mine. As far as I know, despite the outrage, nothing has changed in his life or ours.
THE PUBLIC TEACHER
There's a professor at Cal State Long Beach who supposedly believes that Jews in America work together to oppose the majority and destroy our country (I think we're generally too busy doing good things for our families and the Temple sometimes, but I digress). He defines, "destroying" as the act of allowing diverse immigrants to immigrate here. He says we Jews are actively trying to destroy the White-European majority (which I previously thought included me and all of my family, but ever since I've moved to L.A. the definition of who is "white" keeps shrinking and I realize, it has always been a meaningless term, I will forever use it in "quotes" to indicate the word's untrustworthiness; perhaps I should also say, "black" like that, too, that's a pretty inconclusive term for most people; I think most people belong to the "race" called AND, as in black AND white, white AND brown, Asian AND red, yes, it's all arbitrary).
Anyway, this professor is describing a threat that few people rationally feel, that is definitely not proved, all the while blaming a minority he does not accurately perceive, using unsound theory, and he's got Hitler's sense of logic, "Why Jews should be despised." In one of his books he describes a "hypothetical" tax structure and college admission system that would discriminate against Jews! He's got a game plan for the Supremicists (and links to their websites from his university site).
Should I start packing up my family for a move to Canada? I'm not going to stick around for long if this kind of talk takes off--I did learn something from history that involves saving my family's ass early.
I'm pretty sure he has tenure, so the University can't fire him for believing, writing, and joining David Duke's ilk in promoting that an American minority is a threat to America (and what the media is neglecting to acknowlege, all those non-European immigrants he calls the "threat"). I wouldn't stand for any professor advocating group-based prejudices for any group without supporting public pressure on him to get out of academia (or government), lest my own. But if you go to his website, not only does he criticize Jews for successes, he also criticizes Jews for defending ourselves from similar attacks. Wow, I'm being so Jewish right now, right Professor?
RIGHT WING BLAME GAME
I think it's fascinatingly wierd that when some people perceive a problem in society, they start blaming a minority for it--it's such a distraction from what actually moves us (or doesn't). "It's not my people, it's yours," sort of thought. It affects immigrants, pregnant women, religions, secularists, minorities, and even men, etc. He says, "Behavioral science research clearly documents that different ethnic groups have different average talents, abilities, wealth, etc." Oh really, so what talents do you attribute to being white, you race-based thinker? What can my Jewish ("white" AND Jewish) child do that his "black" (Chinese AND black) friend can't, and vice versa? How ridiculous is that beginning for a way to explore human talents and limitations???
Damn it, we all have faults, and we all have hearts, and we don't have to be beholden to our ethnic "identities" for any of it, we're all human, and who we are is a complex, fluid tapestry of environment, beliefs and personality. This kind of "ethnic theory," passing under the guise of academia, is totally one dimensional, which fails short of perceiving humans, who are three dimensional (at least). It is the trap Hitler fell into (and thank God, it was a trap).
IVORY TOWER DYSFUNCTION
Even more disturbing to me than this one professor's POV is the recent university statement issued to defend MacDonald in the L.A. Times:
"...academic freedom does not constrain or restrict the spectrum of knowledge, whether that knowledge is popular or unpopular."
No wonder he has a home there--they can't separate facts and truth (knowledge) from "educated" guesses (THEORY).
The University's statement says nothing about MacDonald being wrong (how could they justify his employment), or being prejudiced, or at the very least, expressing his own darned opinion and not theirs. Instead, the statement actually infers that what he is doing, and what they are defending, counts as "knowledge." As an academic, I know first hand that Just because a bloke can string a bunch of historical facts together, doesn't mean his or her conclusions about them constitute knowledge. In this opinion, he makes huge assertions about Jews, Jewish opinion, and Jewish motives, without the citings that legitimate arguments need to substantiate such claims. His deeply cynical argument that Neoconservatism is a Jewish plot, is as appropriate as blaming Christians for it (which I do not). Jews and Christians (if they can actually be held to any religious affiliation in real life) have come together as Neoconservatives in an unholy pact that benefits both "parties", I would say, all those individuals, financially and has become a threat to Jews and Christians, and every other American, alike. And is Israel, supposedly the Neocon's Jewish litmus test, better off because of Neoconservatives being in power? NOT!
So I ask Cal State Long Beach, so when did you guys start calling THEORY "KNOWLEDGE?" I expect more from the ivory towers. Knowledge, is generally the learning of FACTS and TRUTH. Even the field of Pyschology can't be called FACTUAL or TRUTHFUL, it's ALL theory!
EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGY
Never have I believed that Evolutionary Psychology, the basis of this professor's research, is based on FACT or TRUTH, it's always been a fun, theoretical, biological game for me that generalizes in a highly Freudian (read that sexual/motherly) ways about men and women. Even though many feminists have had a problem with EP for some time, I haven't (oops) because I never thought it carried much weight (which is probably true), and I always thought EP was intellectual fluff that actually made some intuitive sense to me and made an interesting debate among my peers (in that unhappy, biological-clock-ticking space and time), but it's true that, on the whole, the field always has always been disturbingly comprised of mostly odd, male biologists who were basically putting together a whole lot of THEORY to justify certain contemporary behaviors, like male infidelity [e.g. http://www.csulb.edu/~kmacd/Monogamy1995.pdf. Granted, that didn't seem as fun to me after my ex-husband asked for a divorce after having an affair, but I just haven't thought that much about EP since I stopped working at a University long before that divorce, until today. It turns out, not only is the querky field inclusive of chauvenists, they are opening their arms for racists, too. The Executive Council of the Human Behavior and Evolution Society included MacDonald on their board for at least six years.
That's it, I'm done, Evolutionary Psychology is a ridiculous, one-dimensional sham that I'm sorry I ever played with.
THE PUBLIC TEACHER
There's a professor at Cal State Long Beach who supposedly believes that Jews in America work together to oppose the majority and destroy our country (I think we're generally too busy doing good things for our families and the Temple sometimes, but I digress). He defines, "destroying" as the act of allowing diverse immigrants to immigrate here. He says we Jews are actively trying to destroy the White-European majority (which I previously thought included me and all of my family, but ever since I've moved to L.A. the definition of who is "white" keeps shrinking and I realize, it has always been a meaningless term, I will forever use it in "quotes" to indicate the word's untrustworthiness; perhaps I should also say, "black" like that, too, that's a pretty inconclusive term for most people; I think most people belong to the "race" called AND, as in black AND white, white AND brown, Asian AND red, yes, it's all arbitrary).
Anyway, this professor is describing a threat that few people rationally feel, that is definitely not proved, all the while blaming a minority he does not accurately perceive, using unsound theory, and he's got Hitler's sense of logic, "Why Jews should be despised." In one of his books he describes a "hypothetical" tax structure and college admission system that would discriminate against Jews! He's got a game plan for the Supremicists (and links to their websites from his university site).
Should I start packing up my family for a move to Canada? I'm not going to stick around for long if this kind of talk takes off--I did learn something from history that involves saving my family's ass early.
I'm pretty sure he has tenure, so the University can't fire him for believing, writing, and joining David Duke's ilk in promoting that an American minority is a threat to America (and what the media is neglecting to acknowlege, all those non-European immigrants he calls the "threat"). I wouldn't stand for any professor advocating group-based prejudices for any group without supporting public pressure on him to get out of academia (or government), lest my own. But if you go to his website, not only does he criticize Jews for successes, he also criticizes Jews for defending ourselves from similar attacks. Wow, I'm being so Jewish right now, right Professor?
RIGHT WING BLAME GAME
I think it's fascinatingly wierd that when some people perceive a problem in society, they start blaming a minority for it--it's such a distraction from what actually moves us (or doesn't). "It's not my people, it's yours," sort of thought. It affects immigrants, pregnant women, religions, secularists, minorities, and even men, etc. He says, "Behavioral science research clearly documents that different ethnic groups have different average talents, abilities, wealth, etc." Oh really, so what talents do you attribute to being white, you race-based thinker? What can my Jewish ("white" AND Jewish) child do that his "black" (Chinese AND black) friend can't, and vice versa? How ridiculous is that beginning for a way to explore human talents and limitations???
Damn it, we all have faults, and we all have hearts, and we don't have to be beholden to our ethnic "identities" for any of it, we're all human, and who we are is a complex, fluid tapestry of environment, beliefs and personality. This kind of "ethnic theory," passing under the guise of academia, is totally one dimensional, which fails short of perceiving humans, who are three dimensional (at least). It is the trap Hitler fell into (and thank God, it was a trap).
IVORY TOWER DYSFUNCTION
Even more disturbing to me than this one professor's POV is the recent university statement issued to defend MacDonald in the L.A. Times:
"...academic freedom does not constrain or restrict the spectrum of knowledge, whether that knowledge is popular or unpopular."
No wonder he has a home there--they can't separate facts and truth (knowledge) from "educated" guesses (THEORY).
The University's statement says nothing about MacDonald being wrong (how could they justify his employment), or being prejudiced, or at the very least, expressing his own darned opinion and not theirs. Instead, the statement actually infers that what he is doing, and what they are defending, counts as "knowledge." As an academic, I know first hand that Just because a bloke can string a bunch of historical facts together, doesn't mean his or her conclusions about them constitute knowledge. In this opinion, he makes huge assertions about Jews, Jewish opinion, and Jewish motives, without the citings that legitimate arguments need to substantiate such claims. His deeply cynical argument that Neoconservatism is a Jewish plot, is as appropriate as blaming Christians for it (which I do not). Jews and Christians (if they can actually be held to any religious affiliation in real life) have come together as Neoconservatives in an unholy pact that benefits both "parties", I would say, all those individuals, financially and has become a threat to Jews and Christians, and every other American, alike. And is Israel, supposedly the Neocon's Jewish litmus test, better off because of Neoconservatives being in power? NOT!
So I ask Cal State Long Beach, so when did you guys start calling THEORY "KNOWLEDGE?" I expect more from the ivory towers. Knowledge, is generally the learning of FACTS and TRUTH. Even the field of Pyschology can't be called FACTUAL or TRUTHFUL, it's ALL theory!
EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGY
Never have I believed that Evolutionary Psychology, the basis of this professor's research, is based on FACT or TRUTH, it's always been a fun, theoretical, biological game for me that generalizes in a highly Freudian (read that sexual/motherly) ways about men and women. Even though many feminists have had a problem with EP for some time, I haven't (oops) because I never thought it carried much weight (which is probably true), and I always thought EP was intellectual fluff that actually made some intuitive sense to me and made an interesting debate among my peers (in that unhappy, biological-clock-ticking space and time), but it's true that, on the whole, the field always has always been disturbingly comprised of mostly odd, male biologists who were basically putting together a whole lot of THEORY to justify certain contemporary behaviors, like male infidelity [e.g. http://www.csulb.edu/~kmacd/Monogamy1995.pdf. Granted, that didn't seem as fun to me after my ex-husband asked for a divorce after having an affair, but I just haven't thought that much about EP since I stopped working at a University long before that divorce, until today. It turns out, not only is the querky field inclusive of chauvenists, they are opening their arms for racists, too. The Executive Council of the Human Behavior and Evolution Society included MacDonald on their board for at least six years.
That's it, I'm done, Evolutionary Psychology is a ridiculous, one-dimensional sham that I'm sorry I ever played with.
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Dear Mr. President, We don't want to lose our seats or the White House
11 Republicans try to save their seats and the White House in 2008:
Think Progress Report
Gees Mr. President, this Iraq thing sure makes us Republicans look bad, could you shut-up and let the military take the blame while we scare people into electing more Republicans?
Think Progress Report
Gees Mr. President, this Iraq thing sure makes us Republicans look bad, could you shut-up and let the military take the blame while we scare people into electing more Republicans?
Cable TV Propaganda
I saw a local Republican Congressman, not identified as a Republican, being interviewed in a Time/Warner room on CNN--a local public service message.
The Congressman said that the terrorists would just "hold out" for an end date (this "argument" just makes no sense since this is a civil war in Iraq, and I don't think anyone thinks that the "terrorists" aren't going full tilt there now).
The Congressman said that we should continue fighting because the people who have already died would be dishonored if we left without "winning."
How does he look in the face of a soldier now, he probably doesn't, and say, "Um, you have to continue fighting and risk your life to honor those who have died before you--nevermind that this is a war created and continued with lies."
Even if our soidiers WANT to die to honor those that died before them, should we allow that?
The Congressman said that the terrorists would just "hold out" for an end date (this "argument" just makes no sense since this is a civil war in Iraq, and I don't think anyone thinks that the "terrorists" aren't going full tilt there now).
The Congressman said that we should continue fighting because the people who have already died would be dishonored if we left without "winning."
How does he look in the face of a soldier now, he probably doesn't, and say, "Um, you have to continue fighting and risk your life to honor those who have died before you--nevermind that this is a war created and continued with lies."
Even if our soidiers WANT to die to honor those that died before them, should we allow that?
Wednesday, May 09, 2007
The Age of Consequences--It's here.
Fire.
Tornado.
Heat Wave.
I look at my town and see dry leaves as a danger, one spark away from fire. The animals at the zoo were nearly evacuated yesterday.
I look at Kansas, so near the towns where I grew up, and think about the tornadoes I saw then. And I imagine the brutal, enormous, awesome and raging tornadoes that must have passed through those towns the other day. I never saw anything like that as a kid.
I think of last summer in England in July and how my son slept in a diaper overnight, every night--unimaginable in my youth when I would visit every summer only to be surprised by the cold and damp.
Citibank is now investing billions of dollars into responses to climate change.
All we have to do is follow the money...it's here.
Tornado.
Heat Wave.
I look at my town and see dry leaves as a danger, one spark away from fire. The animals at the zoo were nearly evacuated yesterday.
I look at Kansas, so near the towns where I grew up, and think about the tornadoes I saw then. And I imagine the brutal, enormous, awesome and raging tornadoes that must have passed through those towns the other day. I never saw anything like that as a kid.
I think of last summer in England in July and how my son slept in a diaper overnight, every night--unimaginable in my youth when I would visit every summer only to be surprised by the cold and damp.
Citibank is now investing billions of dollars into responses to climate change.
All we have to do is follow the money...it's here.
The Bully Guy
Looking at video feed on CNN I saw a picture of a guy taking a chain saw away from a worker in Kansas just so he could start it and stop it. Then I saw a video of the same guy doing a bad mimic of an African dance at the White House, and he pushed his way onto a drum that was physically attached to a drummer, just so he could beat it for a few beats (not well).
Why does our President have such a need to push and pull? I guess he DOES have a lot to prove.
Peace.
Why does our President have such a need to push and pull? I guess he DOES have a lot to prove.
Peace.
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