Thank again Tamara. It is so important to work in this area as racism has been the core of the american economy.
As for African work--sounds fascinating. I will forever be grateful to Kaviraj Vakunthanath (sp?) for his brilliant work
and generosity in sharing his information on use of homeopathy in farming and gardening. His information has
saved my garden many times.
t
Putin
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Dr. Joe Rozencwajg, NMD
- Posts: 2279
- Joined: Wed Jul 31, 2002 10:00 pm
Re: Putin
As far as I am concerned, there is nothing to thank me for. Having been on the receiving end all my childhood and most of my adult life, it is easy to understand the feelings and sensations and from there to make a coherent picture and action plan out of it.
I have read some of the links provided, especially about micro-aggression...it seems a bit more complicated though. There is certainly the institutionalised racism and segregationism that still exists today (ethnic cleansing, separate states with almost "pure" [insert a name her] population) as well as those learned behaviours [don't trust those ones, they all are xyz...] which anyone with half a brain and some goodwill could "un-learn", although it can take some surprising education; here is a personal example: in med school, we were divided in small groups and moving through labs and internships as a whole, easier to administer; one day my good friend Edgar takes me aside and asks "Joe, is it OK if I call you a Jew?" Surprised I said "of course, that is who I am, why do you ask?" His answer floored me: "I thought you would take that as an insult!" Talk about ignorance from a highly educated person...we remained good friends BTW.
I see, feel and understand "ordinary racism" (clutch your purse, avoid some employees as was described) more as what I would call "an atavistic fear of the unknown other". Let's go back to hunter-gatherer period: we lived in very small tribes; encountering another one might mean either growing and becoming more powerful, more able to survive, or possible fight and destruction...how do you quickly assess the risk? through first glance similarity like "hairy, squat, big jaw, sloping forehead good, long tall, blondy bad". Despite demonstrated interbreeding (we mostly still carry 4% of Neanderthal genes), this type of behaviour has become ingrained in all of us, almost epigenetic....and here I come back with my evolutionary solution: once we recognise this in us (individually) we can consciously shut up that epigene. That does not mean stopping awareness and attitude, that does not mean adopting the Jean-Jacques Rousseau theory that all humans are good by essence, something I firmly believed in for many years and was sorry to realise how untrue it is. Unfortunately, that means placing ALL unknown humans and societies at the same level of mistrust and suspicion until proven otherwise. It does not have to be obvious and takes just a few moments of keen observation, but to me, that is how I adapt that ancestral survival tool to modern society....and I am glad to report that so far most experiences have been good!
Tamara, say Hi to Didi for me, please!
Joe.
Dr. J. Rozencwajg, NMD
"The greatest enemy of any science is a closed mind"
www.naturamedica.co.nz
I have read some of the links provided, especially about micro-aggression...it seems a bit more complicated though. There is certainly the institutionalised racism and segregationism that still exists today (ethnic cleansing, separate states with almost "pure" [insert a name her] population) as well as those learned behaviours [don't trust those ones, they all are xyz...] which anyone with half a brain and some goodwill could "un-learn", although it can take some surprising education; here is a personal example: in med school, we were divided in small groups and moving through labs and internships as a whole, easier to administer; one day my good friend Edgar takes me aside and asks "Joe, is it OK if I call you a Jew?" Surprised I said "of course, that is who I am, why do you ask?" His answer floored me: "I thought you would take that as an insult!" Talk about ignorance from a highly educated person...we remained good friends BTW.
I see, feel and understand "ordinary racism" (clutch your purse, avoid some employees as was described) more as what I would call "an atavistic fear of the unknown other". Let's go back to hunter-gatherer period: we lived in very small tribes; encountering another one might mean either growing and becoming more powerful, more able to survive, or possible fight and destruction...how do you quickly assess the risk? through first glance similarity like "hairy, squat, big jaw, sloping forehead good, long tall, blondy bad". Despite demonstrated interbreeding (we mostly still carry 4% of Neanderthal genes), this type of behaviour has become ingrained in all of us, almost epigenetic....and here I come back with my evolutionary solution: once we recognise this in us (individually) we can consciously shut up that epigene. That does not mean stopping awareness and attitude, that does not mean adopting the Jean-Jacques Rousseau theory that all humans are good by essence, something I firmly believed in for many years and was sorry to realise how untrue it is. Unfortunately, that means placing ALL unknown humans and societies at the same level of mistrust and suspicion until proven otherwise. It does not have to be obvious and takes just a few moments of keen observation, but to me, that is how I adapt that ancestral survival tool to modern society....and I am glad to report that so far most experiences have been good!
Tamara, say Hi to Didi for me, please!
Joe.
Dr. J. Rozencwajg, NMD
"The greatest enemy of any science is a closed mind"
www.naturamedica.co.nz
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Tanya Marquette
- Posts: 5602
- Joined: Tue Oct 30, 2001 11:00 pm
Re: Putin
Your first point is important--the development of empathy and an ability to relate one's own experiences that of another who seems different.
That is something sorely lacking in most people I find. However, it was how I came to relate to oppressions that caused the same level of pain that
I experienced and even larger when I learned to see the structural nature of the problem.
Your second point seems to place the issue in the intellectual sphere and on that I disagree. My long term experience is that you can present
oodles of facts and figures but that does little to nothing to touch the cellular nature of the learning. Behavior modification works on the intellectual
level that you seem to be describing but that is all that it is--intellectual. But it can create consciousness. Creating an undoing of racism and other
prejudices/belief systems requires something on an energetic level. Things that I see working are all on an experiential level. For example can think
of several cases of people who didn't want to hear me on the issue, UNTIL they suddenly had a granbaby who was of dark skin. The idea that this
granbaby and the beloved parent was having problems finding decent housing or the child was being treated as 'less than' resulted in these people
becoming indignant, angry and suddenly they began to 'get it.' I know these changes as the people came back to me to fess up. It is that deep
emotional reaction that creates the learning, not intellectualism. Another thing that works is becoming embedded in the community of people
who are 'other.' Prison does that sometimes for white people, even rabid racists. There a number cases of white supremacists serving time where
they were minorities and needed to learn to relate to people of color for their survival. They wound up learning to see the world thru the lens of
people of color causing profound changes in belief systems. These folks came out and began to organize around helping these hate-filled white
people to reclaim themselves as more open minded and caring people. Not easy changes to make at all, ever.
That is something sorely lacking in most people I find. However, it was how I came to relate to oppressions that caused the same level of pain that
I experienced and even larger when I learned to see the structural nature of the problem.
Your second point seems to place the issue in the intellectual sphere and on that I disagree. My long term experience is that you can present
oodles of facts and figures but that does little to nothing to touch the cellular nature of the learning. Behavior modification works on the intellectual
level that you seem to be describing but that is all that it is--intellectual. But it can create consciousness. Creating an undoing of racism and other
prejudices/belief systems requires something on an energetic level. Things that I see working are all on an experiential level. For example can think
of several cases of people who didn't want to hear me on the issue, UNTIL they suddenly had a granbaby who was of dark skin. The idea that this
granbaby and the beloved parent was having problems finding decent housing or the child was being treated as 'less than' resulted in these people
becoming indignant, angry and suddenly they began to 'get it.' I know these changes as the people came back to me to fess up. It is that deep
emotional reaction that creates the learning, not intellectualism. Another thing that works is becoming embedded in the community of people
who are 'other.' Prison does that sometimes for white people, even rabid racists. There a number cases of white supremacists serving time where
they were minorities and needed to learn to relate to people of color for their survival. They wound up learning to see the world thru the lens of
people of color causing profound changes in belief systems. These folks came out and began to organize around helping these hate-filled white
people to reclaim themselves as more open minded and caring people. Not easy changes to make at all, ever.
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Dr. Joe Rozencwajg, NMD
- Posts: 2279
- Joined: Wed Jul 31, 2002 10:00 pm
Re: Putin
The same way that I do not separate mind and body, the same way I see intellectual knowledge and "gut" awareness: they are linked and the connection just has to be activated...not easy I agree, but still possible and desirable.
Joe.
Dr. J. Rozencwajg, NMD
"The greatest enemy of any science is a closed mind"
www.naturamedica.co.nz
Joe.
Dr. J. Rozencwajg, NMD
"The greatest enemy of any science is a closed mind"
www.naturamedica.co.nz
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Tanya Marquette
- Posts: 5602
- Joined: Tue Oct 30, 2001 11:00 pm
Re: Putin
Agree that the change is desirable yet hard. Over 50 yrs of struggle on this issue sure shows the depths of resistance that needs to be overcome.
t
t