race and racism
one of the subtopics from my Modernity class today really got me thinking about a lot of things. The premise was that race is not an essential component of racism, and that liberalism in and of itself is a form of racism. Although I remained quiet during the discussion, I can relate to this topic in a big way. We discussed several examples, one being the imminent feeling of racism here in Israel, obvious after living here only a few months. I actually felt it my first day in Israel over the summer. This can apply to many sides and many issues, thus I will not expand at this time. Another example of this (liberalism being a form of racism) is the hijabs (head dresses) worn by Muslim women, and France's banning of them in the public sphere. If France is a liberal, progressive, European country as it claims to be, then tolerance of cultural norms (culture stemming from race and particularly religion in this case) and personal choices for apparel should be permitted. I don't know as much about France's governmental policies and laws as I should, but we'll leave that one for my boy Nicolas Sarkozy to unpack.
And now for my personal example, from the United States, the progressively post-modern liberal and dare I say dominantly democratic nation that I call myself a citizen of (whew)! Last year I worked as an Adjunct Professor at a small Christian (Nazarene) University in San Diego, where the rules were very strict, and the Bible was supposed to serve as the model for conduct. Well... this framework applied in MOST cases, but in many other ways certain programs and administrators were very "liberal". One in particular (we will call her BH) was very high up on the totem pole (an administrative dean) and I clashed heads with her from day 1. Her big agenda was "tolerance", particularly of the homosexual community. Although BH is most likely familiar with the Bible and its teachings, somehow she felt (and incorporated into Faculty briefings) that it was OK to be homosexual, and/or we (as Christian Educators) should tolerate this. I was not ok with this, because I understand the Bible, and GOD's laws (not man's twisted perspective as per societal progress). What BH failed to realize is that her liberalism was actually cultural racism, by her push to "accept" these confused children, she was discriminating against (and disregarding) the Bible-Believing Christians. Needless to say I am no longer working there, partially due to BH's liberal stance on many issues, and her difficulty in understanding someone's written word (God's, and also my own about another item which came up during my employment).
As this was not intended as a forum for me to vent about past employers, I hope you can see my point, and now I will bring you back to the original topic, which was racism (particularly with Israel and the Middle East). However, I will not address any of these issues myself, but rather leave you to explore the news (please examine a variety of sources to gain a broader perspective), and topics such as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Zionism, and Islamic Facism (is that really what its called?). Should we, as citizens of the world (living in "progressive" societies) be tolerant of cultural norms, such as race, religion, and apparel? What about controversial personal decisions that may offend, hurt, or kill people, such as homosexuality, abortion, and terrorism? Can we or should we apply our "western" values to the rest of the world, why or why not?
And now for my personal example, from the United States, the progressively post-modern liberal and dare I say dominantly democratic nation that I call myself a citizen of (whew)! Last year I worked as an Adjunct Professor at a small Christian (Nazarene) University in San Diego, where the rules were very strict, and the Bible was supposed to serve as the model for conduct. Well... this framework applied in MOST cases, but in many other ways certain programs and administrators were very "liberal". One in particular (we will call her BH) was very high up on the totem pole (an administrative dean) and I clashed heads with her from day 1. Her big agenda was "tolerance", particularly of the homosexual community. Although BH is most likely familiar with the Bible and its teachings, somehow she felt (and incorporated into Faculty briefings) that it was OK to be homosexual, and/or we (as Christian Educators) should tolerate this. I was not ok with this, because I understand the Bible, and GOD's laws (not man's twisted perspective as per societal progress). What BH failed to realize is that her liberalism was actually cultural racism, by her push to "accept" these confused children, she was discriminating against (and disregarding) the Bible-Believing Christians. Needless to say I am no longer working there, partially due to BH's liberal stance on many issues, and her difficulty in understanding someone's written word (God's, and also my own about another item which came up during my employment).
As this was not intended as a forum for me to vent about past employers, I hope you can see my point, and now I will bring you back to the original topic, which was racism (particularly with Israel and the Middle East). However, I will not address any of these issues myself, but rather leave you to explore the news (please examine a variety of sources to gain a broader perspective), and topics such as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Zionism, and Islamic Facism (is that really what its called?). Should we, as citizens of the world (living in "progressive" societies) be tolerant of cultural norms, such as race, religion, and apparel? What about controversial personal decisions that may offend, hurt, or kill people, such as homosexuality, abortion, and terrorism? Can we or should we apply our "western" values to the rest of the world, why or why not?
posted by :: Lisa :: at 11:54 AM
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