If Black Lives Don't Matter - no Lives Matter

"Please. Please. I can't breathe, officer. I cannot breathe," Floyd gasped while handcuffed. Onlookers demanded Chauvin relent, but he continued to drive his knee into Floyd's neck. A devastating, 10-minute video recorded this slow-motion murder, breath by ebbing breath. Finally, Floyd's limp body is roughly rolled onto a stretcher, loaded into an ambulance and taken to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead." Rabble.ca 

What kind of society produces a man who cannot feel the suffering of another while his knee is on their neck until his victim dies?

It's up to humans who care, who cry, and who have not been so traumatized they no longer know what or why they do what they do, to fix it.

It's called conscience and we must honour it until we become human again or we bleed trying.

Post on Facebook from Simon Rakoff

I don't object to hate. Higher minds strive to overcome their feelings of hate but it is natural to hate someone who has wronged you. Another few days of upsetting racist stories are about unreasoning hate. There is no excuse for hate of a group of people just because they are not us. The sharing of these stories makes it seem like hate is worse than it had been. I think racism and xenophobia are more like mold. It may not always show but it's there. The coarsening of discourse over the last while is just like a crowbar that pried up the countertop to expose the rot underneath. People spraying swastikas on Jewish buildings or calling the police to report a threatening African American are not just discovering their racism. They just feel emboldened to express it. 

I don't know if racism and hate can actually be cured. It might be hard wired in us to suspect the stranger. I do know that we can decide its expression is intolerable. We repress a lot of "natural" things for the good of society. Everybody has genitalia but it's an accepted rule that we keep them hidden from strangers. A lot of behaviours that are acceptable at one time become taboo as society evolves. People used to joke about driving drunk. Societal pressure to be better has made it unacceptable to do and unseemly to joke about. It is important that we make it clear that open racism is not funny or "just an opinion". People who don't want to accept that this is supposed to be an inclusive society need to be shamed back underground. 

I agree it is not a perfect solution. Ideally, we would actually feel love and acceptance or, at worst, tolerance for our fellow humans of all colours, creeds, religions and the like but that is a matter of enlightenment and enlightenment comes with time and willingness. In the absence of true changes of mind, behavioural modification is the only real world answer. The firing and public shaming of the Central Park Karen is a good example of the kind of consequences that should discourage thoughtless and dangerous behaviour from others. 

The cops who killed the man by kneeling on his neck need to be charged criminally to emphasize that the law is the law. Gravity is a law. There is no race, power or money that can make you levitate. Man's laws need to apply in the same way. There needs to be constant outrage every time the rules are applied unequally. There are already so many subtle and unseen microaggressions against people of colour. The blatant and open misapplication of what is supposed to be equality under the law needs to be shamed and punished out of existence. 

I know it feels like the world is sliding into tribalism and chaos but there is no such thing as unstoppable momentum when it comes to human behaviour. It can seem like only those shouting have an opinion but I believe that there are many more who quietly hope for a better, kinder world. It's time that thos quiet speak up. Not necessarily shouting to drown out the hate but gently and firmly pointing out that it is unacceptable whenever it rears its ugly head. Let those who would try to get away with racism and hate be fearful instead of the other way around.

Long rant. Thanks for reading.

Simon Rakoff is a Canadian Stand Up Comic and Actor.

They Are Coming Through The Windows

Little leaves clinging to their branches

on their native trees

now invade my bedroom

colonising everything I see

and rain is a symphony on roof

the shower of my bathroom

confronted with the global economic

reality and had to admit that my bleeding

my loving and my caring did not control

the barbed wire around this globe

but this green, these thoughts and prayers

wait patiently to burst through my eyes

and travel deep into my beating heart.

My evolution is still in process.

Further reading: Robert Pollin on Green New Deal Must Not Be Tied to Economic Growth.

Sparkle

I am starting a new religion

which means that no-one will pay attention

and write what I want

be dismissed as a crank

a fluff and a butt of jokes

but hey

everyone needs a laugh don't they?

Arguments about

the soul or body

have been around for centuries.

You think you think ... therefore you are?

Or you are (therefore) you think!

Who could argue with that?

But what would be the point of a religion

without controversy?

Well, for a start

you could simply be!

Okay, I hear you say,

well being is a Buddhist invention

isn't it?

Yes but

(this always comes up)

being is apparent when you forced

your way through the birth canal

and your mother smiled lovingly

and you think — this is proof!

You exist,

Then the diaper rash!

You fall out of love with being.

There is a strong reaction to hunger 
and you cannot cope

the world becomes more complex

after every birthday celebration

you can walk

you can talk

you can run

and each stage is

an epiphany

and you think

Oh I get it now

until another change is forced on you

and you've just about had enough

when suddenly you think

What???

WHEN WILL IT END

ALL THIS ADJUSTMENT

DISCOVERING YOU DON'T KNOW EVERYTHING.

There must be a way to learn 
how the world works before you are born? 
Where was the life contract 
listing the risks and conditions
before 
you pushed your way down that passage?

So here's the deal: 
when you get here not knowing 
what your life will be like

is no defense.

So grieve, pout, make excuses, feel guilty

pray for forgiveness, or invent a new religion.

But once you are here you don't have a strong

negotiating position.

Science: COVID-19 Not Made In A Lab

Here is the link to the science: https://www.sciencealert.com/here-s-what-scientists-think-of-the-coronavirus-was-made-in-a-lab-rumour. 

Because the rumour that COVID-19 was created in China and there are political desires to create rumours that spread blame and hate, this report explains why it could not have been created in a lab.

The question I have is — how can I encourage conversation that doesn't seek a target to blame?

Conscience Conversation

Here is a list of questions created by our Conscience Conversation group. These questions remind me that the road to human survival is not easy or pre-scripted. We are evolving. We are potentially integral beings with varying abilities to solve problems, with diverse ways of interpreting the world.

The questions here are so important and I have received permission from members of our group to post on this blog. 

1. How do we know what we (believe we) know? 
2. Who do we trust to give us the “right” information, and on what basis? 
3. Is there a dominant narrative, and if so, who (if anyone) controls it? 
4. What role does the new phenomenon of the internet play? 
5. What are human rights and responsibilities in the face of a public health crisis?
6. Long term human rights issues and short term human rights issues? 
7. How do we as a society navigate risk, and deal with uncertainty?  
8. Should death be the ultimate deciding factor in governmental decision-making?
9. What are the factors we think are guiding governmental decision making? 
10. How do we make important decisions in a democratic society, and who should be involved? 
11. What other factors should guide governmental decision making?
12. How does limited information media influence our conversations?
13. How does social media influence our conversations?
14. How does a hierarchical society organize information?
15. How do we as a society treat people who are trying to address what cannot be proven?
16. What is the difference between scientific fact, and scientific theory?