Some things to think about...

(Original art work by William Rafti of the William Rafti Institute)

Every once in a while, I see something that gets my blood curdling, my skin into goosebumps. I don't want to look. I keep looking for a while and feel a sense of revulsion, or voyeurism, of even a bit of morbid shame because I keep watching. 

I lived in Ireland for about 3 years. It was a pivotal time in my life. I was an expat. I didn't know whether I would come back to America. Ever. So, I assimilated into Irish culture. I listened. I watched. I read. I heard and finally understoood just a little about "The Struggles". When I sat in a pub and talked with people, I realized it only took a few words from me for them to know I was an American.

I worked for an English company off Harcourt Street near Trinity College. It was the Irish subsidiary and I worked with the English management, not with the Irish staff. I noticed the way the English treated the Irish. The jokes. The slurs. The attitudes that the Irish were coarse, crude, under or less educated. 

One Irish fellow I worked with once walked home with me to D4, as our neighborhood was called, Dublin 4, the Southside, and he explained recent Irish history to me. I knew just a little because I had seen a movie about the 1916 uprising. He explained how the English had possession of Ireland at one time and how the Irish had risen up against them to reclaim their land. How one of the Irish had sold out and how that was how Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland had become two separate countries. 26 Irish counties and 6 in the North. 

I felt the beginnings of a world view formulating within me. When I watched TV, I saw news from a non-US perspective. US events weren't highlighted as they are here. The "slant" wasn't toward US rightness. I even saw maps that showed the US as a small nation compared to the rest of the world, very much like we in America see Europe as a small place relative to the rest of the world on our maps. 

Things were different. I later wrote a piece called "The TV Police", of which I am still proud, which related a tale describing how one day a postman came to my door and I realized you needed a TV license to own a TV in Ireland.

I almost never write about political issues. That's because I consider myself a bit ignorant about politics. So, as a rule I don't take a stand or take sides publicly. One time, I became aware of the immigration struggle here in America regarding the Mexicans and the border troubles at Arizona. Someone commented something to the effect that I didn't know what I was talking about. That I hadn't written the article well. That stung. All I saw was a bunch (appearing to me) of racism and misunderstanding about Mexicans who were 1) oppressed 2) wanted work and 3) were allowed to work in the US, but when they wanted social services or fair treatment, were resented and denied. That comment stung and I felt a bit of shame because in fact, it's a complicated issue and I in fact didn't know all the ins and outs of it. So, I retreated back to my original stance, which was to be "Cultural, not political."

The other day, I saw an article about Uggs bootsand replicas made abroad that imitated the Uggs fur lining with dog fur. It alluded to the "horrible" mistreatment of the dogs, who, it claimed, were sometimes skinned alive to make the fur linings we enjoy in the cheaper knockoffs. It hurt me to watch and I was intrigued. I thought about how sometimes I turned away knowing something was counterfeit and bought it anyway because it was cheaper. The piece featured PETA and I thought about how people laughed derisively sometimes when they talked about and to vegans. I thought about how I often said "I'm from Texas, I'm not a vegetarian!" and laughed while I ate my BBQ sandwich, sometimes pork.

This morning, I read an Ele article about Tibet. I know nothing about hip hop. When I hear people, such as the white guy from Chicago I met a few years ago in Portland at the Hawthorne Hostel (now on Zoobird!), who say they like hip hop, I don't really even know what hip hop is.

But, this article claimed the video was banned by the Chinese and urged people to watch it. So, that intrigued me. The banning. Not the hip hop. Anyway, I watched it and saw a young Tibetan boy rapping, singing and gesticulating using gang gestures anbout the diaspora, or so it appeared. You see, I am personally so far from understanding the struggles in Tibet that those "Free Tibet" red and yellow bumper stickers I see are just curiosities to me. 

I was recently in Boulder, CO and saw the movie "Crazy Wisdom" at Naropa University with a friend I met at the conference I attended. The movie documents the life of Chogyam Trungpa. The movie began by describing how a young Trungpa led a group of Tibetans over the Himalayas to freedom in the face of the Chinese oppressors. He came to America after being educated in English at Oxford and assimilated in the 60's to the extent that he could relate to the hippies and yippies using their vernacular. Later, he had severe behaviour issues and even wrecked his car after driving drunk. He died a young man after living his last years partially paralized as a result of the accident. That had mystified me to date, because I saw a group of people who revered and respected him in spite of his behaviour. His explanation? "We're human. I'm human", he said in so many words.

Getting back to the hip hop film, it tempted me to continue reading the article and clicking on the links. I then watched a film about Tibetans uprising against the Chinese, not completely in a non-violent fashion, because I saw footage of trucks overturned and gas lighting, and also of very stirring emotional actions by the Tibetan monks that seemed angry, fists raised, shouting, and I didn't completely understand, But, I feel, I felt as though I were beginning to understand.

I stood outside and thought about it a few minutes ago on my porch. We're having a "wicked cold front" here in Gainesville, FL right now. It's the full moon, and it's been 70-80's F up until yesterday when the temperatures dropped to just below 30. I started to think about the homeless here in Gainesville and everywhere and considered writing about how we should be aware of the cold front and help them.

It's just been Veteran's Day here in America. A day when we honor our military veterans. I suggested to someone that I was going to write about the cold and our homeless vets. I was advised that I shouldn't, especialy on Zoobird, because it may offend some people.  

I even thought about some of the pieces I watched on TV about PTSD and veterans. How I thought it might be a good service for me to work with them as a social worker. I continued talking and said I didn't really know anything about veterans. But, there was counterpoint: my dad and my step-dad are vets. Yes, I said, they were in WW2 and the Korean war, but they didn't see action. You don't need to see action to be a vet. You only need to have served. I felt like I didn't know anything about veterans.

What am I trying to say here? I think we need to look at our internal affairs here in America, but also at the world around us with an educated eye. We need to be aware of our world and what goes on. If we just watch network TV, CNN, Fox and don't expose ourselves somehow to a world view, we can't possibly understand what's going on around us.

I spent an entire day listening to public radio on Veteran's Day. Public Radio at least talks from a different point of view than our mass media, although it's also mass media. I believe there is less psychological operation going on in public radio than there is in mass media. So, I feel a bit of trust, no let me reword that, I feel there's a distinctly different point of view.

Sometimes the "different" point of view is clouded by conspiracy theory. So, you have to watch with a careful eye.

I have heard about Technocracy from several (click the link and listen) of us here at Zoobird and listened to many shows postd about Technocracy. Skeptical, but curious, I have not forgotten what I watched. I remember as I see the Occupy Wall Street demonstrations. To my surprise, yesterday's NYTimes headlines described the rising economic crisis in Italy and Greece and mentioned talks with the Technocrats. 

This is not my specialty. I am not a politico or an economist, nor am I a conspiracy theorist or even an activist in the literal sense of the word.

But, meanwhile, we're hearing reports of the world ending. We're seeing economies collapse. I have friends who are investing in bullion. Friends who are being self sustinant not just because it's good for the earth, but also out of a fear that world governments may collapse.

A thought crossed my mind the other day. Borders closed its doors. I often wandered in our local Borders and read books without buying them. Sad, no more Borders. 

The TV station, WUCF, a Public Media affiliate in Orlando is closing its doors and is up for sale. I thought about how when countries are at war, media is a target that's addressed along with infrastructure like bridges and airports. Khadaffi's son was invlved with the media, as are many politicians. The media is such a powerful outlet.

What we see on the media is so carefully regulated. I was in the Congo last year and a group of us were asked to be on national TV. I saw how carefully the interviews were vetted. I also saw how easy it was to put up a TV station. Plywood, inexpensive gear. National TV. Wow. I admit, the simple technology also intrigued me as I became involved in the interview, along with a sense of impending doom because I knew there was security in the area.

What we have here on the web is disimtermediation. What does that $0.50 word mean? I have said many times before, the web gives us a global outlet that we have never had before. We can write what we want and we don't have to have it approved before we publish it. Not everyone can read it, though. I was a ham radio op as a kid. I loved talking with people in foreign countries. I often asked them what it was like to live where they lived. What a general question! Usually, though, we talked about the weather. But, in the meantime, my world view expanded. I grew up with a big Rand Macnally world map on my wall. The whole of Russia, the USSR, looked like a desert on my map. So, as a kid, I naturally thought of many areas of the world as deserts. 

I met Behrang, an Iranian living in Australia who is now on Zoobird because he commented in a very clever manner on a joke I blogged about. I asked him to send me photos of Tehran and his neighborhood. I admit I half expected to see sand dunes. I had no idea, and this was recently, that Tehran was a such modern city. His family live in a high rise condo and his street is lined with expensive European cars. Not a spec of sand to be seen.

I became aware of dual economies in my travels. How the locals get charged one price and the foreigners get charged another. I also saw chickens and phone cards being used as currency in Africa. I am often approached by people abroad who ask me how they can ecommerce enable their sites because it's hard to do business on the web in their country. 

You know what's interesting? Ever hear the expression "You don't want what you don't know about" (poor recollection, bear with me - I'm having my coffee). I drive an old car with an old radio and crackly speakers. I don't like listening to new radios because mine seems just fine unless I hear something better. Same with TV's - I just got a small HDTV, but before that my tube TV seemed fine until it croaked. Desire is one thing, enlightenment is another. 

I got a couple of books at the "Crazy Wisdom" movie my friend Julie Bohler from the Dharma Foundation recommended: "Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism" and "Training the Mind and Cultivating Loving Kindness" by Chogyam Trungpa. "Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism" was described by another friend, Waylon Lewis, as "deep" and less "accessible" than "Training the Mind and Cultivating Loving Kindness". I've been perusing "Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism" with increasing interest.

One of the comments on this video reads:

"May I become at all times, both now and forever,

I just went outside, It's 35F! I am wearing sweat pants, a T-Shirt covered with a sweatshirt and it's cccold!

Here's something you can do.

You may not be able to affect change in the global world. But, do you think you can make some food to go and take it with you when you leave and give it to a homeless person? And, have a sense of humor.