Palin Pathetically Pleads Persecution

http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2011/01/12/palins-use-of-blood-libel-invokes-ancient-myth-about-jews/

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2011/01/12/palin-criticized-for-using-blood-libel/


http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2011/01/12/my-take-sarah-palins-bogus-persecution-complex/

http://www.religiondispatches.org/dispatches/laurilebo/4021/new_theory_for_tucson_tragedy:_blame_the_atheists/

I can’t say I’m surprised that Sarah Palin has gotten into my blog again after half a year of nothing since Christine O’Donnell took her place for inept female politicians (and there are adept ones, don’t misunderstand me). And now she’s painting herself into a corner with her ignorance on Jewish-Christian issues. In particular, she thinks the term “blood libel” can be separated from the history it has of Christians slaughtering Jews; since many thought that the Israelite descendants kidnapped and killed Christian children and used their blood for various occult rituals. Any appropriate use of the term would have to involve actual persecution of Jews. But Palin says she, a good Christian woman, is the target of a blood libel against her since she can’t admit she might be somewhat guilty in using decidedly gun heavy rhetoric in rallying Tea Party members to fight against big government, by any means necessary, I imagine. And this rhetoric persisted in using what appeared to be target signs on various politicians in Arizona, including Gabrielle Giffords, nearly killed by a shot to the head from Jared Lee Loughner, who killed at least 6 people in his rampage in Tucson. Some claim Palin’s use of the targets may have motivated Loughner to the act against Giffords by association the target with a gun and Palin’s own phrase that she throws around of “Don’t retreat, reload,”

There’s a tragic irony in this, since Giffords herself was a Reform Jew, so it’s like twisting the knife in her parent’s wounds. Saying you’re the victim of a “blood libel” from people accusing you of influencing a maniac to make an assassination attempt on a Jew is like a Christian using the term “witch hunt”, which I imagine might not be uncommon in some areas today even with Wicca becoming more popular (though Wiccans are NOT witches, I must clarify). The Anti Defamation League strongly objected to Palin’s use, along with scholars of religion, such as Stephen Prothero and Mary C. Boys, who concentrates on this area of religious studies. While it has become part of English parlance, not unlike the phrase witch hunt, to use “blood libel” with a meaning separate from its historical context of Christian anti Semitism; which I admit is a minority today, since it is popular in Christian circles now to pray for Israel and such; it seems unfair to Jews in some way to use that term in such a nonchalant fashion, as if the Jews have just forgotten it, like the Holocaust, or just silently accept that people will always indirectly use anti semitic phrases in new unrelated ways. The medieval paranoia that might have just been a cover for anti Semitism under the similar hysteria around vampires; the Jews allegedly used blood in their rituals, therefore in the medieval mindset, they were kin with vampires. Makes as much sense as any other conspiracy theory.

I don’t think anyone is going to outright criticize Palin for her attempt to defend herself against these accusations, which, while plausible on some level, seem no different from scapegoating that has happened throughout times of crisis, creating someone to be the one to take the blame and otherwise become a pariah. Palin’s rhetoric might have only been a slight factor alongside Jared Lee Loughner’s alleged favorite books, including Hitler’s Mein Kampf. He may very well have been unstable from the beginning and the outside environmental influences may have triggered what was already somewhat genetically predisposed. There’s little reason to place the blame completely on any one person for even triggering Loughner’s insanity or his behavior, since he might have been behaving in what he believed to be a rational course of action, even if everyone else around him would have thought otherwise. There’s a justified criticism of sorts by Democrats of Republicans, Tea Party supporters especially, of the ease with which the assassin got a weapon with which to commit his crime, since they’re all for gun rights being increased (right?). The fact that Jared Loughner had no previous mental health evaluations or even any significant crimes on his record eliminated any difficulties that would’ve been clues from the start that he was someone that probably should not have gotten a gun at all. His belief in conspiracy theories was one of many manifestations in recent years that he was unstable, though the reason he was never forcefully taken for evaluations was because his erratic and outright insane behavior was nonetheless regarded as not posing any direct danger to anyone else around him. He was expelled from community college for this behavior, only allowed back in if he got a certified examination demonstrating his sanity. Later on, the military rejected his application on the grounds that he was mentally unfit. I would think at this point the military might’ve suggested that Loughner get evaluated by a psychologist/psychiatrist, but again, by this point, he may’ve been so far gone that it didn’t register.

And one last irritant in this whole terrible incident are claims that Loughner’s actions were motivated by his alleged atheism. There are already issues with this, since his reading list varies from theistic to atheistic authors, Plato and Hitler both having theistic tendencies and Ayn Rand and Karl Marx atheists of one stripe or another. The picture showing what appeared to observers to be a shrine with a skull doesn’t seem to show anything of atheism, since an atheist wouldn’t probably feel any need to erect any kind of area of worship, since it would be unnecessary to make pleas to divinities to dole out rewards or punishments. Not to mention that, regardless of whether you believe or disbelieve in the divine, when you’re stark raving mad, I don’t think you’re going to rethink that existential question so quickly when you take a Glock and starting firing wildly into a crowd. It’s pretty clear that the individual is the primary agent of responsibility in committing a crime, but there’s always room for considering a secondary agent as responsible by negligence. If you suspect someone is a danger to others by their behavior and thought patterns as far as they indicate them and you don’t do anything about it, then one can say you are nearly as culpable on some level as the person who takes a box cutter to a stranger’s throat. All in all, the blame game everyone’s playing is a start, but with Palin’s particular term being used outside of actual Jewish persecution, it’s no wonder that she’s spiraling down into mediocrity both politically and culturally to the level of Michael Jackson still being used as the punch line. Until next time, Namaste and aloha.

Minority Advantages and Majority Advances

http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2010/07/16/hfr-for-friday-religious-minorities-is-the-disadvantage-the-advantage/

As something of a self identified Buddhist in the Bible Belt (of all places), I have felt (potentially unrealistically) a sense of isolation and separation from a genuine sangha or even a community of lay Buddhists. With only a single professor in the religion department at my college significantly trained in Buddhist thought, it was equally difficult to find education in the religion. Although on a separate note, one would observe that any beliefs in Buddhist tenets that I have are incidental to what is a more modern synthesis of other philosophical/religious systems, such as Discordianism (parody religion that it is) as well as Satanism (the Laveyan variety), so my claims of being in a minority religious group are problematic. If I was more of a full-fledged Buddhist, then my claims would have a stronger backing. But even without a significant personal connection to the issues spoken about in the article above, I feel I can relate to them with the education I’ve gotten through the religious studies department.

With Jews and Muslims being the two larger groups that possess difficulties, the issue that appears the most important is education on Abrahamic religions and correcting misinformation about them. If this is done, then the problem will still exist, but on the level of the individual and community confronting the difficulties of a more Christian biased culture and rolling with the punches so to speak. There are, if you will, two conflicting positions with a middle ground that has been posited. The first extreme is an isolation approach, where one views one’s culture and religious community as possessing of a particular solidarity that enables one to become separate and unique from the culture. This is especially problematic because it lines up with a more fringe element that is apparent with psychological cults, such as those in Texas that were in the news less than a year ago. The other extreme is an assimilation approach, where one suggests that one should submit to the dominant culture and let the truly unique parts of one’s faith and culture stand out as they will. This is troubling in that it doesn’t allow for individualization in the form of clear distinctions that exist between what are still common worldviews, such as Judaism, Islam and Christianity. Even with such Eastern faiths as Buddhism, Hinduism, Sikhism and others, the common ground can be discovered with time.

The middle ground position is how this begins. One accepts that demographically, Christians will be the majority in America, but also notes that America possesses a value of tolerance and acceptance of diversity with no disrespect meant to the majority but no favoritism granted either. As one that was raised Christian but has basically become an apostate (going for purely social reasons, conformity being still valued as a way to keep relationships between more traditional family members at least tolerable), it’s not as if I can’t understand how one feels with non Christians who don’t celebrate the majority holidays. Though honestly, with Jews in particular, the Christian community rarely seems to care. With the Muslim Ramadan, there is less familiarity, so Christians are more potentially hostile towards the faith that has been presented in a less than flattering light since 9/11. With this in mind, a Muslim in America possesses an ideal state to educate people about Islam and try to be a good example for how Islam can be in agreement with American ideals and values, however exotic and foreign it may appear to be, not unlike when one is Buddhist, Hindu, Sikh, or Taoist for other “Eastern” faith examples. The overall goal is not complete assimilation to the exclusion of any standing out as someone who is indeed not Christian, but is not opposed to the values of religious tolerance and freedom, nor is it complete isolationism, leading to dangerous ideologies such as Zionism or Islamic Dominionism among others. Instead, there is an attempt to meet in the middle and both accept differences and embrace commonalities that exist between the varying faiths we hold. That is certainly my hope for the future where my children and my friends and family’s children will inherit. Until next time, Namaste and Aloha.