Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Loren Miller on August 8, 2010 at 5:40pm

It seems to me that, 21st century sensibilities notwithstanding, we still live very much in a "go-along-to-get-along" world, where conformity is still the de-facto choice and rocking the boat or whistle-blowing, while an option, is neither a well-supported nor preferable one. Bob Heinlein spoke of this in Stranger in a Strange Land when he made his "brown monkey / pink monkey" analogy: an individual who dares to be different in a homogeneous society may be taking his life in his hands.

By the same token, those who wear burqas and those who insist that their women wear them are largely of the same ilk, either because they seriously believe it's the way to live or because they recognize that's the way NOT to draw attention and possibly be killed for it.

Boil it down, the world does NOT respect individualism enough to permit it, even when it does no harm. Major paradigms prefer conformity in the small things to help insure conformity with the larger issues, and those who actively wander off the beaten path are considered suspect. My sense has been for a while that this is a reflection of a failure to be at home with oneself, independent of exterior paradigms, whether religious, political, social or whatever. A person at home with him/herself is unthreatened by difference, so long as the difference is not invasive or threatening by its very nature.

So long as it is dangerous to walk to the beat of a different drummer, any such problem of this nature will continue to obtain.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Dan DuPree on August 10, 2010 at 2:53pm

Muslims in fundamentalist theocracies and/or terrorist Islamic nations at least have the excuse of fear. The lives of themselves and their families are in mortal danger for even speaking out against those groups or gov'ts.

What excuse do we have as Americans for not spending every available resource stopping the wars of aggreession and empire we, as willing fools of our ruling elite, are currently engaged in? We turn a blind eye as our international policy is run by the industrial military complex as they use WMDs to commit murder on a massive scale and use assasignation and CIA dirty tricks to attempt to overthrow democratically elected gov'ts such as Venzuela and Guatemala because they are creating working socialist societies.

Are we not responsible as a people for our support of the terrorist State of Israel whose policies of exile and confiscation of property have left millions living in abject poverty without resources to improve their lot? We have even given up our own freedoms in the name of "safety" and watched our media outlets become a bigger propaganda machine than Hitler could have imagined.

• ▶ Reply