Category: Current Events

Where to Find Hate on the Internet

Lent begins today. With none of the fanfare of Christmas, or the revelry of Mardi Gras, this is the Christian season of sacrifice, a time of introspection when we prepare for Christ’s coming sacrifice at the Crucifixion. Giving up something is a symbolic way of remembering what was ahead of Jesus and forcing us out of our everyday First World Problems.

In the past I’ve given up anger, buying new clothes, soda, tortilla chips – you get the idea. Every time I reach for one of those indulgences, I contemplate what it would be like to be really tested.

This year I’m trying positive reinforcement. Instead of not doing something, I’m making a commitment to speak out against injustice, misrepresentation and hate.

The Ted Talk by Clint Smith was my inspiration.

And this incredible anti-Muslim graphic, which popped up on my Twitter feed, is what I’m speaking out against today. The Spanish Inquisition and the Crusades were officially sanctioned acts of war by both Church and State. Where are those acts (or their leaders) represented on this graph? In what way are the actions of Mohammed ‘counted’ as violent acts to accumulate in such a tally? Pseudo-science like this fuel harmful misconceptions.

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Haters Going to Hate …. Especially on 17 Year Old Female Pakistani Nobel Laureates

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The whole world was not rejoicing with Malal Yousafzai. In fact, people in her country, Pakistan, were amongst the most virulent opposers. Here’s an example from the Twittersphere: “Many girls out there who suffer/suffered far more than Malala but their fathers aren’t CIA agents like Malala’s. ?#?MalalaNobelPeacePrize?“. I worry about a young person bearing the brunt of so much scrutiny; this is what many in Islamic culture would consider “the evil eye” or bad luck raised from jealousy. Blessings on Malala and her family. If teenagers, like Ms. Britney Spears, found fame difficult to handle in their 20s, then I can’t help but wonder what Malala will encounter in her own 20s (may she live long, as people would say in Islam as a blessing).

The audacity of a teenager, standing up to the Taliban, gaining the international community’s attention, and being undeterred throughout, has brought out the conspiracy theorists in full force.

She’s a puppet of India, America, both, or the CIA. Her father is a salesman; she dances to the tune of the West.

In addition to her long list of accomplishments, Ms. Yousafzai can add exposing the misogyny, fear, and envy to her list.

What No One Tells You About Domestic Violence

Grandville : Cent Proverbes
 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The recent suspension of star Baltimore Ravens running back, Ray Rice, has caused a furor both on and off the Internet. Rice was suspended for 2 games before a video was made public by none other than the gossip outlet TMZ. I watched the video. I have skipped over the ISIS beheading ones, not wanting to give an audience to terror. Domestic violence, however is closer to home. After seeing for myself an intimate fight between a husband and wife, I was shocked that the video was still allowed online, and chagrined I had participated in a voyeurism. His wife, Janay Palmer has since spoken to the media, defending her husband and a private moment. There’s much we could say, and has been said, about the abused protecting her abuser. At the very least we have empathy for a wife trying to save her husband’s career.

Ray Rice isn’t the only man in America – or the world for that matter – who could knock his partner out during an argument. Like Rihanna’s infamous fight with Chris Brown, during which he bruised the pop star, the fight is one part of the puzzle. What happens after the fight and our reaction to it are others.

Take for example my friend from high school. In a close knit Indian community she couldn’t come forward about the dangers in her home. When she was persuaded to go to the adults, on more than one occasion she was told that the problem was culture.

Indian men beat Indian women was the message she received from her Caucasian teachers.

“I believe her father is abusing her,” a chemistry teacher said.

No one, even we, her friends, did anything. We pretended that she was like the rest of us.

My friend suffered in silence, partly to save her mother (and the rest of the family, including herself) the humiliation the Rices are undergoing in the international media.

She pretended because that’s what everyone needed her to do. Because blaming culture or overlooking abuse was easier for everyone than confronting the deep sadness and possibility of mental illness that drove her father into a blinding rage.

Easier on everyone except for her.

I’m sad for the Rices but also for the rest of us that we continue to pretend that this type of behavior is rare or surprising. Or that we think shame is the solution.