“Unspeakable”

Cultural Context: The word used by Peter Geren, secretary of the U.S. Army to describe the sights seen by Private James Hoyt on April 11, 1945 when he was one of four American soldiers to discover the Buchenwald German concentration camp.  Mr. Hoyt died on Monday, August 11 and was the last surviving member of the four man team.

“Unspeakable” was right, for the CNN news account/tribute to Mr. Hoyt’s heroism indicated that he had kept his involvement in the liberation secret from many he knew for much of his life.  The story indicates that Mr. Hoyt still suffered nightmares and attended post-traumatic stress disorder support meetings for veterans 63 years after his experience.  Mr. Hoyt had begun to share his memories with author Stephen Bloom.

From the article:

“It’s important that we don’t allow ourselves to lose him,” Geren told CNN by phone. “It’s the memory of heroes like James Hoyt and the memories of what they’ve done that we must ensure that we keep alive and share with the current generation and future generations.”

Captain Fredrick Keffer, commander of the small mission to locate Buchenwald later wrote:

“Memories of evil get erased, for life must go on, and new generations cannot be locked in the past. But they would do well to remember the past.”

It was interesting to me that when army files about the liberation were located, Mr. Hoyt, who was a veteran of the Battle of the Bulge and the recipient of the Bronze Star, had been asked to account for his greatest achievement.  He listed his accomplishment as the 1939 Johnson County Iowa Spelling Bee champion.  The word he spelled to win, ironically was “archive.”  As his story, his sights are now archived, I’m confronted by our need to speak the unspeakable.

We don’t want to.  We want to “lose” the memories, to push them away, to look away from ourselves and the realities of who humans are.  But, history shows us–today’s media shows us–that there is no depth to the unspeakable that man can and will perpetrate on man.  God tells us through the prophet Jeremiah that the human heart is “more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; who can understand it?” (jeremiah 17:9)

I have always been fascinated by history and mystified by the surreal circumstances of the Jewish Holocaust of World War II.  The accounts are overwhelming in their depravity.  But, they are not unlike countless other situations in the history of our world.  And, it is not easy to point a finger and single out perpetrators over there somewhere in the great category of “someone else”–not when you see the seemingly endless reports of bizarre and cruel crimes that grace the rotating “featured stories” of today’s news.  For all the writing and teaching on our race’s “evolution” toward the best of ourselves, we remain depraved.  And, if “evolution” is man’s way, a chance betterment of our species, then we are doomed to depravity.  For, survival of the fittest inevitably means the destruction of the weaker.  Even the rules of the theory of evolution don’t allow for the possibility that our deceitful and sick hearts can be made truthful, healed, compassionate toward one another.

Beyond the hopelessness of our own evolution, there is a cosmic intervention available.  It’s not by chance.  It’s not accidental.  It’s a desire by a Creator God to take his beloved handiwork back to the communion of Eden.  It’s the new ancient reality that all is not lost, and we can change.  We can BE CHANGED.

“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.  And I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes… so you will be My people, and I will be your God.” (ezekiel 36:26-28)

“Olympic Truce”

This Article Published at  

Cultural Context:  A tradition dating to the ancient Greek games which calls for a halt to fighting during the Olympic games, ensuring the athletes’ safe passage to and from the events.  Olympic gold medalist Joey Cheek (speedskating, 2006) has called for the tradition to be revived with a cease fire in the Darfur region during this summer’s Beijing games.  He also founded an organization called Team Darfur which encourages athletes to play a part in raising awareness and bringing an end to the crisis.

On August 5, the Chinese government revoked Cheek’s previously issued visa, preventing him from attending the Olympic games in Beijing just one week before he was scheduled to arrive.  Although the government was not required to state the reasons for disallowing Cheek, it is widely believed the decision was in response to his work for peace in Darfur and his criticism of China’s lack of action in the region.  Team Darfur has expressed concerns that other athletes are being discouraged from expressing views about the issues as well.  Read the AP article here.

Sad.

In the definition of “truce” at dictionary.com, the word that stands out to me is respite–”a temporary respite, as from trouble or pain.”  A respite in the Darfur, Sudan region does not seem likely during the few weeks of the Olympics.  And, how could we expect it when we can’t even achieve a respite from the war of words and human rights ideologies surrounding these Olympic games.

According to the dictionary.com entry, one of the early origins of the word “truce” dates from the 1200s, meaning “faith, assurance of faith, covenant, treaty.”  It isn’t surprising that faith or assurance of faith is at the heart of the concept of a truce between factions.  A truce requires good faith, a certain level of trust between the parties involved.  It also requires a covenant, which somehow is so much more than a mere promise.  More than an agreement, it is a commitment to the same goal between those parties.

The Olympic “spirit” is the supposed shared goal in the practice of an Olympic truce.  In fact, many of the articles about the Joey Cheek situation tout the spirit of the Olympic games.  The spirit is a common goal that all athletes are on equal footing regardless of race, creed, gender, or political ideology.  The spirit is that anyone can win.  The only great placesetter is ability and performance.  And, although the modern Olympic games may be littered with corporate sponsorship, the spirit is still pride of nationality, pride of team, and pride of personal accomplishment.  You see it in the faces during the opening ceremony parade of nations from the national delegations of hundreds of competitors, many “favored” to win, to the lone flag-bearer proudly representing a new nation, his country’s greatest hero.  “I belong here.  This is where I come from.  This is what I can do.”

Although I see the need for the world, China, myself to be made aware of Darfur, the need for the world, China, myself to be prompted to facilitate change in Darfur, still I fear it is the United States that has first violated an Olympic truce.  We have been the first to take up arms.  For all his worthy work on behalf of the region in crisis, I fear it is Joey Cheek who has wrongly interjected political ideology into the Olympic games.  With our uniquely American way of insisting on freedom of speech at all costs, those around our team have actually violated the covenant of the Olympic spirit.  We have broken an assurance of faith that these games should not be about politics.  

The U.S. team delegation made a powerful statement about the Olympic spirit on August 5, the same day Joey Cheek’s visa was denied.  They chose Lopez Lamong as their flag-bearer for the Opening Ceremonies.  Lamong is a first-time Olympian with no gold medals under his belt.  He will compete in only one event, the 1500-meter race.  He is also a Darfur refugee and a new American citizen.  (Read his story at ESPN here and great commentary at LA Times here.)  The team chose him the American way.  They voted for him.  As he walks the parade of nations carrying the stars and stripes, he will raise more awareness about the Sudanese crisis than possibly Joey Cheek ever could at these games–all without saying a word.

The Olympic games should not be about human rights policy, for they are inevitably about human rights in actuality.  There is no greater way for the Olympics to highlight human rights than to allow the spirit of the games to flourish unshadowed by American-indulged free speech.  As each athlete stands equal on the starting block, evaluated only by his qualifying time, the world is watching.  And listening.  “I am a human being.  I am an athlete.  This is where I come from.  This is what I can do.  I belong here.”

“Black Hole”

Cultural Context:  An apparently racially offensive reference made by a white Dallas, Texas County Commissioner during a Commissioners meeting this week.  In a discussion about traffic tickets, Commissioner Kenneth Mayfield referred to the County Collections office as a “black hole.”  Two black Commissioners demanded an apology, claiming the statement was racist in nature.  In statements after the meeting,  Commissioner John Wiley Price also indicated that terms like “devil’s food cake” (a recipe traditionally made of chocolate) and “black sheep of the family” were also racist in nature.  Read the FoxNews article.

Huh?

Is every use of the word “black” in our language now a racist statement?  Is every reference to something dark now a racist statement?  Is every reference to chocolate?  Every reference to the “devil?”  I’m concerned.  The answers to these questions will determine whether I’ve been offending people willy-nilly my whole life, because those words have been incorporated into my vocabulary since I was a preschooler.  What about the terms “little white lie,” “white noise,” or “white-collar crime?”  Should I be offended by society in general, the technology sector and the judicial sector respectively?

Two observations:

• This ridiculous discourse has now been given national credence in that it appears in today’s news on Politics at FoxNews.com.  No doubt I’ll hear someone discussing it ad nauseam as I surf the channels tonight.  I saw the story when it rotated into one of the top news spots on the home page — you know, the ones with the giant headlines.  It was right above a sublink to the story about Atlanta retiring its “Men Working” construction signs in favor of the more politically correct “Persons At Work.”  Commissioner Price now has his 15 minutes.
   
• In writing my description above, I realized that to portray it accurately I had to list the parties as black or white.  This story is only pseudo-significant if the race of each Commissioner is made clear.  I thought the whole purpose of seeking racial equality and reform was that a person wouldn’t need to be defined primarily by his race.  Talk about a step backwards.

For the record:
Wikipedia tells me:  ”A black hole is a region of space in which the gravitational field is so powerful that nothing, not even light, can escape its pull after having fallen past its event horizon.  The term “Black Hole” comes from the fact that, at a certain point, even electromagnetic radiation (e.g. visible light) is unable to break away from the attraction of these massive objects. This renders the hole’s interior invisible or, rather, black like the appearance of space itself.”

Wikipedia also tells me that the term black sheep: “originated from the occasional black sheep which are born into a herd of white sheep due to a genetic process of recessive traits. Black sheep were considered commercially undesirable because their wool cannot be dyed as white wool can.”

Devil’s Food Cake:  I’m not even going to go there, except to say that if you are resisting your sweet tooth, chocolate would certainly be classified as sinful.

With due respect to Commissioner Price, we both live in the American South where racism has been a huge issue and a very real experience for many since way before I was born.  In fact, my home state of Mississippi has been the poster child for racism since well before the Civil Rights Movement began.  We (both black and white citizens) continue to struggle to overcome its effects and its stigma in seeking a place of relevance in society in 2008.  In all honesty, MANY disparities still exist between the educational, economic, health and social opportunites available for blacks versus whites.  These are real life battles for our future that are still being fought, and we must win them.  We don’t have time or energy for the ignorant, hypersensitive and publicity-hungry battles over semantics to which this situation shifts the focus.  It’s shameful, and it’s holding us back.

“Citizen Media”

Cultural Context:  The term used to describe media content or forms produced by private citizens who are not professional journalists.  One of those forms of content is the weblog.  A Global Voices Citizen Media Summit was recently held in Budapest, Hungary highlighting issues related to citizen blogging.  Global Voices is a non-profit advocacy group that seeks to highlight significant conversations arising from existing worldwide citizen media, facilitate new citizen media outlets and foster global freedom of expression.

My first exposure to the term was reading an article last week about the Summit that wrapped up in Budapest on June 28.  I’d never heard it phrased that way (although, I’m a little behind — it even has a Wikipedia entry!) and I was shocked to realize that I am actually a member of the Citizen Media trend that has been growing across the globe.  Who knew?

An article about a document produced by Global Voices’ Rising Voices initiative called An Introduction to Citizen Media highlights the phenomenon:

“Everyday citizens across the world are increasingly using blogs, podcasts, online video, and digital photography to engage in an unmediated conversation which transcends borders, cultures, and differing languages.”

This phenomena of media has been greatly spurred by technology and the growth of the internet.  The unique perspectives and grass roots access to newsworthy situations or disaster-ridden areas provided by Citizen Media have found their place even in professional media outlets in the form of IReports, UReports, etc.

I’ll admit.  I once thought of blogging as a waste of time, or self-absorption or even arrogance  — until I decided to try it.  Now, through my own short experience in the Citizen Media corp, I have seen for myself the various perspectives of those I never would have had the opportunity to read or share my writings with.  Even a simple, uneventful account of the daily life of another broadens my world in a way that CNN never could.

Today marks the eight-week anniversary of my first post on EyeJunkie.com.  As I’ve been thinking about and evaluating my experience so far, I have prepared another post that contains some of my own personal “rules” for blogging.  But, knowing the chorus of global voices that are joining me, the pursuit is somehow larger than it was before.

“Increased Religious Security”

Cultural Context:  The explanation given in a FoxNews.com article by C. Welton Gaddy, president of the Interfaith Alliance, for some of the findings about Americans and Religion from a Pew Forum study surveying 35,000 adults.  The results of the study were recently released. The quote:

“It shows increased religious security.  People are comfortable with other traditions even if they’re different.  It indicates a level of humility about religion that would be of great benefit to everyone.”

Really?  Hmmm…

What does it mean to be secure?  
My dictionary widget tells me that “secure” means 

• fixed or fastened so as not to give way, become loose or be lost
• not subject to threat, certain to remain or continue safe and unharmed
• protected against attack
• safe, stable and free from fear or anxiety
• certain to achieve

When I read the article highlighting some of the Pew findings, the word “security“  as revealed in these definitions did not spring to mind.  In fact, my first thought was “all over the map.”  Reading the article was a study in contradictions.  Looking at some of the actual statistics, there seems to be no mistaking the rampant confusion that exists with Americans regarding their own professed religious “beliefs”.  We have become a belief-addicted culture ready to accept anything because the act of “believing” is the answer.  Just believe.  The object of belief apparently doesn’t factor in. 

Some of the statistics:

70% of those with a religious affiliation said there was more than one way to gain eternal life (even when that belief was contrary to their own professed religion’s teachings).  This percentage includes 57% of evangelical christians, 83% of protestants, 79% of catholics, 82% of Jews and 56% of Muslims.

Don’t even bother picking a “way” because they all lead to the same place.  Don’t bother learning what your own religion believes.  You don’t have to believe to believe.  Just believe.

92% of those studied professed belief in God.  But 1 in 4 also express doubts about His existence.
21% of professed athiests said they actually believed in God - 8% are “absolutely certain” of it

Not believing just doesn’t measure up to believing.  Make no mistake, it takes just as much faith to believe there isn’t a God as it does to believe there is one.  For sure, almost the same percentages in both camps have achieved the same level of confusion about the issue.  Oh, who needs that kind of scrutiny?  It doesn’t matter if you jump around from one belief to another.  Just believe.

44% of those with religious affiliations felt their religion should preserve its traditional beliefs and practices, but many believe in multiple interpretations of their religion’s teachings.

Keep the old ones, interpret new ones?  It doesn’t matter.  Just believe.

D. Michael Lindsay (of Rice University) offered a very astute evaluation of the report:

“The survey shows religion in America is indeed, 3000 miles wide and only three inches deep.”

Not exactly the picture of stability.  At three inches, we have no roots, no foundation.  Without a full depth of truth, we have no hope to withstand being “tossed about by every wind and wave” (ephesians 4:14) and the rudderless doubt that inevitably ensues.

It seems that Mr. Gaddy’s coveted “humility about religion” really translates as a meandering lack of commitment.  In our culture, commitment has now been deemed intolerance, and a lack of commitment has been transformed into a virtue.  This mentality grossly underestimates the God-given mental capacities of human beings and completely negates the political ideals we so stringently seek to uphold.  To imply that non-commitment is the only viable option in maintaining “tolerance” is preposterous.  To assume that a person can’t whole-heartedly disagree with another’s beliefs without persecuting him is a complete injustice to “freedom” of religion.

When, in our culture, did it become questionable to stake yourself, your words, your money, your free time — your life on something you believe and stick to it?  

Alexander Hamilton said “Those who stand for nothing fall for anything.”
Hook. Line. Sinker.

“Super-Earths”

Cultural Context:  The term used by astronomers to describe planets which according to this article, are “more massive than Earth, but less massive than Uranus and Neptune (about 15 Earth masses).” It is being announced at the international conference “Extra-solar Super-Earths” in France that three such planets have been discovered orbiting the star HD 40307.  The “triple-system” was discovered using the “HARPS spectograph” attached to the telescope in La Silla, Chile.  The discovery has been termed a “remarkable breakthrough in the field of extra-solar planets.”

Hmmm…

It’s a bird!  It’s a plane!  No, I guess it’s more aptly categorized as ScienceSpeak rather than CultureSpeak since I’m probably a typical example of the world citizen who clearly has no frame of reference for this term.  However, call it my “geek-bent,” but I’m intrigued.  And being that I’m still pretty much in the dark even after reading the article, a few questions/comments orbited to mind:

• I really had to eeny-meeny-miney-mo to decide on which term to post about because there were so many odd ones like “exoplanets,” “Doradus and Pictor constellations,” and “perturbations” (I’m thinking that one’s a post that would write itself!)
   
• ScienceDaily.com is a cool site.  It usually leaves me asking “who knew?” and inevitably responding “clearly, not me!”  I’ve sort of internally labeled it: Weird things you can get government and private grants to think about.
   
• For the address of a “remarkable breakthrough,” HD 40307 has a pretty uninspiring star name.  I would think it deserves a little more Wow! factor.  I’m sure there’s some star envy going on with 51 Pegasi, site of a 1995 planetary discovery.  Although, the article says HD 40307 experiences only very minor “perturbations” so it’s probably not creating much friction.
   
• As one of the scientists on the project, Michael Mayor’s job description is “planet hunter.”  Cool.
   
• According to the article, this study implies that 1 in 3 solar-like stars have a Super-Earth planet.  With HD 40307’s count of 3 planets, this star is an overachiever.  Plus, it’s nice and trim — slightly less massive than our sun.  This stellar dude needs an image consultant to appeal to a wider audience.  Just look at what he has going for him, but with that name…
   
• Apparently planets can be classified as Jupiter-like, Saturn-like and Neptune-like, but are almost always measured in Earth-masses.  I’m curious as to the qualifications of these particular classifications.
   
• The HARPS spectograph can apparently only detect planets with greater Earth-masses.  “Earth-like” planets are just too small.  I can hear the ACLU rushing to file now — wait HARPS is located in Chile, so I guess all those Earth-like planets can go on having their opportunities denied simply based on their size.
   
• More curious Google Ads with the article: 
  “2008 Diet of the Year” — for those overly massive Super-Earths, I guess
  “Car Prices & Pictures” — for the cheapest way to get “42 light-years away towards the southern Doradus and Pictor constellations”
  “Earth Harvest” clicking to Zappos.com — moon shoes, perhaps?
   

When it’s all said and done, one of the scientists suggests that with this study’s findings, we “may well arrive at the conclusion that planets are ubiquitous.” — not part of my everyday vocabulary, but it means omnipresent.

OK, I may be a little late to the party, but I think I can eventually arrive there with the use of Google and GPS — I mean PPS (planetary positioning system).

“Victimized”

Cultural Context:  The term used in a statement by Entertainment Tonight to describe their position regarding a false news story they published last week about the birth of Angelina Jolie’s twins.  See the quote from the FoxNews article:

“Entertainment Tonight’ takes this very seriously and is, of course, concerned that the show may have been victimized by someone allegedly posing as a member of Ms. Jolie’s team,” the statement said. “We are actively investigating the matter and are reaching out to law enforcement agencies.”

Hmmm…
I find “victimized” an interesting choice of words in this relatively trivial situation.  I would encourage Entertainment Tonight to check out how a few other news outlets have used the term “victim” or “victimized” recently:

U.N. to pursue Darfur ‘war criminals’
CNN.com ~ June 5, 2008

70 arrested in Austrailia in pornography sting
CNN.com ~ June 5, 2008

Judge allows sect girl’s release, with conditions
CNN.com ~ June 4, 2008

U.S., Libya agree to try to resolve terrorism claims
Reuters.com ~ May 30, 2008 

Cyclone Survivors Victimized by Burma Soldiers
USAToday.com ~ May 28, 2008

Treaty to ban cluster bombs within 8 years
USAToday.com ~ May 28, 2008

“Jihadi Chic”

Cultural Context: The term used by conservative columnist, Michelle Malkin on her blog to describe a scarf worn by Rachael Ray in a recent Dunkin’ Donuts ad.  The scarf supposedly resembled a “keffiyeh” worn by Arabs which is sometimes considered a symbol of radical terrorist activity.  The ad was pulled by Dunkin’ Donuts after receiving criticism from Malkin and others.

Hmmm…

This example of “hate couture,” as Malkin calls it, is new to me. And if you believe some of the coverage of the issue, this form of so-called subversive support of radical muslim terrorism is apparently pretty widespread.  Who knew? Continue reading »