Faith or Fear

Religion has played an integral role throughout human history. People have worshiped deities, the sun, gods, and goddesses. Over time, religion has turned into a very profitable business. The advent of televangelists is a testament to this phenomenon. There are a multitude of religions throughout the world and many of them believe that they are the true followers of the creator. This seems to divide people more than it unites them. It is as if the choice to follow any religion has been relegated to a proposition of faith versus fear. Humans are the only species that can contemplate their own demise. Therefore, we are always wondering what is next after this life. According to the first law of thermal dynamics, energy can be transformed (changed from one form to another), but cannot be created or destroyed. This leads humans to believe that there is quite possibly something more beyond this life.
I grew up in a religious family that practiced Catholicism. I remember being inundated early on with dogmatic rhetoric and trying to follow it as best I could at the time. As I grew older, I started to question the actual values that this faith espouses implicitly and explicitly. I definitely still believe in the Ten Commandments and the beatitudes but overall I have become disenchanted with this domination. The fact that so many molestations have happened to alter boys with no accountability has tuned me away from organized religion in general. I feel that an intermediary is not necessary for me to feel connected to the universe. I experience happiness everyday through my interactions with the natural world. In no way am I saying not to follow your heart with what you believe. I am just saying that I do not believe that I will go to hell if I don’t go to church or follow any established religion.

WAR (What is it good for?)

Throughout human history, war has been a constant threat. Many civilizations have been conquered and co-opted by other nations. People fight for a variety of reasons. They fight for basic survival, to maintain their dominance, and for commodities such as oil. Many people believe that one day there will be wars over water rights. The United States of America was established through war. First, the settlers attacked the indigenous people and fought with them almost to the point of extinction. Then, the settlers fought with the country that many of them were fleeing for “the new world.” Eventually, these settlers would fight each other in one of the bloodiest wars in human history. The United States was essentially build on war and has averaged at least one war every ten years. We were warned by President Dwight Eisenhower to “beware the military industrial complex.” These turned out to be prophetic words because Eisenhower was a general during World War II and he knew all too well the peril that we could face if we continue to wage war on other cultures.
War is also declared in abstract ways such as the war on drugs, the war on poverty, and the war on terror. These types of wars could be waged for the rest of time since there is no actual enemy. In fact, these wars are actually waged on our own people with some profiting from them. The prison system is a multi-billion dollar business that does nothing more than to warehouse offenders. It does nothing to rehabilitate our citizens or to help them to become better citizens. It is impossible to fight against an ideology as we have learned with Communism. Communism was not sustainable because of the way it is enforced in various countries around the world. All of our overt and covert wars against it did not seem to make a difference in the long run. We are a great nation just like many other nations around the world but I am concerned that our national fervor and patriotism has turned us into a civilization that we never hoped that we would become. People are too distracted and detached from one another to stand up to their government or corporations that are pushing them into directions that will polarize us from the rest of the world.

Where Does Our Food Come From?

It is all too common and very astonishing that most of us in the United States cannot answer this question. Unless you live in an area that has farmer's markets, you may never meet the people that produce your food. The above title seems like such a simple question but the answer is not something that many of us want to hear. I watched a program called Food Inc. on PBS the other night and was simultaneously appalled and fascinated with the dissection of our food economy. It is amazing how the number of independent farms and slaughterhouses have dwindled following the post WWII boom. Many farms have been turned into industrial giants and most slaughterhouses are owned by a handful of corporations. Corporations whose workers do not always treat the animals very well. Our food economy depends on massive harvesting of fruits, vegetables, meats, and corn for corporations like McDonalds who are typically the biggest purchaser of beef, tomatoes, lettuce and apples. The potential for spreading disease is greatly increased when mass production becomes the primary goals to ensure a steady profit margin. The US government subsidizes farmers to grow as much corn as they can and it is added in its vaious forms to many of the products that you would find at a typical grocery store. Products like high fructose corn syrup are just one of the derivatives of corn that are contributing to the obesity and diabetic epidemics that many of our young people face today in the U.S. Corn is also a staple of the government subsidies that are given to poor people. The US Supreme court ruling that corporations could patent life set a precedent that essentially led to the proliferation of Genetically Modified Organisms. An agricultural company called monsanto owns the patent for a particular variety of soybeans and enforces this patent on a regular basis. The fact that farmers cannot save their seeds based on this law is an unfathomable reality that exists today. It was shocking learn that monsanto has its own team of private investigators that try to bully farmers into abiding by a ridiculous law for their monetary gain. Food Inc. also featured the burgeoning organic food market that many well known corporations are steadily acquiring for their portfolio. It appears to me that many people are demanding higher quality from their food. This is obvious because these smaller companies are only being acquired by large corporations simply because organic food has become very popular in recent years. If people really knew where their food came from, they would be appalled at many of the food products that are heavily promoted by mass media and highly desired by children.

Historical Trauma

Historical Trauma and Its Effects on Native American Individuals, Families, & Communities

American Indian and Alaskan Natives have experienced many traumatic events over successive generations that continue to have enduring consequences on families and communities (Campbell, 2008, p.316). A history of ethnic and cultural genocide exists within the Native American community through the U. S. Government’s policies of forced relocation, forced removal of children sent to boarding schools, and prohibition of spiritual and cultural practices. Community massacres and the introduction of European diseases also had devastating effects on Native people. The ability to fully understand the ramifications of intergenerational trauma is limited by current diagnostic models that can only account for individual trauma in the recent past. Posttraumatic stress disorder captures some of the elements of trauma experienced by American Natives but fails to provide a multidimensional framework. The Holocaust Model of Intergenerational Trauma was the beginning of understanding of this concept. The major difference for American Indian people was that the losses are not confined to a single catastrophic period; but rather they are ongoing and present (Whitbeck, Adams, Hoyt, Chen, 2004, p. 120).
Historical trauma is a collective concept referring to historically traumatic events that are transmitted intergenerationally as descendents continue to identify emotionally with ancestral suffering (Brave Heart, 1999a, 1999b as cited in Campbell p.321). Mainstream models tend to shift the focus to the negative effects that can occur but are just beginning to focus on how people maintain wellness. Perceptions of historical loss continue to be very salient in the minds of many adults in the current generation and these thoughts about historical loss appear to be associated with symptoms of emotional distress (Whitbeck, et al., p.127).
Although there is a great deal of variation in the events associated with historical trauma, it is possible to identify three distinguishing characteristics that are prevalent throughout American Indian and Alaskan Native Society (Campbell p.321). First, these events were usually widespread and witnessed by many community members. Second, the events generated high levels of collective distress and mourning in contemporary communities. Finally, outsiders with malicious and malevolent intent perpetrated the events. Responses on the individual, familial, and community levels are distinct but clearly interrelated. Individual responses are influenced by familial responses, and responses at both the individual and familial levels are dependent on the community level responses to historical trauma. Community responses are constantly reinforced by actions at the individual and family levels (Campbell p.322). Everything we do affects everyone else either implicity or explicity because we are all one global community.

surveillance

Nowadays, it seems like we are always being watched. Not just watched but videotaped and profiled. I remember reading 1984 and the phrase "Big Brother is Watching You" standing out in my recollection from that time forth. Is it art imitating life or life imitating art with this proclamation becoming a reality in the 21 century? I have noticed cameras on the Arcata plaza, down in San Francisco, in inner city Philadelphia and throughout London. It has become apparent to me that people are being watched just like in the department stores that we all shop at throughout the coarse of our lives. People justify this to themselves that this technology is simply to deter thieves. But, does that give businesses and our government the right to watch over us to ensure that we are doing the right thing? Recently, I had the privilege of flying from Philadelphia to San Francisco four days after the attempted bombing of an American airliner that was bound for Detroit. I remember previously flying into Dulles airport just after 9/11 and seeing military personal patrolling the airport with automatic weapons but was never questioned. This time was more of a show of force with sheer numbers. I was questioned by several TSA personnel and told to spread my legs and lock my hands behind my head while another "official" patted me down. I was informed that I was randomly selected for additional screening. It happened again just before I was about to board the airplane bound for the west coast. I must say that it didn't make me feel any safer that I was the only one patted down again as I was trying to board the airplane. I certainly wasn't trying to smuggle contraband into Humboldt County. According to Orwell, we are being watched by the Thought Police like a beetle under a magnifying glass. In this hauntingly realistic novel, The Ministry of Truth put forth the three tenets of the party: War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery and Ignorance is Strength. These proclamations are frightening in that they are alive and well within our own government. Our country truly believes that a preemptive strike on a foreign nation can really bring peace. Our version of freedom has rendered many of us useless in that we cannot produce anything that is viable to export to other nations. The educational system in this country has produced an entire culture of ignorance is bliss type mentality. It just seems to me that too many people are all too willing to give up many of their civil liberties for the illusion of safety. Control is another illusion that our government clings too like a shepard desperately looking for his lost sheep. I am all too concerned that complacency has taken over this country long ago and that we, just like Winston Smith, will learn to love Big Brother.