Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

A culture of meanness hinders our search for solutions

A common theme emerged from three articles in the April 9 Perspective section. The editorial on boot camps (State-sanctioned abuse), Cynthia Tucker's discussion of immigration policies (Immigration problems benefit too many people), and Robyn Blumner's revelation of the lies surrounding the detention of Guantanamo inmates (Lies lurk behind U.S. terror policy) highlight how meanness is prized by an electorate convinced that punishment is the best way to prevent crime and social unrest.

As the articles demonstrate very eloquently, the need to appear and act mean hinders the search for sensible solutions to the serious problems of our society by our elected officials. How many more youngsters need to be harmed by authorities before more money is devoted to education and to prevention of family violence? How many billions of dollars will be wasted on impossible border enforcement and in vain prosecution of hardworking immigrants, before we realize that our economy would collapse without their labor? How many lives will be lost or scarred by a war that keeps draining our economy before we look for a political solution to the world's diversity? And how much money will be wasted trying to satisfy the public thirst for lynching through capital punishment before realizing that life without parole is a more economical and prudent way to manage dangerous criminals?

This call to meanness has inspired a culture holding that human decency is a form of weakness, that intellectual confrontation of different viewpoints is a waste of time, that compassion is a political gimmick, and that brute force is the only source of effective power.

Never has human life been more disposable than it has been under the watch of an administration that has claimed its respect for human life in rejecting abortion and stem cell research! In Christian terms, this disconnect between the proclamation of one's beliefs and the reality of one's actions is considered the least forgivable of all sins. It is called scandal!

Re: Black parents vent frustrations, April 9.

While it is encouraging that 250 concerned black parents gathered to address the achievement gap between white and black students, no one really addressed the real problem: the motivation gap. Motivated students of all races and ethnic groups achieve higher than their nonmotivated peers. Having taught in public school for five years before entering law school, I saw this firsthand.

Unfortunately, motivation begins at home with parents instilling discipline, responsibility, self-control, self-esteem and a sense of right and wrong - things that school can touch upon but not teach. Parents who fail to teach these skills at home are the main cause of the achievement gap at school.

The mother who blamed her daughter's thick disciplinary file (skipping class, starting arguments, cheating on tests) on the school system is herself a prime example of the problem. By blaming others for the girl's actions, she validated her daughter's behavior.

Add a black street culture of nonachievement that mocks black students with good grades, factor in many black parents who just don't care and then you have a black-student achievement gap. Teachers who must deal daily with disruptive and other nonmotivated black and white students are not "disconnected" and are not the problem.

Maybe the NAACP Education Committee chairman Clifford Burney at least got it half-right when he said, "We also need to focus on what we can do as parents." Forget blaming the school system under the guise of "accountability."

Re: A little Dobbs goes a long way, April 9.

Thank you for giving Lou Dobbs media exposure, which I hope will bring more public attention to his crusade against our ineffective president and Congress. I wanted to chastise you for Tim Rutten's anti-Dobbs article in Perspective, but I remembered, "I don't care what you say about me, just be sure to spell my name correctly."

Dobbs tells the truth about the horrible happenings that affect our country. Rutten's attack on Dobbs must come from the influence of the Hispanic majority population in Southern California.

But you get kudos for "fair and balanced" reporting by publishing Cynthia Tucker's Immigrant problems benefit too many people. She compares to Lou Dobbs for exposing the problems of illegal immigration, which has the current attention of Congress.

Re: A little Dobbs goes a long way.

Those of us who watch Lou Dobbs on a regular basis see him as a glimmer of light in a dark, vast sea of spin, exclusion and misinformation. It is one of the few times we can hear someone talking in-depth on important issues and taking the side of those of us in the American middle class.

He does stay with a topic day after day because that is what has been shown to be effective. How many times did you hear Fox News refer to Kerry as a "flip-flopper"? As deceitful and unfair as that was, it worked pretty well. But when logic and reason don't work, and you don't like the message, which is apparently the problem experienced by Tim Rutten, it's best just to attack the messenger.

Believe me, even with Lou Dobbs you aren't getting the total picture of what's going on, but at least he might make you think beyond the drivel that usually passes for news.

Re: The consciousness puzzle, April 9.

I had to laugh while reading this article by David P. Barash. This is precisely where religion and biology intersect. It doesn't take a very deep thinker to realize that what is aware of being aware is the spirit.

The spirit is you. You are who leaves the body after death to go and do what each religion on Earth teaches. Good luck to Barash in trying to discover its evolutionary path or what neurons can be stimulated to control it.

That was a perfect lead-in to the comic section.

Re: Hopeful Christianity will survive the "Gospel of Judas," by E.J. Dionne Jr. April 14.

Those who fear the "Gospel of Judas" will threaten the faith should rejoice in the discovery of yet another piece of the puzzle. As with all sacred literature, it must be read not literally but literarily, as poetry and metaphor (". . . each of you has his own star") and with an appreciation for the endeavors of early writers as they attempted to communicate the Jesus phenomenon. No journalist today is faced with such a bewildering and extraordinarily hopeful story to tell.

St. Petersburg Times editorial cartoonist Don Addis once wrote, "Life's not too short, it's too narrow." I suspect that all too often one's experience of religion/faith is much the same. Let's welcome "new" manuscripts long repressed and realize the richness of the "season's message of salvation and redemption." It could just be that the "Gospel of Judas" and other Gnostic writings are enriching sources of wisdom, awe and hope.

As John Paul II urged, "Be not afraid!"

[Last modified April 16, 2006, 00:42:15]