Roger O Green

My Pointless Twitter Encounter

We just don’t always treat each other fairly, and sometimes it is racism, sexism, ageism, homophobia or something else toxic.

I was tired from days of wedding celebrations. So, uncharacteristically, I went over to my Twitter feed and started reading, when I came across this:
Actually there is NO racism in America – and they have played that card one too many times – doesn’t mean a thing. with a couple of @s to a couple people. 8:13 AM

So I’m intrigued by this. Obviously, this is an ongoing conversation. I reply to her:
“There’s NO racism in America”? And who are “they” who “played that card once too often”? 8:18 AM

She responds:
They? Political Machine (including Media & Hollywood) – which you know this – so let’s stop the confused act 10:48 AM

Hey, this is no act. I didn’t know that racism was merely a creation of the powers that be:

So you’re saying racism is a media/Hollywood/political myth & doesn’t exist? This has not been my personal experience. 11:40 AM

A bit later, she replies:
So – YOU are saying – Challenges that ppl feel everyday – is RACISM? however does that track for you? Racism is a Political Term 6:24 PM

Ah, we ALL face challenges, ipso facto, there is no racism.
Humans treating other humans less well because of what, rather than who they are, that’s racism. Political term? OK. So what? 7:34 PM

Her next response annoyed me.
LOL – seriously? What Race is being treated less than humans? 7:41 PM

Well, I’ve spent too much time on this:
The old putting words in my mouth trick. never said what you suggested. I realize this is less than pointless. I retire. 7:55 PM

Her parting shot:
Putting words in your mouth? that is a trick honey- you need to go to a community where that would work 8:08 PM

Hmm. I suppose I was affected at the moment about something Rose wrote about discrimination, and probably even more so the story of a woman in a wheelchair who became all but invisible, and how she cleverly coped.

Also, last week, I was riding the bus, and a young teenager, presumably heading for school, was stopped by THREE Albany cop cars. All the folks on the bus were black, except for a couple of South Asians, and three of the black women assumed harassment of this young man, based on previous experiences with law enforcement. I never did know what the true story was in this case.

My point: we just don’t always treat each other fairly, and sometimes it IS racism, sexism, ageism, homophobia, or something else particularly toxic. Is it all just some media agenda being played out? I’m thoroughly as unconvinced of that as I was unconvincing in changing my Twitter “buddy’s” mind.

What Have We Learned?

Murfreesboro, TN is about 890 miles from Ground Zero, yet someone set on fire some of the construction equipment at the site of the planned mosque there recently.

We can agree that September 11, 2001, was a terrible day in the US, indeed, world history. But can we agree on anything else?

What are the lessons we have learned from 9/11? Is it to be more suspicious of others, or try to be more understanding? Is it that most practitioners of Islam are decent people, as President George W. Bush had suggested several times, or is it, as an increasing number of Americans feel, a religion they just don’t like, so much so that a Florida minister says he was called by God to threaten to burn Korans, despite admitting not even knowing what’s in it, and inspires potential copycats in at least three states?

Taking off the table the Islamic cultural center in Manhattan mislabeled as the “ground zero mosque”, the lesson seems to be to have no more mosques anywhere in the country. Murfreesboro, TN is about 890 miles from Ground Zero, yet someone set on fire some of the construction equipment at the site of the planned mosque there recently. Other facilities from Wisconsin to California have also run into difficulties. And I won’t even get into the “Obama is a Muslim” thing.

Meanwhile, we are concluding, it appears, the war in Iraq, except for the 50,000 left behind to continue training the Iraqis. This war, built out of post-9/11 hubris when we seemed to have forgotten Afghanistan altogether, was one I openly opposed at the time. It WAS a good opportunity for some to bash the French, who like many of our major allies, also opposed the conflict; “Freedom fries,” indeed. The separate question of whether it was “worth it” remains at best open, as long as there is no operational Iraqi government.

But what do you think are the lessons of 9/11?
***
Jaquandor calls for a National Read a Qur’an Day TODAY, which seems like an inspired idea.

MOVIE REVIEW: Get Low

The movie Get Low was occasionally laugh-out-loud funny, but it wasn’t cornpone humor as it might have been portrayed.

When I was growing up, living next door to my Grandma Williams’ house in Binghamton, NY was a crotchety old man named Pete Nedahall – not sure of the spelling. We – my sisters, my grandma’s next-door neighbors on the other side, and I were mighty afraid of him. If you stepped on his property to retrieve an errant ball, you were afraid that this stocky man might come out, wearing a T-shirt and boxer shorts, with a pitchfork, which he did from time to time. But mostly he yelled at us in his thick eastern European accent, perhaps Hungarian. Some of the neighbor kids would taunt him. His wife Kate was actually relatively pleasant to us, but when she died, he became even more embittered.

In the new movie Get Low – though it has a 2009 copyright – Felix Bush (Robert Duvall) plays a similarly onery hermit with a shotgun who decides to hold his own funeral, while he was still alive. The local pastor Gus Horton (Gerald McRaney) won’t help Felix with his plan, despite his large wad of “hermit money”, but the local funeral director Frank Quinn (Bill Murray) is not so fussy. Aided by his assistant Buddy (Lucas Black), Frank helps Felix promote the party. Meanwhile, someone from Felix’s past, Mattie Darrow (Sissy Spacek), returns to town, which proves to be a complicating factor, as does his relationship with another pastor, Charlie Jackson (Bill Cobbs).

The movie was occasionally laugh-out-loud funny, but it wasn’t cornpone humor as it might have been portrayed. This is largely a function of the acting. Duvall has visited similar characters before, most notably in The Apostle, my favorite movie starring him. This is not as good a movie, but his performance is equally solid. Also to be noted is Bill Murray, who has learned in middle age, how to ratchet back his comedic characters and still be funny. I also liked Lucas Black, who I doubt I’ve ever seen in a film.

The movie is based on a true story, which apparently meant the funeral part, but not the back story about why he was closed off for four decades. Interestingly, there were critics who liked the movie very much, save for the more-or-less transparent ending. While I can see their point, the penultimate scene worked for me because of the sheer force of Duvall.

Besides, knowing the ending got me to thinking about old Mr. Nedahall, who I hadn’t crossed my mind in decades, and what secret pain he might have been experiencing those many years ago.

Majorly Personal Meme

Because I can, I’ve combined the Sunday Stealing meme that they split into Part 1 and Part 2; but I’m only doing half of Part 2, because I just discovered there’s a Part 3!

1. Are you happier now than you were five months ago?

Probably not. That was the month the local Albany YMCA closed, and I went from playing racquetball four or five times a week to a couple times a week at Siena College, which proved to be unworkable, to not at all.

2. Have you ever slept in the same bed with anyone that you shouldn’t have?

In the long run, no.

3. Can you sleep in total darkness?

Yes, but unless I am extremely tired, not in total silence. I like white noise.

4. Your phone is ringing. It’s the person you fell hardest for, the one who got away, what do you say?

“Hello.” Hey, that ship sailed.

5. What do you think about the weather this summer?

Hot for Albany. Haven’t checked the story, but there was a headline in the local paper revently asking if Albany, NY’s weather in the future will be more like North Carolina’s has been traditionally.

6. How many people do you trust with everything?

Everything? Maybe 2.

7. What was the last thing you drank?

Flavored water.

8. Is there anyone you want to come see you?

I haven’t seen my eldest niece in person forever. And she hasn’t met her young cousin Lydia.

9. Name one thing you love about winter?

Fewer bugs.

10. Have you ever dated a Goth?

No.

11. What are you looking forward to tomorrow?

Nothing in particular. Or everything.

12. Name something you dislike about the day you’re having?

Nothing in particular.

13. What’s the longest that you have committed to one person and one person only?

12 years and counting.

14. What’s the first thing you did when you opened your eyes today?

Looked at the clock, rolled over and closed them again.

15. Has anyone ever told you they never want to ever lose you?

Yes.

16. Is there anybody that you wish you could fix your relationship with?

Yes, more than one.

17. Could you go out in public, looking like you do now?

Not yet, but it’s 5:30 a.m. But I wouldn’t get arrested.

18. Do you think things will change in the next 3 months? How?

There will be elections. The Republicans in Congress will regain the House, though not the Senate. Lots of “controversial” legislation will pass in the lame duck session, which the GOP will unsuccessfully try to overturn. There will be even worse gridlock in Congress in 2011 than before.

19. Do you believe that you never know what you got until you lose it?

Sometimes.

20. Do you have a friend of the opposite sex you can talk to?

It’s been true from 5th grade on that most of my best friends were female. I had one good male friend in high school, one in college (both Pisces, interestingly, as am I), and usually one or two subsequently, but it wasn’t until the last 10 years that I had a coterie of male friends.

21. If you were to live your life without your best friend, what would change?

I’d keep even more things to myself.

22. Tell us about an era of your life that you really miss.

Miss? Don’t think so. I can look back fondly on certain periods, but there were downsides to all of them. Now is better, though I really miss the melanin on my face.

23. Have you ever been betrayed by someone that came as a complete surprise? Without revealing the person, if yes, tell us about it.

Yes. Affairs of the heart.

24. Do you ever think that is a good idea to hide your feelings?

Sometimes.

25. Tell us about your favorite year when you were a student.

Frst year of library school, 1990-91. I got recruited to be the student president, I found that I liked school and was good at it.

25. When was the last time you were in a very good mood? What caused it?

Almost certainly music was involved.

26. Have you ever had a romantic relationship with a sibling of a good friend?

No.

27. Tell us about the last thing that you did that you truly regret.

No. It’s funny, I’m sure I’ve regretted a lot of things, but I think we have a filter to try to obliterate them.

28. When did you laughed today?

I laugh a lot, actually. I laugh when I write or say something that made someone else laugh, e.g. I laugh when I hear a certain song.

29. Do you trust easily?

Probably not.

30. What do you care about that you wish more people would?

Littering. I mean people dropping candy wrappers on the ground two feet from the garbage can. Make an effort, people!

30-Day Challenge: Day 24-Something Embarrassing In Your Room

There are squares of odd colors on the walls. Am I embarrassed?

Nothing. Damn, this could have been a REALLY short post. But…

OK, there may be dirty clothes on the floor at times, or maybe the bed’s unmade. But embarrassing?

I have a stuffed bear in my room named Gunther and a monkey named Oscar. Sometimes they talk to me. Am I embarrassed? I am not.

OK, let’s go around the house, find something REALLY embarrassing. Well, the office is a mess right now, and this time, it’s mostly MY fault. The guest room is actually LESS messy than it used to be.

My wife had great expectations about painting the entire first floor this summer; she got through one room. So in the other rooms, there are squares of odd colors on the walls. Embarrassing? Heck, no; adds character to the house.

The kitchen has a motif that was probably dated when it was done in the 1970s. Embarrassed? Obviously, you don’t know me well.

There IS something perhaps mildly embarrassing in the upstairs bathroom, which is the crumbling tiles, but they’re covered up; what you can’t see can’t embarrass me.