Archive for the ‘Activism’ Category
On offense.
Posted by Benjamin Geiger in Activism, Personal, Work on June 27th, 2009
As I wrote earlier, I had this sticker on my laptop:
Had. Past tense. The reasons for its removal are two.
My supervisor was the first to object, basically handing down the edict that I wouldn’t be allowed to bring the laptop (on which I do 99% of my work) to any meetings if the sticker remained. Considering at least two of my coworkers are religion-soaked god-botherers who don’t hesitate to share their religious views with any who will tolerate them, this seemed, if you’ll accept a mild understatement, extremely hypocritical. The hypocrisy is all the more obnoxious when you realize that I work for a government agency, theoretically under the restrictions of the First (and Fourteenth) Amendment.
The sticker itself was printed on Office Depot bumper sticker paper, which is easily peeled off and repositioned. So I ‘repositioned’ it from the laptop to the wall of my office. This was generally considered acceptable; they apparently don’t mind me holding my beliefs (or lack thereof), only being uppity enough to remind the Christaliban that there are people who disagree with them.
But that’s not why I took it entirely down.
One of my coworkers (and a friend I knew before I started working there) is a devout Muslim. He pointed out that the sticker was, in his eyes and the eyes of those attending his mosque, an endorsement of hatred. And after reflecting on it a bit, I realized I agreed with him. Some small-minded xenophobes could take that as an attack, not on religion in general, but specifically on Islam… and specifically endorsing violence. That’s not the message I want to send.
I’m not ’shying away’ from criticizing Islam because I agree with it, and not because I somehow think it’s ‘better’ than Christianity or Judaism or Buddhism or Hinduism. I most certainly don’t. Islam is the religion most easily corrupted into fundamentalism and hatred, and it easily ranks among the worst in terms of widespread abuse. And I certainly didn’t take it down due to fear of a fatwa death sentence. I took down the sticker because Muslims in the US are already suffering persecution (and I mean honest persecution, not the “waaah, someone said something mean about us” sense that many Christians profess), and the last thing I want to do is give the right-wing mouth-breathing god-wallopers another excuse to commit violence against the innocent.
WWII Posters and Modern Patriotism.
Posted by Benjamin Geiger in Activism on June 15th, 2009
One of the members of my Toastmasters club forwarded an email to me today. It was a collection of posters from WWII, with some commentary. I felt obliged to respond.
Most of the posters you sent are honorable, and many apply even today, but this one is particularly dishonest:
Here are some quotes by someone you might recognize. Care to guess who?
“I am now as before a Catholic and will always remain so.”
“My feeling as a Christian points me to my Lord and Savior as a fighter. It points me to the man who once in loneliness, surrounded only by a few followers, recognized these Jews for what they were and summoned men to fight against them and who, God’s truth! was greatest not as a sufferer but as a fighter. In boundless love as a Christian and as a man I read through the passage which tells us how the Lord at last rose in His might and seized the scourge to drive out of the Temple the brood of vipers and adders. How terrific was his fight against the Jewish poison.”
“Secular schools can never be tolerated because such schools have no religious instruction, and a general moral instruction without a religious foundation is built on air; consequently, all character training and religion must be derived from faith.”
“I believe today that I am acting in the sense of the Almighty Creator. By warding off the Jews I am fighting for the Lords work.”
“We are a people of different faiths, but we are one. Which faith conquers the other is not the question; rather, the question is whether Christianity stands or falls…. We tolerate no one in our ranks who attacks the ideas of Christianity… in fact our movement is Christian. We are filled with a desire for Catholics and Protestants to discover one another in the deep distress of our own people. ”
“We were convinced that the people needs and requires this faith. We have therefore undertaken the fight against the atheistic movement, and that not merely with a few theoretical declarations: we have stamped it out.”
Here’s a hint: he was an angry Austrian with a tiny mustache and a Sanskrit symbol for a logo.
I guess we are the last generation to see, or even remember anything like these. Whatever happened? Political correctness (or “re-education”) happened, lack of God’s name happened, lack of personal responsibility happened, lack of personal integrity and honesty happened, lack of respect and loyalty to our country happened, lack of being an American happened.
I can understand, and almost agree with, the original author’s sentiment, but not his/her specific statements. “Political correctness” and lack of religion aren’t responsible for what has happened. In fact, political correctness lets us understand how the world actually works, and lack of religion makes us less likely to wage war needlessly. What many see as “political correctness” is merely seeing your fellow human being as a human being, and not some pawn in a giant meaningless game.
Loyalty isn’t the same as obsequity. Loyalty is speaking up when your loved one is doing wrong. Loyalty is recognizing both the greatness and the faults in the one you’re loyal to. If you’re loyal to your country, you don’t sit idly by while the corrupt grow rich off the sacrifices of the many; you stand up and let your leaders know that you disapprove.
What’s more, there are things in the world more important than one’s country to be loyal to. First and foremost, we must be loyal to the human race. As a Christian, you should be familiar with this:
Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. (Matthew 25:37-40)
When your leaders claim that your loyalty to your country demands betrayal of the human race, are you truly honoring your country?
Bumper Sticker Activism.
Posted by Benjamin Geiger in Activism, Personal on June 15th, 2009
It was time to decorate my laptop; it has its share of scratches and dents, and I could personalize. So, I tried to find bumper stickers that worked well. Problem: not many work well. Most of the time, my positions are too nuanced to fit in a dozen words or less.
The “Atheist Bus” campaign was a reasonable start. I didn’t want to use their slogan, but I wanted to show solidarity through similar design. So, I found the font they used: “Dirty Headline“. In finding it, I found what is probably the most memorable pro-science quote I’ve ever heard. Fire up Seashore, throw some colors together, add in a gratuitous Out Campaign scarlet-A logo, and voilà!
And I realized I really like the font. So, I found another idea that had been rattling around my head for a while. For this one, I had to upgrade to the Gimp because Seashore doesn’t seem to have a rainbow gradient, but I think it was worth it:
I bought some inkjet bumper sticker paper from Office Depot and printed these out… and they turned out great. I wouldn’t put them on my car, since they don’t seem particularly weatherproof, but on the computer I have no such worries. The atheism sticker is currently on my laptop; the second one isn’t yet, since I overestimated the free space on the display. (I own a MacBook Pro and don’t want to cover up the glowing status symbol.)
Feel free to download and print these; high-resolution versions of both are available. As for licensing, they’re Creative Commons Share-Alike; I can’t see putting heavy restrictions on something that only took me an hour or so to create. So, share and enjoy!
