Solving Our Problems: Let’s Go "Multi"

Perhaps you’ve heard the old joke that goes: There are two types of people in the world, those who divide people into two types and those that don’t. One of the smartest people ever, Steven J. Gould, wrote about people’s disturbing characteristic of dividing things into two’s. That makes it easier to say that someone is for us or against us. This dualism adds to our dueling.

It also prevents us from seeing solutions to our problems. In local school districts, it’s either whole language or phonics (in reality, just about any reading program has both). In politics it’s liberal versus conservative. In Washington, DC politics, it’s black versus white. In the Bible belt, one finds Christians versus anyone who isn’t.

The radio bands are cleanly divided into liberal and conservative camps, and ratings depend on one side demonizing the other. The country isn’t served by this. When pressed on his liberal credentials, then-President Clinton said, "That dog won’t hunt anymore." Like him or hate him, his effort to blur the distinction might have merit.

Around the Internet there is a campaign to paint the world as a coming battleground. The Muslims are coming and coming fast! Soon they will take over Europe, then "Islamify" the US. Then won’t Christians who ignored all the signs be sorry!

In matters of race, we have issues, but we show progress. The quiet progress comes from interracial marriages and mixed race neighborhoods. Moreover, it comes from mixed race people. Tiger Woods signaled, by his notoriety, a change in our concept of race. Black/white distinctions are being blurred by the idea of multi-racial.

Our true selves as Americans show up not as blots of black, white and other, but as a mix. If Tiger by virtue of his parentage is cool, having a mixed-race president is way cool.

Religious distinctions, products of our minds and not physical characteristics, should be easily bridgeable. But we insist on exclusivity. Maybe it’s time for "make it cool" to be multi-religious. Mike Mansfield in his book The Japanese Mind describes how the Japanese can, with no internal contradictions and no social discomfort, be of several beliefs. They may be Christian, Buddhist, and Shinto at the same time, choosing rituals from each, as they deem fit.

And why not? Why can’t I choose a theology drawing on the Wisdom of Solomon and David, the meditative awareness of the Buddha, the poetry of the Quran, and the humility of Jesus? Religion at its best creates community, and our diverse society is rich in the wisdom of the ages.

Yet we feel we must choose one and only one.

I know someone whose wife is a Muslim Moroccan who followed her white, Christian husband to the U.S. from Spain. She believes in celebrating everyone’s holidays. She enjoys St Patrick’s Day with the relish of the Irish, Christmas with the sense of joy experienced by Christians, and Eid with the reverence of her own faith.

But that we all could embrace such an outlook. But we seem stuck in our dualist nature. Pro-Con. Go-No-Go. We argue to argue. We can, however, be more than the residue of our little philosophical encampments.

I admit there are limitations. One cannot, for example, be both a Red Sox and Yankee fan. That would be silly.

We Don’t Need Censorship; We Just Need Adults To Be In Charge

The government has no business censoring books, music, or art. But that does not mean we must allow ourselves to be subjected to depravity. Freedom is not a one-way street, as in anyone is free to perpetually offend everyone else. I am a civil libertarian; I am against censorship. But I am not against knocking obscene and insulting music off the airwaves. Rappers and Hip-Hop "artists" are free to spout their misogynist, violent, sub-human noises. We are also free to drive it off the airwaves WITHOUT government censorship. A free society can, without censorship do something about protecting the public airwaves. And they need protecting! We just need adults to take charge.

Let’s take a typical hour in the car, listening to a pop music station, such as WPGC in Washington, DC. Fortunately most of the hour is commercials. Normally, you wouldn’t want that. But in this case it is a relief. Why? There was a song about birthday sex, a song about a large penis (The song production included Beyonce -- I had thought she had some class. I was wrong.), a song with masturbation references, another about sexual positions, and another about nudity and the joys of weed. This was all directed at kids, mostly sixth, seventh, eighth, and ninth graders. We should not put up with it. But in today’s over-communicative world, it’s everywhere.

The key here is that for a free society, without government censorship, to work, there has to be something else: adults. For parents, that means turning off the radio. But we know that in this day and age, communications are a step ahead of parents. There are just too many sources, and the kids are too savvy -- they learn early on where the minimize button is.

Something should be done. This content is not OK. It is unhealthy. This isn’t prudishness talking here; it’s decency. In that hour of music there was not one -- not even one! -- positive message. It was filled with sexual content, but no hint of sexuality -- that passion, caring, gentleness, and other traits that separate human intimacy from the animal act. Basically, what rap and hip-hop talk about is what pigs do. That’s as elevated as it gets. And it goes downhill from there. It glorifies pimps and gangs. These are two things that in reality have always -- in EVERY case! -- been destructive. So to see teenage boys cheerfully talking about pimping, or teenage girls playfully trying to make gang signs is more than disturbing. It is a sign of sickness in a society that claims to care about kids.

A free society means we are going to have freak shows. It also means people are free to shake up the system and push envelopes. Freedom does not protect us from shocking behavior. But when Snoop Dog, on national TV, leads a woman on all fours around on a leash, we all know it is wrong. And moms and dads should work to stop it. In fact, anyone with morals should step up.

What can be done to foster a civil society? We are going to need adults in positions of responsibility. Adults would’ve said, "No!" to Snoop Dog and pulled the plug. Adults would’ve said, "We care about kids and we are not going to allow this music (like the hour I described) on the airwaves."

In a society that needs more civility and not less, adults are going to have to act. Not under government coercion, but because they are adults. With the incredible choices we have -- local music, world music, all styles and types, there is no call for adults to choose the type of airwave pollution with NO value. We aren’t talking censorship; we as adults have the power to choose from the myriad exciting, progressive, envelope-pushing musical expressions that are out there. Hear that, radio execs? You can lead the way and it won’t cost a thing.