A Proud Racist?

A "Proud Racist"

Santa Clarita City Councilman Bob Kellar was accused of being a racist after expressing his support of Teddy Roosevelt's statement that we have one flag and one language. He replied that if that made him a racist, he was a "proud racist." And boy oh boy, did that ever set off a firestorm. Deservedly Illegal immigrant advocacy groups hit him from every side. Predictably. Geeze, this guy is a politician? Now...I don't really think that what he said was "racist." Probably it was what I would call "culturally elitist", but maybe not even that. Every country has the right to set the rules by which people enter and exit their territory, just as any living organism has to have barriers to determine what outside substances or objects can enter its body. Some may be more liberal about this, some more conservative, but all have the right.

And anyway...Hispanics aren't a "race" by any definition I find useful at all. It is a linguistic and cultural or territorial group, spanning everything from blondes to those of pure African blood. And while I abhore the shock-jock talk demonizing people trying to improve the lives of their families by following natural migration patterns, I absolutely believe Americans have the right to determine their language, and borders...just as Mexicans or Canadians do. The "racism" charge is easy to levy and difficult to defend against. And a great tactic. Hell, white Republicans have been able to use that label against a bi-racial President, and convince 31% of their party of it, solidifying them with fear. What a great scam, right?

The problem with what Keller said is that it was remarkably tone-deaf, and gives aid and cover to the approximate 10% of the human race who really ARE tribal to the point of toxicity. It opened him and any candidate he was supporting to attack. This guy almost certainly comes from the position that racism is no genuine problem in our society. Those of us who disagree are right to be appalled at his ignorance.

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"Avatar" and "District 9" are both on the list of Best Picture Oscars. Two genre films in one year. That is so cool...even though they expanded the list. I don't care. And there are even a couple of black people in those films I wouldn't mind my son growing up to be (a soldier in "Hurt Locker", a boyfriend in "Inglorious Basterds", a soldier in "Avatar", a business owner and a co-worker in "District 9") Yes, there are the usual grotesqueries, but hell, I'll take what I can get.

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I'm having fun building up my "Diamondhour.com" site, with an emphasis on what can be done to improve or transform your life, five minutes at a time. I suppose I could micro-manage that down to the one minute mark, or even by the second, but that seems a little extreme. The most important unit is the "Five Minute Miracle" of taking three hundred seconds a day for YOURSELF. Listen to the voices in your head. What possible reasons could there be to not find five minutes out of the 1440 minutes we get every day? I would LOVE to hear a serious argument. But have to warn you ahead of time that I would consider any argument just a "ping" off your zones of damage and ego fear. Your damage would like you to believe that it is you. Waking up from that illusion will be painful.

Just recently, I spoke to a client who is carrying so much pain from the death of her parents that she cannot move their stacks of possessions out of her house. She numbs herself with television, and alcohol. As she begins to wake up, she finally has to actually deal with the pain of never "completing" that relationship, never getting the approval she deserves. And also with the fear that accompanies the core realization that when our parents die, we are next in line. Every human being feels alone and afraid...the only question is: "what are you doing with your loneliness and fear?" You can encapsulate your pain, cocoon yourself, remain in denial. Rail against the "unfairness" of the world.

Or you can accept the fact that you feel these sharp, painful emotions, and that they are connected to basic animal survival. Our nervous systems evolved to experience them, and there is really no way to totally eliminate them and remain human. We can accept that we die, age, need community, that we have different phases of power and helplessness in life. Or we can push against it, try to guilt-trip people about it, and steal our own power. Only by accepting our animal nature can we move beyond it. You simply can't think your way out of it, or "spiritualize" your way our of it. But you can root yourself in reality, or open your heart. Either of these work just fine. The road of life is littered with the psychic and emotional corpses of those who tried it another way.

The men and women who build airplanes and spaceships do not ignore the reality of gravity...they understand it exquisitely, and sufficient to produce results that apparently defy the laws of nature. In reality, they are based upon laws that those afraid to actually examine and live within the strictures of nature will never understand. It grieves me. We can accomplish so much that seems miraculous to those who do not understand. But it is important to root ourselves in reality as it is, not as we wish it could be. It is so incredibly easy to become lost in illusion otherwise. And the frightening thing is that intelligence has so little to do with it. The intelligent merely devise more complex traps for themselves. We are all just exactly smart enough to deceive ourselves, and the only way out of the labyrinth is to keep our feet on the ground, and our eyes on the light.