"STICKS & STONES" The Innate Thought of Language

For realists, racism and its attendant 'isms' does not exist independently of mind. "Just as a ghostly mixture of quantum possibilities snaps into actuality when an observer makes a measurement, so too a human action takes on a determinate meaning only when a narrator molds a plausible explanation for it." (Michael Frayn, The Human Touch) The primacy of order sorted out of the chaos of our indeterminate thoughts takes a laser beamed focus in the language of racist determinism. Words are the physical manifestation of focused hate, of phobia identification, of racism, of violent action whether physical, religious or emotional.

Nigga, Fag, Kike, Spick, Bitch are the sticks and stones of such language. They maim, wound, kill and destroy. They are strange fruit hanging on the poplar tree. They drag an innocent black man behind a pickup down a dusty Texas highway until he resembles trophy roadkill. They are the crucifixion of Mathew Shepard on a lonely Wyoming barbed wire fence. They are the "Jewish solution". They are the immigrant slur that homeboy border vigilantes hunt and hurt. They are the woman who dares forge her own successful destiny.

No matter the 'politically correct' transformations of language that become common usage, the sub layers of racist  meaning still thrive, virulent and aggressive in common lives like hidden mold in the crumbling edifice of democratic culture. America, for all its glorious mythologies about freedom, the dignity of the individual human being and the civil rights of all its citizens is profoundly mired in its schizophrenic mix of racist foundation and glorious delusions. It was only in the mid-nineteenth century that the land of freedom and God denied its slave based economies, nearly fifty years after Great Britain. It was the twentieth century before women were legally considered citizens and not chattel.

And Gays?  Gays, for all the legitimacies of sheer survival, are not accorded full rights of citizenship in this great land. Gays remain the last viable socially acceptable hate objects, the Jews of the New Age. Many evangelical Christians think so. The Reverend Fred Phelps thinks so: Jews are money-grubbing sodomites. God hates fags." The Family Research Council thinks so when it still holds Dr. Paul Cameron's opinions as scripture: "Tattoo AIDS patients, castrate gays. Gays are worthy of death."

"Just as a ghostly mixture of quantum possibilities snaps into actuality when an observer makes a measurement--" It is fairly easy for the decent among us, conservative or progressive, to recognize the above hate sentiments as evil and corrosive elements that damage us all, especially when set in action. But as easy as it is to reject this level of racism, there exists an integrated complexity of word and deed that belies easy understanding or ready solution. For example, if  when you walk down the street as a non-black and see a black person do you think 'black', or try not to think black?  If non-black do you think 'white' when someone passes you? When is differentiation truly benign and color blind? In most respects we are conditioned to racism, even if benign. It is the blood legacy of this nation. Denial is not an art of tolerance.

The answer is extremely complex but insight probably lies in conditioning and the action of intent. The American experiment in democracy has for over two hundred years built its strength and vitality from diversity----the 'melting pot'. The rewards of homogenizing economic consumerism, which once promised  the 'American Dream' by 'assimilation, is the greatest destructive force on diversity, driving differentiation underground and exploiting its Stygian 'otherness's' often to wildly profitable divisive discrimination. "Money trumps peace" as our Commander-in-Chief has said.

Popular culture is the greatest indicator of societal health. The canary in the mind shaft can be found no more readily than in reality TV, where variant racism in all its opalescent decay is manifested as profitable popular entertainment. Take for example The Maury Show or Jerry Springer where a disproportionate concentration on transsexuals,  dysfunctional gays, freakish fetishists , the disabled or obese people of any color celebrates the tragedy of drugs, alcohol, illiteracy, promiscuity, illegitimate children, pimps and whores, and encourages violent personal attack made for successful audience participation and approval. Worse, audiences are prompted to shout out such slurs, "You're Gay!," or "Lesbo." The irony of the latter is the word 'gay,' a formerly politically correct term that now is used as hatefully as 'fag'. Sometimes the 'beeping' out of curse words virtually illuminates coherent understanding of the dialog.

The hate of racism permeates all levels of current American entertainment. The popular TV show "24" was the first to exalt torture in prime time graphic terms, and it exudes a violent bias toward Moslem's. The SCIFI channel recently aired on "The Dresden Report,"  a segment where a thinly disguised gay 'fictional' character called a banshi was repeatedly beaten with baseball bats and a nasty dwarf (now all the rage on TV) encourages  the show's hero to beat the banshi even harder because he can take a lot. This writer has seen much of war, death, and violence, but the above scene on The Dresden Report made me ill with outrage and disgust.

'Queeny' gay stereotypes, fat women,fat men, angry black women, 'cooning', foolish or pimping black men, dwarfs, fun at the expense of the disabled, violence as entertainment, and on and on enrich the coffers of family entertainment corporations. What ultimate effect will such a diet of sewer and bilge have on American culture? It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out the cause and effect on children fed a steady diet of such morbidity, death and disrespect for the dignity of human life. Bearing in mind The Dresden Report, a perfect example comes to mind: On February 13, 2007  72 year old Detroit man, Andrew Anthos, was viciously attacked from behind by a man with an iron pipe, who accused him of being gay and killed him in a brutal orgy of blood and hate. Andrew was a patriotic American of his generation, who was known in the city for his campaign to light the dome of the State capitol for one night each year with red, white, and blue lights.

Matt Foreman, Executive Director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force had this to say about Andrew's death: "The hatred and loathing that led to the vicious murder, only because he was gay, is not innate. Instead it is being taught every day by leaders of the so-call Christian right and their political allies who use their vast resources, media networks and affiliated pulpits to disguise their bigotry as 'deeply-held religious beliefs. They cloak themselves in Family Values."

Most appalling, and in itself intricately fascinating, is the participation in sexual apartheid, even genocidal attraction by powerful Christian evangelical communities committed against gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered peoples. The hate is hot and the glacial erratics of justice, chilling. Even more disturbing is the participation of Black churches in such violent discriminatory behavior. Particularly, if for no other reason than 'down low' sexual behavior has created a statistical situation where Black men and women are the highest and rising group at risk for AIDS. Hypocrisy and denial are killing another generation of people of color. For this writer, who as a youth went to freedom rides in Mississippi and committed to a final emancipation for his black brothers and sisters, to see the youngest daughter of his hero, Martin Luther King, preach righteous hatred against gays from the steps of her Baptist Church to an enthusiastic attendance was bitter indeed. The chimera of models such as Condi Rice, whose just exploitation of affirmative action enabled her to rise to the highest levels of government while turning her back on the program is a particularly disturbing betrayal of racial equality. If money trumps peace then power and status trump race.

Powerfully influential are the racist/ sexist sentiments of conservative mega church corporations headed by the likes of James Dobson, Pat Robertson, Jerry Fawell,  Fred Phelps, or crackpot 'scientists' and 'DR.s' such as Dr. Laura and Paul Cameron. Here's a sample of their Christianity taken from sources such as The 700 Club, People For The American Way, American's For Truth, The Family Research Council, The Westboro Baptist Church:

Exterminate Gays; Tattoo AIDS patients; castrate gays; AIDS is a godsend; Gays pose the greatest threat to the survival of the nation; God destroyed New Orleans because of gays; 9/11 was god's punishment for gays; Lesbians drink, do drugs, or are hateful; Gays don't like children; Gays don't support monogamy; child rearing, family values; Gays only pretend to oppose pedophilia; Gays aim to destroy the American family; Gays are like the gun to the head of America; Gays were behind Hitler; Gays are appalling; Gays want to disrupt churches; spread AIDS and spit at ministers;  Homosexuality means God has given up on society; Gays want to destroy Christians; Gays will crush all Americans and Gays are depressed, diseased, miserable. As for the latter, is it any wonder gays are 'depressed'. Worse still, is the situation that mainstream politicians in Congress often espouse such sentiments and vote to encode them into the laws of the land. For some more poisonous examples go to http://www.splcenter.org The Southern Poverty Law Center.

Gays predictably respond with a style of irony that belies the terrible pain and grief which informs the survival of a perpetually alert tribe of artists, shamans, healers, survivors and warriors; the folks next door; the family members we love; the friends who grace our lives; and the national conscience that reminds us that hate is not ok and that 'minority' is not another word for discriminate:

The Bible contains six admonitions to homosexuals and 362 admonitions to heterosexuals. That doesn't mean that God doesn't love heterosexuals. It's just that they need more supervision. Lynn Lavner  Homosexuality is God's way of insuring the truly gifted aren't burdened with children. Sam Austin  War. Rape. Murder. Poverty. Equal rights for gays. Guess which one the Southern Baptist Convention is protesting? The Value of Families   Jesse Helms and Newt Gingrich were shaking hands congratulating themselves on the introduction of an anti gay bill in Congress. if it passes they won't be able to shake hands, because it will then be illegal for a prick to touch an asshole. Judy Carter Soldiers who are not afraid of guns, bombs, capture, torture or death say they are afraid of homosexuals. Clearly we should not be used as soldiers; we should be used as weapons. The Advocate  If Michelangelo had been straight, the Sistine Chapel would have been wallpapered. Robin Tyler  It is one of the most chilling experiences and unique to the United States-----You don't hear two Italians sitting around complementing each other because they actually like to go to bed with women. The American is hysterical about his manhood. Gore Vidal.

The particular gestalt of political radicalism, religious Christian conservatism, illiteracy and the cultural decay of popular entertainment has elevated hypocrisy and intolerance to the greatest good, a ghostly mixture of quantum possibilities of discrimination, hate and corruption that snaps into actuality when the measurement is spoken (nigga, fag, kike, spick, bitch) and manifested into action (violence, suffering, torture, and the entertainment of death). The rot of racism in all its forms in American life has paved the way for oppression on a personal scale. It strikes at the identity of an individual's intimate existence,  is the essence of true prejudice and leads only to the path of depotism and desolation.

Until this country returns to the path of true democracy, the celebration of diversity and its spiritual embrace of inclusiveness we will descend into a wasteland of  living hell  where sticks, stones and the innate thought of language destroys, lays waste to human life, and kills.

It is not easy to find happiness in ourselves, and it is not possible to find it elsewhere.  Agnes Repplier   Do not follow where the path may lead. Go, instead where there is no path and leave a trail. Ralph Waldo Emerson