The Others

I just finished reading short lectures given by Polish glob trotting journalist Ryszard Kapuscinski at the Vienna Institute For Human Sciences. The topic: The Others. It is a fascinating look at how we relate to people who are different from us, racially, culturally, nationally.

It strikes me, that the Europeans especially, have looked at other people and other cultures paternistically at best, as a resource to fuel their thirst for wealth and power at worst. Throughout centuries the French, the Spanish, the British, and others, sent the worst element from their societies overseas to spread the Christian values with the sword and the fire. We will live with the consequences of these brutal actions forever, just to mention the genocide of the indigenous people in the Americas and Australia or the African slave trade. These people were not looked at by the Europeans as Humans, they deserved to die simply because they were The Others.

But we don't need to look back in time to be appalled by how some groups of people treat other groups of people, simply because they are different. In the age of instantaneous electronic communication that literally shrank the globe and created huge network of interconnections between people, we see attempts to build walls to separate people from each other. One example is the wall between Israel and the West Bank, another example is the southern border of the US. These are pathetic attempts to keep The Others away from us, because we are obviously better, better looking, more intelligent, wealthier, our religion is better, in all possible respects The Others are not worthy of living among us, they would take our money, they would pollute our gene pool, they would desecrate our religion. Not to mention that they speak this strange language that nobody can understand (as Kapuscinski noted, the word 'barbarian" comes from Greek "barbaros", which means somebody who just mumbles incoherently). So we build walls around our domains, we capture and expel those that came to live among us illegally.

Kapuscinski cites three types of group behaviors towards The Others: you either subjugate them (the colonial powers, or like the US and UK are trying to do in Iraq), or you separate from them (the Great Wall of China, southern US border, Israel), or you try to live with them in harmony (what would be a good example of that?).

One would think that Humanity reached the maturity level needed for harmonious living of The Others among us, but then maybe we still need more time...

Do:

• Every day take a minute or two to reflect on how things worked out, what went well, what would you have done differently.
  

Arizona Trip

Back from Arizona, it was a tiring but at the same time interesting and rewarding trip.

I made a few new friends. We met for dinner in a quiet Greek restaurant (directions, map), food was great, proprietors friendly and attentive, but that's another story.

While waiting for Kartik, Dave and I talked about this and that, until one of us made a passing remark about the futility and senselessness of the Iraq war. At that time we started to carefully probe the territory, is it safe to say what you really think?

I'm happy to report that both Dave and I are staunch Liberals and we wouldn't mind seeing the imperial troika of George W., Cheney and Rumsfeld being tried for treason, at least in the court of public opinion, for waging a personal war.

But what gets both of us, is how the social and political landscape has changed in this country over the last several decades, how uncivil, polarized and often hateful the public discourse has become. I recalled a podcast in which John Edwards interviews Jimmy Carter. Mr. Carter remarked that in his presidential campaign in 1976 both he and Gerald Ford would refer to each other as nothing less than my distinguished opponent. So what has happened over the last 30+ years that caused our language and our perceptions of each other to roll into the gutter?

I don't really want to start a dissertation here, but let's consider at least one thought: electronic communication channels, like email or this blog, allow people to say things without looking straight into anybody's eyes. On one hand, this is liberating, I can say what I really think and have it published for free. On the other hand, I don't get the instant feedback from my conversers' facial expressions and body language. That instant feedback, this ability of people engaged in informal debates to be close to each other provides moderating effect on how we express our thoughts and how we treat each other.

Some of us live and communicate in a virtual world now, but we are not virtual creatures. We are social beings whose very survival depends on our ability to reach out and touch somebody close. Yet in the virtual world the social norms of behavior are still evolving.

This may be outside of any one individual's or even a group of people influencing ability, but the challenge we're facing is to make sure the virtual norms of social behavior do not stray too far from the ones we have lived by for eons.

This challenge goes two ways: we need to preserve the elements of accepted norms of face-to-face discussions in virtual communication and at the same time we must protect the norms of the face-to-face discussions from being strongly influenced by the I-can-say-whatever-I-want-however-I-want reality of the virtual world.

The issue is not the content of virtual and real communications, it is the format, which must remain polite and respectful in either case. This has been the norm for as long as I can remember and as far as our historical records go.

All right, enough of that, let's get back to Arizona. To the left is a picture I took from the Mormon Loop trail in the South Mountain Park, trail map is here. I started the hike from the 24th Street trail head, climbed up, followed the Mormon trail, then switched to National trail and descended back to the parking lot on the Mormon trail. All in all it took almost three hours, largely because of frequent stops to admire the scenery, listen to the birds, look at the rocks, breath the air.

The weather was breathtakingly beautiful, high eighties, light wind, no smog. The "no smog" part was especially captivating, I'm not used to seeing clear air over Phoenix. But last week you could see for miles and miles around.

Do:

• While typing email, blog or wiki entry, imagine you are talking to an actual person, picture his/her face while you type. This will make your message more personal (that's a good thing), more relevant to the intended audience, but also more polite.

• Take a minimum of one 0.5L bottle of pure water (not sweetened or flavored) per hour while hiking in the desert in moderately high temperatures, say high eighties. Definitely more in the Summer!

Do not:

• Insult specific or unspecified groups of people by making sweeping judgements in email, blog, wiki, or other electronic media. Virtual communication shapes our morals as much as direct communication.

Sunday Morning

Rode my bike in the morning, 45 mins, new record! Beautiful morning it is, sunny, windless and quiet, all you can hear is the freeway several miles away.

The Irish Breakfast tea is a hit, add a spoonful of honey and a slice of lemon and you're set to start a day.

Do:

• Put a folded towel on the bike to sit on. It doesn't get wet, yet it cushions the hard wooden board pretending to be the bike's seat.
• Have a cup of Irish Breakfast tea with honey and lemon in the morning. It does lift your spirit.