Saturday, February 25, 2006
Stereotypes, Dharma, and All That Jazz
Yep! It's another case of "Draining the brain".
To start with; I had to admit to a co-worker my opposition to much of this current "War On Terror". And somehow the topic of stereotypes came up.
Now some of you may remember that this is the 2nd time this has come up. And my friend made a very interesting, and totally false (in my opinion) statement: "
Stereotypes are based on facts".
Well to me they aren't. They're usually based on trying to create a negative opinion about the target, and in many cases by a rival.
You don't suppose the stereotype of the NASCAR driver and fan as a "redneck" wasn't started by some folks from the "open-wheel" (F1, Indy Cars, Champ Cars) world. And the idea of opponents of this "War on Terror" as communist dupes, "Angry young people" or "Scenesters", wasn't a tool of the "War Media".
Now what's even odder is that both of these stereotypes I've mentioned have been shattered; the Daytona 500 was won by a driver from California, one of the top drivers is from Wisconsin, another has a degree in mathematics. As for the new "Anti-War" movement--one need only look at Cindy Sheehan.
Ok, I have a friend who's on Live Journal and he posted a quiz that stated that his "Ethical Philosophy" was the "Golden Rule".
My friend is also highly intelligent and stated that the principle is more Hindu. To which I replied, by e-mail, that it seemed more Bhuddist to me. My friend replied, correctly, that Sidharta likely picked that up from Hindi (which he was before Sidharta became enlightened).
Well it got me to thinking that a concept of reciprocity is common to almost all religions ("Rule of three" from Wicca, etc). And that leads me to continue to wonder if religion was developed as a moral framework for laws (as opposed to the other way around).
I kept hearing ads on the radio for a re-enactment (re-performance?) of a 1938 Benny Goodman concert. And it reminded me of one of the most interesting musical adventures of my (relatively) young life.
When I was a sophomore or Junior in High School, I did a private study of Jazz clarinet, this was in addition to my marching/pep/concert band work (we had 37 kids in band so we did all three).
It was fun, and a lot of the concepts have somehow crept into of all things my Aikido study (in an odd coincidence one of our visiting instructors is a Jazz afficando).
But I remember getting really into it; listening to jazz programs on the local NPR station, watching concerts on TV, etc.
To this day I'll still throw in a Miles Davis CD if I get in the right mood. ¶ 6:09 PM
Yep! It's another case of "Draining the brain".
To start with; I had to admit to a co-worker my opposition to much of this current "War On Terror". And somehow the topic of stereotypes came up.
Now some of you may remember that this is the 2nd time this has come up. And my friend made a very interesting, and totally false (in my opinion) statement: "
Stereotypes are based on facts".
Well to me they aren't. They're usually based on trying to create a negative opinion about the target, and in many cases by a rival.
You don't suppose the stereotype of the NASCAR driver and fan as a "redneck" wasn't started by some folks from the "open-wheel" (F1, Indy Cars, Champ Cars) world. And the idea of opponents of this "War on Terror" as communist dupes, "Angry young people" or "Scenesters", wasn't a tool of the "War Media".
Now what's even odder is that both of these stereotypes I've mentioned have been shattered; the Daytona 500 was won by a driver from California, one of the top drivers is from Wisconsin, another has a degree in mathematics. As for the new "Anti-War" movement--one need only look at Cindy Sheehan.
Ok, I have a friend who's on Live Journal and he posted a quiz that stated that his "Ethical Philosophy" was the "Golden Rule".
My friend is also highly intelligent and stated that the principle is more Hindu. To which I replied, by e-mail, that it seemed more Bhuddist to me. My friend replied, correctly, that Sidharta likely picked that up from Hindi (which he was before Sidharta became enlightened).
Well it got me to thinking that a concept of reciprocity is common to almost all religions ("Rule of three" from Wicca, etc). And that leads me to continue to wonder if religion was developed as a moral framework for laws (as opposed to the other way around).
I kept hearing ads on the radio for a re-enactment (re-performance?) of a 1938 Benny Goodman concert. And it reminded me of one of the most interesting musical adventures of my (relatively) young life.
When I was a sophomore or Junior in High School, I did a private study of Jazz clarinet, this was in addition to my marching/pep/concert band work (we had 37 kids in band so we did all three).
It was fun, and a lot of the concepts have somehow crept into of all things my Aikido study (in an odd coincidence one of our visiting instructors is a Jazz afficando).
But I remember getting really into it; listening to jazz programs on the local NPR station, watching concerts on TV, etc.
To this day I'll still throw in a Miles Davis CD if I get in the right mood. ¶ 6:09 PM
