Throughout the year at Kairos we have been discussing groups both domestic and international that have been socially, economically or politically marginalized by their government or other governments. For the most part I think in hopes of raising awareness of what is actually going on in the world which sadly I feel most Americans are unaware of and also to see possible roles we can play in positively impacting these situations.
I read a really cool post by Donna about the role Amnesty International plays in raising awareness of human rights injustices around the globe. She points out that they have recently gotten some flack about their 2005 report because of some of their terminology which might have left something to be desired. But as she later stated maybe they could have had better word choice, but the fact of the matter is they are effective.
I guess this mainly jumped out at me because between talks at Kairos and Donna's post. I started realizing how insular my thinking about national/international injustices had become and how unaware I am of what is really happening in the world and thinking of ways I can effect change.
Ethnictoid(not quite black): I was riding in the car with my friend Christeen, who is german, yesterday and I was telling her a little anecdote from work that day about how this little boy and I were discussing how women of various ethnic groups express their displeasure in the younger generations. Then we moved on to stereotypes of groups in general and why they are the way they are. For example I was telling her that sometimes I feel that the large part of the black population can be excessively critical of other black people which I have mentioned in previous blactoids. This led to us talking about how I think most people feeling their ethnicity is part of their identity, but Christeen was saying that she feels that a lot of white people in this country don't. They just think of themselves as such and such who has these qualities. And speaking as a black person I know I feel like being black is very much so a part of my identity. I can only speak from my own perspective, but I could kinda see what she meant based on the conversations I've had with my friends of varying ethnicities. Please feel free to share your thoughts.
As always have a good day and enjoy.
I am 50% Left Brain and 50% Right Brain. Interesting...
| You Are 50% Left Brained, 50% Right Brained |
 Left brained people are good at communication and persuading others. If you're left brained, you are likely good at math and logic. Your left brain prefers dogs, reading, and quiet. The right side of your brain is all about creativity and flexibility. Daring and intuitive, right brained people see the world in their unique way. If you're right brained, you likely have a talent for creative writing and art. Your right brain prefers day dreaming, philosophy, and sports. |
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6 comments:
I'm not proud of it, but part of me doesn't want to know about the injustices going on in the world, because it bothers me when I have a hardened response, but it also bothers me when an event or article gets to me and I start crying. Seriously, I can't read news articles all the way through about casualties in Iraq without crying. It's hard to strike a balance of being able to care about what is going on in the world without letting it seriously depress a person.
As to the race/culture ethnictoid, I definitely don't think of being white as being part of my identity, although I'm sure it has impacted my identity. Besides, if a white person told me they think of their race as a part of their identity you know me and most other people would be wondering if they were a nazi white supremacist or something.
It's not like I forget I'm white or don't think about it. I think about it a lot when I'm slathering on my SPF 45.
You asked for my thoughts - got enough there? :)
I think awareness of what is going on in the world is important, and there are a lot of injustices going on out there. However, I personally do not like Amnesty International and would not personally ever want to support them. For one thing, they oppose the death penatly, which I support and feel is important. More importantly, they have a habit of making in many cases what appear to me to be accusations which are not based in fact. Too much zeal and not enough knowledge. They seem to do this a lot. They need to be much more careful. It's a very serious matter to make false accusations. I remember one such incident with Israel, where they accused Israel of killing many innocent people in a refugee camp. This severely damaged Israel's reputation in the media. It later came to light, after investigation, that their accusations had been wrong, but of course you didn't really hear about that in the news. Anyway, maybe they have the potential of doing some good, but I personally wouldn't support them as they now exist. Just my two cents.
Daniel
Thank you both for your 4 cents. I'm not sure how I feel about Amnesty International as a group, but I guess I would rather know than not know. And if someone brought something to my attention then I would do my best to get the facts. I usualyl take what people say with a grain of salt anyway.
Donna,
I really appreciate your response. With the exception of you and Daniel I think few people I talk to are even aware of notoriety or effectiveness of organizations such as the red cross and amnesty international. The only reason I know about groups like Samaritan's Purse is because I've helped with projects they've done in the past. And I'm glad you are passionate about it. I helps motivate you towards change and it helps others by seeing your motivation.
I guess I don't feel that it's right to give monetary or other support to an organization that, even though it does a lot of good work, also actively supports many things which are against one's conscience. I think, when contributing any kind of support to an organization, be it monetary or even one's own word, it's good to see whether their underlying values are something that one would really want to support. There is enough evidence from Amnesty's website to see that their underlying values are far different than the values held by many conservative Christians. They apparently hold a secular worldview not that much different from that of the ACLU or the United Nations as a whole.
Amnesty...
-Opposes the death penalty.
http://www.amnestyusa.org/abolish/index.do
http://www.amnestyusa.org/uspolicy/index.do
-Supports the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
http://www.amnestyusa.org/children/crn_crc.html
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2001/jun/01060703.html
-Supports giving special protection for people who engage in homosexual behavior. Opposes any criminalization of homosexual behavior. (This is actually one of their main topics on their topics page.)
http://www.amnestyusa.org/outfront/index.do
-Opposes the US Patriot Act.
http://www.amnestyusa.org/uspolicy/index.do
-Is political, even though it claims not to be.
http://www.amnestyusa.org/waronterror/unilateralism.html
http://web.amnesty.org/pages/aboutai-index-eng
And here's an article about the Israeli incident I mentioned earlier...
http://www.netanyahu.org/whatrealhapm.html
Anyone know of any other organizations that do similar work, but actually have decent values? Would be nice to know...
Daniel
Daniel,
I really appreciate the links you put. Since this post has gotten a good response I think I'm gonna write a follow up and will be using your comment if that's ok. Even if it isn't ok I'm still gonna do it anyway because it was good and I've already copied it so you can delete it doesn't matter. And for the record I'm not sure where I stand on the death penalty. I'm not saying I'm an opposer, but I'm also not saying I'm a supporter. I will discuss it further in my follow up article after I've thought it through some more.
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