Folks,
I was out and about in the Casino today when somebody made the specific point of observing to his friends at a decibel level that could be heard above the loud music, 'I feel like I'm in Mexico'. Well the funny thing is, if he was to go to the two museums of natural history here and visit the Hoover Dam museum he would find out that there is a large recorded history of native Indian and Mexican influence in this area. And obviously today, much to his chagrin, it is resurgent.
For the life of me I have never understood elitism and exclusionism - there are so many labels that can be used here - racism, homophobia - on and on and on .... which finally brings me to the fish on the door in Nevada City.
Now we all know that the magnetic/stick-on fish on automobiles indicates that the driver has a Christian affinity of some sort and is self-declaring (I don't think it means, 'fish on board'). The fish on the door of course are a reminder that there is another world view - even if that view is literal in the case of the 'chips' one.
Now a fish story - except this one is true.
A friend of mine purchased the 'evolve' fish and put it on his car. He is a high school science and math teacher. He is a wicked sense of humour but very mild mannered, caring and low key.
Within 24 hours the fish had been removed from his car by someone who took offence, it was probably used to deface the area where the fish had been and then a religious profanity was engraved into the paint of the vehicle.
Another related story that I personally observed - I was out hiking with my friend Larry and we came across this area that had boardwalks and story boards talking about the natural and geologic history of the area. Someone took offence to the language concerning geologic change over many millennia and defaced the exhibit.
I am sure the person/persons involved in both incidents felt justified in doing what they did and I think they saw no wrong in it.
But it just reinforces what I have felt for a number of years - the far right of any philosophy is a very dangerous thing. I am not saying the right in general- I am saying the 'far' right.
Tolerance is not a word in their dictionary. Has my friend ever ripped a fish off another vehicle and defaced it - no. Have I ever defaced a 'creationist' natural display - or would I - no. They use the 'book' - substitute the 'book' of choice here - cherry pick words and phrases from it to justify their actions in the name of the 'book' - and heaven forbid we get into disagreements about the 'book' because things like dark ages, wars, crusades, inquisitions, and holocausts start happening. And when those aren't going on, they'll persecute part of their own tribe until the next big conflict. You add tribalism and race to this mixture and look out - anything goes.
Now, all this said, I think we are in much better shape today than we have ever been - we are more educated and because of that, and, our awareness of history - we are more tolerant. But like 'evil' in Stephen King's books, you make a stand against it, that stand changes you forever, evil is vanquished but returns in another cunning place and form. It is a constant struggle to keep these forces from getting control of government and therefore education and law making. They seem to want us to return to the Middle Ages.
And - if you ever want to know what the Middle Ages were like, you need look no further than the Islamic world today - Islam is evolving as we speak and is going through similar throes that Christianity did around the time of Luther.
There is another sticker on that door - it has a great message - COEXIST and if you look closely the individual letters are symbols and that's the beauty of it really. If the folks who can't stand the 'evolve' fish would add COEXIST to their philosophy, we'd all be a lot better off. And really that is the message of the fish with the word, 'evolve' in it - 'I have another view' - COEXIST. Failing that there is a bumper sticker on the door, that if heeded, would solve the problem completely - see the picture.
As for the guy in the casino - it's unfortunate that the best three years of his life might have been Grade 3.
Or to quote a relevant verse (verse 17) from the Krome Koan, ' I'm not a complete idiot, some parts are missing'.
Phil
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