Gary Stager wrote an eloquent and heartfelt response on his blog Education’s Place for Debate to the recent “lynching” at Columbia, the cutting of children’s health care (S-CHIP), and the school shooting in Ohio. Here is my response:
Gary, I document fading ads and came across your blog while searching for the keyword “nostalgia.” Ten years ago, these signs were a metaphor for my unexpected long-life with HIV/AIDS and have been a symbol for my survival. The fading signs have now started to have new significance, symbolizing our fading freedoms and fading moral character as a society. Although lynching is not my idea of the good old days, today’s symbolic lynching seems even more menacing since it is coming from an informed point in history and occurred in a place where one would expect one to have been better informed. We’re becoming a nation without compassion.
Nostalgia, in this case, is perhaps a caustic throwback rather than a fond memory of the good old days. Recently Professor Gerald Torres on the PBS Special “Life Part Two” called nostalgia corrosive. Gloria Steinhem called nostalgia a form of obstructionism on Bill Maher’s HBO “Real Time.” Racism, is both corrosive to our societal fabric and obstructive to the progress we have made as a functional and inclusive society. Dysfunction appears to be on the rise and is not necessarily a sign of feelings of nostalgia but rather a foreshadowing of the rising fascist sentiment that is also prevalent in Europe today. If we continue to teach peace, then why do we find this behavior on the Higher Educational level? Fear and cowardice have been some adjectives to describe this behavior. I see it more as calculated and heinous.
I’m worried about America too Gary. Especially as a gay educator. The current climate of xenophobia, homophobia and racism exists in an American culture that should have learned from its past. Perhaps we are not doing our jobs as teachers? Perhaps we are not modeling the behaviors we espouse for our students. There needs to be a more public outcry from those in positions of perceived authority on all issues where individuals human rights are being abused or threatened. Teaching tolerance isn’t enough. Acceptance of “the other” and inclusion of those with differences (or perceived differences) needs to be taught. I don’t want to be tolerated by an American public. We can tolerate the heat or mosquitoes. I want acceptance. Transgendered, bisexual, gay, black, Asian, Muslim, Iranian…. all “others” should demand it. But it needs to be taught from an early age. Elementary my dear Watson. And with Compassion!
Frank Jump
http://fadingad.wordpress.com
