White noise to hide our shame

We are supposed to love our neighbor
as we love ourselves, but I don't think we
have a clue what that means. I have been avoiding writing on Katrina or other political topics as of late because frankly, this all exhausts me. It is emotionally and even physically tiring to take in the state of the world right now and allow it to weigh on oneself to the extent one might think it should. The things going on in the world today are really no better or worse than throughout the whole of history by and large, but that doesn’t make them bear on our souls any less. What should be different though is that we as a society should be more enlightened (heck, we can even fly to nearly any country we please in about a day) but it is starkly apparent that we are not.

You really can’t turn anywhere without hearing about Hurricane Katrina, nor should you be able to. This is an amazingly catastrophic event and having been to New Orleans once before, I cannot wrap my head around the fact that my hotel, the Hard Rock Café I so enjoyed, and the Convention Center I spent my time at are either under water or filled with humans forced to live upon each other like so many chickens in a cage. People are starving, people are dying, and yet the primary discussion is how the administration screwed this situation up. Who cares? I am exhausted with this conversation. If we couldn’t keep the country from re-electing Bush last year on account of a misled war and misappropriated funds, how will tossing a red state into the Gulf of Mexico change anything? The administration will never own up to anything, we’re going to get the same schpiel over and over, and we should just accept that they are a bunch of inconsiderate hate-mongers who are in it for themselves. But then again, it’s our fault they’re in office. Let’s focus on the fact there are thousands of people without homes who are dying in the Superdome all the time. Let’s get them out of there and let Bush deal with God for the blood on his hands.

But another issue that has come up is that of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s decision to veto a bill in California that would permit gender-neutral marriage. He hasn’t actually signed the veto as of this writing, but he has announced he is planning on doing it. I feel like I’m talking to a wall when I try to debate the issue of gay marriage, primarily because I don’t understand why our “enlightened” society thinks this is an issue at all. If your next door neighbors get married, do they take part of your house? No. Do they come club your knees? Unlikely. But should you prevent them from realizing happiness just because you don’t think they’re right for each other? Absolutely not. It’s the same thing with gay marriage; two men or two women marrying each other does not affect anyone else in the least. The only possible effect I can think it would have would be on those who are insecure with themselves who are forced to comprehend a different world order. Being gay is not a choice. Look at the research and results from “change therapies” and “change ministries” across the world. The only thing they change is making people into hollowed out shells of wasted lives. For God’s sake Arnold, let the vote go to the people. You ran in a highly unusual election on a ticket of supportiveness and now you’re taking it back to save your own hide. This is irresponsible and decadent – it is no different from making black people use a different drinking fountain or forcing Jews to live in ghettos. You are condemning millions of people to societal death because of something they have no choice over and frankly, it’s embarrassing that it’s even your decision to make in the first place.

I’m usually up for a happy and lively debate, but what is going on right now is so very scary and close to home that it’s hard to take it lightly. I feel like we’re looking God right in the face and we’re still just thinking of ourselves. That is the only explanation I can think of in a world where the "Religious Right" is identified as a hate generating organization, where I can't argue with a colleague who asks why Christians are such evil people, and where movements to "protect families" fight to break up some of the most loving unions in the world today. We can and should do more and rise above the fray but if that's not something we're willing to do, then God help us.