"Amber and Cruelty"

That arresting phrase is the name of a new category and tag for a series of posts over at Random Fate. Jack is still working out the concept, which is the diametrical opposite of what he envisions moderation to be:

Anyone who proclaims themselves and their fellow-travelers as “right-thinking” and any and all others as inherently wrong are immediately suspect in my eyes.

For me, “right-thinking” equates with an inwardly focused group that only feels powerful by excluding and oppressing others, for that is what I saw first-hand when I was a child, and in some respects that attitude still exists in the region where I grew up.

Even now, half a century since the defiance of Rosa Parks against an injustice that seems obvious today but was widely accepted as a fundamental truth at the time (and in some circles is still advocated), there are those who proclaim that their method of thinking is the absolute truth, completely unwilling to even consider even the possibility that they might be wrong, just as those five decades ago who thought of themselves as “right-thinking” were wrong.

This thinking is not limited to racists, neo-Nazis, or other seemingly insane cults.

As a matter of fact, this thinking is reflected in the vast majority of weblogs I read.

In other words: If you do not doubt yourself, can you truly consider yourself intelligent and thoughtful?

I have written repeatedly upon what it means to be a moderate. I repeat it here:

A moderate is one who acknowledges that their beliefs are not absolute, that there is room for doubt, that at least some of what they believe just may be wrong, and they are willing to consider that possibility.

The inverse of moderation is what I mean when I categorize a post as exemplifying “Amber and Cruelty,” the thinking is frozen, as if it is embedded in amber, and the outcome is the cruelty that is the inevitable result of rigid, inflexible, judgmental thinking.

For example:

Rape victim: ‘Morning after’ pill denied

By Carla McClain
ARIZONA DAILY STAR

Although it is safe, effective and legal, emergency contraception - the “morning after” pill - can be hard to find in Tucson.

After a sexual assault one recent weekend, a young Tucson woman spent three frantic days trying to obtain the drug to prevent a pregnancy, knowing that each passing day lowered the chance the drug would work.

While calling dozens of Tucson pharmacies trying to fill a prescription for emergency contraception, she found that most did not stock the drug.

When she finally did find a pharmacy with it, she said she was told the pharmacist on duty would not dispense it because of religious and moral objections.

If you cannot see the example of Amber and Cruelty embedded in this story, nothing I can write will persuade you to see.

Take a step outside your own beliefs.

Look in the mirror, are you judging others without any consideration that you may be just as wrong as that white man 50 years ago when he demanded that Rosa Parks give up her seat on the bus because he was white and she was not?

Take a step outside of your own prejudices and the labeling that is so easy to assign to the “moonbats” or the “wing-nuts”…

THINK…

There is more to the world than the labels or the simple, comforting belief systems we set up for ourselves.

That is just blessed.

Comments

[Joel Sax]

I can relate to this. And yet I can't.

When people try to categorize my blog, they often throw up their hands. I've seen myself categorized as a liberal, as a progressive, as an eccentric, as a poet, and as just plain "weird". I've been told that because I don't fit I don't get linked.

And I like that, I like not being easily fit into a category.

My friends tend to be from the Left. I do have strong stands on issues. How can we ~not~ sound adamant when it comes to an injustice such as that wreaked against Rosa Parks and the millions of other African Americans? If I say that I am right and that those who brought out the dogs to chew on civil rights advocates wrong -- the ones who wanted to keep Rosa Parks in the back of the bus -- does that make me an unthinking, unbending demogogue?

I don't think so....

[Jack]

Thanks for the link (and for noticing the category in the first place!). I had meant to comment earlier, but I have been distracted by some personal concerns.

This is the first time I can recall anything I have ever worked on being called "blessed." It is an odd feeling for me.

Thank you again!

[amba]

Jack -- there's always a first time, even for that!