Respect?

There seems to be an old idea running through the black community that you should 'respect your elders'. I hear that quite a lot. In fact, that was a strong feature in my childhood. You didn't ever dare call someone of my parents generation (say) by their first name, they always had a title - Mr So-and So or Mrs or Miss. If they were part of a church they were known as Brother or Sister So-and-So. Never did you call them by their first name only. Not allowed. That was an example of respecting someone.

This has me thinking about this issue of 'respect'. Being respected is a big issue. Even I have found myself, in past moments of being totally pathetic, moaning that someone doesn't respect me. Now what does that actually mean?

How do you respect someone? Why is it important, if it is, to be respected? How does respect manifest itself? Does feeling respected feel differently from not being respected? - and how can you tell the difference?

In London I have seen so many instances of people having some kind of conflict where one person felt that they weren't being given 'due respect'. I have observed hip-hop artists, for example, pushing the idea that respect is paramount. Why?

My view is it starts with feeling powerless and is an attempt to control the small world around us. I think it is to do with a lack of self-worth, poverty of the mind, lack of education, poor quality peer groups, poor parenting - all wrapped up with a view of the world not based on reality but fantasy.

If people were taught to communicate effectively and they could adapt critical thinking skills into their lives, where they did not view the bible (for example) as the word of a god, where social morals were there for them to freely choose, where people could be who they wanted to be, where the focus was on their child being given the tools to enable them to understand the world without bias nor a belief in scary stories, without fear yet with a critical eye, questioning everything (can you imagine such a scenario?) then I think the issue of respect would lose its importance.

I have featured pictures of young children being abused by supernaturalistsand their ideas on this blog.The high-level, worldwide, state sanctioned child abuse must stop. It must stop or nothing will change. I try and imagine the world without the supernatural and all its manifestations.

Although, my concern is not necessarily for myself it is sad to think that with all the marvellous, new and innovative technological advances we are still stuck where we are.

What is there to respect? Some young black men are harming themselves and others because of this idea of 'respect'. It is a stronghold that must be broken. Lives are being destroyed because of this very thing. It is easy to believe something because our parents and previous generations believed it. That is exactly why we are in the mess we are in today. Don't respect your elders just because they are older. Don't respect traditions. Don't respect old ideas.

Don't respect - think!

Religion and Child Abuse

Some people have taken issue with me due to my belief that teaching your child, indoctrinating your child into your religious belief system, is abuse.

Let me make it clear:

if you are part of a religious organisation or even if you believe in 'the Flying Teapot' the onus is on you to ensure that your child is brought up aware of the following:

1. Alternative views;

2. The pros and cons of your belief;

3. Critical thinking skills and how to apply them.

Now considering the above 3 points: How many people can honestly say that they have guardianship of a child, are believers in god/gods/universal spirits/or some such and have applied all of the above points throughout that child's life? Very few.

The damage inflicted on children exposed to irrational thinking lead to all the negative -isms we experience today.

Being a parent is one of the most difficult jobs there is. Not enough credit is given to those who care for and raise babies into adulthood. A child looks up to their parent or guardian for guidance, love, support and is hardwired to believe what the parent/guardian says is true. If you then follow belief systems based on fallacy which does not and will not stand up to critical analysis, then this is what the child will believe.

No one is born a 'believer' - we are like sponges at birth, ready to absorb all the influences and experiences around us. We are naturally curious about this strange environment we find ourselves in called 'the world'. Nature and nurture have a major impact on how we perceive the now and the future. If our parents enable us to explore and engage with the world critically we are not weighed down by excess baggage, which includes theism and all forms of the supernatural.

In the black communities I have experienced, religion is embedded within the cultures. Black people are not a homogenous group but disparate populations, varying in size from minute to gigantic, even so religion has become a deeply ingrained part of 'black life'. If you reject religion in its various forms then you are seen as outside of 'the black experience'. I have been accused of not 'being black enough' (whatever that means!). I am considered a pariah and often times black people have offered to pray for me to help me to see the light.

Why are these belief systems so much a part of the black experience? Anecdotal evidence suggests: slavery, control and systematic abuse, social cohesion, peer pressure, lack of quality scientific education and so on. None of these are exclusive to the black community - not even slavery.

I don't object to theists. My concern is the impact that theism has on the scientific and social advancements of human beings, the damage inflicted on those who have been conditioned to view alternative views as representing 'the devil' or some other negative entity - consequently these ideas are passed on, like a virus, to our children.

If we are concerned about providing future generations with tools to action the progressive changes which are sorely needed, then how can we inflict this form of abuse on them?

Time For...Critical Thinking

I have a question.

When are black people going to start to be rational? When are black people going to, en masse, throw out all those tired old scriptures which bring negative, old outdated traditions which stifle and intimidate? When are we (I hate to use we when talking about race as there is only one race and that is 'human' - just humour me) going to realise that believing in a 'god' or 'gods or even one that I hear more and more, 'universal conciousness' is not promoting progress.

I listen to the news, read newspapers, magazines, and lately I have been reading a few blogs to get a giste of what the general views are out there. I have also tried to look for sites written by or about black people who are rationalists, free-thinkers and/or atheists. I am saddened to report that there are too few references to the above.

I'm tired of listening to Oprah pretending to present a balanced view of what a 'non-believer' or 'skeptic' is. I'm tired of Dr Phil, who has one of the most patronising manners in the history of television, make references to god and 'being spiritual'. I'm tired of the Pope, Benedict XVI (or Benny 16 as he is known in some circles) popping up in the news media with some crass comment about the social ills - this from the catholic church (let's not go there at this moment).

I'm tired of reading blogs about how black people are 'angry' yet skim down the text and you read some lauding of 'what god has done for me'. Arrgghhh! Please, People, please! Let us get a grip. Let us empty our minds and start using some critical thinking skills. Let us focus on what evidence we have for anything we believe. It is not only important but crucial for the development of our species. It is not okay to teach our children to believe what we believe just for the sake of it. It is not okay to pick up a book and believe every word it says because it tells you to do so. Doing that is called two things: laziness and ignorance. Both things lead to extinction.

If you have a child and teach him/her to believe without thinking, you are not doing the best for your child. It is a bug-bear of mine but I think if you are drawing up some resolutions or plans to change your life this year then you could do worse than add 'critical thinking' on your list of must do's. But please don't take my word for it! Check things out for yourself.

Carl Sagan has a Baloney Detection Kit which you would do well to print off and read often - and maybe even share it with other people who you think might benefit from this kit. You could buy 'self-help' books but I have yet to read anything which puts it in a nutshell like Carl Sagan. Save your money and click on the above link.

I don't expect everyone to think like I do but it would be nice if we were having a discussion that we followed the critical thinking path. Some people could perceive this as boring and no fun but is it fun when we are promoting ignorance and passivity when charlatans are conning you out of your hard-earned money each week? Is it fun when people are refusing to use condoms because the church says so? Or refusing to vaccinate their children against preventable diseases such as polio because the church says so? Or discriminate against gay people because the believers have scriptures to back up their bigotry? Is it fun? Is it fun when black people are killed because they are considered Hamites and there to serve as 'it says so in the bible' and therefore are born to be slaves with no rights?

The saddest part about the whole fiction-as-fact history of belief is to consider how much farther humans being would have been if we had dismissed religion and theism as concepts many hundreds of years earlier.

Start today.