[This is the transcript of a talk I gave tonight to a group of third year nursing students at the University of Western Ontario, in my hometown. I sometimes forget how un-obvious this information is to a lot of people, and so I thought I would post it here. Many thanks to the lovely students and talk organizers who invited me. It is good to see people who want to get more intimately involved in such things.]
Confronting Stereotypes Regarding Street-involved Youth
When it comes to homelessness and poverty, I am constantly surprised by the amount of the blatant lies and violently discriminatory attitudes that pervade public dialogue on these matters. Over the last forty years, a great deal of good work has been done – both in the Academy and in the public square – about matters related to systemic violence and discrimination against people with diverse ethnicities, genders, sexual preferences, and mental or physical abilities, but little has been done to overcome the systemic violence and discrimination that continues to impact people who are poor. Thus, for example, one would be rightfully challenged for saying, “So-and-so is black; therefore, she must be lazy” but few people seem to question the equally false and offensive assertion that “So-and-so is poor; therefore, she must be lazy”.
It is worth asking ourselves why systemic violence and stereotypes related to economic issues have remained so entrenched in our social imaginaries. I am inclined to think that this is partly the case because our institutions of higher education are very closely connected to structures that perpetuate a divide between the wealthy and the poor, and that even the more liberating work being done in the public square has mostly benefited wealthy members of diverse ethnicities, wealthy women or transgendered people, wealthy members of the LGBTQ community, and wealthy people who are differently-abled. Thus, while a person may become sensitized to his or her own experience of oppression and injustice, that person may still remain blind to other structures of violence, in which he or she unwittingly participates. So, for example, a wealthy white woman may be appropriately upset when she is overlooked for a management position based upon her gender, but she may be completely unaware of the great difference between her life experiences and that of a poor aboriginal woman. Consequently, while fighting for the rights of women more generally, she may end up adopting attitudes about poor members of First Nations communities that are violent and oppressive. Similarly, one could be a middle-class health care student, committed to contributing to the health and well-being of others, yet one may also violent and death-dealing attitudes about some members of our society – notably, in this instance, people who are poor.
Therefore, in the few minutes that I have tonight, I would like confront some of the stereotypes that function as self-evident truths within public dialogue on the subject of street-involved young people. The common perception appears to be that ‘street kids’ are rebellious teens who like doing drugs more than they like living at home. They tend to be seen as people who would rather be out partying and causing a ruckus rather than learning how to be responsible members of society. As a corollary of this, the parents of these ‘hooligans’ tend to be viewed as loving and worried adults who ‘just don’t know what to do anymore’ and who are being victimized by their bullying, drug-addicted children.
Of course, that this sort of picture is the one that tends to dominate public discourse should not surprise us. Parents, as the adults in the situation, tend to have the power, resources and life-skills to manipulate the ways in which others understand what occurs when a youth becomes homeless. Teens, particularly those who have been abused – a point I will develop in a moment – tend not to have the same power, resources, and life-skills and so they become vulnerable to having others impose a particular narrative upon them. Thus, parents will – like most of us – find ways to justify themselves and their actions (kicking out a child and so on), while simultaneously blaming their child and attempting to control how others view that child. Add to this the fact that most of us are scared of people simply for looking poor – wearing torn clothing, having dirty hair, sporting work-boots, and so on – and it becomes pretty easy for us to be convinced of the message we receive from the parents. Not only do we tend to think that ‘scary = bad’ but we then distance ourselves from street-involved teens and never get the opportunity to hear their side of the story. Of course, this fear is simply one of the manifestations of the economic stereotypes I mentioned, and it demonstrates how these stereotypes are self-perpetuating. When ‘poor = scary = bad = avoid like the plague!’ then we never get the opportunity to learn about what is actually going on.
Because the fact is that the stories told by street-involved teens, along with the information gathered by social services, suggests a very different picture – and one that directly contradicts common perceptions on this matter. For example, a study in which I participated with street-involved teens in Toronto, found that over 75% of these teens identified domestic violence as the primary cause of their homelessness. This fits with other statistics taken at the national level which show that over 70% of homeless youth identify physical or sexual abuse as the cause of their homelessness. So, here is the truth: the vast majority of teens on the street are there because they were being verbally, physically, and/or sexually abused in their homes by their parents.
Of course, not everybody who is abused ends up being homeless, but this is often because there are other resources or people to whom some can turn when being abused – perhaps another family member, perhaps another caring adult, perhaps a friend’s family, and so on. However, for those who are being abused and who do not know anybody who might help, the street becomes a valid option. For example, I am a friend of a young woman whose father used to sell her to his friends for beer money. If you had to choose between that and a life on the street what would you choose? Sadly, her story is not uncommon. I’ve seen the scars from the cigarettes a mother would put out on her daughter’s legs. I’ve seen the teeth that were missing in the mouth of a son whose father beat him with a hammer. And on and on it goes.
Of course, it is after this experience of violence that drug addiction and substance misuse often enter into the picture. Certainly, as with most teens, some recreational drug use may have been a part of their prior life, but addiction and serious misuse only tend to arrive after a young person has moved onto the streets. This is for good reasons: trying to cope with the fall-out of previous physical and sexual trauma is hard enough, but trying to cope with these things while facing all the challenges of street-life is extremely challenging. Spending a night on the street can be scary – especially when you are new to the streets – and so drugs like crack and crystal meth become appealing because they give a person the energy they need to stay awake and a much needed sense of self-confidence and courage. Similarly, dealing with the nightmares and flashbacks of traumas is exhausting and drugs like heroin and other opiates can offer a much-sought-after rest and sense of numbness or peace.
Unfortunately, what begins as a coping mechanism often turns destructive and, although drug use may not have led these teens onto the street, it does trap many teens there. That said, we need to remember that the problem here is not the drug use, but the traumas that made drug use turn into addiction and a harmful form of misuse. The solution, then, is not to criminalize youth who use drugs, or stigmatize street-involved teens; rather, the solution is to begin to address those underlying traumas by developing loving personal relationships and supportive social structures, while also doing much more to address the massive amount of domestic and family-based violence that occurs in our society. Furthermore, rather than simply focusing on this-or-that abusive parent as the problem, we need to look at the ways in which things like domestic abuse are related to broader social structures and matters of wealth, poverty, colonization, and privilege. It is not surprising that a Canadian study found that 63% of street-involved youth identified as coming from a family that struggled to maintain housing.
So, the most important thing to remember is that violence is the greatest cause of homelessness amongst youth. Three other significant causes should also be mentioned. The first is the sexuality of youth. Again, in the survey done in Toronto, 40% of the youth interviewed identified their sexual orientation as a primary cause of their homelessness, and this figure is pretty close to other national studies done in the US and the UK. A good many of these people were simply kicked-out when they ‘came out’ to their parents. Others were beaten and abused because of their sexual orientation (hence the overlap with the statistic regarding violence) and then chose to leave. Again, when the choice is the streets or your father kicking you down the stairs and calling you a faggot, what would you choose?
The second cause that should be mentioned cuts to funding for programs for people with mental health concerns. This had a much greater and much more devastating impact upon adult populations, but it continues to impact street-involved teens because it adds a further barrier to services and a further challenge to be overcome when trying to exit street life. Thus, a person in psychosis or experiencing the symptoms of some sort of chemical imbalance will have a more difficult time transitioning from being street-involved to living a different kind of lifestyle. This is only further exacerbated when we recall the violence experienced by street involved teens, and studies that suggest a connection between childhood violence and trauma and certain mental disorders (like dissociative identity disorder or borderline personality disorder).
Finally, one should also mention the foster care system and the removal of children from their families, from their place of heritage, and from their languages and cultures. One Canadian study shows that 40-47% of homeless people in general identified as having been in foster care or a group home, but another study focused solely on youth places that number as high as 68%. Of course, when one looks at the disproportionate number of aboriginal youth now placed in care – not to mention the disproportionate number of aboriginal people experiencing homelessness –one can’t help but wonder if this shift in numbers simply reflects the ways in which foster care has replaced residential schooling. After all, what we often see in foster care (despite the good things that can happen there) is the traumatic separation of families, coupled with – once again – quite a lot of violence and lack of accountability.
So, enough of the stats. I have mentioned four major items that contribute to youth homelessness. These are: (1) violence in the home; (2) ongoing prejudices against any form of sexuality that is not hetero; (3) inadequate supports for people with mental health problems; and (4) the violence that appears to be ingrained in our foster care system. All of this paints a very different picture than the one offered to us in popular opinions about irresponsible teens who like to party, get high, and rebel against their parents.
By way of conclusion, I will share some of my own story with you. My story is unexceptional – it’s a pretty average sort of story, and I’m a pretty average sort of person, and that’s the point. The experience of homelessness as a teen is something that can happen to anybody. If a few things had gone down differently in each of your own lives, you could also have ended up on the street.
My story is that I grew up in a home with a father who was mentally unstable, emotionally manipulative, and sometimes physically abusive. I inherited a pretty sensitive disposition from my mother and so this was fairly traumatic for me and, when I recall my childhood years, I mostly remember being afraid and anxious. Because of this, and because of my conservative Christian upbringing, I tried hard to be a ‘good kid’. I was an honour student, I stayed out of trouble, I got my first job when I was thirteen, and my social life mostly consisted of hanging-out with the youth group at my church. The sort of thing that got me knocked around was if a church event ended up going later than planned. Suffice to say, I wasn’t a particularly rebellious young person!
However, as I got into the middle years of high school, I found that I was getting bored in class and I learned that I could maintain high grades without attending most classes. So, I began skipping a lot of classes and, like any respectable high-school student, I learned to do an excellent imitation of my parents’ signatures on the notes I would forge. At this time, I also started standing up to my father’s abuse and manipulation more than he liked and so our relationship was quite strained. Consequently, the shit hit the fan when I eventually got busted for all the classes I skipped. I went home from school that day, and my father sat me down and said: “You have one hour to get your things and leave. Anything you leave behind will be thrown out.” When I asked if he wanted me to phone or anything, he replied: “No, just get out of my life.” An hour later I was walking down the street with a couple of garbage bags and a backpack. I did some couch-surfing but mostly ended up living with a close friend of mine and his mom. Of course, they had their own issues and he would sometimes get kicked-out and on those nights, I felt uncomfortable staying at his place. Instead, a few of us would get together and just walk the streets all night, or try to crash on the jungle-gym at a suburban park.
As for drug use, I think that I had recreationally used alcohol on one occasion prior to being kicked-out, and I think I used marijuana once before as well – this level of use, I should note, is well below the recreational drug and alcohol use practiced by non-street-involved teens. So, this was how a pretty timid, bookish church-kid (who wanted to be a missionary for Jesus), ended up as a street-involved youth. That’s a pretty far-cry from the stereotypical things we hear about street kids. But really, in my own life, that’s what I’ve seen. Are street-involved people any different than anybody else? No. Everybody has their issues and their areas of brokenness, and everybody has something breathtakingly beautiful about them. This is just as true of a street kid as it is of the people gathered here tonight and I hope that we can remember that, not only in the ways we treat one another, but also in the ways we interact with those who know a lot more about poverty, violence, and loneliness than a good many of us. Not only that, but perhaps we can also move beyond isolating and blaming individuals in order to engage in more systemic and structural analyses in order to ensure that the next generation of kids will not have it just as bad as the previous generation and, just as importantly, in order to ensure that we are not contributing to the abuse and oppression of others, despite our best intentions.
Thank you for listening. I enjoy a reciprocal exchange more than just talking at people, so I’ll stick around afterwards if anybody has any questions or comments for me.
Link: Fuck the Police?
[Somebody I know quite well wrote the following blog post on the Vancouver Media Co-Op website. It is a reflection based upon some of the events that occurred at the anti-Olympics/anti-capitalism diverse tactics protest that occurred in Vancouver on February 13th. I thought I would reproduce it here, as it does a fairly decent job of summarizing some of my own thoughts on things. Note that my friend has written this anonymously so any comments related to what my friend’s identity might be will be erased.]
Fuck the Police?
I have been doing some thinking since the action that occurred on February 13th. I was at that event and participated in the black bloc. While participating in that event, I was struck multiple times by police officers (when the riot police moved in and tried to cut the bloc in half) and I was later tackled to the ground, arrested, and detained.
Furthermore, I am no stranger to police violence. Having both been street-involved as a teen and having worked with street-involved and marginalized people for the duration of my adult life, I have witnessed what can only be described as the systemic corruption and violence that is integral to the police system. I have known underage female sex workers who were raped by police officers; I have known young men who were hog-tied, pepper-sprayed, then tossed in the trunk of patrol cars; I have witnessed the bruises and missing teeth, along with the physical, emotional, and psychological scars that have marked the bodies and minds of those who are easy targets for police officers. Of course, the multitude of marks I have witnessed tend to be considered too inconsequential to make the news, but one can also recall more public events like when police officers murdered Robert Dziekanski at the Vancouver airport in October 2007.
Now, one might be inclined to think that all of these acts of violence are performed by a few ‘bad’ people who abuse their power, and are not representative of the police force as a whole. Unfortunately, this is not the case. Again, pointing to the Robert Dziekanski murder, one can see how officers were coached to lie on the stand, how they attempted to withhold evidence, and so on. Or one can simply look at the (false) statements made by the Vancouver chief of police after the action that occurred on February 13th. The truth is that something is wrong on a much deeper level, and more detailed studies exist that confirm this (one thinks, for example, of the books Our Enemies in Blue by Kristian Williams and The Story of Jane Doe: a book about rape by Jane Doe; both do a fine job of demonstrating that police corruption is a systemic issue).
With these things in mind, it is no wonder that at the action on February 13th, people were chanting: “No justice! No peace! Fuck the police!” It is also no wonder that the police were able to so easily incite some of the protesters. I witnessed more than one person who was tripped or struck from behind by an officer, who then responded by lashing out – either verbally or physically – at that officer. This is all quite understandable, and it might even by commendable.
Yet, I believe that it would help our objectives if we were more deliberate about the ways in which we engaged with the police. While I make no claim that my objectives for pursuing social change are the same as those of others, I do have the impression that most of us would agree that we are striving for a world where abundant life is available to all people and not just to some. It seems to me that most of us are striving for a world where all people have equal access to resources, to labour, to leisure, to freedom, and to justice. We are striving for a world where the glorious humanity of all people is recognized – where nobody is dehumanized and abandoned into the hands of poverty, illness, isolation, and death. I reckon that these are some of the key things that led people of diverse faiths, ethnicities, languages, and sexual orientations to put on black clothing and stand in solidarity with each other.
However, if this does describe something of our common goals, then we must remember that, within the context of oppression both the oppressed and the oppressor end up being dehumanized. Oppressed people are dehumanized because they are not provided the opportunity to flourish and share in abundant life. However, those who engage in oppressive acts are also dehumanized because abusive and violent actions are not reflective of those who are living out their full human potential. Therefore, we must always remember that, in the pursuit of liberation, we must be committed to the liberation of all people. Thus, without ever losing sight of the priority that must be granted to the oppressed, we should also seek the liberation of the oppressors.
Consequently, I have no problem chanting, “Fuck the Police!” but I always remember that ‘the police’ is not a person – it is a system and a culture that is given over to violence, exploitation and death. As such, it is a system that must be abolished if we are to live an abundant life together. However, the destruction of ‘the police’ does not require the destruction of individual police officers. Rather, each police officer is also a human person who has been made into something less than he or she could be due to his or her participation within (and enslavement to) this death-dealing system.
Therefore, although I chant “Fuck the Police!” I also try to treat each officer I encounter as a brother or sister in need of liberation and life – just like the rest of us. This is why I did not strike back, when I was struck by police officers on the 13th. In my work, I have been struck more than once by a person who was strung-out on drugs or whose actions were the result of a chemical imbalance. I would never consider striking back in that situation – striking an addict or a person with a mental illness is not the way to bring about freedom from addiction or mental illness. Similarly, when struck by the police – who are not in bondage to addiction or mental illness (at least not always…), but who are in bondage to the death-dealing ways of Police culture – I do not strike back. The answer, to all these situations, is not blows but a willingness to love and do the hard work required to bring about liberation and life for all, not just for some (even if that means I will continue to get struck along the way). Perhaps if we kept this in mind, instead of allowing ourselves to be provoked, we might yet see the day when officers drop their truncheons and join us on our side of the barricades. On that day, our dreams might begin to be realized.
There Can Be No Truce While the People Are Raped: Exorcising the Spirit of the Games
Last week, a co-worker drew my attention to a foundation that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has created. It is the International Olympic Truce Centre (see here for the official website, and for the sources of the various quotations that follow… also note the way in which the IOC dominates the Board of Directors). Even thought the Centre was founded in 2000CE, it traces it’s origins back to the first Olympiad (c.776BCE) when a truce (ekecheiria) was established between the various Greek city-states for the sake of the Games, and also roots itself in the events of 1894CE, when the IOC was established “with the goal of contributing to a peaceful future for humankind through the educational value of sport”. Thus, the Olympic Truce calls “upon humanity to lay down its weapons and to work towards building the foundations of peace, mutual respect, understanding and reconciliation” and calls “for all hostilities to cease during the Olympic Games and beyond”.
Now, in my opinion, this is a fantastic example of ideology at work in the worst possible way. I’m not just talking about their fascinating historical narrative; rather, this becomes blatantly obvious when one realizes that the Olympics themselves are a fundamentally violent event (a lot of literature and websites exist detailing how this is the case, but you could start here for some easy reference points). The Olympics are consistently employed to destroy poor communities and environmental safe havens, steal real estate, criminalize poverty, erode civil rights, and place a vast amount of wealth in the hands of the already wealthy, while forcing tax payers to pick up the bills.
So, we notice the extremely narrow definition of violence employed by the Olympic Truce. Violence is understood as doing things like striking another person, destroying property or pulling down security barriers (erected on public land). However, things like destroying precious natural habitats, tearing down poor communities, and stealing housing from those with low incomes are not considered violent. Perhaps, an appropriate illustration of this sort of thinking would be to consider a scenario wherein a man is raping a woman and telling her not to fight back because more people should be committed to peace and the cessation of hostilities! Essentially, the IOC wishes to rape us and our resources, while imposing an ideology upon the public that preempts and counters those who wish to fight back.
Not only this, but the IOC, via the Olympic Truce Centre, is rooted in a position of power and influence so that it can impose its narrow definition of violence upon others. This is why the Olympic Truce Centre and the IOC can speak the language of peace and nonviolence and call for an end to hostilities during the Games… while simultaneously spending around $900 million on its security budget, bringing in 4500 soldiers, over 5000 private security guards, and masses of police and RCMP from all across Canada (the total number of people on the force is something like 16000+). Not only this, but the Olympic Security forces are also authorized to use a number of weapons upon civilians — teargas, pepperspray, fists and boots being fairly standard, but the recently developed ‘Long Range Acoustic Device’ has also been cleared for use on protesters. One might be inclined to take the Olympic Truce Centre more seriously if they were simultaneously disarming the cops — who have a proven track record of employing force in anything but moderation at protests of the sort that are expected to occur in the next week. But, of course, the rhetorical power play is that these forces and weapons are necessary to maintain our safety and security. Nobody stops to consider that the protesters themselves are acting out of their concern for the safety and security of the environment, the marginalized, and the general public. To further the illustration used above, the Olympic Truce Centre is like the man who threatens a woman and tells her she’ll “get it twice as bad” if she fights back while being raped, so best just roll over and take it.
But, thank God, there are many people who will not roll over and take it. The truth is that there can be no truce while the people are being raped — the precursor to peace is the cessation of the Olympics in their current manifestation (if not altogether). That is to say, we will stop fighting back when we are no longer being raped. It’s that simple. So, this is why I will be participating in some of the mass actions that are taking place by those who wish to disrupt these Games, reveal their true Spirit and, as much as possible, shut them down (see this schedule for more on those). I encourage anybody in the Vancouver area to come out and show their solidarity with the people — and come not so that you can say you ‘were there’, and not to be more hip than your roommate, and not to engage in some simulacrum of action or some counter-cultural spectacle that eases your conscience; no, come to succeed and be prepared to take some risks and pay a price to get there (although this information might help). I hope to see you there.
January Books
Just a few:
1. Occidental Eschatology by Jacob Taubes.
If you’re ever feeling a little cocky and starting to pride yourself on your intellectual abilities, I suggest you read this book and recall that Jacob Taubes wrote it when he was 23 years old. Holy shit. That’s a good reality check.
Anyway, in this book (the only one Taubes published during his lifetime… although he did publish a number of articles), Taubes demonstrates the impact that (an inherently revolutionary) apocalyptic eschatology has had upon Western philosophy, politics and spirituality. In order to do this, he traces the ways in which the apocalyptic eschatology of early Judaism is caught up by early Christianity, revived by medieval theologians, and secularized by Lessing, Kant, Hegel, Marx and Kierkegaard.
I quite enjoyed this book, given that I’m currently writing my chapter on Paul’s (revolutionary) apocalyptic eschatology and contrasting to the consummated eschatologies of imperial Rome and contemporary Capitalism. It appears that Taubes is always fun to read, and I look forward to continuing on with him.
2. Atheist Delusions: The Christian Revolution and Its Fashionable Enemies by David Bentley Hart.
I have almost entirely avoided the conversation that has circled around the so-called ‘new atheists’. I have done this, to be honest, because I find most of that conversation to be dull and overwhelmingly stupid. This is not to say that I think that atheists are stupid — all of the atheists (and agnostics) I know are quite bright and, in fact, far more intelligent than Dawkins et al. (and, to be fair, far more intelligent than a good many who waste their time responding to Dawkins et al.). Thus, while I have poked around a very little bit in books by Dawkins, Hitchens and Harris, watched a few online lectures by Dennett, and read a couple great articles in response to these fellows (see here and here), I have mostly thought that this conversation was so obviously missing the point and so full of inaccuracies that any person with a minimal level of intelligence — regardless of their own a/religious views — would write off the whole thing.
So, when I noticed that David Bentley Hart — who is probably up there amongst the most well-learned and intelligent people in the Academy today (which means that Dawkins et al. probably couldn’t even understand the words that he uses, let alone follow the argument he makes in a book like The Beauty of the Infinite) — had written a book engaging this conversation, I got curious as to why he bothered and so I finally picked up a copy last month.
Basically, Hart is a little bit offended and a little bit puzzled by the ways in which the new atheists reconstruct the history of Christianity and its impact upon the Western world. Basically, according to this reconstruction, Christianity has been an entirely violent, negative, destructive, and oppressive force (religion spoils everything, according to Hitchens). Now while this may be true in some ways, and within some places in the West, to paint the entire history of Western Christianity in this way is blatantly false. Thus, what Hart does, is demonstrate to the reader that Christianity has done more good than harm to the development of our culture, ethics, and sense of personhood. Along the way, he also demonstrates that the Classical Greco-Roman culture wasn’t nearly so great as a good many of the new atheists imagine, that the new atheists themselves are depending upon a Christian heritage for the ethics they expound, and that the history of irreligious modernity has actually been much more violent than Christianity has been.
Of course, none of this is to say whether or not atheists or theists are correct to posit the non/existence of God. Hart’s point is not to convert anybody to Christianity. Rather, leaving such questions to the side, Hart is simply engaging in an historical exercise and reminding the reader of what actually has and has not gone on since Christianity began. His conclusions, I think, are no surprise to anybody with a basic knowledge of history but they are, perhaps, are useful reminder to a good many who are drawn to the new atheists and who lack any awareness of history.
Oh, and after finishing the book I thought I would see if anybody amongst the new atheists had responded to Hart’s argument. All I could find was one posting on Richard Dawkin’s webpage, regarding a radio interview Hart did about the book. This is what Dawkin’s said:
Did ANYONE manage to listen to this all through without nodding off? Surely theology must be the ONLY academic subject in which such a stupefying bore, with such yawning chasms of intelligence-deficit, could rise to the top (see here for the whole thread).
Yep. That’s all. As far as I can tell, the new atheists haven’t responded to the substance of Hart’s argument because it is about as irrefutable as arguments from history can get.
3. The Recognitions by William Gaddis.
One of the reading goals I set for myself about a year ago was to not worry about reading so many books and instead focus on books that I have been putting-off due to their length. Consequently, when the folks over at AUFS started a reading group about The Recognitions, I decided to join in.
I’m glad that I did — this is one helluva good book. Of course, this doesn’t mean that it’s an easy book to read — Gaddis is fairly demanding of his readers, so don’t expect to open it up and skim through it while watching repeat episodes of ‘Jersey Shore‘ (trust me, I tried… and, yes, I don’t care what you have to say about ‘The Wire’, ‘Jersey Shore’ is probably the best show to ever air on television). But it is worth the effort. Gaddis’ prose is fantastic both in sustained sections — like the conversations that occur at a certain Christmas party — but also in some really brilliant short lines — as when one character says to another: “Sincerity becomes the honesty of people who cannot be honest with themselves” (any experienced liar — i.e. most of us — should be able to immediately identify with that!).
Basically, in this novel, I understand Gaddis to be exploring the various ways in which identity is both constructed and masked — by ourselves and by others, but also by our participation in things like art, religion, and business. Very quickly, it becomes difficult to discern between the ‘true’ identity of a character and between a mask that is worn or any identity that others (including the reader) project onto that character. Just as significantly, it becomes difficult to determine which is of greater value — the ‘true’ identity, the mask, or the projection (hence, moments of ‘recognition’ produce rather mixed results). Despite what Gaddis may or may not have intended when writing this, reading it certainly made me draw closer to Baudrillard’s variation of nihilism (i.e. all we can engage are simulacra devoid of any originals), or to Zizek’s assertion that the trauma of the Real is that there is no Real (i.e. the Real is a gap or absence). This has got me doing a lot of thinking around truth and lying, constructions of reality, notions of self, and all that fun stuff. Really, this novel is the first I have read in awhile that has really caused me to seriously revisit and attempt to clarify some of my own thoughts on matters extending beyond the text (so props to the guys at AUFS — but I think your next discussion group should be based on ‘Jersey Shore’!).
4. Armageddon in Retrospect by Kurt Vonnegut.
I recently lent a couple of Vonnegut books to a brother of mine (who ended up enjoying them quite a lot) and so I thought I would pick something up as well. Armageddon in Retrospect is a series of pieces — some letters, some stories, some speeches — published posthumously. As with most things Vonnegut writes some are better than others, but I was particularly interested in reading the letter he wrote to his family in 1945 (shortly after living through the fire-bombing of Dresden) as well as the speech he was to deliver in 2007 (he died shortly before the event and so his son delivered the speech for him). Those were really the best two sections in the book, and most of the short stories were kind of ho-hum.
I’ve been thinking about what it is in Vonnegut’s writing that appeals to me and I think a lot of it has to do with the manner in which he approaches his subject matter. To begin with, I appreciate what I take to be Vonnegut’s honesty. He doesn’t sugarcoat the nature of the world we live in — it is a monumental clusterfuck, wherein cities like Dresden get fire-bombed for no particular reason, and there isn’t much we can do about it (when commenting on the net effect of the Vietnam war protests, Vonnegut concluded: “We might as well have been throwing cream pies”). However, instead of this leading him to abandon all hope and give into rage or despair, Vonnegut persists in the pursuit of love in the midst of all the craziness. And not just love, but love with a little humour and a twinkle in the eye — even though, while loving and laughing, one never forgets the clusterfuck.
So it goes… and that about sums it all up, eh?
A Link (re: Haiti)
Since a lot of people are talking about Haiti these days, I thought I would highlight an important article.
This describes exactly what I thought would happen as soon as I first heard about the earthquake in Haiti. The United States and Canada have a long history of attempting to overthrow Haitian efforts to achieve democratic self-rule and I knew that the earthquake would be used as an opportunity to stage a military take-over under the guise of providing international aid. While the earthquake was absolutely devastating, I suspect that we will make sure that the Haitians are paying for this for many generations.
Once again, Naomi Klein’s theory in The Shock Doctrine is confirmed.
Typical…
So there is a (semi?) regular event that occurs in Vancouver every year called “Missions Fest” which is hosted by an international Christian corporation that travels around the world hosting these events and trying to connect Christians to various ‘mission’ opportunities around the world. This year’s event happened about a week ago and the keynote speaker was a fellow from International Justice Mission (which is, according to their website, “a human rights agency that secures justice for victims of slavery, sexual exploitation and other forms of violent oppression”). Oh, and the event was hosted in a megachurch — it has a multimillion dollar budget, building funds the run into the hundreds of thousands of dollars, that sort of thing.
Anyway, a friend of mine who runs a local community-based social justice-oriented group called Streams of Justice was invited to come and do a workshop at this event. Although this sort of thing is a bit outside of their usual sphere, some people from the group decided to go ahead and take a stab at it. So, they did a presentation on some of the factors that create and perpetuate poverty, oppression, violence, and slavery in Vancouver. As a part of their presentation, a homeless fellow who struggles with an addiction was invited to come and share his story. The presentation went well enough, I guess. They received the standard sort of Conservative Christian response (i.e. one fellow stood up and said: “But don’t you think that the real solution to all of these problems is a personal relationship with Jesus?”).
Anyway, my friend ended up taking off shortly after the presentation was finished and he caught up with the homeless fellow a few days later and asked him what he thought of the event. Well, it turns out that the homeless fellow got kicked out. After the event, he began to go around collecting empty pop cans (this is how he makes money). While doing so he was confronted by some sort of staff member (either of the church or of the conference, it’s unclear which), who told him that the cans were the property of the church and who then required him to leave.
Yep, so here we have a bunch of rich Christians dropping thousands of dollars on a conference about missions and justice, and the one homeless guy who is invited to attend gets kicked out because, dammit, the church is going to get the money for recycling those cans. Sadly, while this is atrocious, I don’t find it altogether surprising.
Something Different (Movies)
Well, I’ve written about books and about music, so I thought I’d write a post about the top five movies I watched last year.
The movie that jumped out at me the most is a documentary that first aired in 2003 called “The Origin of AIDS“. This documentary tells the story of how the AIDS pandemic was quite likely created by a Polish-American doctor who was experimenting on African populations in the 1950s in order to try and win the race to create the best Polio vaccine. This doctor, Hilary Koprowski, did in fact create the vaccine that was used to eradicate polio and he has been treated as a hero in the medical community. Naturally, then, there has been a lot of controversy around this documentary, but I find it’s thesis — and the evidence is presents — compelling. It’s all quite devastating. Not only did Western colonialism create deep poverty in Africa but it quite possibly created the AIDS pandemic (the same pandemic it refuses to address seriously, given the way Western pharmaceutical companies continue to hold on to the copyrights of medication that can be used to properly treat HIV/AIDS).
The second film that jumped out at me was “Hunger” (2008), which tells the story of Bobby Sands, a member of the IRA who led a prison-based hunger strike in 1981, in an effort to have the IRA become recognized as a political (and not criminal) faction. There is some really fascinating dialogue in this film, including one long uncut conversation that occurs between Sands and a Catholic priest. I almost never watch movies multiple times, but I watched this one three times last year. It’s a very moving portrayal of a person whose commitment to life — and life for all — leads him to embrace death (Sands starves to death along with several others). Further, the portrayals of others involved — like one prison guard who appears to be the guy designated to beat the prisoners — is one that refuses to take sides, but portrays the humanity of everybody involved.
Another documentary that I found interesting was “Born Rich“. It also aired in 2003 and was created by Jamie Johnson, the heir to the Johnson & Johnson Inc. empire. Jamie is friends with other young people who grew up amongst the super-rich — heirs of giant media, sports, or real estate empires, members of European royal families, and so on. It’s a fascinating glimpse into the brokenness, loneliness, opulence and even guilt experienced by those who grow up in this rather limited social circle. In fact, I even found myself feeling some sympathy towards a number of the young people who appear in this film. It would be very interesting for a discussion group to watch this film in conjunction with the more famous documentary, “Born Into Brothels“.
Finally, my fourth and fifth picks are “Darkon” (2007) and “Guys and Dolls” (2007). Both of these films look at groups of people who, in one way or another, have created a ‘fictional’ world full of alternate relationships, and wherein they find their deepest sense of meaning and identity. So, in “Darkon” we follow group of “Live Action Role Players” (i.e. LARPers) — everyday people who go off questing in the woods on the weekend dressed like wizards, warriors, and amazons (I know, right? It doesnt get much better than this!). It is as these characters, the the members of Darkon are able to truly live life. Similarly, in “Guys and Dolls” we encounter some men who have developed relationships with “Real Girl” sex dolls (which sell for around $10,000). It is these relationships that these men experience as the most fulfilling aspect of their lives. I found both of these documentaries to be entertaining and fascinating and they led me to ask questions about the ways in which all of us structure the world in which we live. I mean, are these people really doing anything different than Christians who go to church and undestand themselves to be ‘beloved children of God’? Or, to pick another example, are they different than corporate business people who go to yoga classes in order to affirm their internal goodness and transcendence (despite the brutal material actions they take in their day-to-day jobs)? Maybe, maybe not. A conversation worth exploring.
Hostipitality
I was chatting with a good friend the other night and he made an interesting statement. Having spent the last 20 or more years seeking to practice hospitality by sharing his home with others (i.e. he was living in a ‘new monastic’ community, long before that term was coined), he has become increasingly dissillusioned with the efficacy and value of this model. Instead, he and his wife will be selling their home and will begin living below the poverty line (perhaps in a squat, or in a van, or somewhere else). When reflecting upon this, he stated that he has come to the conclusion that hospitality can only be practiced within the context of justice. Living as we do within the context of deeply rooted injustices, he concluded that hospitality is not possible. Therefore, we agreed that talk of hospitality needs to be reframed around the concrete practice of mutuality, just as talk about charity needs to be reframed around the concrete practice of solidarity. I think such a reframing has potential. Any other thoughts?
Something Different (Music)
Well, a lot of people and places were busy posting lists of top songs and albums of 2009 over the last few weeks. For the most part, I found 2009 to be a slow year in music but there were a few albums that really grabbed me — “Hospice” by The Antlers (which now ranks amongst my top albums of all time) and “Dragonslayer” by Sunset Rubdown. However, instead of posting album reviews, I think I’ll just put up some links to my five favourite songs from last year (limit of one per band). As is usual for me, the way I connect with the lyrics of songs plays a very large role in how much I enjoy those songs. I think that the lyrics to all of these songs are fantastic (the first two were literally breath-taking for me) so you may want to look them up.
1. “Epilogue” by The Antlers.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQwkbRVqqxU]
2. “Nightingale/December Song” by Sunset Rubdown.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eh6jWLmKcc]
3. “Daniel” by Bat For Lashes (she’s singing this song for me, ya know?)
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfWzmSelCis]
4. “Rocking Horse” by The Dead Weather (I’m not usually a fan of Jack White and his many projects, but this song is fantastic).
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtoL7y9jEyQ]
5. “1 John 4:16” by The Mountain Goats.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KocfvqK_4yM]
And one honourable mention — “The Economy is Suffering… Let It Die” by Anti-Flag!
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-NqzIRmQjc]
Have you lost faith?
About a week or so ago, my wife asked me: “Have you lost your faith in humanity?” The question caught me off guard but what really surprised me was the realization that I have gone through a major paradigm shift in this regard.
You see, I used to believe that people were fundamentally good and, more importantly, loving. I used to think that many of us were wounded or deceived or ignorant… but I believed that these were all things that love, patience, and truth-telling could fix. Therefore, as I woke up to the deep injustices in our society — and to the absolutely unecessary sufferings of many — I wanted to do something to address those things and I assumed that others would want to do this as well. In particular, I assumed that others with similar worldviews to my own (Christians) would be keen to be better lovers of others once they realized what was going on in the world and right under their noses. Thus, as I began to journey alongside of those in exile, I also began to speak and write a great deal about these things.
However, as I have done this over the years, I have realized that most people (and most Christians) aren’t actually particularly interested in loving others or doing much of anything about the injustices that define our lives. Despite my various efforts to appeal to their intellects, to their emotions, and to their values — despite all my arguing, cajoling, begging, and provoking — most everybody remains untouched and keeps on doing what they’re doing without much concern for their neighbours.
This used to frustrate and anger me quite a lot… but I’ve realized that it frustrated and angered me because of the expectation I had for others — I had assumed that people were generally good and generally desiring to love others. I have since had to let go of this expectation. And it is this ‘letting go’ that could be described as my loss of faith in humanity.
Now I have come to believe that most people won’t change all that much over their lives and most people won’t ever give much of a damn about most others or about what goes on in our world. For now, I have learned to accept this. I don’t hold it against anybody. It is what it is. Instead of anger and frustration, I have learned resignation. I no longer expect much of anything of anybody. And maybe that’s what it means to practice grace.
(Oh, and I’ve also learned not to expect much of myself either. That might be what it means to practice humility.)