As the two month period of Black History and Women’s History comes to an end, we find, disturbingly( paraphrasing Mark Twain) that the human race continues to be run and lost.Suicidal/homicidal pilot mayhem continues.( I suspect the mysterious plane loss over Thailand of a year ago was of the same ilk).We hear of the absurdity of a gentlemans’s agreement mechanism of self reporting mental and physical disability by Lufthansa pilots and the even more absurd reasoning that the measurements of psychiatrists and psychologists lack the specificity of the metrics of classical medicine and are therefore not to be reported! Maybe the worst of all this is that lives have different values depending on the country of origin.( for insurance purposes and purposes of liability!)
The name Lubitz will undoubtedly join the world listing of pariahs.It may be time to see what pariahs have to tell us.It is the Easter season and the greatest pariah of Christendom is doubtless Judas Iscariot(Although Alexander tells me that Judas’ betrayal may have been requested by Jesus.according to newly discovered writings in the Dead Sea Scrolls).I’ll stick to the accepted “betrayal” for thirty pieces of silver.In this version, money was behind it or the love thereof.In more modern times we can look at Jim Jones and O.J.Simpson(recently beaten in a jail fight,the reports of which appeared and vanished overnight).We can also note that the wraith of Tampa, George Zimmerman is seeking to end his coast to coast haunting by launching a civil suit against Tampa, hoping that a payment of money can earn expiation for a crime the guilt of which he claims not to feel.There is also the figure of a black man hanging from a tree in Texas from indeterminate cause.( suicide or lynching?); nevertheless it brings back the images of thousands who have been lynched along with the images of robed or non robed killers. We have Bergdahl who may have responded to his father’s teaching by laying down his rifle and trying to meet Taliban fanatics on a person to person level.I would expect that shame for this folly would prevent his admission. There is Snowden who may be morphing into Daniel Ellsburg in front of our eyes. There is Eileen Pao who launched a challenge against silicon valley for job discrimination based on gender and like George Zimmerman crafting her objection in monetary form. But there is also Monica Lewinsky coming back strongly and courageously to denounce internet bullying and to resist the blandishments of being made sexually 22 again in favor of a mature and powerful self. The sexual stereotyping seems now confined to a symbolic representation of the shadow of a blue dress in a presidential portrait.It took her 22 years(40 years is no longer requisite) but she seems out of the wilderness and her’s is a return to “Egypt”rather than an exodus and as Bert points out triumphant over the dire act of societal shaming.She is likely to be challenged again in the party politicking of the coming presidential election but I like her chances!
Maybe we’ll be looking at the messsages that can be gleaned from pariahs for awhile? Let us know…
Discoursing with pariahs
31 Tuesday Mar 2015
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