Live life traveling the river from end to end. A winding river and its tributaries are like life. Each tributary holds a different point of view. Here divisions are sown between the wise traveler and the not so wise. The wise visit each tributary to gain knowledge. The not so wise live their lives in the headwaters of a tributary, never experiencing the river of life to its fullest. Don't get stuck in the headwaters, never to return to the river.
Thursday, June 15, 2023
"The Follower" chapter three. "You first"
Saturday, June 3, 2023
Slavery as told through Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity.
Williamsburg Gazette, June 3rd, 2023. A last-word writer, for whatever reason, decided to take the stance that the Irish should not be counted as in need of reparations since they were never slaves but indentured servants. I thought it was time to research and write about Irish servitude and slavery. America needs to tell this story better.
Slavery as told through Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity
Irish Indentured Servants and Slaves, a story not told well. A conversation around Indentured servants has found its way into the Williamsburg Gazette. In the last word, this historical past is attacked by people who should understand. Ignorance is all I can call it; as Joesph Filco wrote, in an opinion, "Education wars continue." "People who tend to take extreme views bring out the worse in themselves." Yet extreme views are still a part of our society, and who is to judge what is extreme? After all, George Washington was an extremist. The Sons of Liberty was an extremist group, and Abraham Lincoln was an extremist, each killing and murdering thousands for change. Extreme is limited groupthink, as people are, by nature, tribal. In other words, we tend to group ourselves based on like-kind thought and employ our will.
Irish indentured servants were a significant portion of the population throughout the period when white servants were used for plantation labor in Barbados, and a "steady stream" of Irish servants entered Barbados throughout the seventeenth century. Irish servants in Barbados were often treated poorly, and Barbadian planters gained a reputation for cruelty. The decreased appeal of an indentured servant in Barbados, combined with the enormous demand for labor caused by sugar cultivation, led to involuntary transportation to Barbados as a punishment for crimes, political prisoners, and the kidnapping of laborers who were sent to Barbados involuntarily.
Author Robert West, in "England's Irish Slaves," writes, "The earliest written reference to the Irish is the establishment of an Irish colony on the Amazon river in 1612. Long before Africans arrived in America in 1619, another writer (Smith) reports in "Colonist in Bondage," "a proclamation of the year 1625 urged the banishing overseas of Irish political prisoners and the kidnapping of the Irish was common."
West goes on to write; If there is one thing historians can agree on, as to the 17th-century American colonies, most historians agree that the treatment of white servants or white enslaved people in English colonies was cruel to the extreme, worse than that of enslaved Black people; that inhuman treatment was the norm, that torture (and branding of fugitive traitors, upon the forehead was the punishment for attempted escape. West cites another historical writer (Dunn): "Servants were punished by being strung up by the hands and matched lighted between their fingers, beaten over the head until blood ran,"--all this for the slightest provocation." Another writer of the time period Ligon reports as an eyewitness in Barbados from 1647-1650; he said, "Truly, I have seen cruelty there be these servants as I did not think one Christian could have done to another.
Unfortunately, this story is not told well. Diversity of thought is squashed in our schools, social search engines, historians, and the mainstream media contribute to history masking. Even today, we see history being erased with the removal of Confederate historical art. We see slave history being retold, yet not all truthful. The history of the enslaved Irish person and servant has been changed to serve another outcome. Books being banned by both sides of the debate bring out the worse in humanity. Of course, one only has to dig deep into the dungeons of your free library. Where books by time period authors concerning the diversity of thought of the enslaved Irish person and servant exists, Joseph Fillco is correct; the education wars continue, the whitewashing of our world's history manipulated by the unforeseen Wizard of OZ who dwells behind the curtain, locked doors, and tall walls; they hide from most of us, but not me; I may not know who you are, but I know you exist. Interestingly, DEI is the same as DIE.
Reference: https://www.ewtn.com/
Sunday, May 7, 2023
Book Banning, "A light in the Darkness"
I want to thank the Daily Press editors for giving me another valuable topic to write about.
A light in the darkness
Daily Press Opinion dated 5-7-2023.
The Daily Press offers an opinion. "Book bans dimmish the scope of experiences available to young readers." As one might guess, the Daily Press editors consider book banning to be a "crusade" to narrow the scope of experience available to young readers, and though it will not satiate their curiosity, The Daily Press believes book banning coddles readers instead of challenging them." The Daily Press provides a list of books that may be banned, such as classics like "To Kill a Mockingbird," the "Diary of Ann Frank," or perhaps "1984" by George Orwell. Where some believe these books are identified as sexually explicit. There are other books banned for sexual reasons that The Daily Press refuses to consider. Books like the "Harry Potter" series.
The Daily Press leaves out other banned books for consideration. An entirely different topic as to race where book banning is still in place today. Such classics as "Tom Sawyer," "Huckleberry Finn," "Gone with the Wind," "The Catcher in the Rye," and "Of Mice and Men." We all know the authors as these well-known classics. According to CNN, Books that touch on race are the most banned books in America today.
Another topic of banning the Daily Press refuses to consider; The Daily Press and other news outlets ban topics from their opinion page and cartoon section of the newspaper. These bans are based on race, conservatism, and traditional American values.
Another topic The Daily Press editors refuse to consider is cancel culture. Whereby a minority of the population bans and attempts to cancel culture for an opinion concerning race, sex, or politics. A small minority of zealots take upon themselves the idea of revenge by posting poor reviews of restaurants, business shaming, doxing a writer's home address, and in some cases calling a fellow American Citizens' place of work to get them fired from their job and what for, an opinion?
Another topic the Daily Press refuses to consider is banning religious books like the Bible or Quran in schools. Jonathan Friedman, the director of the Free Expression and Education program for PEN America, a free speech organization that tracks book challenges, wrote, "To our knowledge, objections to the Bible in the last year have occurred as a reaction to efforts to ban so many books," Friedman said. "In each case where it was banned, it seems to have been inadvertent, and the decision was, to our knowledge, reversed." But in one Missouri district, the Bible was removed temporarily to check its compliance with state law, amid more than 200 other books. That is not common, Caldwell-Stone said but isn't surprising given the new trend in mass book bans across the country. "When you choose censorship as your tool for controlling access to information and controlling individuals' ability to learn more about various ideas," she said, "inevitably it's going to sweep up ideas and materials that you actually agree with." According to Deborah Caldwell-Stone, the American Library Association's Office for Intellectual Freedom director, the Bible has faced sporadic book challenges for years. "If students want to read the Bible, it should be available in school libraries, Caldwell-Stone said. And so should books about atheism or pieces critiquing the Bible, among other religion-related texts." Caldwell-Stone writes, "Part of education is critical thinking skills, understanding all the arguments from all points of view and sorting through them and deciding for oneself what one believes or wants to think about a particular topic," she said. "And so, I think that should be available to readers despite what one group or an individual thinks of those books."
According to Deborah Caldwell-Stone, the American Library Association's Office for Intellectual Freedom director, the Bible has faced sporadic book challenges for years. "If students want to read the Bible, it should be available in school libraries, Caldwell-Stone said. And so should books about atheism or pieces critiquing the Bible, among other religion-related texts." Caldwell-Stone writes, "Part of education is critical thinking skills, understanding all the arguments from all points of view and sorting through them and deciding for oneself what one believes or wants to think about a particular topic," she said. "And so, I think that should be available to readers despite what one group or an individual thinks of those books."
The Daily Press goes on to opine, "Put differently, one is American — adhering to our national commitment to free expression and free speech — and the other is not. Book banning may go by different names but is antithetical to our intrinsic national values." This statement by The Daily Press is hypocritical when the same newspaper bans free expression and free speech from its opinion page. Opinions the paper does not agree with.
The Daily Press concludes its opinion with the following. "Some books are mirrors in which we see ourselves, others are windows to other experiences, but each holds a light in the darkness that book bans aspire to extinguish. We must protect that light at all costs, knowing that keeping a wide variety of books available to young readers will illuminate the path to a better, brighter future."
I would submit that diversity, defined as "a range of things," is lost on the Daily Press. Only The Daily Press (the media in general) can answer for what appears to be the banning of opinion, supports cancel culture, and what may appear to be some but not all books should be banned based on race, sex, religion, and conservative American values. Here, The Daily Press "limits critical thinking skills, understanding all arguments from all points of view."
I want to ask The Daily Press whether banning books (all books or some books the media may disagree with based on sex, religion, race, etc.) is the same as banning opinions and supporting cancel culture. As you are quoted as believing, "banning may go by different names but is antithetical to our intrinsic national values." Cancel culture and opinion writing are the same types of censorship.
Reference: Education Week, Author of "Why the Bible is getting pulled off school bookshelves." Eesha Pendhanker
Monday, April 24, 2023
What are diversity, equality and inclusion?
Here is an idea to consider, a vision to unite people, and a view to stopping the hate in Virginia and America. Many articles are written today in the New York Times and other media outlets about diversity, inclusion, and equality without genuinely understanding the definitions thereof. I would submit the media writes for a citizenry they believe is ignorant of the facts. To find common ground, we must first manage our biases and define our goals honestly and without preconceptions. We need mass media that writes honestly and adhere to the definitions of adjectives and nouns used to inform. Would this not be a university professor standard?
Saturday, April 22, 2023
Media using fear to divide America.
I read your article/opinion in the Daily Press and felt compelled to write. An Article written by Helen Hubrinas explored fear. The article is titled. What's the biggest fear in America? It's each other. Daily Press 4-22-2023. I offer discourse.
Honor thy mother and father
Thursday, April 13, 2023
Water an important terrorist threat.
Reference: The Daily Press, 4-13-2023, wrote an opinion concerning our power infrastructure.
Dearest Daily Press,
Sunday, April 9, 2023
"on condition of anonymity." How the mainstream media attacks the GOP
Virginia's All In: School funding questions asked and go unanswered.
The Daily Press wrote an opinion today. Pandemic funds were used in 2024 to promote Glen Youngkins's All-In approach to helping studen...
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The Daily Press wrote an opinion today. Pandemic funds were used in 2024 to promote Glen Youngkins's All-In approach to helping studen...
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Mohammed Ugbede Adaji posted a picture. He asked, what does the picture mean? Many responded. Mohammed is a Facebook friend, and I enjoy ou...
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I wrote this piece for a former employer. God save our souls. Title: The Essence of Work Dignity: A Cornerstone for Business Health Introd...