5 posts tagged “usa”

I was reminded of the below due to a neighbour's post ~ I located the original story I read and the below is a direct copy / paste (so the 'my' below is not me, but I do agree):

One of my favorite concepts in anthropology is that of the polite fiction. It's something nobody believes, but we all pretend to because it makes life so much easier. My favorite example was of a Pygmy couple. Pygmy divorce involves quite literally breaking up the home: the couple tears apart their house (it's easy - the houses are made of leaves) and once it's down, the union is dissolved. One anthropologist was watching a long-married couple have a fight. It escalated until the wife threatened to leave, and the husband yelled something along the lines of "Fine!" and there was nothing the wife could do but start tearing down the house. She began tearing the roof off, clearly miserable. The husband looked wretched too, but at this point neither could back down without losing face and by now the whole village was watching.

Finally, the husband called out the Pygmy equivalent of "You're right, honey! The roof is dirty! It'll look much better once we get those leaves washed!" The two of them started carrying leaves down to the river, soon with the help of the whole village, and then washed and rebuilt the whole roof. When the anthropologist later discreetly asked how often one washes the roof, everyone looked at him like he was a complete doofus.

I do not know if it was a true fact of Pygmy society, but it is a good example of something we all do: pretend something is / is not true simply to oil the wheels of social interaction as the truth is just too embarrassing or awkward to acknowledge publicly or openly.

A bit like the fact that we all regularly go into the toilet, bare our bottoms and crap. But we all of polite fictional way's of pretending we don't that we are 'powdering our noses' or some such. And it is really so terribly impolite & difficult when you walk into a shared toilet just as Jo Doe is coming out and realise that the the smell wafting from the toilet just has to have come from their arse just moments before. But unless we really know them well we smile and pretend not to notice.

But there is always a point at which something needs to be opened up and the polite fiction needs to turn into hard fact and tough talking. Or even just identifying something that can become a comfortable fact.

For some reason I am reminded of some advice that an FBI paedophile profiler recomended teaching to children: the difference between a Swell Secret and a Tell Secret ~ Knowing what Mom is getting for her birthday is Swell, but the babysitter touching your private bits is a Tell.

Where is this taking me? Not sure. Somewhere along the grey zone of good manners and necessary evils of human interactions that keep society in one piece, more or less. Why do I now think of the US elections and the article I read about dirty tactics? Give up, good night!

Still in the US. Body clock is still not quite convinced as to what time it is. Primary points to note:

1] Getting to the US at Midnight UK, 7 Local to then pick up a car and drive, in the dark, on the wrong side of the road in a JEEP IN AN AUTOMATIC .... yesh! That was... hairy. On the other hand it can't get worse.

2] massive kisses & hero worshiping of hubbie for getting me to take my SatNav with N.Am maps - It got me where I was going safetly with minimum hysteria (did I mention the 'in the dark in an automatic?' yet).

3] Work is close to the hotel. So close I feel ashamed to drive. But not so ashamed that I want to walk somewhere without pavements, on a busy road.

4] Office here is lovely, people are lovely, work is... interesting. intense. I am learning & teaching.

5] I have a work computer that connects to the internet, and a phone that I shouldn't - too expensive! However  photo-messages are 20p compared to astandard text at 40p.

6] I am only really contacting Hubbie while away, by voice/txt at least. I do not have a computer in the evening. OK, I could for $4 per 1/2 hour

I am tired. Body clock is stuck somewhere between 2pm & 7pm. I have hours to go yet.

OH, and for all of you who know me offline - I am slowly loosing my voice. yes, really!

Texan spiders spin 'monster web'

An enormous spider web has been found at Lake Tawakoni State Park, Texas, US.

It is not the work of one giant spider - rather, millions of small ones have been spinning away and now it is twice the size of a football field.

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OK, That is freaky!

Now if only it was late October... that would be a GREAT place for a Halloween party!

Americans United (for seperation of Church and State)
For your information (for those of us who are actually NOT American!)

Americans United is a religious liberty watchdog group based in Washington, D.C. Founded in 1947, the organization educates Americans about the importance of church-state separation in safeguarding religious freedom.

Americans United for Separation of Church and State today blasted President George W. Bush for shunning a war widow who successfully challenged the administration’s refusal to allow the use of the Wiccan symbol of faith on government-issued grave markers.

On Tuesday, following an address to the American Legion’s national convention in Reno, Bush met with northern Nevada family members of soldiers who have perished in combat. Roberta Stewart, whose husband, Sgt. Patrick Stewart was killed in combat in Afghanistan, was not invited, even though other relatives of Sgt. Stewart were.

According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Sgt. Stewart’s parents and brother were invited to the brief, private meeting with the president. So was the widow of one of the other National Guardsmen killed with Sgt. Stewart when their Chinook helicopter was shot down.

(Article continues)

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OK, this is a complex issue, and Bush is a man of deep Christian faith who has no time at all for those who are perceived as antithetical to the Christian position. But for a nation that believes fairly intensely in the separation of Church & State, he is not a good example of the President upholding both the letter and the spirit of the Constitution.

Now I am of the opinion that you should speak up about things you believe are wrong, but in order to force someone to comply to your moral code there needs to be more, in a society that proclaims equality & justice for all, than just 'My Holy Book is Better than Your Holy Book'.

Ideally a shared moral stance can be found: Most religions feel that, in general terms, murder is bad for example. Common ground. There are a lot of such things.

Sigh. It is late & I want to make a coherent post. Coherence fading so I shall just leave it here, although it is worth noting that I am being a bit cheeky in that I am a Brit, not American.

Since my post on Vox a week or so ago I have had 2 comments from people writing/creating the news:

Michael Hilger wrote about his group of filmmakers who produce a weekly newsshow, called Collateral (Reporting on the news that the main stream media circus skips over), with an episode on 07.09.07 (US date style I assume) on the Jena 6

and then today

George Cook pointed me at his interview with Alan Bean, an activist who was in the courtroom during the trial. His page also has a link to a pdf document from Friends of Justice detailing the Jena case in brief.

I am posting their comments here, top level, as this is ongoing and worth knowing about. OK, this info is all from one point of view. I should try get something from the other to try provide balanced reporting but....

Bizarrely I googled for "Jena 6" and my original post was 13th on the google hits ~ not sure why!

Now there is a blog post I want to read more fully (I havn't yet, properly) that cross references other blogs. The reason I am going to add a link here is [a] so I can find it again! and [b] elle, phd lives about 100 miles from Jena.

Elle, phd's  post on the Jenna Six has a huge number of references, cross-references and snippets. Plus some very interesting comments, one from someone who (allegedly) knows some of the Jena 6 and calls them hoodlums. Like I said, I will read it more later & try review some of the links / comments.