Twenty-First Century Life: Georgia

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/04/23/turner.prom/index.html

Students attend school's first integrated prom

POSTED: 5:33 p.m. EDT, April 23, 2007

By Kristi Keck
CNN

ASHBURN, Georgia (CNN) -- Students of Turner County High School started what they hope will become a new tradition: Black and white students attended the prom together for the first time on Saturday.

In previous years, parents had organized private, segregated dances for students of the school in rural Ashburn, Georgia, 160 miles south of Atlanta.

"Whites always come to this one and blacks always go to this one," said Lacey Adkinson, a 14-year-old freshman at the school of 455 students -- 55 percent black, 43 percent white.

"It's always been a tradition since my daddy was in school to have the segregated ones, and this year we're finally getting to try something new," she said.

Adkinson's sister, Mindy Bryan, attended a segregated prom in 2001.

Seriously folks! This is the twentyfirst century and we still have segregation issues in the US South? I want to say there are some seriously backwards people riding on our planet, but that wouldn't be politically correct now, would it?

The Authoritarian Followers - Web Book by Bob Alemeyer

http://home.cc.umanitoba.ca/~altemey/

A web book about those people who follow Authoritan Figures - specifically pointed at Modern U.S. Politics.

Exerpt: The Right Wing Authoritarian test:

Score each question from -4 through +4 where -4 = Strongly Disagree, and +4 = Strongly Agree.

For compound statements (with more than one idea, combine your scores – so a strongly disagree (-4) combined with an agree (+2) should score out as a -2.

1) The established authorities generally turn out to be right about things, while the radicals and protestors are usually just "loud mouths" showing off their ignorance.

2) Women should have to promise to obey their husbands when they get married.

3) Our country desperately needs a mighty leader who will do what has to be done to destroy the radical new ways and sinfulness that are ruining us.

4) Gays and lesbians are just as healthy and moral as anybody else.

5) It is always better to trust the judgment of the proper authorities in government and religion than to listen to the noisy rabble-rousers in our society who are trying to create doubt in people's minds.

6) Atheists and others who have rebelled against the established religions are no doubt every bit as good and virtuous as those who attend church regularly.

7) The only way our country can get through the crisis ahead is to get back to our traditional values, put some tough leaders in power, and silence the troublemakers spreading bad ideas.

8) There is absolutely nothing wrong with nudist camps.

9) Our country NEEDS free thinkers who have the courage to defy traditional ways even if this upsets many people.

10) Our country will be destroyed someday if we do not smash the perversions eating away at our moral fiber and traditional beliefs.

11) Everyone should have their own lifestyle, religious beliefs, and sexual preferences, even if it makes them different from everyone else.

12) The "Old-fashioned Ways" and the "Old-fashioned values" still show the best way to live.

13) You have to admire those who challenged the law and the majority's view by protesting for women's abortion rights, for animal rights, or to abolish school prayer.

14) What our country really needs is a strong determined leader who will crush evil, and take us back to our true path.

15) Some of the best people in our country are those who are challenging our government, criticizing religion, and ignoring the 'normal way things are supposed to be done".

16) God's laws about abortion, pornography and marriage must be strictly followed before it is too late, and those who break them must be strongly punished.

17) There are many radical, immoral people in our country today, who are trying to ruin it for their own godless purposes, whom the authorities should put out of action.

18) A "woman's place" should be where she wants to be. The days when women are submissive to their husbands and social conventions belong strictly in the past.

19) Our country will be great if we honour the ways of our forefathers, do what the authorities tell us to do, and get rid of the 'rotten apples' who are ruining everything.

20) There is no "ONE right way" to live life; everybody has to create their OWN way.

21) Homosexuals and feminists should be praised for being brave enough to defy "traditional" family values.

22) This country would work a lot better if certain groups of troublemakers would just shut up and accept their group's traditional place in society.

Scoring:

Ignore questions 1 and 2 for scoring purposes.

For questions 3, 5, 7,10, 12, 14, 16, 17, 19 and 22 score each answer as follows:
-4 = 1 point, -3 = 2 points, -2 = 3 points, -1 = 4 points, 0 = 5 points, +1 = 6 points, +2 = 7 points, +3 = 8 points, and +4 = 9 points.

For questions 4, 6, 8, 9, 11, 13, 15, 18. 20 and 21 score each answer as follows:
-4 = 9 point, -3 = 8 points, -2 = 7 points, -1 = 6 points, 0 = 5 points, +1 = 4 points, +2 = 3 points, +3 = 2 points, and +4 = 1 points

Now simply add up your twenty scores. The lowest possible total is 20. The highest is 180.

The Moral Ethic

In The End of Faith, Sam Harris purports that the bronze-age writings of religion fall short when expected to provide a moral guide for 21 century life. Citing specifically Leviticus and Deuteronomy as particularly inappropriate sources when taken as the whole, he then suggests that a group of intelligent people of the present could come up with a better guide to morality in as short a time as 5 minutes.

Really? Just 5 minutes? For a globally appropriate 21 century code of moral ethics?

Lets give it a try.

(Note: The words you are about to read are my opinion, not yours. They are not meant as a revolutionary manifesto, nor are they meant to spearhead an attack against any particular religion or philosophical creed. If, having read this, you choose to read on, and subsequently take offence at what is written, I hold you responsible for your own outrage. -Jefe)

Lets start with the Ethic of Reciprocity

Treat others the way you would like them to treat you.

This is a simple one. It covers a whole gamut of possibly in one simple sentence. No murder. No theft. No battery. No torture. No confidence schemes. No grifting. No cheating. No lying (*). Being nice to our Elders.

Be considerate of others feelings.

This one seems straightforward. If we all have an interest in other people being happy, or not being unhappy, then we'll all work toward a greater global happiness in life. How can that be a bad thing?

Be kind.

This may seem a bit redundant, but as a specific behavioral instruction, and as a slogan perhaps in the new 21 century age of ethical morality, perhaps it needs to be said. Besides which, it would make up the third instruction of our proposed moral compass for the modern world, and I'm personally fond of things that come in threes. (Don't go too crazy with the Freudian analysis of my penchant for trios.)

So now we need to see how this stacks up against the major religious Morality Sets:

Looking at the 10 Commandments, Sikh Principals, Buddhist Principals, and Islamic Instructions, we can see that this little sketch of 21 Century Morality shows considerable overlap to each of the 4 listed Religion/Philosophy Guides. The only places where we see a failure of overlap is where there are specifically dogmatic instructions pertaining to Religion, or personal guidelines for behavior and diet.

Otherwise, the three principals listed in our 21 Century Ethical Morality function just fine for all 4 listed Ideologies.

Interesting.

The three statements took far less than 5 minutes to accomplish (thanks, Sam Harris), but the comparison took almost 1/2 hour to format nicely to fit the blog.

I invite any comments re this sketch for 21 Century Ethical Morality.

Later I'll try to add Hinduism to the comparison, as I feel this is also a major belief system and begs comparison to this little sketch.

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*Note: I believe there is a quandary between being honest and being kind. Consider the age old conundrum faced by a male who’s mate asks the question “Do these (garments) make me look fat?” Clearly the one asking about it is feeling insecure, and thus to say “No” would increase their self esteem. But in some cases the statement might not be the truth. Do we abandon diplomacy, esteem building and/or civility in the cause of unerring honesty, or is there such a thing as a “white lie” - Perhaps we’ll examine the white lie in another episode of “as the principal turns”. - Jefe