âA woman was standing calmly, her long dress the only thing moving in the breeze, as two police officers in full riot gear confronted her in the middle of a roadway to arrest her. She had no facial expression at all. She just stood there.â ~ Jonathan Bachman, photographer
We in the West seem to have an uncontrollable urge to divide the world into two: good versus bad, us versus them, feminine versus masculine, learned versus innate, and so on. Dichotomies help organize our thinking, but they do so by neglecting complexities and shades of meaning. It is the rare thinker who keeps two contradictory thoughts simultaneously in mind; yet this is precisely what is often needed to get at the truth. Thus, while it is correct that learning affects all behavior, so does genetics, meaning that no behavior, whether human or animal, is dictated purely by one influence or the other.
Frans de Waal, âThe Ape and the Sushi Masterâ (via scientificphilosopher)
So many people glorify and romanticize âbusyâ. I do not. I value purpose. I believe in resting in reason and moving in passion. If youâre always busy/moving, you will miss important details. I like the mountain. Still, but when it moves, lands shift and earth quakes.
Joseph Cook (via 00118)
I will reblog this until it is embedded in my psyche
After reading several articles and watching videos on the Richard Sherman incident and subsequent backlash, I just couldnât help but think about racism. We are so quick to be angry when things like this happen. Anti-semitic and racist have become instinctive rebuttals in our society. Iâve thought about this a lot over the years and I came to a conclusion quite a while before the fateful January 19 football madness: everyone is a racist. Yes, I said it. You whoâs reading this, your mom, your dad, all racist. You too black man. And me too.Â
Following a previous incident that provoked racial tension in our society, I looked up the word racism in a few dictionaries. Itâs funny how we think we know what a word means, until we use the dictionary. Merriam Websterâs definitions of racism are, âpoor treatment of or violence against people because of their raceâ and âthe belief that some races of people are better than others.â However, similarly to looking beyond the first page of Google search results, I read further. The full definition is, âa belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race.â
The definition was particularly captivating simply because it implicated everyone I know to be a racist. After more thought, I realized how prevalent this sort of racism has been in my life. There is someone I know who me, all of our friends and family make fun of because she is an abomination; she is black and has no rhythm, she dances like a âwhite girl.â An even better example is when I transferred from a predominantly black high school to a predominantly white one. Fellas I knew from my former high school essentially pointed out that I would probably be getting a lot more sexual action because white girls are easy and are the world champs of giving head. I donât recall well, but Iâm sure my internal reaction was probably, âyes! Say goodbye to virginity!â
Asians are smart, great at science and mathematics. Indians are cheap. Mexicans are all landscapers who arrived here illegally. All Jamaicans smoke marijuana. These are all generally accepted narratives of entire groups of people. They are mostly all insulting, except Iâve never heard anyone call foul in response to the assertion that all black guys have huge penises. Thatâs racist too, you know. I remember the vitriol I got being a 5â10, black eighth grader who stunk at basketball. Those were good times. My point here is not condemn us for being racist jerks, but to encourage understanding. Instead of being immediately offended by the next racist comment we hear, maybe, just maybe, we could practice the art of empathy. This applies to sexism too, since women suck as drivers, right? Men are incapable of resisting vagina on a platter, right?
To elevate ourselves beyond the scars of racism, slavery and all the atrocities weâve committed as human beings, we have to reconcile the pains of the afflicted and the afflicter. Especially because at one point or another, weâve all been both.
The reasonable man adapts himself to the conditions that surround him. The unreasonable man adapts surrounding conditions to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man.
We are still a long way from the camera that would be, oh, like the telephone: something that you use all day long...a camera which you would use not on the occasion of parties only, or of trips only, or when your grandchildren came to see you, but a camera that you would use as often as your pencil or your eyeglasses.
The dogmas of the quiet past, are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves, and then we shall save our country.
It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.
To abstain from enjoyment which is in our power, or to seek distant rather than immediate results, are among the most painful exertions of the human will
andulkaphoto
discoholicmusic
annaxmalina
tangentwithtanner
prguitarman
baratheonpilled
