permaculture

["Felicity Wright" <flickwright@ozemail.com.au>]

Hey Toshio, it was really good to hear your voice as someone who has 
experienced being 'the other'.

Listening (watching) a bunch of Anglos debating racism always seems weird to 
me. Like how absurd it would be (or is) to listen to a bunch of men debating 
sexism and whether or not it exists or whether they should or should not 
feel guilty about it or whether women should be offended by being called 
'girl' or whatever. Given men could never have experienced  sexism towards 
women  personally, it's all kind of hypothetical - they can endeavour to be 
empathetic (and LISTENING is a good start here) or, alternatively, compelled 
to make judgements about whether women are 'over-sensitive' and how terribly 
affected their freedom of speech is now they have to consider the feelings 
of women. Gee, what a compromise, thinking before you speak or asking 
another person for feedback on a thought/comment to find out how they 
perceived it, or being receptive when feedback is offered.

I am so sick of the suggestion that peoples/cultures who experience 
discrimination on a regular, systemic basis are hyper sensitive and prone to 
being offended.

Living, working and travelling with Indigenous Australians has brought me 
face to face with the reality of racism on countless occasions - and how it 
is experienced by those who have an appearance, culture and values that do 
not fit the dominant paradigm (and in many ways are diametrically opposed).

Basically, for me, it all comes back to one of the permaculture fundamental 
principles - Care of People.

Do we want to have our community members - whatever color, religion or 
cultural background - feeling respected, included and treated with dignity, 
or is our (your) right to self express  paramount (and to hell with other 
people's feelings and the consequences)?

The core guidelines for Care of People for me are: listening, trying not to 
judge, respecting other points of view, working on empathy and compassion, 
and trying not to make assumptions.

Hey, I get shitty and stuff up and my life is a work in progress, but 
reminding myself of the priniciple is a good yardstick.

flick

PS: Just for the record - I loathe those emails that are circulated that are 
anti-male. It's not hard to substitute the wording and imagine it directed 
at some other group (women for example) and realise most of them are 
offensive and demeaning.



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Toshio Kuratomi" <a.badger@gmail.com>
To: "permaculture" <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Tuesday, May 29, 2007 8:04 AM
Subject: Re: [permaculture] anti-semitism or naivete


> On 5/28/07, Lisa Rollens <rollens@fidnet.com> wrote:
> > Toshio,
> >
> > I know you are right that racism is alive and well in the USA.  Bu have 
> > you
> > ever been to very rural areas?
>
> Yep.  Lived in several of those areas myself for many years; my
> father, cousins, and wife all grew up in rural America.  We all had
> different reactions to those environments... since I always knew I
> could "escape" I was probably the one that felt the least slighted by
> the unconscious and conscious bigotry that I encountered.