blueyedpoet
Refugee
Okay, I've been working on a couple of things lately. I was raised in a conservative Christian household (dad's a pastor), so naturally I considered myself a republican for most of my youth. Of course, if you asked me about the issues (abortion, death penalty, big business, civil rights etc) I sounded liberal - I just didn't know that most of my stances were at odds with conservatism.
Anyways, last quarter I took a LGBT post-Stonewall literature class because I realized that while I supported "gay rights" I still had residual prejudicial beliefs deep inside. The class, the professor, the students, the reading material, and the lectures and discussions all just blew me away. I learned so much about myself. Additionally, many of my beliefs that I thought were progressive were challenged.
Here's where Bono's lyrics come in:
"We're one, but we're not the same."
After reading Stone Butch Blues, I said in class that the book really made it clear that all of us are just humans. We're one. We all experience pain, heartbreak, failure, success etc. Thus, we are all just the same. We are one! Yay, right?
Through my personal discussions with the professor and some deep soul-searching (and a re-read of the book) I discovered how wrong I was. When I - a heterosexual, white, protestant male - try to label everyone the same, I'm in some ways trying to erase or look past the differences in others. By lumping everyone as one, we don't have to deal with differences that make us uncomfortable.
Racists, homophobes (and I really do believe people in church circles are ignorantly fearful - as sad as that may be), and other hateful groups recognize the differences between different people and despise the differences. Truly progressive people need to appreciate the differences and celebrate the beautiful diversity within our species. Is diversity always going to be easy to celebrate? No, it takes time for people to learn and appreciate one another. This is all really hard work, but we have to do this. The journey must continue.
Isn't it amazing how in the early 90s Bono understood this?
*This is posted in FYM because I want most of the discussion to be about the notion of being the same (one) but different (not the same).
Anyways, last quarter I took a LGBT post-Stonewall literature class because I realized that while I supported "gay rights" I still had residual prejudicial beliefs deep inside. The class, the professor, the students, the reading material, and the lectures and discussions all just blew me away. I learned so much about myself. Additionally, many of my beliefs that I thought were progressive were challenged.
Here's where Bono's lyrics come in:
"We're one, but we're not the same."
After reading Stone Butch Blues, I said in class that the book really made it clear that all of us are just humans. We're one. We all experience pain, heartbreak, failure, success etc. Thus, we are all just the same. We are one! Yay, right?
Through my personal discussions with the professor and some deep soul-searching (and a re-read of the book) I discovered how wrong I was. When I - a heterosexual, white, protestant male - try to label everyone the same, I'm in some ways trying to erase or look past the differences in others. By lumping everyone as one, we don't have to deal with differences that make us uncomfortable.
Racists, homophobes (and I really do believe people in church circles are ignorantly fearful - as sad as that may be), and other hateful groups recognize the differences between different people and despise the differences. Truly progressive people need to appreciate the differences and celebrate the beautiful diversity within our species. Is diversity always going to be easy to celebrate? No, it takes time for people to learn and appreciate one another. This is all really hard work, but we have to do this. The journey must continue.
Isn't it amazing how in the early 90s Bono understood this?
*This is posted in FYM because I want most of the discussion to be about the notion of being the same (one) but different (not the same).
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