For all humans...no matter what color, gender, race, whatever

[delicatetbone]

It has a lot of "trigger words" (ie: words that people will stop reading because they are reacting badly too them because of social stigmas) in this paragraph, but I urge you to read to the end. This book is really amazing and I recommend it to any human.

From bell hooks "Ain't I a Woman?"

As people of color, our struggle against racial

Comments

Humanism?

[keith418]

"A humanitarian God cannot be demonstrated from the world we know: today you can be compelled to admit this much:-but what conclusions do you draw? He cannot be demonstrated to us: epistemological skepticism. But you are all afraid of the conclusion: 'from the world we know, a very different god would be demonstrable, one who at any rate is not humanitarian'- -and, in short, i. e. you hold fast to your God and devise for him a world we do not know."

- Nietzsche

Re: Humanism?

[delicatetbone]

Interesting quote.
What I feel is so important to get from writers who bring to our conciousness ideas for non-segregated interactions is just that -- the idea. The way our language is constructed and how our society is there is no way not to label and group things -- having an "I" necessitates there being "other". Nothing short of altered conciousness of the entire human race is going to allow for people to interact with each other on a "human" level, but the ideas are there and once they are in one's conciousness, one can act deliberately, there is not hiding from that knowledge.

I believe that religion is a vehicle that people use to give them a way to higher conciousness...though it has its own issues because it has been constructed by us with our various ways of communication.

To me, the best religion would be one that is all about transcending the self and seeing all.

God i fucking get on a tangent...and I'm not even sure i actually believe any of this.

Seeing the all

[keith418]

The problem with hooks is that I do not think she sees the "all" because she insist on a false humanitarian vision of the ultimate reality. This is just more Christianity.

Re: Seeing the all

[delicatetbone]

I see very few religions actually capturing the "all" - it's more about defining a path to hope to achieve it.

I believe it is impossible to see the all when one does not believe that everything can be included in the all....so her view of the world is much more appealing to me than christianity -- even some of the original yogic texts are exclusive of women.

I've said this to you before -- I do not believe that people should all be forced to equality, but I also believe that no one should be turned away from anything because of race/ gender/ sex/ etc. If someone has the capabilities to do something, they should do it with no restrictions. Unfortunately there are still many aspects of our society that restrict and segregate, which doesn't allow for a full range of motion.

[alicetiara]

She wrote that when she was 19!!!

[delicatetbone]

wow...that's amazing.
Her works are really well put together. I'm currently reading Ain't i a woman and feminism for everybody -- good stuff.
what do you think about her?

[alicetiara]

I love her. I think she makes really complicated theoretical ideas accessible to most people. Her series of books on love that came out a few years ago, and they are mind-blowingly good.

[delicatetbone]

yes! The simplicity is amazing without being stupid and I just want to start reading it outloud to people because it's so real

Thanks for the suggestion, I'll have to check that series out

On a completely non-intellectual note...

[fremen_dancer]

This post, and one of your most previous ones made an interesting parallel pop into my head that I remember being amused as hell by when I read it: that when bell hooks was asked, she proclaimed that the only man she'd ever go out on a date with was Prince.

Re: On a completely non-intellectual note...

[delicatetbone]

Ha! That's awesome -- i would go on a date with prince, but only if he wore 12" heels so we'd be eye-to-eye

[djrabbit]

I didn't come across any 'trigger words' in the paragraph you quoted. What does that say about me, i wonder?

Re:

[ieuleron]

I was wondering the same thing.
do we have anything in common?

Re:

[delicatetbone]

Well, a lot of people get turned off by words like "feminism" and "race", etc -- they automatically assume definitions that are based on what they think they are about instead of what they really are about. I just wanted people to push past that because it is a touching paragraph. I know that the word "feminism" had that effect on me before. All the 'feminist' friends that I had were just man-haters, so I associated that word with white-man-haters...that is so not the case with the definition of feminism.

I'm glad you are able to get past societal 'norms'

[delicatetbone]

Well the trigger words are there, but not everyone is effected by them. People who understand the real definitions of words and who have been raised in an open and understanding environment generally don't need the disclaimer -- but not everyone on my friends list has the same background