Being an EASY (R)EVOLUTIONARY has never been easier! Just this morning I was reminded of this through a post on Facebook.
A friend of mine posted a link to an interview with the chairman of a major food corporation. In this interview the executive made remarks about homosexual families and women’s place in the home, ending with “if gay customers don't like it, they can ‘eat another brand of pasta’."
I will be doing just that. And after I re-posted the link another friend commented, “well they lost 2 consumers in our home, that's for sure!” This is a wonderful example of how we can all use our purchasing power to shape social policies. Whether you’re buying something from a street vendor or a multinational corporation, your choices keep them in business. So by spending our money with progressive minded companies and NOT spending it with companies still stuck in the Manplan we create a new kind of business world.
And that’s just one way the power of choice that every individual holds works – by knowing that simple, every day decisions can move our world toward compassion, diversity, and peace.
MAKE A POSITIVE CHOICE – MAKE A DIFFERENCE!
Friday, September 27, 2013
Thursday, September 19, 2013
DETERMINATION - NOT RETALIATION!
When I made a presentation recently to a businessmen’s club on the messages of Conversations with EVE, one man commented that it was important to look to the future rather than dwell on the past. I agree completely because the future is the only thing we can affect, and how we can do that is the whole point of the book.
BUT at the same time, it’s almost impossible to make positive social changes without knowing where the values and beliefs came from that still drive our dysfunctional world. Then, once we understand what caused the problems we can begin to work on solutions.
Too often when people want to know “what happened” they’re only goal is to assign blame and punishment for the problem, but that’s just retaliation not progress. As we talk about in Conversations, men may have been the big winners after the Myth of Male Superiority changed society and gave them social power over EVE, but they were also the big losers in many ways.
Conversations is about letting people understand how our social system became and stays dysfunctional and cruel, not about hating or punishing those (men) who benefited from such a system. So it’s important to remember that the vision of our (r)evolution is not blame and shame for men.
The vision is empowering people to change their lives and change the world by making their daily choices based on EQUALITY AND RESPECT for everyone, EVE and men both. It’s a positive social (r)evolution based on independent thinking, responsible choices, and the willpower to replace the negative values that shape and drive our world.
Blaming EVE for society’s ills and problems has been a mainstay of the Myth and the Manplan for thousands for years. So our EVE (r)evolution won’t be repeating the same mistake. Besides, we won’t have time or energy for blaming or punishing men. We’ll be too busy respecting and supporting each other and relishing the camaraderie of whole men who are working with us to leave the Manplan behind.
Determination to build a better society is what our movement is about, not retaliation.
BUT at the same time, it’s almost impossible to make positive social changes without knowing where the values and beliefs came from that still drive our dysfunctional world. Then, once we understand what caused the problems we can begin to work on solutions.
Too often when people want to know “what happened” they’re only goal is to assign blame and punishment for the problem, but that’s just retaliation not progress. As we talk about in Conversations, men may have been the big winners after the Myth of Male Superiority changed society and gave them social power over EVE, but they were also the big losers in many ways.
Conversations is about letting people understand how our social system became and stays dysfunctional and cruel, not about hating or punishing those (men) who benefited from such a system. So it’s important to remember that the vision of our (r)evolution is not blame and shame for men.
The vision is empowering people to change their lives and change the world by making their daily choices based on EQUALITY AND RESPECT for everyone, EVE and men both. It’s a positive social (r)evolution based on independent thinking, responsible choices, and the willpower to replace the negative values that shape and drive our world.
Blaming EVE for society’s ills and problems has been a mainstay of the Myth and the Manplan for thousands for years. So our EVE (r)evolution won’t be repeating the same mistake. Besides, we won’t have time or energy for blaming or punishing men. We’ll be too busy respecting and supporting each other and relishing the camaraderie of whole men who are working with us to leave the Manplan behind.
Determination to build a better society is what our movement is about, not retaliation.
Thursday, September 12, 2013
9/11 WAS NEVER ABOUT RELIGION
Americans observed a tragic remembrance yesterday. And because the 9/11 terrorists were avowed Muslims these anniversaries take on very religious tones. But it’s important to remember that the radical agenda of the jihadists leaders didn’t really have anything to do with religion at all. The attack on the World Trade Center was about power – pure and simple.
Yes, the al-Qaeda leaders did manipulate the religious devotion of their Muslim followers. And, yes, the goal of striking at the power of the United States was clothed in religious rhetoric. But this campaign to hold onto or seize power is no different than many, many others in the past – this one just happens to be wearing the mask of Islam. The same type of social manipulation was used by the Catholic Church during the Inquisition and the Crusades, by the Stalinists after the Communist Revolution and by the Nazis during World War II. It was even used by the Bush administration when it channeled the anger of the American public to manufacture a war-for-profit in Iraq.
So it’s critically important to make this distinction, because how we label the problem defines our solution.
As long as we label al-Qaeda and jihad terrorism as a “Muslim problem” we’re chasing the tail of religious intolerance and feeding the beast. But when we recognize it as the latest in a long history of Manplan campaigns by egotistical power mongers (regardless of what they call themselves) we can respond differently. We can pull the rug out from under their campaign of hatred by doing the opposite of what they expect, like:
1. Oppose violence in any form as a response, because history should have taught us that violence begets violence and it always will,
2. Promote respect and communication among ALL the world’s religions, and
3. Strive to bring equality and justice to every religion by doing away with the Manplan rules and attitudes that keep women out of religious authority and control.
I’m totally in favor of any belief system that helps people deal with the struggles and complexities of life, as long as the teachings promote kindness, justice, and ethical behavior. But, as we talk about in Conversations with EVE, too much of religion today only pays lip service to compassion and equality while fiercely opposing any changes that might threaten the power and control of its male leaders.
So, if you want to truly honor the memory of the Americans killed on 9/11, refocus your anger and energy. Use them to work for a world that operates on fairness rather than undeserved privilege and compassion rather than conflict.
Expect the best from your chosen faith, and don’t be taken in by the conspirators who prey on our need to pray!
Yes, the al-Qaeda leaders did manipulate the religious devotion of their Muslim followers. And, yes, the goal of striking at the power of the United States was clothed in religious rhetoric. But this campaign to hold onto or seize power is no different than many, many others in the past – this one just happens to be wearing the mask of Islam. The same type of social manipulation was used by the Catholic Church during the Inquisition and the Crusades, by the Stalinists after the Communist Revolution and by the Nazis during World War II. It was even used by the Bush administration when it channeled the anger of the American public to manufacture a war-for-profit in Iraq.
So it’s critically important to make this distinction, because how we label the problem defines our solution.
As long as we label al-Qaeda and jihad terrorism as a “Muslim problem” we’re chasing the tail of religious intolerance and feeding the beast. But when we recognize it as the latest in a long history of Manplan campaigns by egotistical power mongers (regardless of what they call themselves) we can respond differently. We can pull the rug out from under their campaign of hatred by doing the opposite of what they expect, like:
1. Oppose violence in any form as a response, because history should have taught us that violence begets violence and it always will,
2. Promote respect and communication among ALL the world’s religions, and
3. Strive to bring equality and justice to every religion by doing away with the Manplan rules and attitudes that keep women out of religious authority and control.
I’m totally in favor of any belief system that helps people deal with the struggles and complexities of life, as long as the teachings promote kindness, justice, and ethical behavior. But, as we talk about in Conversations with EVE, too much of religion today only pays lip service to compassion and equality while fiercely opposing any changes that might threaten the power and control of its male leaders.
So, if you want to truly honor the memory of the Americans killed on 9/11, refocus your anger and energy. Use them to work for a world that operates on fairness rather than undeserved privilege and compassion rather than conflict.
Expect the best from your chosen faith, and don’t be taken in by the conspirators who prey on our need to pray!
Thursday, September 5, 2013
THE EASY (R)EVOLUTIONARY #2
Let’s look at another simple way to change the world.
#2 RESPECT OTHERS AS YOU WANT TO BE RESPECTED
It’s easy to demean and disrespect someone, especially if that someone is a member of a group – women, black, handicapped, etc. - that might have a hard time standing up for themselves, socially and otherwise. Besides, you’re only expressing the long-standing prejudices that are part and parcel of the culture around you. And sometimes you can score points or fit in better with coworkers or social peers by voicing such attitudes.
So why bother to take the social and moral higher ground? Why make a conscious effort to deal with a person as an individual and not a ______ or a ______? The answer is pretty basic. Every time you treat another person with prejudice and disrespect you’re fueling our Manplan culture. A culture based on dividing people rather than bringing them together and keeping control in the hands of the most ruthless (be that politically or physically).
But the opposite is also true. Each of us already holds the power to reach that higher ground every time we choose:
** fairness instead of discrimination in dealing with others,
** cooperation and compromise instead of conflict, and
** thinking for ourselves instead of blindly accepting negative preconceptions.
When we do these things we are building a different, better culture based on good sense and fair play – two positive values we see very little of in our 21st century world. We don’t see good sense because social groups too often require unquestioning loyalty to religious dogma or party philosophy. And we don’t see fair play because many of these belief systems make it perfectly acceptable to ignore, demean or even harm someone who doesn’t believe like we do.
What we have is division and conflict. What we need is community and collaboration. So by actively demonstrating these social values at every opportunity we can have a positive and powerful influence on both the general culture and the individuals around us.
We won’t truly know or love too many people in our lifetime, but we can strive to respect every human being we meet along the way. Some of them will prove worthy of that respect and some won’t, but giving that respect as a matter of habit benefits all of us - today and in the future.
#2 RESPECT OTHERS AS YOU WANT TO BE RESPECTED
It’s easy to demean and disrespect someone, especially if that someone is a member of a group – women, black, handicapped, etc. - that might have a hard time standing up for themselves, socially and otherwise. Besides, you’re only expressing the long-standing prejudices that are part and parcel of the culture around you. And sometimes you can score points or fit in better with coworkers or social peers by voicing such attitudes.
So why bother to take the social and moral higher ground? Why make a conscious effort to deal with a person as an individual and not a ______ or a ______? The answer is pretty basic. Every time you treat another person with prejudice and disrespect you’re fueling our Manplan culture. A culture based on dividing people rather than bringing them together and keeping control in the hands of the most ruthless (be that politically or physically).
But the opposite is also true. Each of us already holds the power to reach that higher ground every time we choose:
** fairness instead of discrimination in dealing with others,
** cooperation and compromise instead of conflict, and
** thinking for ourselves instead of blindly accepting negative preconceptions.
When we do these things we are building a different, better culture based on good sense and fair play – two positive values we see very little of in our 21st century world. We don’t see good sense because social groups too often require unquestioning loyalty to religious dogma or party philosophy. And we don’t see fair play because many of these belief systems make it perfectly acceptable to ignore, demean or even harm someone who doesn’t believe like we do.
What we have is division and conflict. What we need is community and collaboration. So by actively demonstrating these social values at every opportunity we can have a positive and powerful influence on both the general culture and the individuals around us.
We won’t truly know or love too many people in our lifetime, but we can strive to respect every human being we meet along the way. Some of them will prove worthy of that respect and some won’t, but giving that respect as a matter of habit benefits all of us - today and in the future.
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