A Treatise on Breaking Laws during Protest

Definition of TREATISE : a systematic exposition or argument in writing including a methodical discussion of the principles involved and conclusions reached.
*Note: I have added website links in place of citations. In several places, I have used Wikipedia, but only where such links provide a nice, readable, well-reference summary of the topic.

There is a lot of debate going on about the Occupy Wall Street protestors getting arrested and worse under the reasoning that they are breaking laws. These broken laws include Pedestrian Interference, illegal camping, and more. Not only are these laws being used as an excuse to take away the right to effectively protest, but many people make comments online similar to this: "If you are going to break the law, you get what you deserve."

The pain that these comments cause me is almost indescribable, but I will attempt to do this, as well as explain the reasons behind the pain.

First of all, I am going to approach this from a historical aspect. In the past, there have been many laws that were in effect in the US that by today's standards are simply expressions of the bigotry and discrimination of the "Legal Majority". This includes, but it by no means limited to:

Women's Suffrage: According to this site, a website outlining historical activities "On July 14, 1917, Amelia Himes Walker was arrested and jailed for picketing the White House in the suffrage cause. She was one of 16 women arrested that day and sentenced to 60 days in the workhouse for "obstructing traffic.""  Furthermore, it states "The traffic obstruction charge was a shaky pretext. The women were political prisoners, of course, and they knew it."

Sounds familiar, doesn't it? Is anyone going to argue that women's suffrage is not a "duh" movement by today's standards? And what is the difference between making sure that men could not subjugate, through legal and financial means, the rights of women to be free and independent and making sure that corporations, in the same way, cannot subjugate the "non-wealthy" of this country?

On a final note, one of the banners that the Silent Sentinals of the women's suffrage movement carried said "We shall fight for the things which we have always carried nearest our hearts--for democracy, for the right of those who submit to authority to have a voice in their own governments." I think that can be directly applied to the protests going on right now.


Black Suffrage: Though, at the time, blacks had legal freedoms that women had lacked during their suffrage movement, blacks suffered many indignities revolving around the segregation and Jim Crow laws, as well as the discriminatory practices that blurred the edges of legality, but were largely ignored or outright supported by the legal system.

The protests for both groups often turned violent, not because of the protestors, but because of the tactics used by police and opposition to the movements. The Civil Rights movement was, by and large, more violent, either because of the higher percentages of male protestors (eliminating a protective attitude that may have come into play with women) or because of the greater outrage at the protests and protestor goals themselves.

"Parks was arrested, tried, and convicted for disorderly conduct and violating a local ordinance." Local ordinances and "disorderly conduct" are fabulous excuses for taking away the right to peaceable protest.

"When Parks refused to give up her seat, a police officer arrested her. As the officer took her away, she recalled that she asked, "Why do you push us around?" The officer's response as she remembered it was, "I don't know, but the law's the law, and you're under arrest."(Rosa Parks Interview, Academy of Achievement, 2 June 1995, accessed 13 November 2011.) I will address the officer's attitude below, regarding the psychological perspective. However, there is little stretch of the imagination to link the atrocious behavior of police with the "It's just my job" attitude that was so common in the Nuremburg Trials of Nazi officers. ("Superior orders (often known as the Nuremberg defense or lawful orders) is a plea in a court of law that a soldier not be held guilty for actions which were ordered by a superior office.")

Even when it is apparent and planned for a protest to occur peaceably, that isn't good enough for those who wish to punish the protestors. "After careful planning and training, nine members of the NAACP Youth Council — Meredith Anding, Samuel Bradford, Alfred Cook, Geraldine Edwards, Janice Jackson, Joseph Jackson, Albert Lassiter, Evelyn Pierce, and Ethel Sawyer — attempt to use the white-only Jackson public library on March 27. They sit quietly at different tables reading books that are not available in the "colored" library. When the nine refuse to leave, they are arrested for "Disturbing the Peace"."

Additionally, there is this: "During the next few days images of children being blasted by high-pressure fire hoses, clubbed by police officers, and attacked by police dogs appeared on television and in newspapers, triggering international outrage." Apparently, young people being attacked has become a blame-the-victim situation in the Great US of A.


Again, how poignant that such historical events should so closely match the goings-on of today's protestors and the police that arrest them. One wonders if it is a matter of using what they believe works, or if it is lack of creativity, or even lack of any REAL actions available, that causes the established system to use the same tactics over the course of an entire century.


Secondly, I am going to approach this from a legal/constitutional aspect. The question being: At what point does a legal ordinance or local law be held above the rights granted in the Constitution.

The answer, in the Constitution itself, is as follows: "This Constitution, and the laws of the United States which shall be made in pursuance thereof; and all treaties made, or which shall be made, under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme law of the land." For those who do not speak "legalese," that means NEVER. The local laws are to maintain peace under NORMAL, everyday situations. They do not have the authority to trump the 1st Amendment rights of the Constitution... unless the established system refuses to perform their duties appropriately and Constitutionally.

Well, this is embarrassing. I had believed that this section would require more searching and interpretation, making it longer. But that's pretty cut'n'dried, so I guess I'll move on.


Thirdly, I am going to approach this from a psychological aspect. Now I could go into the psychology of groups, mobs, officials, etc., but you can look up that stuff for yourself. What I want to focus on is the psychology of MORALITY and ETHICS.

This isn't nearly as abstract as one would at first believe. In fact, there is a straight-forward, non-dogmatic thesis on this very topic. Lawrence Kohlberg's Stages of Moral Development (For further reading, I recommend Moral stages : a current formulation and a response to critics by Lawrence Kohlberg, Charles Levine & Alexandra Hewer. I also recommend looking at the Heinz Dilemma as a further analysis of how these stages work). It breaks down as follows:
Level 1 (Pre-Conventional)
1. Obedience and punishment orientation (How can I avoid punishment?)
2. Self-interest orientation (What's in it for me?)(Paying for a benefit)
Level 2 (Conventional)
3. Interpersonal accord and conformity (Social norms)(The good boy/good girl attitude)
4. Authority and social-order maintaining orientation (Law and order morality)
Level 3 (Post-Conventional)
5. Social contract orientation
6. Universal ethical principles (Principled conscience)

As you can see, there are 6 stages broken into 3 levels. Pre-conventional stages are essentially how we grow prior to gaining a "conscience". Conventional are when we have a modern, adult concept of right/wrong. Post-conventional stages are what most consider "enlightened" (socially OR spiritually) persons.
(I should disclose at this time that I have taken the "test" for the Stages of Morality, and scored at a high 5, low 6.)

As a country, and perhaps the world, we have become stuck socially on Stage 4: Authority/Law & Order. "If you are going to break the law, you get what you deserve." This is completely legitimate in Stage 4, if narrow-minded (taking into account legality, but not necessarily the maintenance of social order that may be a part of protest situations). But the major problem with it is that it does not take into account the principals of Stages 5 & 6, the more advanced, if more abstract, stages of morality.


In effect, Stage 5 could suggest that it is the moral obligation of the protestors to exercise the rights given to them in the Constitution to make the lives of the collective community (the country) better, thereby fulfilling their duties as US Citizens. It could be said that the corporations that the protestors are working against have BROKEN their social contracts by not entirely living up to their obligations, both legal and perceived.

It could even be argued that corporations and government have gotten stuck in some limbo using Stage 4 arguments to justify Stage 2 behaviors. It could also be said that teaching lower-stage entities (persons, governments, corporations) to evolve into higher stages is another social contract or moral obligation.

Stage 6 suggests that material/legal matters are irrelevant when held up to the lives, health and well-being of individual people, with the well-being of the whole as the most important. By that concept, the ability of the 99% to function in an acceptable fashion is the most MORAL and ETHICAL tactic the country can take. A belief that I strongly suspect the founding fathers would agree with.

But more importantly, I questions the motivations, the moral reasoning, used by the anti-protestors to justify their judgments and criticism of the Occupy Protestors. Are they using Post-Conventional morality, believing that this will actually harm society or the Greater Good? Or are they stuck in the apparently abused system of Law, taking legality as dogma, never mind the intent or abuse of said Laws?


I began this treatise talking about pain.
I see the pained faces of the women's suffrage movement, the civil right's movement, even the protestors of wars over the years, on the faces of the Occupy Protestors. People attacked by "non-lethal" yet abusive tactics such as water cannons, rubber bullets, and pepperspray.
I am stung by the use of minor legal infractions being misused to bully the protestors away. I see the same legal infractions used to (ineffectively) bully the forces of justice throughout the tainted history of this (supposedly) free nation.
I ache to show people the morality issues that I see being broached with these protests. I see the way others see things from a perspective that I barely understand (from grown, educated adults, that is) anymore.

The pain I feel is that of a mother watching the news coverage of child-abuse, of the heartbreak of watching loved ones experience loss, of watching the world miss - time after time - the next rung on the ladder of its own development.

Do you suffer this pain, too?

Belief and Eclecticism: Oxymoron? No, neither an ox nor a moron

Wheel of the Year = Pagan Holy Days

 Reposted from a reply to this blog.

"But then there are the eclectics, and this is where I get confused. Do eclectics practice in such diverse and idiosyncratic ways because it fits their beliefs? Or, and yes I know this is a touchy idea, does a lack of consistency in practice perhaps denote a lack of belief?"

As an extremely eclectic Pagan, I can answer most assuredly: Maybe.

The truth is, I cannot answer for all eclectic Pagans. I can only answer for myself, and by extension my family.

I don't do ceremony. Unless I want to. I don't use ritual tools or cast circles. Unless I want to.

Paganism should be a family affair

Why? Because I believe that ceremony is a psychological tool to help people "get their spiritual groove on." If you want to do ceremony, great! If you need ceremony, fine! If you just wrestle your mind into place, think a thought or say a word, I'm right there doing that with you.

But I think of this as more of the way my brain works (I'm never entirely "in" normal reality, so I don't really have to "leave" it to do my spiritual work), rather than a skill set.

And thoughts become reality... this is seen in most spiritual beliefs as well as quantum physics. So, yes, it is because of my beliefs.

Making magic during the holidays

As for Joe Schmoe Eclectic Pagan over there? I dunno.

The Dark of the Year: In Praise of Present (Part 2)

Part 1 * Part 2 * Part 3



During this time of year, the dark of the year, we as Pagans have a fairly unique opportunity within our spiritual wheel of the year. We have the opportunity to grow, spiritually, internally, rather than externally. The Wheel of the Year shows us how to use the energy of Nature to develop in a healthy cycle.


The Dark of the Year is the time of introverts, when humanity as a whole goes from exuberant, exo-energetic creatures to inner-focused beings who welcome the dark and calm of semi-hibernation. We don’t sleep the season away like the bear, but rather we enjoy a certain lethargy of the body, which allows us to grow our mental and emotional selves. We embrace the Yin in the world, the Feminine in ourselves, the dark/cold/wet/gestational parts of Nature.

In animals, a “false” hibernation is often called torpor or languor. I, for one, like “languor,” or “languid.” The word (words are power, remember) calls up in my mind an image of sensuality, of liquid, passive, flowing, small movements. Isn’t that what we crave during the Dark of the Year? Lying in bed, snuggling with family and blankets, lounging around the home with warm, liquid foods and drinks. Celebrating life and survival while death (dark, cold, wet weather) prowls around the periphery.


Death and gestation are two faces of the same coin. They bracket life like not-quite-identical bookends, giving us the time of dark and wet and quiet before we start going, going, going as life demands far too often. The season of winter, the Dark of the Year, allows us to pause in this rat-race of work and family and action, action, action. Winter is a small death that gives us a moment to breath, mentally and emotionally.


So how do we take advantage of this time when we can get back in touch with ourselves and those closest to us during the major holidays of the season of the Holly King?

Thanksgiving

Many Pagans (and Christians, for that matter) do not consider Thanksgiving to be a holy day. But a holiday (holy day) it is.


I would argue that Thanksgiving is the natural extension of Samhain. After celebrating the time of Death and what has passed, we move on to appreciation for what we still have. We gather with friends, family and food to embrace our emotional and physical wealth. We gather in groups to pool our resources, reveling in the duel affluence of luxurious, sensual foods and the emotional plenty of friends and family to share it.

What better follow-up for the Death of the Active Year then to celebrate those who we want to be languid around?

Of course, no Thanksgiving is complete without the sensual experience of those treasured, beloved foods shared with all, and the languid aftermath of the feasting, when everyone sits around and indulges in some light conversation or gossip, or enjoying games that don’t get played during those times when we are all too busy being active.

I think that a lot of people make a mistake during Thanksgiving. They forget the purpose of celebration. This is not the time for taking up the responsibility of supplying everything; it is the time of pooling resources. It is not meant to be spent among those who bring out negative emotions; it is a celebration of gratitude and love. Pressure to be perfect has become part and parcel of the holiday season, but allowing that pressure to choose who and how you participate is still a choice. Choose to make it the celebration it should be.

Many blessings during your Languor in the Dark of the Year!

Part 1 * Part 2 * Part 3

 

The Dark of the Year: In Praise of Past (Part 1)

Part 1 * Part 2 * Part 3

During this time of year, the dark of the year, we as Pagans have a fairly unique opportunity within our spiritual wheel of the year. We have the opportunity to grow, spiritually, internally, rather than externally. The Wheel of the Year shows us how to use the energy of Nature to develop in a healthy cycle.


The Dark of the Year is the time of introverts, when humanity as a whole goes from exuberant, exo-energetic creatures to inner-focused beings who welcome the dark and calm of semi-hibernation. We don’t sleep the season away like the bear, but rather we enjoy a certain lethargy of the body, which allows us to grow our mental and emotional selves. We embrace the Yin in the world, the Feminine in ourselves, the dark/cold/wet/gestational parts of Nature.


In animals, a “false” hibernation is often called torpor or languor. I, for one, like “languor,” or “languid.” The word (words are power, remember) calls up in my mind an image of sensuality, of liquid, passive, flowing, small movements. Isn’t that what we crave during the Dark of the Year? Lying in bed, snuggling with family and blankets, lounging around the home with warm, liquid foods and drinks. Celebrating life and survival while death (dark, cold, wet weather) prowls around the periphery.


Death and gestation are two faces of the same coin. They bracket life like not-quite-identical bookends, giving us the time of dark and wet and quiet before we start going, going, going as life demands far too often. The season of winter, the Dark of the Year, allows us to pause in this rat-race of work and family and action, action, action. Winter is a small death that gives us a moment to breath, mentally and emotionally.


So how do we take advantage of this time when we can get back in touch with ourselves and those closest to us during the major holidays of the season of the Holly King?

Samhain

Samhain is the Final Harvest in the Wheel of the Year. This is the time when we finalize our homes, families, selves, and plans in preparation for the Dark. We get that last little bit of psychological food in our metaphorical bellies before we chill out for the season.


It is also the Death of the Sun/Oak King, a god that represents produce/production/action/Yang. He is that force that gets us out of the house on the first Spring day, who has us doing sports, crafts, and vacations with rock climbing, water slides and snorkeling. Now, he’s dead, giving his body as the Final Harvest to supply our Languor during the Dark of the Year. His death gives us permission to be languid, to do nothing more (physically) than get by.

Samhain is the time for looking back and celebrating death and those who have died, apropos for the festival of the Death of the Oak King. It is the season for remembering what and who has come before. It is the time for embracing those people who have changed you, for better or worse, and have passed on, either in death or simply by moving out of your life.


It is especially appropriate to look back at the “life” of your personal Oak King, your activities for the year, and remember them and how they have changed you over the course of the year. It is a good time for assessing what you’ve done and how that is working for you, or not. It is a time of recollection and evaluation. It is time to appreciate how you have grown, by your own motivation or by the influence of people and circumstances.


Many blessings during your Languor in the Dark of the Year!

Part 1 * Part 2 * Part 3

Don't be friends with fat people

This is more of an annoyance than anything else... You look at a "Top 10" ways to keep on your diet/cut calories/lose weight in one week type of list, and there is always something like it. It's the advice that you eat like your companions, so don't eat with fat people.

What?!?

The size of your waistband is
directly proportional to
the number of days
you will live when
Starbucks runs out of foamed milk.

There are many reasons this is a load of crap, and the least of them is that it's dead wrong. That advice makes many assumptions that may or may not be the case.

Assumption #1: Your fat friends are fat cuz they have no will power/self regulation about eating.
This is wrong simply because apparently whoever came up with this gem has never heard of the concept of different metabolisms. Never mind the slew of metabolic disorders that can result in someone who eats only 1500 calories a day ballooning to over 300 lbs. That's right, some people cannot eat the same foods as those skinny-minnies and keep their weight stable. Some people can eat just enough to stay alive, but put on weight. And as much as modern society doesn't want to believe it, some people are just weight gainers.

In fact, historically, humans BRED for that. You heard right. We bred obesity into our genes. How? Well, back in the eras of Raphael, feudalism, and regular food shortages (most of human history) the attractive ones were the ones who had the resources to pack on a few extra pounds. Those who had caloric reserves carried around on their thighs and butts were more likely to weather famines. So, who has babies and passes on their genetic joys? Chubby, survivor chicas!

Yeah, NOW I feel like
downing a pint of B&J's...

Assumption #2: When you see someone eating more, you will eat more.
Or maybe you just give yourself permission to fill up instead of maintaining an iron fist on your eating so that YOU don't look like the over-indulging one. Maybe?

Assumption #3: You are just one subconscious stimulus away from ending up on the Biggest Loser.
That's right, your body and mind are conspiring against you being the stick-thin hottie you know you can be, if you can just turn off those stupid "you're hungry, EAT!" signals. Or maybe you should take a lesson from this:

This is the picture of a
TEMPTRESS!!

A show that I forget the name of that got cancelled pretty fast had this character, a young, pretty actress who was trying out for a part in a movie. This part required her to gain about 30 lbs., so she started eating, and eating. This character was also the token bitch, and while she was eating someone commented that she was being a really nice person during this time. The response was (paraphrased): "Yeah, I thought she was a mean person, but it turns out she was just hungry!"

I died laughing. But seriously, I get grumpy when I'm hungry. Stormie gets grumpy when he's hungry. I can safely assume that many people (if not all) get grumpy when they are hungry. Don't be grumpy, hang out with fat people (cuz they MAKE you eat).


Enough with the assumptions. Two points to make:
Really? Now maybe you don't want to listen to me, seeing as I'm capable of surviving any famine Mother Nature can throw down, but is life so unbearable as a non-model-skinny person that a couple extra calories once in a while is going to be enough to throw away what is very likely a decent friendship? Really?

And, is that the kind of superficial biased attitude that we should in any way allow our kids to grow up with? By limiting our friends either by their weight or by the weight they will "MAKE" us, doesn't that mean those little observing everything, missing nothing rug rats should be picking up on the message of "Don't be friend with fat people."

I'm telling you, I'm an awesome friend.

Keep an Eye Out: Adventures in Keeping Glasses in One Piece

"DS got glasses at 2 years old. We reinforced that he had to wear them for about a month, then he was fine. We get the cheap ones at Walmart, cuz he is a 5 yo boy and there is nothing on this earth that will keep him from being hard on his glasses. Walmart fixes them for free when he breaks them in less then a year. I would die from a heart attack if they lasted a whole year."

"Oh, I'm sure his glasses are just FINE..."

I wrote this to reassure a fellow mama about her young child getting glasses "already." And it's true, but a very brief look at the situation. The whole situation involves some very delicate maneuvering around family perogatives.

You see, bug does well with his glasses, but he is still a little boy with all the tendencies of a little boy to break EVERYTHING! So we get inexpensive glasses from Walmart where we can get them repaired every time they break.

We still have to buy a pair every year or so. This is where it gets tricky. See, once I picked up a pair of glasses from memory - Bug was not with me for sizing. They fit perfectly.

Enter, the problem. Now, others who contribute to the glasses adventure think that they can do the same. And they FAIL. The glasses were WAAAY too big. However, they were what we had, and not being wealthy, we used them. This means that Bug had glasses that fell down on his nose (until he started to grow into them, at least).

They aren't too big,
his FACE is too SMALL!

So these "others" took Bug to the eye doctor (because of his particular issues, he sees a specialist 4 hours away) and were informed that Bug was looking over his glasses (not often) and he would have to get a patch if he kept it up (YAY for fear-tactics).

So they went and bought a VERY expensive, name-brand pair of wire-rims. These were broken within two months... and not from Walmart, so we weren't even sure they would fix them (at no charge - remember, not wealthy).

Hey, this is what the top of
Bug's dresser looks like...

Long story, short... Walmart has fixed all Bug's glasses, we now have three pair of glasses for him, only MAMA can judge Bug's size, and name-brands don't protect against 5-year-olds/acts of Gods.

The lesson I've taken from this? I may despise Walmart with all my heart (more on that later), but they get my business for glasses. Well, Bug's glasses... only cuz this site doesn't have kid's glasses.
(Update (7/9/12): that site now DOES include children's sizes!)

Magickal Tools: If you use them, they will work...

The high chair tray is
being put to good use!

There is a half-finished staff by my front door. There is a mostly-done wand on the entertainment center. There are several skull-bead and bone pendant necklaces scattered about the house.

And this is just the stuff we make for sale, never mind the staffs, swords, wands, Tarot, and ritual jewelry and statuary on and around our altars.

Our side-by-side altars (pic taken in
the wee-small hours of the night).

The funny thing about this stuff being all over is that the kids ask about it.

"What is it for?" "Why do we have it?" "How does it work?"

Having the extra kids around, we also get the disbelief questions, also: "You can't REALLY cast spells with a staff... Can you?" To which (witch, haha) I gleefully respond, "Um, yeah, I can."

Or turn your brother into
a pink bunny...

I guess we could be like some people and keep all the precious and/or possibly harmful objects (hey, a wand is dangerous... you could shoot your eye out!) away from the kids until it is determined that they are old enough. But we would miss out on the everyday conversations about our religious beliefs.


I have to admit, one of my favorites is the periodically recurring "witches are evil" discussion. First of all, claiming that you are a witch to small children who are convinced that all witches are of the green-skinned, Wizard of Oz, gonna-getcha variety never fails to evoke a facial expression of epic hilarity.

Not a comfortable fit...
Just sayin'

Personal humor aside, most religions have some way of periodically exposing their children to the expression of their beliefs and practices. Why should we be in the broom closet to our own kids?