The Internet is a blessing. The Internet is a curse. When Minnesota police officer Jeronimo Yanez shot and killed black driver Philando Castile during a routine traffic stop, Diamond Reynolds was sitting in the passenger’s seat. She had her smart phone out. She livestreamed the incident to the Internet. Unlike conventional broadcasting, which includes a short delay so that unacceptable words or images can be bleeped out, livestreaming goes to the world instantly. Even if the Minnesota police seized Reynolds’ camera, her livestreamed video can’t be censored or recalled. I see that as a blessing. Cops may see it as a curse. Cameras similarly captured video of Alton Sterling being shot and killed by a police officer in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. And of two police officers in Calgary beating up a road-rage offender.
Levelling the playing field Ever since 1991, when a witness videotaped four police officers’ treatment of Rodney King in Los Angeles, video has changed the rules of law enforcement. In 2007, a bystander taped four RCMP officers killing distraught Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski in Vancouver International Airport. Official RCMP announcements tried to fudge the facts. The number of officers. The number of Taserings. The use of pepper spray. The video exposed their equivocations. The Castile shooting would have been the word of a trained professional police officer against the word of a civilian. An untrained civilian. A woman. A black woman. An unmarried black woman. Diamond Reynolds would have had all the cards stacked against her. But her live video levelled the playing field.
Venue for venom
On the other hand, though, the Internet also makes it possible for anyone to send messages that foment misunderstanding at best, hatred at worst. Until I got a new spam filter, I might get a dozen messages a day warning that Muslims were taking over “our country” and would soon impose Sharia law on everyone. A few of those still sneak through. One showed pictures of hundreds of Muslim men and women blocking Madison Avenue in New York while they prayed. The text declared, “This is purely and simply a clandestine invasion -- taking control by stealth -- just a bit at a time, but always seeking (and getting) more and more… Muslims are surreptitiously claiming your country as their own.” Whoa! Men and women praying together? Kneeling side by side? Shoulders touching? That’s contrary to Islamic practice. It suggests that, far from imposing eastern rules, these Muslims are already adapting to North American standards.
But then the anonymous writer demands: “What do YOU think would happen if Christians or Jews or any other religion entered New York en mass and blocked off Madison Avenue…?” I thought we had. Every year, Christians block off Fifth Avenue in New York for an Easter Parade. Toronto’s annual Christmas Parade closes most downtown streets. In past years, we shut down Memphis and Selma for human rights. A million people swarmed Washington DC to protest war, and to defend the environment. But those weren’t religious demonstrations, you may object. Really? Weren’t they based on Jesus’ teachings? Weren’t they expressions of our deepest beliefs, our convictions? Or is Christianity only a private matter between me and God, and screw everyone else?
Unable to remain passive I don’t know what to do about these Internet messages. Especially when they come from friends, relatives, or acquaintances. I can delete, delete, delete. And I do. I can refuse to forward them to other unsuspecting recipients. But those actions do nothing to reduce the curse factor of the Internet. I don’t think the senders are being deliberately malevolent. They simply sense that some cultural norms they have taken for granted all their lives are being affected by newcomers. And they don’t like it. So when they read a message that seems to confirm their unease, they forward it. As I write this column, I’m persuading myself that I can no longer remain passive about inflammatory emails. When I know the senders personally, I have an obligation to ask if they’ve thought about what they’re doing. Do they intend to foment hostilities against a particular ethnic or religious group? Do they actually know anything about this group -- other than what they’ve been told by these anonymous postings? Would they want others making similar criticisms of their own practices, their own religion? I won’t accuse them of being racist bigots. Or of deliberately fostering ill-feeling. I will ask them to think about what they’re doing. Some of them may strike me off their mailing lists. I may never hear from them again. That’s the risk I take, I guess.
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Copyright © 2016 by Jim Taylor. Non-profit use in congregations and study groups encouraged; links from other blogs welcomed; all other rights reserved. To send comments, to subscribe, or to unsubscribe, write jimt@quixotic.ca
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YOUR TURN
Before I get to the letters, I have a couple of items to share.
First, to give credit where credit is due, today’s column got started when Doreen Beaton asked me how to deal with some of the mail she receives. That got me started. Doreen commented, “Thank you for your answer. I think you should adapt it for one of your Sharp Edges!” So I did.
Second, I apologize for the confusion some of you may have felt when you got a notice that you had just subscribed to a new mailing list. You hadn’t. We (that is, the guy I depend on to keep my computers healthy) had just switched the mailing list over from an unreliable 12-year-old server to a newer one. The new computer treated this as the start of a whole new mailing list, and sent out automated welcome messages.
Relax! All is continuing as before. You don’t need a password, or a personal profile, and you won’t be getting monthly reminders of your status. If you want to respond to my columns, just hit the “Reply” button as usual.
Okay, now to the mail about last week’s column on the CRA and the Unitarians.
Sterling Haynes wrote, “I have been a Unitarian since 1935. Congratulations on your article today… We have been bullied by Stephen Harper and George W. Bush. Yes, it has been a witch hunt against justice, and these men have affected the economy of our churches over a number of years in Canada and Texas.” Sterling offered some illustrations of how the Koch brothers have influenced the media climate and funded right-wing think tanks like the Fraser Institute.
Tom Watson wondered “what it would take to change the CRA's shameful approach?”
The column raised some questions for Robert Caughell: “Until the CRA gets a new directive from the minister in charge, it can claim to just be following orders. Has the CRA been told to stop the charitable organizations witchhunt? I thought that I read/heard somewhere that it had, but I could have misheard.”
Mary Collins simply wrote, “Powerful! Thank you Jim.”
On the other hand, Mike Donovan didn’t like the column at all: “Your piece today suggests that the Harper government and the CRA are targeting certain charities on a political basis which is a pure left wing biased report of what is really occurring. Get your head out of your butt, see what is really going on, and report the facts objectively.”
One of the John Shaffers offered another example of systemic injustice: “Your article is very disturbing. Hopefully some of the ‘injustice’ against those who work for justice in Canada can be turned around. “This morning the Seattle Times had a disturbing article by columnist Danny Westneat ‘Cop Stops Ron Sims 8, Me 0’. Sims, a long-time leader of King County, shared with the reporter than he has been stopped 8 times by local police, illustrating that often it is a crime to be ‘driving while black’. “The last time the policeman merely asked Sims where he was going. Sims has been black long enough to know better than to object, but he thought, ‘What business is that of yours?’ [JT: Does the cop ask every white driver where he’s going?] “This is how one of the more respected leaders in our city is treated? How about many others? No wonder there is so much anger in our land.”
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TECHNICAL STUFF
This column comes to you using the electronic facilities of Woodlakebooks.com. If you want to comment on something, send a message directly to me, at jimt@quixotic.ca. Or just hit the “Reply” button. To subscribe or unsubscribe, send me an e-mail message at the address above. Or subscribe electronically by sending a blank e-mail (no message) to sharpedges-subscribe@lists.quixotic.ca. Similarly, you can un-subscribe at sharpedgesunsubscribe@lists.quixotic.ca. You can access several years of archived columns at http://edges.Canadahomepage.net. I write a second column each Wednesday, called Soft Edges, which deals somewhat more gently with issues of life and faith. To sign up for Soft Edges, write to me directly, at the address above, or send a blank e-mail to softedgessubscribe@lists.quixotic.ca
PROMOTION STUFF…
Ralph Milton has a new project, called Sing Hallelujah – the world’s first video hymnal. It consists of 100 popular hymns, both new and old, on five DVDs that can be played using a standard DVD player and TV screen, for use in congregations who lack skilled musicians to play piano or organ. More details at www.singhallelujah.com Ralph’s HymnSight webpage is still up, http://www.hymnsight.ca, with a vast gallery of photos you can use to enhance the appearance of the visual images you project for liturgical use (prayers, responses, hymn verses, etc.) Wayne Irwin's “Churchweb Canada,” an inexpensive service for any congregation wanting to develop a web presence, with free consultation. <http://www.churchwebcanada.ca> Isabel Gibson’s thoughtful and well-written blog, www.traditionaliconoclast.com Alva Wood’s satiric stories about incompetent bureaucrats and prejudiced attitudes in a small town – not particularly religious, but fun; alvawood@gmail.com to get onto her mailing list. Tom Watson writes a weekly blog called “The View from Grandpa Tom’s Balcony” – ruminations on various subjects, and feedback from Tom’s readers. Write him at tomwatso@gmail.com or twatson@sentex.net
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