Tuesday, April 14, 2015

Other


The impulse to separate some groups of people from the category of the human, is, however, a universal one. The enemies we kill in war, the convicted prisoners we lock up for life, even the distant workers who manufacture our clothes and toys -- how could any society function if the full humanity of all these were taken into account? In a decent society there are laws to resist such dehumanization, and institutional and moral forces to protest it. When guards at Rikers Island beat a prisoner to death, or when workers in China making iPhones begin to commit suicide out of despair, we regard these as intolerable evils that must be cured. It is when a society decides that some people deserve to be treated this way -- that it is not just inevitable but right to deprive whole categories of people of their humanity -- that a crime on the scale of K.L. becomes a possibility. It is a crime that has been repeated too many times, in too many places, for us to discuss it with the simple promise of never again.
from The System, by Adam Kirsch in The New Yorker, April 6, 2015 


Oliver and I are speaking this afternoon to a class of fifth grade students at a very exclusive and progressive private school in Los Angeles. The students are studying social injustice and disability, so our talk will be about our experiences with disability. We plan on talking about how people perceive those with disabilities, how the history of disability rights has affected the lives of the disabled and how work continues to be necessary to ensure that all human beings, regardless of their intellectual or physical capabilities are treated with and live a life of dignity. We will, of course, be talking mainly about our own lives with our beloved Sophie -- how her unique and sometimes difficult life has transformed and shaped ours. We'll be talking about #dontstarepaparazzi , too, in the goofy, lighthearted way that sustains us.

14 comments:

  1. I am so sad today, thinking about things like that quote. Some days all of the horridness of humanity just feels like a weight upon me.
    But thinking about you and Oliver talking to students- that is a spark of light. Thank you.

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  2. It's kind of wonderful that Oliver is doing this with you. Those kids will hear everything from him. You'll be a fantastic duo.

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  3. This is a wonderf thing for you and Oliver to do. I imagine that the students will be changed by what you share, and will remember it. Let us know how it goes, please!

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  4. Looking forward to your post about this...

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  5. How cool ! I know you'll both stand tall and brave. Oliver has great power in speaking to his peers. I'm sure they will be impressed and take with them something of what they've heard.

    Interesting that you and Ms. Moon both posted something today about prejudice in our society today.

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  6. What a great outing for your unschooling endeavor. You and Oliver will be a give to those students education. x0 N2

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  7. "...that a crime on the scale of K.L...." What is that? I wish to look the "K.L." up on google but don't know what this is. Please enlighten me. Thanks.

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    1. just me -- The article is about the Holocaust, and K.L. stands Konzentrationlager, or concentration camp.

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    2. Oh my! Okay...pardon my ignorance. I had never heard it referred to in that way. Thank you.

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  8. You and Oliver will change lives today. Good work, mama.

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  9. Good for you for sharing your perspectives. That is a very thought-provoking quotation. I suspect one reason we lose sight of the humanity of others is that there are so darn MANY of us, though people were certainly cruel to each other even when the world was much, much smaller and less globalized.

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  10. I love that you and Oliver are doing this.

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