Awesome post Carol +1
I'm re-reading Jittberbug Perfume right now, in fact. (with a character
inspired by Mr. Leary).
-Sarah
On Wed, Aug 6, 2014 at 4:55 PM, Carol Moore dc <carolmooredc(a)verizon.net>
wrote:
On 8/6/2014 2:34 PM, Michael J. Lowrey wrote:
On Wed, Aug 6, 2014 at 1:21 PM, Carol Moore dc <carolmooredc(a)verizon.net>
<carolmooredc(a)verizon.net> wrote:
Reading through a 2011 post by a woman who quit because she "didn't need the
grief" I was thinking about why guys keep editing despite it. And it
occurred to me men are taught to "take the pain", "pretend it doesn't
hurt",
"man up".
While I readily admit that that is the kind of bullshit masculinity I
was raised in, as a Wikipedian I persevere more in the "nil
desperandum" sentiment that has sustained so many of my fellow Quakers
and Wobblies to persist in the face of persecution and even murder.
You do the right thing, and keep doing the right thing as long as the
breath is in your body, because it is the right thing to do.
Definitely a "higher consciousness" response. As I just wrote on Jimbo
Wales page in reaction to another women editor who detailed the same
experiences I've had editing in controversial areas (and put in a box on my
Carolmooredc user page called Changing Wikipedia's "Mad Dog" Culture:
I totally agree with your experience, since I also edit controversial
topics. I was watching two male dogs on the each side of two neighbors'
fence the other day who spend at least an hour a day patrolling their side
and peeing on each others' pee. A visiting female dog came up to the fence
and started to pee and they both went nuts and scared her off. Here some
yell CUNT or other obscene words (in a perfectly innocent fashion, of
course) to scare off women. Luckily for them women choose not to reply with
words that would wither their kilts in a second. (Tempting as it might be.)
We seem to forget that humans have both an upper brain (the cerebrum) which
is relatively rational and a lower brain (the brainstem and cerebellum)
that deals with automatic and unconscious functions. I like to think that
humans can choose not to act like dogs automatically peeing all over
territory they think is theres and driving out any females. Of course,
that's more difficult in a culture that is riddled with patriarchal and
violent attitudes and entertainment, teaching young males and some females
to act like mad dogs. It would be nice if Wikipedia was a place that
totally transcends - yes for weeks at a time - the lower brain "mad dog"
modus operandi. (end)
==========
This really is the meaning of "consciousness raising". Us oldsters from
the sixties and seventies were very much into transcending the big bad
lower brain. (Tim Leary being an arch advocate of it.) Now science acts as
if it's all one big brain with little male and female sections. See even
wikipedia's human brain article.
The powers that be don't want us to know that we don't have to be violent
barely conscious autamotons willing to live, work, kill and die for them,
and other wise happy to get a meager paycheck, stuff our faces with junk
food and watch tv.
The word "self-actualization" which was our mantra is now a joke word.
It's like we're living in a "hip" version of the 1950s all over again,
but
with lots of rules and regulations to enforce political correctness and
give all power to the politicians so they can keep most of us - and
especially the young males - living barely above a lower brain level.
Yes, we old hippies did know something :-)
CM
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Sarah Stierch
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Diverse and engaging consulting for your organization.