Building Walls

I really like this quote from Hiroshi Motomura's recent contribution to the NY Times:

Redlining citizenship to exclude millions of children who will grow up in America reflects a vanity that we can solve society’s complex problems if we only pass tougher laws or enforce them more harshly. A wall around citizenship reflects the same sort of false hope that responds to economic crisis in Mexico with higher border fences, or to drugs with more prisons, or to conflict with more troops.

I must admit that the whole birthright citizenship debate -- and the accompanying vitriol -- disgusts me. I actually feel physical revulsion, even hatred. Have I fallen so far off the deep end that I can no longer even engage in a discussion about the merits of an argument? Has the debate become so polarized?

Motomura's theme of building walls ties into something else I've been thinking about lately. I recently read the book, Forever War's projection of what future society could look like (homosex as the norm! human cloning!). That, and the divisive issues of the day have gotten me thinking about norms and definitions. What IS citizenship? What IS marriage? ... What does it mean to be human?

Academic Scholarship

... is intolerable.

Just reading it makes me want to vomit.

Attempting to write it makes me want to die. Key word: attempting.

Ground Zero Mosque

I have no position on the Ground Zero mosque. I can see why the opponents oppose it, and I recognize that the builders have a legal right to build it, but I do not really see a good reason for or against building it.

But I just took a poll on FoxNews asking the following question:

Would you be all right with the construction of a large religious center in your town?

Yes -- Everyone has a right to practice their religion.
No -- Some of these places go way beyond religion
I'm not sure.
I don't care.
Other (post a comment)

(Note that the poll neither specifies a religion nor limits the location to Ground Zero.) And I was shocked that out of 27,573 votes, only 9.2% answered"Yes - everyone has a right to practice their religion" while 82.8% said "No - some of these places go way beyond religion." Even for FoxNews, that's ridiculously skewed. So much for the First Amendment. Freedom of religion for everyone ... except Muslims!

Granted, the poll results are no doubt framed by the debate over the placement of a mosque at Ground Zero. Perhaps folks are unable to divorce themselves from the passions of that controversy and answer in the hypothetical. Nevertheless, the poll suggests what should already be obvious: that the Ground Zero Mosque controversy is NOT just about a mosque being built at or near Ground Zero, about being sensitive to the victims' families. I won't even go into the kinds of things found in the COMMENTS to the poll (one example: 'the only place mosques belong is 10,000 feet underwater').

A Wall Street Journal op-ed a few weeks back had claimed that the debate wasn't about religious intolerance, but about common sense and sensitivity to victims, etc. etc. The writer took offense to being called a bigot. Granted there are no doubt some that oppose the mosque solely because it is near Ground Zero and wouldn't care if a mosque were built elsewhere.

But clearly the controversy is not completely innocent of religious intolerance either. News about opposition to mosques being built around the country only confirms this. It's not just about Ground Zero. It's about Americans fearing Islam.

There's a debate to be had about whether Islam and the Koran tend to encourage violence more than other religions and religious texts. (Though there's no debate to be had that not all Muslims are violent or subscribe to that interpretation of Islam or its holy text.) But so far that debate has not been had out in the open because the controversy has been falsely framed as one about Ground Zero and some people are being afraid of being labeled "intolerant" or "bigoted."

Well, if you truly believe Islam is more apt to breed terrorists and murderers, then you should be proud to be labeled "intolerant" and argue for what you believe in. With real facts and arguments, not just baseless accusations in the Fox forum.

Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit: Series Review

I enjoyed this 26 episode series quite a lot. Although many who have reviewed it have complained that its pacing is slow and that the middle episodes are boring, I quite enjoyed the slow pacing--it gave me plenty to time to take in the beautifully rendered landscapes.

Story and Characters

The story is a very simple one, and the series is definitely not a plot-driven series where you are dying to know what happens next. In fact, you pretty much know what will happen. What was interesting to me was the relationship between Prince Chagum and Balsa the Spear-Wielder, the main characters. I felt that the series was done so that you could barely notice the changes in Chagum from beginning to end--as if you were watching a child grow. And yet, if you took a step back, you could see immediately how much Chagum developed over the course of 26 episodes. The Jiguro/Balsa/Chagum relationship was just endearing to watch unfold, no matter how slow the pacing and how "nonexistent" the story. Balsa's English voice actress was phenomenal. Finally, a woman in an anime who doesn't shriek or speak in high-pitched tones! Hers was a fierce, strong, and yet warm voice--an ALTO! YES!

Animation

The animation in this show was stunning. The backgrounds and backdrops were done beautifully and with painstaking care. Everywhere our heroes traveled, the trees, the grass, the sky, the water--everything was just beautifully drawn and beautifully colored. The colors are brighter than I tend to like, but they were so crisp and perfect that I didn't mind at all. There weren't many action scenes for much of the middle chunk of the series, but the action scenes that did happen were very well done. Spear-fighting scenes are very different from sword-fighting ones.

Music

The music was very fitting--contemplative, I thought, just like the series. I liked the Mikado's themes and the composer's use of gongs and airy flutes. I didn't care much for the opening theme, though it was quite catchy, but the ending theme was pretty good.

Overall

Overall, as I said, I enjoyed Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit. It's hard to compare it to shows like Samurai Champloo or Rurouni Kenshin because it is so different. My favorite thing about the show, of course, was Balsa. Finally, a strong woman in anime that kicks ass with her spear, isn't a clumsy klutz, and doesn't speak with a high-pitched squeal! Balsa is the best female character I have seen in an anime. I suppose I will leave it at that.

Get Ready... Society's Going to Fall Apart... Oh Wait, No It Ain't

A federal judge in CA struck down the prop 8 ban on gay marriage yesterday. If it goes up to SCOTUS, I doubt the Court will uphold the decision.

But in the meantime, if the judge doesn't grant the requested stay...

SOCIETY IS GOING TO FALL APART AT THE SEAMS. Heterosexual marriages will start to collapse. Children will fall into moral disrepair. Oh-em-gee, the world will END! Just like it did in Massachusetts when these abominable marriages were allowed to occur!....

Oh wait, Massachusetts is still here. Oh wait, so is society.

Putting all the legal arguments aside, I find the whole policy argument opposing gay marriage so . . . unconvincing. To say the least.