Grammar. After the last blog, a good friend pointed out a mistake. It was not a trivial error.
Once again, I deeply appreciated someone making a comment because I learned something. The error was not an editorial oversight. The error was a mistake I have made all my life.
Prejudice is a noun. Prejudiced is an adjective. Thus. I can have prejudice, but I am prejudiced.
I never gave thought to the distinction and misused the terms all my adult life. I will try to remember the distinction but overcoming 70+ years of thinking one way will not be easy.
I talked to another friend, who is an editor and reader of my blog. He said it is a common error and he thinks it is because we do not put an emphasis on the “d” in prejudiced when we say it.
He said he also had noted my usage in the blog. I encouraged him, as I do all of you, please let me know about errors or ideas you believe to be wrong. I want to keep learning.
I thank both of them for their knowledge and interest.
Besides, I will not be put on hiatus for two weeks for my error as Whoopi Goldberg suffered for her error.
Whoopi Goldberg. A long-time host on The View, Whoopi was recently suspended for two weeks for comment she made in discussing the banning of a book on the Holocaust.
She said “Let’s be honest about this, The Holocaust isn’t about race; it’s about man’s inhumanity to man.”
She also said “Let’s talk about it like it is. It’s a problem, it does not matter if you are Black or White, we all eat one another.”
I found the reactions to be widely varied and interesting.
Some of the outcry argued she was seeing the problem through the eyes of a Black woman and did not understand the role of race and racism in centuries of Jewish history.
Some argued she should not have been suspended for what they considered a misstatement. On the left, some argued it was because she was Black. A White woman would not have been suspended. On the right Ted Cruz also argued against the suspension. He thought it is an example of the cancel culture gone wrong.
Some argued the suspension hurt the opportunity for a teaching moment about Jewish history.
Race. I believe the suspension hurt the opportunity for a teaching moment about race. The term race has been used in a divisive derogatory manner about Jews since the Spanish inquisition in the 1400s.
The Nazi’s and many others thought about race as a biological factor defining species. In that regard Whoopi was wrong. The Holocaust was about race, AS THE NAZI’S CONCIEVED OF RACE.
I would like everyone to understand race is a social construct and not a biological trait defining species. The Nazis were wrong to believe race is a biological trait.
I continue to ask myself –why we keep the race paradigm when race has such an evil history? I keep thinking there are other social constructs we can use to view the problem and a different view might even do more in the battle for justice. In that regard, although Whoopi was wrong about the Nazi viewpoint, she may have proposed a reasonable but different view of the situation.
Human View. I believe she is saying the fact that we are killing each other is a factor of the HUMAN condition. She is not denying the holocaust. She is not reducing the evil of the holocaust. She is not reducing the evil against Jews in history; an evil that continues into the present.
I would suggest she is looking at the problem through a different lens. I do not find it to be the lens of a Black female but rather the lens of a human being. I believe her perspective gives good insight into evil because in my opinion cultural prejudice and/or religious prejudice can occur in all humans. Prejudice coupled with the need for power can lead to injustice and atrocities.
If the Holocaust is viewed prejudice in conjunction with the desire for power, then we can ask — why do some humans have such a deep desire/need to dominate others that they would kill them? Addressing that question might help us understand not only the Holocaust but also the Killing Fields of the Kymar Rouge in Cambodia, the call to “kill all infidels,” the atrocities of Joseph Stalin, Rwanda genocide and many other mass-killings. I believe that inquiry would be more productive that a dismissal of the Holocaust as an act of White supremacy.
The Holocaust was an attempt at supremacy by some whites but based on a false premise about race. The word white is unnecessary because the conflict was between two white groups. The problem is the desire or need for supremacy by some humans.
Big Game. Sunday is the Super Bowl. The Chiefs are out, so I do not have a favorite. I just hope for another good, exciting game like the games we have had throughout the playoffs. I cannot remember so many close exciting games.
Love. Monday is Valentine’s Day. I hope everyone has someone you love and someone who loves you every day. I know I do.
Preaching. Our pastor continues on her sabbatical. Thus, I have the privilege of preaching again this Sunday. If you are interested the broadcast will be at 9: 15 on the Facebook site for Providence Presbyterian Church, Mobile, Alabama. I had a very interesting coincidence occur in my life. The sermon will in part relate to that event.
Peace
Jerry
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