How You Say It

Both of us say there are laws to obey,

But frankly, I don't like your tone.

-Leonard Cohen, Different Sides

Here's an actual honest to goodness case of an ironic situation: at a time when we have access to staggering amounts of information via the interweb (which my daughter insists that I call the internet, and so I continue to say interweb, just to bug her), we choose to use that access mostly to reinforce on our own personal echo chambers (and look at kittens and puppies).

A few posts came across my twitter feed this morning that mentioned that President Jimmy Carter was going to be speaking at a gathering of the Islamic Society of North America in Detroit.  Some of them were just, "Hey, Jimmy Carter is going to talk to a bunch of Muslims in Detroit, ain't that neat?" sort of posts.  Others were, "OH MY SWEET RELIGIOUS FREEDOM!  TRAITOROUS FORMER PRESIDENT IS SAYING HAMAS IS GOOD PEOPLE!" sorts of posts.

In actuality, Carter is going to talk to a bunch of American people, who happen to be Muslims, about a Carter center initiative and the subject of his latest book: A Call to Action: Women, Religion, Violence and Power, which I have sitting on the coffee table in my office right now.  Carter is going to talk to the Islamic Americans (and I suspect probably Canadians as well, but don't let that spoil the stew), about women's rights.  Carter is unapologetic in announcing that, of the three major Abrahamic faiths, Islam has the furthest road to travel with regards to the treatment of women.  Most of us know the headlines: honor killings, slavery, child brides, etc.  But the fact of the matter is it's actually much worse than that.  Women and children are the collateral damage in the great conflicts of the world, all of which are started and waged by male power structures.  President Carter is using his status as a former world leader, and as a Nobel Peace Prize winner, and as a generally well respected diplomat and do-gooder to advance the cause of equality and security for the women of the world.

I think this world needs a lot more Jimmy Carters.

Not everyone agrees, which is okay, you don't have to agree with me, but let's admit that objective truth takes a brutal beating in this world of inter-news.  Vetting appears to be a thing of the past, people only go to the first news source that doesn't appear to be selling Cialis or openly have a swastika anywhere on the header.  We distrust the "big" media, you know the ones with actual journalists, because we don't feel like they reinforce our opinions quite vehemently enough (except Fox News, they totally get people).

And then you have the blogs, like this one, where anyone who has the time and inclination can sit down and write stuff.  I generally strive for some level of circumspection and humility, understanding that I have at least as many assumptions and blind spots as Bill O'Reilly, mine are just different from his.

In order for there to be dialogue different people must first make this really crucial discovery: there are valid opinions that may be significantly different from mine.   I don't mean saying: "Everyone is entitled to their opinion," that's not good enough.  You have to admit, difficult though it may be, that those other opinions may in fact contain as much, if not more truth than yours.  Then, and only then, are you ready to actually listen and discuss.

Unfortunately, I don't see that happening very much in this great big world.

But until it does happen, we are going to continue to have problems.

To me, the fact that the Islamic Society of North America has invited Jimmy Carter, a Southern Baptist, to come and talk to them about women's rights, is a really, really good thing.  It shows an openness to learning about a much bigger issue in global Islam, than even extremism and terrorism: the oppression of half (maybe over half) of the world's Muslim people.

I have read Carter's book, he has found the things that need to be said, and says them in a way that is sensitive enough that the Islamic people can hear it.  That is valuable, that is kingdom of heaven work, and it is an eminent representation of American Christianity, it is the best of what we can be.  Our reactionary fear, well that's another story.