Christians on Top

The Supreme Court is hearing a case that involves Christian prayers at town board meetings of elected officials. Because the prayers are Christian, which is on top of our religion hierarchy in the U.S., for centuries many people have not questioned whether the practice is in violation of the separation of church and state and say that the prayers are inclusive of the nation. Obviously this opinion is based on hierarchy because what is good for the top is considered to be acceptable for everyone in the hierarchy.

The religion hierarchy is so strong in the U.S., particularly among the right wing who depend on religion to maintain their power and their base, that just talking about Christian prayers cannot provide enough traction to make the hierarchy visible. Columnist Jeff Schweitzer uses role reversals to bring focus to the special privileges  that Christianity enjoys.  

"The obvious problem of course is that not all citizens believe Christ is our savior. No big deal, you say? What is the problem you ask? Would any Christian or Jew tolerate a town meeting opened exclusively with an Islamic prayer from the Quran? How would our Christian citizens feel if the meeting were opened with pleas to Allah? Or if the opening prayer was done in Hebrew? The answer is obvious and self-evident: it would be offensive, and clearly counter to the ideal of freedom of religion. That reality simply cannot be denied. Still not convinced? Then imagine an imam, bearded and turbaned, in traditional dress, standing before our United States Congress, invoking the Quran to open every session of the House and Senate. Not comfortable with that? Then imagine how every Jew, Muslim and Atheist feels with each opening of a government meeting with a Christian prayer."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeff-schweitzer/the-paralyzing-premise-of_b_4221875.html

To understand the possible liabilities to a person who is considering holding the top accountable by objecting to Christian top-of-the-hierarchy practices, we can read comments from Barry Lynn:  You need a zoning variance for your small business. You will need a majority vote and you will be noticed – and indeed singled out – if you happen to reject the prayer-giver’s invitation to “bow your head,” “join with us” or “stand up.” What attorney would counsel a client to make herself known as a person not going along with the crowd as she, moments later, seeks assistance from that body?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/on-faith/wp/2013/11/11/prayer-case-at-the-supreme-court-debunking-some-myths/

Ranking Movies to Encourage Strong Women

Swedish cinemas have started to rank films according to gender bias. That's a welcome change.

In order to receive an "A" rating, a movie must have at least two named female characters who talk to each other about something other than men. Wow, this seems like this requirement would not be difficult to pass, but many films have failed, including "Lord of the Rings," all "Star Wars" movies, and all but one Harry Potter film.

This rating is a refreshing way to pull us out of our hierarchical programming that doesn't notice when men dominant our movies, and women are relegated to subordinate and submissive roles.  We hope that this rating system spreads quickly, so that we reach their stated goal of seeing more female stories and perspectives on the cinema screen.


http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/sweden-introduces-new-feminst-rating-system-to-show-if-film-passes-bechdel-test-for-female-characters/story-e6frg6n6-1226754574387

Bullying Grooms Leaders of Hierarchies

Bullying is receiving well-deserved attention these days. We are pleased because bullying is one behavior that our children learn at an early age that can be used to build and maintain hierarchies. The excuse “boys will be boys” is dangerous because it trains the top group that they will be allowed to act as they please and be let off the hook when they dominate and destroy others.

CNN reports that in her latest book, "Masterminds and Wingmen: Helping Our Boys Cope with Schoolyard Power, Locker-Room Tests, Girlfriends, and the New Rules of Boy World," Rosalind Wiseman reveals the ways boys think, uncovers their complicated emotional lives and explores how the power of their social hierarchies influences their emerging identity.

The article describes a principal who dismissed a bullying charge and tried to convince a mother of a victim that the behavior wasn't bullying, but instead, it was simply boys being mean. Wiseman says that principals that act like this are literally telling boys they have the carte blanche to not only continue the behavior, but increase the abuse because they can get away with it.

These principals are training boys to build hierarchies and use harassment and violence to stay on top. In order to stop our hierarchies, we must stop grooming those on top beginning at an early age.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/22/living/boy-bully-wiseman/

Dixiecrats and the Tea Party

The recent shutdown in Washington shows again the shift in our country that is forcing the top of our hierarchies to go further and further out. This trend is described on the Death Struggle page of our website (go to "Hierarchies," to "Death Struggle.") 

Using a see-saw model for our country, the Tea Party is on one side, building outdated hierarchies which benefit a few. The other side represents everyone working to bring our history of hierarchies to a close.  

The Tea Party members who want to conserve hierarchies can hold on to power on this see-saw in two ways:

1. Gain weight 

2. Increase distance 

They can't gain weight because fewer and people agree with them, even fellow Republicans. So they must go farther out in their hierarchy ideology to keep the balance. But they can only go so far as eventually they will fall off the end and be out of the game. 

In the New Yorker article "The G.O.P's Dixiecrat Problem," the current Tea Party is compared to other hierarchy builders who wanted to stall African American civil rights by aligning against Democrats and with Republicans. The last lines of the article predicts the fate of our modern-day hierarchy-holdouts: 

"Sixty-five years ago, the Dixiecrats spearheaded a movement toward the G.O.P. The Tea Party is an echo of that same movement, save for one distinction: in 2013, the rebels have nowhere left to go."

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2013/10/the-gops-dixiecrat-problem.html?mbid=gnep&google_editors_picks=true

Welfare for the NFL

The National Football league is wealthy, but still gets welfare from the taxpayers. We are so used to hierarchies, that we don't question when the top gets their welfare checks from tax payers. Easterbrook's article describes how the owner of the Washington Redskins [with their hierarchical racist name] is worth $1 billion, yet the taxpayers paid $4 million to upgrade a workout facility.

Taxpayers in Ohio were hit with a $33 Million bill for stadium costs while the county cut $23.6 million from their health-and-human services budget. In Minnesota, the legislature, facing a $1.1 billion budget deficit, extracted $506 million from taxpayers to pay for a new football facility. Although the capital for the stadiums is being underwritten by the public, most football revenue generated within the facility will be pocketed by club owners. In NFL city after NFL city, the pattern is repeated. The extremely profitable and one of the most subsidized organizations in American history, the NFL also enjoys tax-exempt status.

The article concludes:  "Until public attitudes change, those at the top of the pro-football pyramid will keep getting away with whatever they can. Ordinary people are taxed so a small number of NFL owners and officers can live as modern feudal lords and ladies. Football is the king of sports, based on inequality and greed."

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2013/10/how-the-nfl-fleeces-taxpayers/309448/

Congress Lives the Lives of The Rest of Us

We have seen many emails and petition requests that demand that when Congress shuts down the government, they should personally feel the same economic effects that their decisions are forcing on so many people who are losing pay for being sent home from their jobs.

Typical of any hierarchy, the people on the top make decisions that don't personally hurt them, but very  much hurts people in lower levels of the hierarchy.

How about health care? Let members of Congress feel what it is like not to be covered, or to be covered by a less comprehensive policy than they are given as part of being in Congress. We'll see how fast they move to bring health care to them and their families.

Tea Party Diversity - White Males from Different States

"We've got a diverse caucus, frankly," John A Boehner said, when asked at a news conference last Thursday who, exactly, was running his conference.

But to Boehner, diversity must mean that members of the Tea Party congressional caucus are from different states, because otherwise, it is hard to know what he means by diversity. Every one of the 15 Republicans mentioned in the article are white males. We might assume by their policies that they are all heterosexual,  Christian, and able-bodied, though we haven't researched that fact.

Here's the list, in the order they are mentioned in the article.

Ted Yoho
John A. Boehner
Justin Amash
Scott Rigell
Tom Graves
Thomas Massie
Ron Paul
Ted Cruz
Tim Huelskamp
Steve King
Marlin Stutzman
Mark Meadows
Michael G. Grimm
Tim Griffin
Sean P. Duffy
Mike Lee

If we want to talk with members of the Tea Party about making laws that positively effect the lives of our diverse country, it looks like the diversity that matters to them is already being well served.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/20/us/politics/conservatives-take-turns-standing-up-to-boehner.html?pagewanted=1&src=recg&_r=0