Seana Sperling

Archive for the ‘World Relations’ Category

The Arts Will Save Us

In Bullying, Civil Rights, Education, Mobbing, Peace, Politics, World Relations on July 15, 2012 at 18:35

By Seana Sperling

Arts and Media programs are disappearing in public schools across the country according to a May 2012 issue of The Nation, What Teachers Want. At the Community College where I work we lost the College Newspaper and the accompanying Journalism Program in 2009. Next it was Publishing Arts. Currently in 2012, they are cutting the Film Program and there is speculation of closing the Apparel Design Program. Has the college become merely a place to educate corporate automatons or is this a way to curb Freedom of Expression?

Throughout History Artists like Goya, Solzhenitzyn and Woody Guthrie expressed their political beliefs through their art, and as a result helped provoke socio-political change. Freedom of Expression is essential to a civil society and is essential for our happiness.

The Arts have saved me many times. Music, drawing, writing, cooking, creating anything is very uplifting. Even listening to music elevates the soul and there have been times when I have felt great joy because of a certain series of notes. I would not be here today if it were not for art.

There was a time in Fall 2006 when I was in a deep depression because of a horrendous slander campaign against me, which had provoked intense organized bullying by the community. People were actually hinting that I was some sort of sex offender, racist or thief and I was being tracked everywhere I went by the bullies. I wasn’t aware that these accusations were being directed at me until I found multiple postings on www.rottenneighbor.com in December 2007. While these things aren’t true, the accusations caused friends to drop me completely and not one person would tell me what was going on. It was a very dark time in my life.

I forced myself out of the shadows by singing along with my favorite CDs. I felt a little silly at first, because when you live in an apartment building, the neighbors can hear you. One neighbor did make fun of my singing, but you have to ignore the bullies.

I’m not the only one who feels inhibited about singing. Over the years I have noticed that many Seattleites seem reluctant to sing outside of their choirs, bands, churches or without a Karaoke Machine. I rarely even see anyone singing along with the radio in cars anymore. This is a sad statement about Seattle, which is ironically a city famous for its music scene. I suppose people fear appearing uncool. (In the 1990s people were walking around without umbrellas in the rain for this reason.) From what I’ve seen at Peace rallies and marches most the people chant, but you rarely see them singing. Always chanting gets boring and singing provides a much better vibe.

The Seattle Peace Chorus used to take part in the Peace marches. They were a nice addition and very inclusive, handing out lyric sheets if you wanted to join in. The arts, such as singing have played an important role in the history of U.S. protests. Imagine a scene from the 1960’s with hundreds of people singing, “We Shall Overcome.” Singing provides a strong and positive vibration. Would the Police send pepper spray into a multitude of voices?

In some cultures the arts are on a parallel with mysticism. Tibetan Throat singing is linked to mysticism. The Whirling Dervishes of the Sufi spin into spiritual trances and the Kecak (Spirit Dance) of Indonesia historically also provoked trances in the participants. In these cases music and dance is sacred.

Tibetan Monk Throat Singing (Tuvan Throat Singing) is a very interesting use of this positive vibration. I’ve tried it and although I’m not very adept, I can feel the vibration in my chest. The singing originates in the throat, but seems to echo through the trachea into the chest. I think I am making the correct sound, but it’s hard to be objective when the only critics are overly curious neighbors and my cats. (No neighbors have made fun of my Throat Singing thus far, but my cats have given me some odd looks.)

Buddhist culture seems to value art very highly. You have only to look at the beautiful Watts (temples) of Thailand to know how important art is to this Buddhist country. Evidently the spirits of Thailand have a great interest in the arts and the Thai people want to please the spirits. When I was visiting friends in Khon Kaen, we came upon an outdoor film one evening that was being hosted by a student. According to my friends, in Thai culture it is popular to earn merit by doing good deeds or otherwise pleasing the spirits, thus the student would earn merit by entertaining them.

That same week we visited the Turtle town. I can’t remember the name, but it was a very small town famous for having turtles. We saw lots of softball-sized turtles crawling around in a big pen, but later we came upon people of the town hand-weaving beautiful designs on large traditional looms, which I found much more interesting. They seemed very happy with their work, which brings me to another consideration. If we create something with love, or at least in good spirits, does the creation retain that energy? Can happiness be woven into the fibers of a Monk’s robes? Does our Sweat Shop-made, off-the-rack clothing retain the hard labor and anxieties of the seamstress? That hand-woven cloth was not for locals, but to be sold in the city, which reminded me of Nestle who replaced Ghana’s Yam fields with cash crops that were too expensive for the citizens to consume.

Other works of art like the Mandala Sand Paintings are beautiful creations, yet are not sold and deliberately brushed away after their creation. (Except for the few that were donated to museums.) There is no effort to preserve these works and the joy is within the creation rather than preservation. There is no attempt to sell the art and the ego is not attached. Maybe art is not supposed to be for sale. Perhaps this is how the idea of the “Sell Out,” originated.

I’ve never been to an art auction, but when I have seen them in films, the scene is usually an auditorium filled with wealthy folks nodding or lifting a finger to signal a bid. Is there a certain point when people who are so occupied with making money lose their ability to make art and therefore have to buy it?

After the devastating earthquake in Haiti, one Reporter on National News remarked that Haiti is a country of artists. There is little financial stability there unlike the neighboring Dominican Republic. Perhaps there is something to the idea of the “Starving Artist.” If we are not hungry spiritually, mentally and physically perhaps we are unable to create. Or is creativity a survival skill meant to strengthen us?

I have heard some people say that they are not creative. I think everyone is born with the ability to create and there are a multitude of ways to express it, but it needs to be cultivated. It needs to be encouraged and yes, taught. People have to feel confident to create and Arts Programs nurture this confidence.

If we aren’t creating are we busy destroying? It seems that in the new millennium some people drift into very corrupt behavior like gossiping, bullying, Cyberbullying, Cyberbaiting and stalking online and offline. There has been a sharp rise in bullying of all kinds in the schools, the workforce and communities in the last ten years. There are so many stories of teens or even adults taking their own lives because of group bullying. Perhaps the rise in bullying is a result of boredom and lack of creativity. Let’s bring the arts back to the classroom and especially the community at large.

FUN WITH LASERS: Interviews with Lasik and PRK Patients

In Education, World Relations on July 15, 2012 at 18:30

By Seana Sperling

I began hearing about Lasik in late 1999. I was at a party and two women were wearing dark glasses. Naturally I had to ask why and they said they had gone through Lasik surgery just two days before and their eyes were still extremely light sensitive. Aside from their fashion statement, they were ecstatic about their vision, which was close to 20/20 and practically improving by the hour.

They said they had gone to Canada because the price of surgery north of the border tends to be much cheaper. ($2000.00 or $3000.00 cheaper.) Also, Canadian doctors have been performing the operation for over eleven years while it was still relatively new in the U.S. They had also received a partner/buddy discount ($100.00 each) for doing the surgery as a pair. At first, the idea of Discount Surgery made me a little uncomfortable. Was there also some sort of free gift–compliments of Fingerhut?

A friend of mine (we’ll call him Mark) and I started gathering research on Lasik Surgery in the summer of 2000. Since Mark is a doctor, he was very thorough in his research and contributed reams of paper to my growing stack. The consensus seemed to be a high success rate with a minute risk factor. We were still apprehensive.

My main worry was of becoming blind from the operation. I was told by several staff and two different surgeons that the chances of the actual surgery causing blindness are nil, however, the very few cases of blindness that have occurred, were caused by post-operative infection. According to one of the doctors, one patient mowed his lawn a couple of days after the surgery and this resulted in an infection. (The surgeons now counter this possibility by giving all patients anti-bacterial drops as a preventative measure.)

Unfortunately, Mark had to leave to do his Residency in Michigan, so the mission was put on hiatus. Later that year, I started thinking about it again, so at my friend Joe’s birthday party I brought it up. Joe and I decided to make an appointment. The buddy-package was $975.00 each person–both eyes. I paid for additional insurance, which was about $50.00, bringing my total to $1024.00. (You pay in advance in either one or two installments by credit card.)

THE APPOINTMENT
When we went through the pre-operative appointment they checked our vision and the thickness of our corneas. (If the corneas are too thin a different procedure is required—the really scary one—see PRK.) They dilated our eyes and checked for any viruses or infections. After they finished inspecting and questioning, I was told I was a candidate for Lasik–not a great one, but a candidate. Joe was told he would walk out of the clinic with 20/20 vision. His corneas were evidently like slices of ham.

I was a little disappointed. My initial impression was that I would emerge from the clinic with perfect vision. From the consultation I found that the success rate varied, depending on the degree of the problem to be corrected. My prescription is fairly strong, minus seven in one eye and minus 5.25 in the other. In my case, the best vision they could promise me was 20/40, which is good enough to drive, but not to read, write or do detailed work. I’d be wearing glasses most of the time.

I decided against the operation and they promised to refund all of the $1024.00 I had paid. (They refund by check two weeks from the cancellation date. My refund arrived about four days late, but it was December, so I’m sure the holidays had slowed the postal system.) I opted out partially out of fear, but also because I get too frustrated if I can’t see well. The movie “Seven,” made me crazy because of the horrible lighting. What would I do if everything was, “just a little hard to see.”

Joe decided to have the surgery. I felt a mixture of jealousy and relief. I was relieved that I didn’t have to put my eyes through the stress, but a little jealous that my sight really didn’t have that much promise. I tagged along anyway.

GOING TO CANADA
When first hearing about the Clinic, I imagined several white, low-rise buildings in a rural setting where the light-sensitive patients could stumble around the grounds. The reality was a building the size of a Denny’s, buried amidst strip malls and pizza parlors. Where were the white-caned patients to stroll for their afternoon exercise?

It was around 1:00PM and the receptionist at the Clinic told us that Joe’s surgery would be over around 2:00PM or later because they were a little “behind.” We left Joe and headed to the nearby mall to kill some time. We returned about 2:15PM. As we pulled into the driveway, our hero emerged from the clinic wearing a pair of humungous, protective-eye-shades reminding me of the black and white film “The Fly.” Joe was in and out in so little time that Chris and I were half an hour late in picking him up.

JOE REVEALS THE GRUESOME PROCESS
Joe: First there was paperwork. They’re kind of mechanical with their questions, but very thorough. It’s like the same procedure we went through at the pre-operative exam. After that, they take you to a big room and lay you on a narrow table under a big machine. It kind of reminds me of a CAT Scan. It was a lot more uncomfortable than I’d expected. It’s painful when they pull your eyelids back with the spectrum, but it’s also painful when they’re doing the suction on the eyeball. It feels like your eyeball is being pinched all the way around and you have to stare at a light. Although it’s only 30 or 60 seconds an eye, it seems like an eternity. The smell of burning flesh is intense. I started getting slightly nauseated during the surgery.

The worst thing is that you have to watch it. You can’t help but watch it. There’s a flashing red light and you can see them pulling the flap back. You see them pull a piece of your eye off. Then they take something like a squeegee, and squeegee it back on. And you can’t blink. I turned down the sedative and now I’m sorry that I did. I would recommend taking it.

Afterwards, they guide you by the hand out of the room and you’re stumbling around in the dark and everything is really blurry. They put you in a dark room with other people. Of course when I got there, all four chairs were full, so I sat in an examination chair for a few minutes. Then one opened up and I sat in a comfortable leather chair. I was there for about ten minutes and then they came and shined a bright light in my eyes, which is kind of painful, but they were checking to make sure there were no folds and that everything was in place. Then they lead me out to the waiting room. It’s a very scary, freaky experience when you go in there even though they are very nice and professional.

Q: So how is your vision after surgery?

Joe: The right eye seems to be different than the left. I did experience more pain with my left eye even though they did it second. Everything is kind of hazy and my eyes are extremely light sensitive right now.

Q: What kind of pain?

Joe: You know how when you get soap in your eyes, it stings? Or when you sleep in your contacts and you wake up with them adhered to your eyes? They are itchy, like I have a hair in my eye or something. Everything seems really bright, but I have better focus now than usual.

Q: Would you have the surgery again? A Retouch? (These are sometimes necessary after a couple of years.)

Joe: Uh, well. Ask me tomorrow.

He kept talking about halos and I was wondering if he was seeing auras or something. Then I started worrying about my own aura. If someone could actually see it, what would it reveal? We returned to the mall after nightfall and in an episode of synchronicity, there was a kiosk that gave aura readings via computer. I couldn’t talk Joe or Chris into trying it though.

The next morning
Joe: I feel fine, my eyes feel really good. There was a little crusty stuff around my eyelashes, but that’s probably from the drops. My sight is better today than it is with my glasses. My eyes are a little bit dry, but no more discomfort than if I were wearing contacts. I’m not light sensitive in here, but I imagine I will be outside. It might be better or it might be that it’s not like looking through glasses or contacts because there’s no light refraction.

We were half an hour early for the follow-up in the morning and they got Joe right in.
After a few minutes, Joe walked out swinging a stainless steel coffee mug with the Clinic’s logo on it.

Joe: The doctor had me read the eye chart again and as I thought, my right eye is not as good as the left eye. My right eye is about 20/30 and the left is 20/20. The doctor looked at my eyes and said there was a little bit of swelling and hemorrhaging in each eye, but that was normal. Then he gave me my thousand dollar coffee mug and sent me on my way. It took all of two minutes.

Q: Would you do a Retouch?

Joe: Maybe I’d do a Retouch. Yeah, I probably would.

EPILOGUE:
A week later
Joe returned for another post-operative exam. (Three are required.) He said that his eyesight had been fluctuating as they told him it would, and he had 25/20 vision in his eyes individually, but combined, he had 20/20 vision and no discomfort.
A month later
At his last post-operative exam Joe’s vision was 20/15. What’s next X-ray vision?
The body can withstand a lot of pain and fortunately, the memory doesn’t retain the intensity, otherwise women would never have more than one child, people would never fall in love more than once and piercing shops would have no repeat business.

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CAVEAT — PRK Surgery
I was outside of my workplace waiting for Joe to pick me up to go to the satellite clinic for the pre-operative exam. A friend of a friend, Alexandra, walked by. She looked at the Clinic’s brochure in my hand and asked, “Are you thinking about having eye surgery?”
“Yeah,” I said, “I’m going to my pre-operative appointment in a few minutes. Do you know anything about it?”
“I’ve had it.”
I looked at her eyes. “But you’re wearing contacts.”
“That’s right.”
“What happened?”
“You don’t want to know right now.”
Just then Joe pulled up, and in my daze I crawled into the car and we sped off to the clinic.

Alexandra’s story:
In 1999 Alexandra also underwent surgery on her eyes, but she had the PRK, which is different than Lasik. The PRK is a much more radical surgery. You must go through all the same trauma except there is no flap to pull back and they must abrade the lense through the cornea. It is also more painful than Lasik and the healing process is longer. The care is also a little different. After this type of surgery, they place bandage-contact-lenses over each eye until the cornea regenerates.

Alexandra had some complications. After the surgery, her eyes were healing at an accelerated rate, so the technician decided that it would be OK to remove the bandage-contact-lenses a couple days early as this would save her a trip back to the clinic. (Generally the bandage contacts are removed after three days.)

After several days of pain and cloudy vision, Alexandra contacted the clinic. A doctor traveled halfway from Canada to meet her and replaced the contact-bandages in the bathroom of a fast food restaurant. Her eyes healed, but her vision was not 20/20. For the past two years, the clinic has tried to compensate her with several different prescriptions of contact lenses and glasses and paid for her hotel and travel expenses anytime she’s had to come back to Canada. Her vision at this point is improved, but she is still wearing glasses or contacts for the majority of the time.

PRK Surgery—A Positive Experience
In March 2000, my housemate traveled to Canada for eye surgery. Because of his thin corneas, he had to have PRK. When he returned, he looked miserable. I asked him if he would recommend PRK and he said, “No! Definitely not! It was like Nazi torture!” He said that after his surgery, he was incapacitated for the remainder of that day. Then he retired to his room. He also had some complications. After surgery, they placed the bandage-contact-lenses over his eyes. A day or so later, one of his bandage-contact-lenses started coming off. He thinks he bumped his eye while he was sleeping, disturbing the lense. Until that was corrected he experienced additional pain. The satellite clinic corrected the problem and then he was fine.

After a few days, I asked him about his sight and he said that things were hazy or fuzzy still, but that it seemed to be improving and the doctors had told him to be patient because he needed some time for his sight to adjust. Six months later, he was very happy with his vision, which is 20/20 now. He had a very strong prescription like mine but the PRK seemed to work. I asked him if he would have the surgery again and he said, “Definitely. I’ve always thought of myself as a guy who wears glasses, but now I’m a guy who doesn’t wear glasses.”

CARE: After the operation, the doctor will instruct you how to use the antibiotic drops, as well as saline drops. Plastic caps need to be taped over your eyes for sleeping so you won’t rub your eyes and these are provided by the clinic. Suggestions for discomfort: Cold compresses, dark rooms, rest, Tylenol. (Beware of caffeinated Tylenol in Canada.)

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The Rise of the Cults and the Anti-Christian—Part One

In Civil Rights, Education, Politics, Religion, Surveillance, World Relations on July 4, 2012 at 22:26

By Seana Sperling

More and more we are seeing an emphasis on conservative Christianity appearing in the media. In 2010 I heard a News Anchor say, “Scammers have preyed on the faithful.” Then they showed footage of an austere little church and went on with the report. Why not say Christians or the name of the particular church? Are Christians the only “faithful?” Flipping through local channels I have seen eight or more conservative Christian stations with lone speakers loudly proselytizing one ideology in assorted languages. Where is the Buddhist channel or the Hindu channel or even a Progressive Christian channel? Are they only available on cable? This culture of same-ness is very disturbing. This rise of conservative Christianity is beginning to dominate society and creating a cult culture.

There also seems to be an increasing divide between Progressive Christians that live in the tradition of Christ, and the Neo-conservative Christians whose rigid, cult-like fundamentalism drives them to judge and even punish others that don’t share their ideology.

How do you recognize a cult? According to Michael Shermer’s article on Christian Scientists, Is Scientology a Cult? Skeptic, May 2011, Cults may have the following characteristics:
“The leader claims to have extraordinary powers.
Members are isolated from friends and family.
In Group vs. Out Group/Us vs. Them.
Practices are highly controlled, and at advanced levels, secretive.
Group and leader are not accountable to any outside authority.
Denunciation sessions, debilitating work routines to reinforce Group-Think.
Meditation, chanting, speaking in tongues.”
Most cults are an authoritarian environment where questioning and dissent is not only discouraged, but also punished according to Shermer.

In 2000 I was telling a friend about some horrible experiences I’d had in a Seventh Day Adventist Church School I attended as a child. My friend claimed that the Adventists were a cult. This he based on a class he’d taken on cults. Even though I knew about David Koresh and the Branch Davidians, this idea had never occurred to me. When I was a part of that church no one was speaking in tongues or chanting, nor did we live in a compound.

In retrospect, some of the indicators were present. The spiritual leader of the Adventists was a Psychic named Ellen G. White, who claimed to have communed with God. It was also a very top down, authoritarian environment at home and school where I received beatings, ridicule and other psychological forms of punishment from parents and Teachers for minor things. There was an emphasis on control. (There were some nice people there too, but more often than not, the people in authority positions were bullies.)

When I reached seventh grade, I insisted on going to public school. There was no seventh grade or even other eligible students, but the Teacher and my mother spoke of planning a grade just for me. At this school multiple grades were stuffed into one room with one teacher as a monitor and we did our studies alone with our workbooks. The Teacher would grade the work and we could go to her desk with questions, but there was little in the way of actual teaching. Fortunately I loved reading and my mother took my older stepbrothers and me to the library on a regular basis. If I’d not had this resource, I would have been very behind in public school.

My first morning at the entrance to the public school a bully pushed me. It was as if she was trying to keep me from entering. I pushed her back and went inside. This could have been a set-up by the church or my mother to make me fear going to public school. Some cults seek to control every facet of their member’s lives according to Margaret T. Singer’s 1996 book, Cults in our Midst and my mother was very controlling. Even after I became an adult and had not been to church for over 12 years, Adventists would stop by my apartment uninvited, claiming that my mother had asked them to visit me. Later, even after moving to Seattle, a few took jobs at schools where I was working. They always seemed friendly, but disturbingly ubiquitous.

In the new millennium, I have seen more and more conservative Christians entering into key positions in higher education where I am still working. Some have even become Shop Stewards in my union. Chris Hedge’s book, American Fascism: The Rise of the Religious Right illustrates how The Dominionists, which are conservative Christians, seek to dominate key areas of society. According to Hedges, the Dominionists seek control of politics, education, the economy, etc. Although he does not call the Dominionists a cult, their ideology seems to be very authoritarian and controlling. (This paired with the conservative’s attack on women’s rights is very reminiscent of Margaret Atwood’s book The Handmaid’s Tale, in which, a totalitarian religious regime takes power in the U.S., the media turns into a propaganda machine for the regime and most women are enslaved.)

There seems to be a growing trend by the conservatives in shaming and destroying public services as well. According to national news reports in 2010, some neo-conservative Christians set-up/entrapped some community support organizations. According to the footage, two conservative Christians, a white woman who posed as a prostitute and a white man who posed as a pimp, secretly filmed an African-American ACORN worker who thought she was helping poor people with housing. There was also a secretly filmed set-up of Planned Parenthood by conservative Christians according to national news. What these neo-conservative Christians did was far removed from the teachings of Christ and against the law yet, there was no report of them ever being penalized.

More and more the media is reporting on bullying coming from conservative Christian church members. An article from Truthout, Persecution is Not a Right, by Vincent Warren speaks of some conservatives making absurd claims that they are being persecuted because they are not allowed to bully people. “The insistence by some U.S. Christians that they are being oppressed, when others try to keep them from bullying, discriminating against and sometimes hounding LGBT people to death.” What does bullying have to do with Christianity? I am tolerant of all types of religion, however, I am not tolerant of bullies of any ilk.

Some Christian conservatives will even bully as a group. Extremist groups like the Westboro Baptist Church disrupt funerals with their vitriol against LGBT. This group’s hate campaigns are about as far from the teachings of Christ as you can get. It seems that this group baits grieving people into fighting with them for publicity and monetary gain. According to local news reports, if the injured party reacts against the hatred and disruption, the Pastor who is also a lawyer sues on 1st Amendment Rights. KIRO 7 2011. It seems like this is either a scam or the actions of a very negative cult.

Part Two–Veiled Religious Cults

Harmful cults are not easy to detect if you are unfamiliar with their ideology. In the early 1970s when I was 11 we were living in Pocatello, Idaho for a few years. A white neighbor girl who I did not know well asked me if I wanted to go to a John Birch Society meeting with her. I had no idea what the Birchers were and asked my mother. My mother told me they were racists. Of course I had no desire to go after she told me that.

It was ironic that the girl had asked me since I’m very ethnically and even racially mixed and my best friend at the time was African-American. I suppose the Bircher thought she was recruiting another white girl since I had blonde hair. I don’t remember if I gave the Bircher a lecture on racism or not, but it was something I was doing a lot of at the time, which angered a lot of white racists in Pocatello. (Many years later, in 2002 I was in Boise for a few months and joined a Peace group. Shortly after I joined, Birchers tried to infiltrate the group. One male Bircher grinned hideously at me when he arrived. I spoke against them to the organizers, who told me we should be inclusive of all who were anti-war. I pulled away from the group at that point. Later one of the organizers confessed that they had been wrong to include the Birchers, but had not understood how wrong until a Bircher Preacher was a guest speaker at one of their meetings. In retrospect, I think the Birchers just wanted to disrupt a Peace organization.)

Recognizing a cult is also difficult when it doesn’t have the typical appearance of a cult. In the late 1970s when I was an adult I was in Boise, Idaho for a couple of years and joined a Karate class at a Community Center. At first, it seemed like a normal class where we learned various techniques and Kata (forms). There was an emphasis on meditation, which I was no good at, so I merely shut my eyes, periodically peeping out to see if meditation time was finally over. Out of the corner of my eye I would see the other students seemingly asleep or in trances and wonder why I was merely ruminating about my day.

I didn’t know many people in Boise in the 1970s so I began making friends within the class. After a month, my classmates invited me to a picnic. All were into healthy activities like gardening and tennis, none of them drank or smoked and some were even vegetarian. They were a tight-knit group and had known each other from the class for over a year. They spoke fondly and often of our Karate teacher Mr. (name withheld).

Later, Mr. (name withheld) encouraged us to read parts of the Bible in our spare time. Having been stuck in that Fundamentalist school as a child I was quite familiar with the Bible, but did some review. Mr. (name withheld) also told the class that we had negative entities and to learn to control them with meditation. At this point I was wary, but I liked my new friends.

In July Mr. (name withheld) invited the class (approximately six people) to his house one night for a potluck. He made Pineapple Upside Down Cake and the students seemed so excited about it. They went on and on about how wonderful it was. Then there was some Bible reading and someone started passing around a plate for donations. I thought, “Oh God. I’m in church.” I really wanted to leave. It was at this point that Mr. (name withheld) encouraged us to meditate more on our own and to beware of our Negative Entities.

That weekend I went tubing down the river with my aunt, cousin and one of her friends. We joked around, drank beer and I got a sunburn.

I didn’t go back to the Karate class for well over a week and when I did return Mr. (name withheld) berated me for letting my Negative Entity control me. That was it for me. I never returned. Later, I left Boise and when I did return in the late 1980’s, out of curiosity, I called about the Karate class. The guy at the Community Center Desk said, “That was a cult!” which confirmed my earlier fears. I never thought that I could possibly be wooed by a cult. I still don’t know what type it was, but it wasn’t one of the White Supremacist cults, because there was a mixture of races in that one.

Boise seemed to have a lot of cults. Some of them were well-established churches and even with their incredibly odd ideas they still had thousands of followers. There was also the rise of New Age and Paganism in Boise in the late 1980s. There was a store named The Blue Unicorn that sold crystals, books and cassettes about New Age topics, which had quite a following. Some of my friends would joke around about past lives and channeling as New Age ushered in a host of trendy topics. My Mormon Sociology teacher even offered a class that explored New Age ideas, such as Numerology, Personality Tests and Guided Imagery, which a few of my friends and I took. It was called Personal and Planetary Transformation.

I was surprised that a Mormon Teacher would offer such a class, but I knew there were unusual things about their ideology. Joseph Smith, the spiritual leader of the Latter Day Saints/The Mormons claimed to have spoken with God and most people know he and Brigham Young’s views on marriage and procreation. Also, there is a lot of secrecy around their temple marriage rituals. Are these well-established religious organizations on a parallel with The Moonies and Rajneeshies? It seems it is simpler to accuse an organization of being a cult when their origin is from another country.

The Psychologist Margaret T. Singer co-wrote Cults in Our Midst, with former cult member Janja Lalich, which provides an insiders view on the life of a cult member and the psychological aspects of a cult. The authors explore the control the cult has over its’ members, the allure of belonging to a cult, and how even quite normal people can be attracted to cults. There are also detailed cases of Singer’s patients that were exiting cults of different types and the cult’s attempts to reclaim and/or punish them.

In the final chapter, Singer writes about how she was systematically harassed and defamed by some cults because of her counseling the victims and her expert witness testimony against the cults. According to the book, on one occasion they sent in a cult member posing as a student volunteer that gathered information on Singer and all her student’s contact information. The cult impersonated Singer through letters to her students to defame her. (This seems no different than the conservative Christians that posed as pimp and prostitute to set up ACORN in 2010.) Another time the cult stalking Singer showed up dressed as Nazis claiming that Singer was a Nazi Scientist outside a lecture she was giving according to the book. PP. 341-345

How can the cults justify that kind of behavior and why would an entire group feel compelled to engage in an illegal act? This goes back to Shermer’s “Group and leader are not accountable to any outside authority,” and the idea of “Us vs. Them.” The Group-Think of the self-righteous maintains that the end justifies whatever means and that they answer to a higher power than the law of the land.

Not the Only Cults in Town

There is a vast array of cults beyond the Fundamentalist Bible types according to Margaret T. Singer’s book Cults in Our Midst. There are New Age cults, UFO cults, Political cults, Satanic cults, Psychic Phenomena cults, Karate cults, etc. Singer makes the distinction between negative and benign cults, since the group may hold some of the same traits of a cult, yet not harm anyone. Although she does not mention these, I have always thought of Sororities and Fraternities as cults of the privileged because of their elitism, competitive nature and their predilection for secrecy and odd rituals. If they are a cult, are they negative or benign?

Apart from the traditional cults, there are online bullying groups that organize only for the purpose of harassing others. Some organize through social networks to harass their enemies or someone else’s enemy or someone they have targeted because of envy. If you search Facebook for the word “Annoy,” several pages will come up in which the page owners brag about how they like to annoy others. Some students were suspended for organizing a day to harass one of their classmates, www.wbi.com Students Organize Day of Bullying. More and more stories of people of all ages killing themselves over bullying are appearing in the media.

Some people will even go after complete strangers who are perceived to be an enemy of one of their online friends. The story from: The International Herald Times, In South Korea, Online Rumors Hit Hard, By Sang-Hun Choe, illustrates how mobs of people can be recruited to go after an innocent person they have never met. Mobbing is a universal term for this group bullying phenomena we are seeing in this millennium. Are they cults? They do meet some of the requirements: Group-Think, Secrecy, Punishing the victim with harassment, Defamation of Character and Social Isolation for the imagined wrong. This group-vigilante behavior echoes the K.K.K.’s brutality against African-American Leaders in the 1960s, Nazi practices prior to WWII, Stasi practices post war and Cointelpro tactics that have been used against Peace activists since the 1960’s. The bully’s main tool is rumor and the whisper campaign.

Bullying is an extreme and destructive action, bad for the bullied and bad for the bully. The bully will never realize their full potential in life, if the only way they can maintain their high self esteem is through persecution of others. They will never truly lead or create anything of lasting value. They can only destroy and be unhappy with occasional small emotional triumphs.

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Stuff and Nonsense

In Climate Change, Economy, Politics, World Relations on July 4, 2012 at 22:19

By Seana Sperling

I don’t have a car and I don’t need one for the most part. I don’t have a house and I don’t need one (although I would love to have a real home). What I really need is a safe place to sleep, eat and take care of my animal friends. I need food, water, love, clothing, bedding and time to think, but I don’t need a lot of stuff.

What inspired some of my musings on “stuff,’ was a 1970’s routine by Comedian George Carlin. The gist of it was that people had a lot of stuff and needed a place to keep it. If we look at the expectations of average Americans, we all expect to have a certain amount of stuff. In comparison with some societies our amount of stuff is truly excessive.

I don’t need a TV, but I like to watch DVDs, so I have one. I don’t have cable and I don’t need it. I had cable briefly and it was far too distracting. There is a vast array of films that I can borrow from the library for free and I also have Netflix. I don’t need a computer, but it is helpful for editing articles, so I have one. I don’t have an active cellphone. I bought two cheapos a few years ago, but they are not activated. (There is scientific evidence that cellphone frequencies are harming our Bee population.) I have a landline, which for the most part I do not need either. I don’t have Internet. I can use the Internet for free at the library or pay for it at a café if I need it.

For a while during the 1980s I didn’t have a phone, a car, a TV, much furniture, but my life was very full. I rented and had work, school, my friends, the anti-nuke/anti-war group I belonged to and two bicycles. Some of my friends would get so frustrated that I didn’t have a phone. Then my mother bought me a TV for Christmas (even though she knew I didn’t want one). They all felt I needed more stuff.

In the new millennium there are even higher expectations in our society about stuff. It is unusual for a steadily employed person of my age not to own a car. It is also unusual for a person in my circumstance not to have a furnished house. “Where’s your stuff?” people ask, “That’s downright un-American!” Oh, I get by.

In the past when I have had to move, I’d think, “Where did I get all this crap?’ (It’s only crap when you have to move it otherwise it is still stuff.) Then comes the separation anxiety when you have to release some of the stuff. “These yard sale dishes with the chickens on them could come in handy someday.” “Of course I need four wrenches.” Thus I end up moving stuff that I won’t use.

I am trying to train myself to release stuff occasionally. I have to. I am an indefatigable yard sale hound. Last summer I began by donating the contents of my storage unit to the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence for their rummage sale. Letting go of stuff felt really good. However, trying to round up a vehicle to pick up that stuff took some doing, but the Sisters found a driver willing to do it. (One of the few times owning a car would have come in handy.) I was able to unload quite a bit that day last summer, but alas, it is now winter and I have filled the storage unit again with more stuff.

Why do we need so much stuff? Why do I keep filling my storage unit with treasures from yard sales that I may never use? Why would any person need more than one car? Why does John McCain need seven homes? Why did Imelda Marcos need so many shoes? Why was Marcia always the popular one?

Is it greed, a deficit in character or self esteem? Why does our society put so much value on what we own or what other’s own? Are we trying to compensate for a lack of something else?

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A Modified Chicken in Every Pot

In Climate Change, Economy, Education, Politics, World Relations on July 4, 2012 at 22:09

By Seana Sperling (written in 2001)
If you are what you eat, then this morning I was transformed into organic Soy Milk, genetically altered Raisin Flakes and a banana. GMO, the genetically modified organism, is found in everything from cornflakes to that processed snack you can’t put down. And, how about that banana? In the produce aisle in most stores there is usually a modest section labeled “Organic,” but there are mounds of unlabeled produce that surround it. Today you don’t know what you’re buying, but you can assume that if it’s not labeled “Organic,” it is genetically engineered.
For those that aren’t familiar with genetic engineering, this is one example of the process: Scientists take a trout gene and splice it to the genetic code of a tomato plant. These scientists work for big companies like Monsanto. This enhancement will increase size and shelf life, so that retailers don’t end up with over-ripe or spoiled produce. Initially, scientists were attempting to develop hardy, inexpensive plants that could feed the world, however, Corporate America latched on to this worthy intention and distorted it. This has resulted in untested products being thrust on us without our knowledge or permission.
According to Trudy Bialic, Editor/Manager of Public Affairs for PCC Natural Markets in Seattle, “There is no policy on the labeling of genetically modified food. “GMO food is never labeled.” Bialic said. “If the biotech industry believes it’s so great, why wouldn’t they want to shout it out loud and clear, “Genetically Engineered!” Without mandatory labels identifying foods containing GMOs, it’s impossible to know what we’re eating and to make informed choices. Two-thirds of all processed foods are estimated to contain GMOs and we have a right to know,” said Bialic. We do have a right to know. So why are majority of us remaining idle while our cold cereal becomes something fit only for the Bionic Woman?
In the early 1990s, chefs in San Francisco began protesting the lack of labeling of genetically engineered food or “Frankenfood,” as they were calling it. This drew some mainstream media attention for a while, but as the ratings dropped, so did the reports. The proliferation of gene alteration in mainstream agriculture is an important issue, however, it’s not one that gets a lot of publicity.
Many people seem to think that we no longer have any control over Corporate America since the FDA doesn’t regulate GMOs. The truth is, we are losing control. According to Bialic, “There’s been a revolving door between the government and the biotech industry ever since the U.S. policy on GE (genetically engineered) foods was written.” She said the former Food and Drug Administration Deputy Commissioner, Michael R. Taylor had written the FDA’s 1992 policy on Transgenic food. Taylor had worked for Monsanto for seven years before being employed by the FDA and he returned to Monsanto after finishing his appointment with the Food and Drug Administration, Bialic said.
I left several messages for the FDA in Seattle. When they finally responded on my answering machine, I was given a wrong number (someone’s residence) to call for further information. I was in Boise in April 2002 and I tried calling that branch of the FDA during my stay. I was thrilled to hear a human answer since I was so used to automated menus. The man (unidentified) I spoke with told me that there weren’t any requirements for labeling genetically engineered food, but that they really hadn’t run into many problems in that area. “Genetic alteration of food isn’t all that bad,” he continued, “There was a situation with enhancing corn products, but that was later used only as animal feed.”

From: “USDA Toughens Rules on Biotech Crops,” By PHILIP BRASHER, Des Moines Register Washington Bureau, 06/14/2002

“The biotechnology industry was rocked in 2000 when anti-biotech activists discovered StarLink corn in taco shells and other products. StarLink, one of several varieties of corn developed to produce its own pesticide, had never been approved for human consumption because of concerns about its potential to cause allergic reactions. The discovery prompted massive food recalls, forced processing plants to shut down, and reduced U.S. corn exports.”

Scary as this may sound, the biotech industry has cultivated even more dangerous creations. Some food supplements have been modified with disastrous results.

“Already a genetically engineered food supplement, GE tryptophan, has killed 37 people and permanently disabled 1535 others.” From: Unnatural Harvest: How Corporate Science is Secretly Altering our Food, by Ingeborg Boyens

Even with the inherent dangers of GMOs the mainstream media either ignores the issue or creates propaganda to support it. There was a commercial in 2000/2001 about a genetically engineered product called “Golden Rice.” The commercial claimed that it would benefit the future of children in the world because it was rich in Beta Carotene. According to studies from the Environmental News Network, a vitamin supplement is cheaper and much more effective for this deficiency. Children would practically have to eat their weight in Golden Rice daily for the same benefit, according to the study. Not all commercials are propaganda, however, and General Mills is telling it like it is with their appropriately named Frankenberry Cereal.
I didn’t notice the change in food until about 1993 when I returned from Peace Corps. I had been in the ex-Soviet Union where fruit and vegetables were not always plentiful, but were definitely not enhanced. There was a lack of pesticides there, which was evident in the wormholes in the apples and bug-infested greens. What they lacked in beauty they made up for with great flavor, especially the tomatoes. They would go bad within a few days as opposed to their U.S. counterparts that could languish in the fridge for two weeks.
A student of mine from France said he was always surprised when he went into the supermarkets in the U. S. because of the remarkable size and beauty of the produce. However, he compares it with plastic fruit because of its lack of smell and flavor.
At this point scientists are still unsure of the long term effect that genetically altered food will have on our bodies, our planet or other animal life. A trout gene linked with the DNA of a tomato plant is an amalgamated animal. In reality, it is a new species. At least they didn’t cross it with a Piranha gene. There are warnings and taboos in many religious tomes about this type of amalgamation. Even though I’m not religious, I’m a little wary of creating new species or pathogens. Besides, I like to eat the four food groups separately.

From: The British Medical Journal April 17, 1999, David Freed:

Many lectins (a carbohydrate binding protein found in most plants, especially cereals, potatoes and beans) are powerful allergens and prohevein, the principal allergen of rubber latex is one. It has been engineered into transgenic tomatoes for its fungistatic properties, so we can expect an outbreak of tomato allergy in the near future among latex sensitive people.

Unfortunately, even our organic farms can become infected with genetically altered seeds. Crosswinds carrying seeds from Frankenfarms ensure that someday all crops will become tainted. There was a case several years ago when an organic farm in the U.S. attempted to sell corn flakes to a country in Europe. This country refused to buy because they found that the product was made from genetically altered corn. (Many countries in Europe are very conscientious about analyzing any imported food.) This alerted organic farms to the problem of cross-pollination. The bee carries a little pollen from the Frankenfarm over to their neighbors. Also, what will contact with this mutated pollen do to the bee? Is Attack of the Killer Bees prophetic? What about the recent disappearance of the Honey Bee?
Several years ago some friends and I were passing through the California/Oregon border and officials stopped us and asked if we had any fruit or vegetables. California is very careful about checking for possible new plant-life or pests coming in to destroy their vulnerable fruit crops. Nobody’s looking at the big picture.

*Thanks to Trudy Bialic for her comments and research.

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Mob Rule in the Community

In African American, Bullying, Civil Rights, Education, Latino, Mobbing, Native American, Peace, Politics, Roma, Surveillance, World Relations on July 4, 2012 at 22:05

By Seana Sperling

There has been a growing paranoia in this country that has people watching for terrorists, drug dealers, thieves, etc. via Community Policing via Neighborhood Watch groups. These Watch groups are viewed as a necessary and positive thing and many people I have spoken to on this subject agree. However, when I asked people in the Capitol Hill neighborhood how much proof they would need to believe that a certain neighbor was a drug dealer, prostitute, thief, pedophile, nazi, etc. most paused. A few were very honest and said they would probably react rather than seeking proof.

I have been guilty of reacting. In the late 1980’s I was in Idaho working at a record store. One day a coworker of mine whispered to me that a person who had entered the store was a nazi. Without any proof, I instantly hated this person and gave him my best glare. I didn’t question it. Frankly, I didn’t know this coworker very well, but I believed her on this hot button issue because I was in Idaho. Reactions like this lead to Community Mobbing (a ganging up by a group against an individual).

In another case, two of my friends were driving around Lynnwood, WA looking for housing in May 2007. According to my friends they saw a white van with the word Rapist spray-painted across the entire side. My friends were shocked and we all commented later that whether it were true or not, the damage had been done. In this age of propaganda an accusation works as well as a verdict and I can only suppose that there was some reaction from the neighborhood.

The week of June 15, 2007, The Stranger Newspaper ran a short piece in the I, Anonymous column, titled, “He’s No Pedophile and You Know It.” It was about a Teacher who had been falsely accused by a jilted girlfriend. Teachers are especially vulnerable to this type of accusation because of the influence they have over the young. As stated in the piece, this Teacher’s career is over even if he is cleared of all charges. Was the jilted girlfriend ever given a lie detector test? For that matter, what about the mainstream TV Media that showed up on the doorstep for an impromptu interview with the accused? (The TV media has been used constantly in these witch-hunts and there doesn’t seem to be much in the way of evidence or fact checking. Since most people believe whatever they see on the nightly news, I’m sure his community is at least regarding him with suspicion.)

Sadly, this is happening globally. With such advances in technology comes convenience, but also new problems can arise, such as anonymous slander on the Internet (cyber mobbing). A satellite of The New York Times, The Herald Times, ran an article about Community Mobbing in China. A man suspected that his wife was having an affair with a University student they had met at a gaming party just because she had exchanged some emails with the student. Even though the husband had no real evidence and the wife denied it, he wrote a lengthy blog on a widely read message board accusing the student of adultery. In response, hundreds of people were recruited and began to stalk and harass the poor student who ended up dropping out of school and hiding at home with his family. From: Mob Rule on China’s Internet: The Keyboard as Weapon. Howard French, The Herald Times, 06/01/2006.

If rumor and innuendo via message boards can provoke such community harassment, then what do we do when we have “proof,” i.e. a photograph, video, a voice-over tape-recording? In this age of PhotoShop, digital imagery, cell phone cameras, etc. much can be distorted. While a picture is worth a thousand words, a photo-shopped image might be worth one life ruining statement and no one questions the accuser. There is no accountability or lie detector test required especially if it is posted anonymously.

It’s quite possible that one vengeance stalker could recruit an entire community with a digitally enhanced image or video of their victim. The Community would then view the targeted victim as an undesirable, someone that needed to be driven out, punished or at the very least watched. Police condone surveillance of suspected wrongdoers by Neighborhood Watch groups and there is no legislation yet for this kind of vigilantism.

Community Policing can turn into Community Mobbing very swiftly. Innocent people can be slandered, then bullied and harassed with little or no proof of their guilt. According to the article: Mob Rule on China’s Internet, there were responses on that message board demanding that everyone, including every store worker or business person harass the student.

I’ve experienced ongoing harassment in a variety of forms over the past few years. In December of 2007, I found multiple postings accusing me of everything from prostitution to racism on a site called rottenneighbor.com under my full name. I immediately contacted the webmaster through the site and alerted him to the slander. The posts were gone the following day, but the webmaster didn’t acknowledge my request for information on the postings. The most recent smear was a series of libelous blogs on the May 27, 2008 The Stranger Newspaper’s SLOG message board under the title, Modern Warfare. I only discovered this particular smear because Chris Daniels, one of the reporters at King 5 called me to ask about it. I wrote to Dan Savage, asking why The Stranger would want to make any kind of “warfare,” against me. Tim Keck responded on Savage’s behalf, writing that he didn’t t think the postings were that bad and the worst of the blogs had been redacted. (The blogs saying I should be “Put down, “ or accusing me of being a crack whore. I printed the originals out however.) These are only a couple of episodes in a long and consistent history of smears.

There is nothing new about Mobbing and the KKK, the Nazi’s and other groups used this to eliminate people they felt were a threat. During McCarthyism, similar tactics were used to destroy people that had been accused of being Communists. Slander campaigns, harassment at work, blacklists, and surveillance were employed. Throughout history activists, educators and writers have suffered the same abuses and there is still no accountability for a whisper or surveillance campaign.

In 2002, Ashcroft unveiled Bush’s plan for community action groups, originally charged with watching for terrorist activity, community action groups are watching for any real or imagined infraction and will mete out punishment vigilante style to anyone that comes under suspicion. In this era of citizen informants (Do an internet search for Amerisnitch.) anyone could spread slander to these citizen groups who then would feel entitled to gang up on the individual. Two or more enemies could then corroborate the lies. The targeted victim is then thrust into situation after situation where they have to defend themselves, thus creating more and more enemies. In my case some of the anonymous bloggers claimed to know me therefore confirming the smear.

The most serious issue to me is that a seemingly liberal community like Seattle would organize around this type of fascist behavior. Consider a quote by William S. Burrows, “A Police State needs no Police.”