A Recent Rash of Racism:
Celebrity Comments and Cultural Corrections
By Mary Lee LaBay, M.S.
A sound philosophy is a vital and necessary component in a well-balanced and healthy life, and is
at the core of Awareness Engineering™. It is essential to align thoughts and emotions with reality
in a rational and reasonable manner. Yet, everyday we witness examples of misalignment and
faulty reasoning.
The newspapers landed on Mel Gibson like a flock of hungry vultures when, in a drunken state,
he spit out racial slurs against Jewish people. Soon to follow, a stunned audience gave witness
as Michael Richards ranted on using the “N” word, demeaning African American hecklers. The
trend was continued in a startling confession by Isaiah Washington that was designed to proffer a
denial of anti-homosexual sentiments, but appeared more likely to be a prolusion of a different
nature.
Examples continue in the media and in our lives. We even hear from African Americans who
claim Barak Obama isn’t black enough! What is this sudden attention on xenophobic sentiments?
Does it represent an unexpected turn to hatred of those who are unlike ourselves, does
degrading another make us feel somehow superior, or is there a bigger picture to consider?
Celebrities are simply people who are visible enough to reach the awareness of a great number
of people. Otherwise, they are pretty much regular people who have to eat, sleep, and brush their
teeth like you and me. Also like the rest of us, they have their issues to resolve, their perspective
of reality, and their struggles to attain their goals. They just get to do it in the public eye instead of
more privately, like the rest of us.
The travails of a celebrity give us a prime opportunity to learn lessons so that we do not have to
face them ourselves. We may agree with the racial slurs, or we may be disgusted by them. But
either position involves narrow vision. So let’s step back from our personal responses to this
media frenzy long enough to look at what gifts there may be in store for us from these events.
We’ll start with a short lesson on philosophy. The science of philosophy has five branches:
Metaphysics is the exploration of that which is reality. It is our body of knowledge of everything in
existence. A person’s metaphysics is their perspective of reality. It is always less than a perfect
match to reality because we don’t know everything there is to know about reality. Whenever we
discover something new, we must be flexible enough to align ourselves with that new knowledge.
Personal change often accompanies a shift in our understanding of metaphysics.
Epistemology is the means by which we are able to know that which lies within Metaphysics. It
pertains to the measurements and methods of understanding reality: the research, the repeatable
tests, personal objective experience, and other reliable means. It is important to check your
sources. It is not a sound practice to believe something simply because it was written thousands
of years ago, or because of hearsay, cultural tradition, or other sources based on faith, popularity,
or majority opinion. There are aspects of reality that are unbelievable and apparently outside of
logical assumptions, and there are very believable concepts and perspectives that have nothing
whatsoever to do with reality.
Ethics are the guidelines for our relationship with ourselves, and how we create our personal
experience based on what we have learned about the workings of reality. Our ethics are what
make our life sustainable, happy, and healthy. Our ethics dictate our morality and our relationship
with our Self. They will determine what we will do with our life, how we will behave and make
decisions. Our ethics will provide the guidelines for our choices, direction, and path. Our “right
path” requires the inner journey of aligning ourselves with reality, congruently, and without
contradictions
Politics pertain to all levels of relationships with others, from family members to intergalactic
contacts. Our perspective of reality now reflects outward through our interactions with others and
nature as a whole. How we treat the outer world is how we treat ourselves essentially. When we
hurt others we have already hurt ourselves. When a person harms another, it reflects the
weakness of that person’s grasp on reality, indicating a lack of understanding of metaphysics,
improper epistemology, and flawed ethics which can only lead to a disintegration of their
consciousness. When a person harms another, it is a clear demonstration of the bleak downward
spiral of their path.
Aesthetics allows us to demonstrate our concepts in concrete forms such as literature, painting,
dance, theater, poetry, and other forms of art. Aesthetics is the forerunner of philosophy. What
you see in art today predicts the thinking trends of tomorrow. This is the importance of the quality
and content of music, movies, advertising, and all messaging.
From these descriptions it is apparent that a person with prejudice of any nature is likely lacking
in one or more areas of these five branches of philosophy. Let’s look at how the five branches
correspond to the issues of racial slurs.
If we start with Aesthetics, our protagonists are representatives from the field of aesthetics. And
while their harm takes place outside their art, they, as characters, will have the influence of art on
the public. Likewise, the philosophy of every living soul will, in some way, shine through whatever
is touched and created by them. The attention drawn by these characters, as their drama unfolds
in the nightly news, will affect the future of our culture. However, we will see how that plays out
later in this discourse.
Politics – well, that seems pretty clear. Obviously their relationships with members of the rest of
the world are not very healthy. And if we recall the lessons of behavioral psychology, how we
treat others is a reflection of our inner state.
Ethics – now this gets more personal. What is it in a person that would cause them to generalize
a judgment over a whole group of people? Within ethics we find a person’s values (those people,
things, and conditions that they would actively pursue to acquire and keep in their lives). Also
within ethics we find a person’s virtues. Can a person be virtuous and hateful? Can a person
generalize hate and yet be reasonable, have independent thought, hold to honesty, and maintain
integrity?
And what about a racist’s metaphysics and epistemology? Can they have a clear alignment with
reality, based on sound fact and the highest truth, and also hold hatred for their fellow residents of
this planet? Something is surely askew.
So when I view the news, and listen to the rustling of the dry leaves of change, my first response
is sadness for the diminishing consciousness of a person who holds to the perspective of hatred
and prejudice. And then I look for the gift to society that these folks are presenting us.
The gift? What gift, you say? Yes, this is an overdue gift that we are receiving. For too long the
population as a whole has hushed up around the subjects of homosexuality, race, and other
factors that drive us towards the feelings of separation from one another.
Remember 9/11? Can you still recall the feeling in that first week after the tragedy when we could
set aside our differences and experience our common humanity? For that short window of time
we were able to cross the imaginary lines that arbitrarily separate us from one another. There
was a gift within that event and a glimpse into a possible future of which we are quickly losing
sight.
Is that what it takes? Will we need a bigger common enemy to remind us of our humanity, our
sameness, our co-existence on a tiny planet? We can also see this possibility of harmoniously
living together from a different angle – the news stories of Mel, Michael, and Isaiah.
Let us take this gift and each go inside ourselves to examine our own limited vision of humanity.
Let’s honestly look at how we may be harboring hatred and fear, and take this opportunity to
expel it. Why let old perspectives limit who we are today? Why let negative emotions eat away at
our own bodies and souls, when in truth it only hurts ourselves? What benefit do we gain by
hanging onto old perceptions?
It is a new day, with a fresh outlook on life, and a perfect opportunity to make a difference for your
own health and wellbeing, for your circle of influence, and for your planet. So instead of
witnessing these news stories as our cultural shame, why not rise to the invitation for cultural
correction?
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About Mary Lee LaBay: Author and expert Mary Lee LaBay offers workshops and training that
focus on the discovery and alignment with your individual, unique purpose and path. Contact her
at MaryLee@MaryLeeLaBay.com or visit www.MaryLeeLaBay.com.
www.MaryLeeLaBay.presskit247.com (designed for the media)