Erin's time as a Stay-at-home Mom is almost at an end. She starts work Monday as an assistant AG in the Louisiana Attorney General's Office. Although she has had a wonderful year with Mila and baby Max, I guess it is time to get her career back on track. Being back in Baton Rouge with people she knows and being able to work in a court system with which she is familiar makes going back to work a little easier. Fortunately, Mila is back in the same day care center she was in before, and Erin feels good about getting Max in as well.
This article has me thinking: Enough Apologies. I've had two conversations in the last two days dealing with this topic. Makes me nervous to even mention it, but it is certainly something we need to be thinking about, not ignoring, as I often prefer to do with upsetting situations. Having just read the biographical Wild Swans and seeing what happens when free thought, as well as free speech, is stifled, I'm even more concerned.
The Enough Apologies article is interesting. It is worrying how positions seem to be polarising with so much hypocracy involved. And indeed books like the excellent Wild Swans should warn us all, but we never seem to learn from our history. Everyone feels that their situation is unique.
ReplyDeleteOmega - I recently read about a German production of the Mozart opera Indemeneo having been canceled because of content that might be offensive and incite some form of retaliation. And I can understand the fear, but find that being afraid of saying the wrong thing pretty scary in itself.
ReplyDeleteGood luck to Erin. I have been at home for almost 4 years now and am looking forward to rejoining the work force in a year. I miss it. I hope the transition goes well for her.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Jules. She is excited and nervous. You certainly got a beautiful Halloween gift! He is such a doll...
ReplyDeleteThis is such a pretty picture, and I wish Erin well in adjusting to going back to work.
ReplyDeleteAbout the article, I do wish that everybody could just get along and let each other live their lives. Nobody should be saying anything bad about anything else. But I am a Muslim, and I do have to point out that when offensive things are said, people are going to be offended. I don't condone the retaliatory things that are being done. And nobody I know at my mosque or otherwise has ever said anything negative like that.
Most of the things that are said to me are what people would put in the "free speech" category. Telling me to "go back to where you came from," even though they don't know where that is (Africa & India), or saying "what would you know about American laws?". These words represent the tip of the iceberg, and it is clear that there is much more that isn't obviously seen.
We should certainly be allowed to say what we want, and from what I know about you, I can't imagine that the things you say would be hateful.
Oh, Shelina, I certainly didn't mean that anything is acceptable! I don't approve of hurtful comments about religion or country of origin.
ReplyDeleteI'm upset mainly about the fact that authors can receive death threats for writing something that offends someone. I don't necessarily approve of what they say, but believe that becoming fearful of retaliation is a terrible thing.
The Mozart Opera was re-worked in a most unpleasant way that was offensive to Christians, Buddhists, and Moslems, but I would have preferred that people showed their disgust by choosing not to attend and let the German Opera Company know that way instead of canceling in fear.
Should we be allowed to say what we want? You raise the larger question...the comments you mention are unacceptable, cruel, and ignorant and make me sad. So I guess I have to back track on this complicated issue to clarify that it is the fear and violence that makes people keep quiet that frightens me.
I'm so sorry if my comments were not clearly in context as I don't want to appear to countenance the content that had been reworked in a manner that denigrated all religons.
Thanks for bringing me up short and making me realize that I had not made my point clear and, therefore, lost the intent of what I had in mind.
I had just finished the book about the Cultural Revolution in which so much of the literature and historical works of China were destroyed and only works by Mao approved by the state.
Jen, I completely agree with you, and understood that you are talking about protecting free speech. I agree that death threats are completely inappropriate, well, in any case.
ReplyDeleteIt would be nice if people were respectful and not say anything about people that they wouldn't want said about themselves.
Not attending a play wouldn't work, because others would, and the stereotypes would be perpetuated among the people who are already leaning in that direction. Writing letters and talking with the people involved would help. As would writing and presenting another play to represent one's own viewpoint.