Tell it to Steven Hawking. A person's physical stature does not limit his/her potential for work that does not rely on his/her physical stature (e.g., English teaching, as well as physics). The cultural attitude that those who are discriminated against because they do not fit the culturally desired norm should be outcast or should be provided for by special environments that can be sold as entertainment venues to those who will not deal with their own prejudices is a cultural attitude that perpetuates discrimination against all who are 'different'. The problem here, as elsewhere, is a matter of dehumanizing those who are 'different' - prejudicial culture that regiments anything that deviates from its standards, rather than dealing with the prejudice itself. Why not have a theme park within which 'foreigners', with all their funny habits, can be kept, so that they do not disturb the 'normality' of cultural prejudices? Actually, there could be many: one for 'black people', one for Tibetans, one for Japanese, one for gay people, one for Han Chinese people who have given up their 'traditional' clothing for 'western-style' clothing (e.g., the great majority of Chinese, over the past century or so) - in fact we could subdivide and subdivide until nothing was left but mutual nonrecognition. All these would help to maintain the narrow identities of 'normality' that can be relied upon to advance support the cultural attitudes that promote the continuing inability of people to recognize each other as human, and to celebrate and accept their differences - not as entertainment items, no matter how 'cute', but as full human beings. How different is all this from apartheid?
This effort to maintain prejudice can, of course, be profitable to those who invest in it, and convenient for social engineers and political elites who want to maintain an elite power status by reliance on it.
The place is an insult to our common humanity and a spotlight on cultural attitudes of exclusion. Those who find that they enjoy such displays should take a good look at the nature of the culture that has formed them so narrowly. Cultures change; cultures have always changed; cultures are presently changing and will continue to do so; there is nothing sacred about cultural attitudes. Our common humanity is an ongoing project, and those who imagine they are not part of such a project are simply contributing their own blindness to it, and limiting themselves in the process. It's not the 'dwarves' who are the problem, its the people who will not accept them as within the boundaries of 'us'.
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Posted byAnd in addition to the actual amount raised there are the benefits that can occur inside people's heads (getting people to think, etc.)
Yunnan air routes a hot commodity
Posted by@atwilden: well, flying smarter is something, anyway - flying less is better. Anyway,m what interesting things usually happen to you on an airplane? Virtually nothing, would be my guess. People shortchange themselves.
@tallamerican: Of course I can't stop people from driving/flying all the time, at least not by myself, but I can slow the damage by limiting my engagement in it myself, and perhaps at least make others aware of the problem and hopefully awaken them to their responsibility for what they do - many people will, in fact, take some responsibility for their actions once the consequences are pointed out to them, it's the avoidance of conscious thought, about issues that are not all that hard to make objective judgements about, that constitutes the human lemming instinct that gets us into such trouble, and that is manipulated by those who couldn't care less about us or anybody's future, for what they see as their own short-term advantage.
Yunnan air routes a hot commodity
Posted byI don't think you guys get it - air travel, as practiced since the great increase over the past 15 years or so, is simply environmentally unsustainable, full stop.
The Help Out — Philippines Fundraiser
Posted byAlways a problem with this sort of thing, which I thoroughly support - seems many people have the attitude that they have a right to keep 'their' wealth.
Yunnan's Stone Treasure: Shibao Mountain
Posted byPeople never used to have enough time either - the solution has always been to TAKE it. Failure to do so leads to the development of a tourist industry, with all its disgusting accoutrements. But hey, I figure we're all guilty.
Thanks for the tips on Shibaoshan, I plan to go stay up there & go around the whole place one of these days, when I take the time.