The title has a ring to it, does it not? Reminds me of Dr. Seuss's Put Me in the Zoo, banned for nonsensical reasons, withdrawn. Deemed racist. Not quite sure why, this was a favorite of my children and grandchildren, a beloved book. My oldest grandchild taught himself to read using that very book, at 18 months and he is one of the most nonprejudiced indviduals I have ever met. Go figure!
However, the title phrase, just getting acquainted with it, was used to describe a scene of confusion which needed sorting out. Zoo has always been the go-to term to describe a scene of chaos lacking good, calm, behavior with sensible thinking. The characters in such a "zoo" definitely need sorting out if order and sense are to be established.
It is most unfortunate when a country, its state of the union, definitely grows ever closer to the epitome of said 'zoo'. Most definitely, its inhabitants need sorting out, particularly when the supposed leaders are foolish, nasty, cynical, cowardly, devious, and disloyal to their constituents and the very idea and practice of true democracy.
It takes place when every precept of a democratic country is violated, from the very right to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness", to growing limitations on voting rights and accessibility to polls, to manipulations of the system so as to insure dominance, to interference with voters. A most frightening trait, in my eyes, validated through a bloody history attached to it, is the planned imposition one religion, the state religion, the approved one, with all else falling into second, third, not worthy of anything, places. The social safety net and a philosophy to look out for all within the nation, including environmental protective laws are shredded.
Folks, we are presently living in an almost completed new zoo, right here in our own backyards, front yards, even within the walls of institutions which once stood for democracy, now become sad jokes, wreckers of that very same democracy, promoting instead, with great enthusiasm, theocracy, represson and suppression, a nasty zoo indeed. Getting nastier by the day. By the hour. Our America. Not for much longer.
Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Roberts meets with a Christian nationalist, who espouses this view:" ...that the problems facing the U.S. were because Christians had failed to take authority in the country.... I sincerely pray God will speak into his life and through his decisions every day that he serves,"
When religion comes into the room, there is less room for others, less oxygenated air to breathe, the future freedom to worship growing in uncertainty.
'like-minded families who desire to see the Jesus of the Bible represented in today’s culture with the same relevance and impact He had 2000 years ago,"
"For the past 10 months, the 'He Gets Us' ads have shown up on billboards, YouTube channels, and television screens — most recently during NFL playoff games — across the country, all spreading the message that Jesus understands the human condition,". The ad shows pictures overlaid with text like "Jesus called huddles, too,"
When Christian values other than moral ones, those part and parcel of all good people, of whatever religion or none at all, are presented as belonging only to that religion, demeaning all others as somehow flawed, well, again, history has shown the bloodshed that walks hand in hand with it. I have no problem with those who follow Jesus as he espoused primary Judaic beliefs, and was born, lived and died as a Jew. However, I do not believe in his divinity nor role as the messiah, nor should I therefore be deemed as a lesser being needful of reeducation and reformation. Like it or not. Too many people have been there, done that, on both sides and it is so wrong that we now allow this dangerous doctrine to once again rear its ugly head.
When the Archbishop who heads the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops announces and pronounces, stepping heavy footed into State affairs, there is danger ahead. Separation of Church and State is a line not to be crossed for the sake of all. What follows, in our special Zoo is the gone viral portrait of a library in benighted Florida under the tyranny of neofascist DeSantis, stripped bare of books - shelves naked. Gone is the literature, the philosophy the astonishing advances, the values so hard to come by, problems we faced together, solutions we all shared. No more expansion of minds and horizons. No more joy of reading, of creativity. Think not? Think Never? Not in this country? I refer you back to that naked library and the so many others who follow.
When this is a question on the NYS Regents, I worry, I cringe, I fear.
"The question shows three maps of Israel starting from 1947 when Israel declared its independence as a Jewish state, in 1949 after the Arab-Israeli war that gave Jordan control of eastern Jerusalem and the East Bank, with Egypt controlling Gaza and, finally, a map from 2017 showing the changes after Israel annexed Jerusalem in 1908, according to the letter. Respondents were given four options to answer: “Zionists and Jewish immigrants,” “the government of Jordan,” “Palestinian nationalists” and “the citizens of Lebanon.”
This, in America, the Goldeneh Medina, where all is possible.
Maybe.
Maybe Not.
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