I'm happy to have my ideas challenged. Good ideas and more good ideas. Ever more fertile, creative thinking.

I don't like threats.

Eventually that was the deciding factor. I believe we need to be able to discuss. Also, I thought - wow, what massive terrorization, if even here in Canada where I am writing and where we have freedom of speech, all people (because of fear of Muslim retaliation) are supposed to be too afraid to talk about an important aspect of the Muslim religion as it is now practiced. It is an aspect that calls for Muslims to do violence. Muslims have not vehemently protested against this aspect of the Muslim religion, though they protested in huge outrage against a Danish cartoon that links the Muslim prophet with violence.

And from there I will go to the beginning of my wondering
about using or not using my own name on a piece that may not
be popular with some Muslims.

It all started when I was sitting down to write "The Rage of the'Righteous,'"
which focuses on an instance of excessive, disproportionate Muslim rage.

February 10, 2006:

Why not sign with my name, you may ask?

First and foremost, what is important here is the idea, not the name.

Second, people ready to hold an entire nation responsible for a cartoon done by one citizen – those are not people to be trusted to respond reasonably. They are not safe. They have slaughtered other Muslims and put a price on the cartoonist's head. They have murdered aid workers. Such people are dangerous.

Let those people rage at these ideas. Maybe some will actually hear the ideas. That would be a major accomplishment. In general, maybe many people will hear these ideas. Ideas are powerful, for good and ill. Maybe these healthy ideas will help break through the ideas of those who have turned part of the Muslim religion into a ticking time bomb.

signed,
ThisIsNotMe
February 10 , 2006

****

February 25, 2006:

Probably later this will be signed by Me, rather than ThisIsNotMe.

For now, I am signing as ThisIsNotMe for two reasons.

First, it's been suggested that that is safer. I like safety.

Second, I am protesting. By signing as ThisIsNotMe, I am highlighting - and protesting - the danger people have to run to speak out against Muslim fundamentalism. Worldwide, Muslims protested the publication of Danish cartoons they deemed offensive. Some removed all Danish products from the shelves of stores. Some burned an embassy. In country after country, Muslims were interviewed on television, denouncing the cartoons. They knew they were taking no risks. They knew they were in no danger of being murdered if they spoke out. None even spoke of being afraid of being fired.

Well, two of the Danish cartoonists have a price on their head.

Any Muslim who protested the cartoons should think about that, and should realize that it is time they speak out about something much more important than the cartoons. They should speak out about the violence encouraged by aspects of the Muslim religion.

Second, I am protesting. By signing as ThisIsNotMe, I am highlighting - and protesting - the danger people have to run to speak out against Muslim fundamentalism. Worldwide, Muslims protested the publication of Danish cartoons they deemed offensive. Some removed all Danish products from the shelves of stores. Some burned an embassy. In country after country, Muslims were interviewed on television, denouncing the cartoons. They knew they were taking no risks. They knew they were in no danger of being murdered if they spoke out. None even spoke of being afraid of being fired.

Well, two of the Danish cartoonists have a price on their head.

Any Muslim who protested the cartoons should think about that, and should realize that it is time they speak out about something much more important than the cartoons. They should speak out about the violence encouraged by aspects of the Muslim religion.

signed,
ThisIsNotMe
February 25 , 2006

****

August 24, 2006

You may note that I am not signing

ThisIsNotMe

I am used to signing my own name.   

I recognize this can be dangerous. The Nazis hunted people down. Stalin hunted people down. The world over, people have been hunted down for saying something someone else did not want to hear.

Sometimes the things are expressly forbidden - like Copernicus and Galileo were not allowed to mention that the sun did not revolve around the earth, but that instead the earth revolved around the sun. Sometimes one does not know exactly what will arouse the rage, and when the rage will pass by, like a thunderstorm that lets go elsewhere and one can hear booms of thunder in the distance.

Most of all, I am signing my name because the rage at speech is unbelievable to me. I am used to people sometimes agreeing with me and sometime disagreeing with me. I may find the disagreement frustrating, especially when I see that the people disagreeing are not willing to think well - but I want to reach the people, not destroy them.

It boggles my mind that there are people who want, not to reach, but to destroy.
To reach another person - one has touched them, and one has often also listened to them.
But many people would rather destroy. They fear, some may say, that listening is so dangerous that one must destroy. I see that some ideas arouse the wall of rage around them - as people who wanted equality between blacks and whites aroused the wall of rage around millions of prejudiced whites. One instance stands out in my mind: a ten-year-old black girl, when the local white school was racially integrated, need a wall of National Guardsmen to protect her from the rage of hundreds of whites turned out to yell obscenities at her and generally threaten her - one more example of the rage of the so-called righteous.

signed,
Elsa
August 24 , 2006

****

August 28, 2006 (final thoughts and call on you to sign a petition)

What shall it be - me or not me?

To be or not to be, that is the question - or at least that's what Shakespeare said.

Another question is: to be or not to be known.

There was a time when women writers often hid behind a man's name - because it was thought men were better writers. At other times people hide because they don't want attention. Film star Greta Garbo is now perhaps best known for her phrase, repeated for decades, "I vant to be alone."

That isn't why I thought of writing as ThisIsNotMe.

Sometimes one takes a chance by speaking out. One may be made fun of. People may say nasty things. I don't care about that.

But sometimes there are people who believe that others have no right to say what they don't want to hear. Hitler is famous as a book burner - in addition to the other atrocities he committed. All around the world, many countries use censorship to ban the publication of whatever the leaders don't want known or disagree with.

Some people go further than censorship. For example, they put a price on the life of a Danish cartoonist. In other words, no one, anywhere is the world, is to say anything they don't want said. OR ELSE.

The message is clear. The rage of the "righteous" is potentially quite dangerous, backed by the threat and sometimes reality of violence.

****

Nowadays there is little danger if one stays anonymous. Anyone can post anything on the web, for instance, and with a little care, stay untraceable. In other words, it is not currently possible to silence anonymous opposition.

But one can make others fear visibility.

When I came to write The Rage of the Righteous, a colleague liked what I had written, but warned me - don't let anyone know this is from you.

At first I went along. I signed it, ThisIsNotMe. When I passed the article to students, I did let them know I had written it - but that is a far cry from quite possibly reaching a wide public.

****

I have more than one hope.

Hope One. That people - including a huge number of Muslims - both recognize the truth of what I am saying, and move against those who use the Muslim religion to justify violence, murder, slaughter.

Hope Two (which links with the first hope). That I become one of masses of people with the same message. I think of the image at the end of V For Vendetta, a currently popular film, - thousands of people wearing the same mask, the mask that V has worn all along, so that V cannot be distinguished from all the others. If V had stood alone, he could have been destroyed. But he is not alone.

So one thing I would like is that you add your signature to a simple declaration against the use of violence in the name of religion - right now, specifically against the Muslim use of violence (suicide bombers, death squads, etc) in the name of the Muslim religion, against the use of their prophet to incite Muslims to do violence, against their claims that their god will reward Muslims dying while committing such violence with seven virgins.

I want you to dare to add your name and a valid email address to this petition. I don't know what good this may do, or if it will do any good. But silence does not do good.

Here is the text of the petition. It is very short and simple.

I am against the use of any religion to justify violence. Right now, I am specifically
against the Muslim use of the Muslim religion to justify violence and murder.
I am against the use of the name of the Muslim prophet to incite Muslims to do violence,
against Muslim claims that their god will reward Muslims dying while committing
such violence. I call upon all people, and particularly all Muslims, to speak out
against this. This is an abuse of the Muslim religion. I say, it must stop.

To add your name and email address to the petition, click here.

You are also welcome to add your own opinions, to add to the discussion.

Note: the names and email addresses will NOT be posted on the web. Before using them in any way, I will recontact you to confirm that you are comfortable with my using them. Right now, I want to see how many of the people who read this are willing to sign, want to be among those speaking out against Muslim violence in the name of the Muslim religion.

signed,
Elsa
August 28 , 2006

copyright © Elsa Schieder 2006, 2011
publishing house - FlufferDuff Impressions 2006, 2011

****

top of page

Click here for a blog on the writing of The Rage of the "Righteous" -
fear, censorship, self-censorship, and the unexpected.

Click here for The Rage of the "Righteous",
an idea piece.

Click here for Give Peace a Chance,
another idea piece.

For a "favorite" stupid opinion, click here for Stupid Opinion #One.

The Idea Emporium - why and what

One of my lifelong concerns has been trying to make sense of reality. What is happening? Why is this happening? And with that I come to ideas - ideas about reality, ideas that need to be checked against reality, not just believed in like the tooth fairy is accepted by a child. But how does one check them? What qualifies as proof, as evidence?

And why, so often, is evidence of no interest to people? We have masses of evidence of how good many people are at denying evidence when it goes against what they believe. Millions have denied, and continue to deny the equality of women and men, of Jews and nonJews, of atheists and Muslims, gays and heterosexuals. People are incredible experts at denying reality - what is seen, experienced. Of course we need to interpret reality - we do not know it "pure" but through our limited senses, our limited memory, our limited ability to perceive and make sense of the amazing array of information that does gets perceived.

Still, it boggles the even slightly rational mind - how can so many people be so utterly blind to, let's say, findings about nutrition? It amazed me to find out, when I was growing up, that there was evidence for the health benefits of whole grains over refined products - because masses of people stuck with white flour, white rice, white sugar. How could they be so closed to evidence? Somehow they had a wall against the evidence.

The ideas I want to explore are those that go with, not against, the evidence, that try to make sense of evidence.

So, the Idea Emporium - a place for ideas.
The Idea Emporium - a place where ideas are explored.
The Idea Emporium - a place where ideas are entertained , played with,
looked at from many angles.
The Idea Emporium, a place where ideas are evaluated.

What is an idea, by the way. I hadn't thought of that when I chose the name of The Idea Emporium. It just seemed the obviously right name. It was months before I realized I had a hard time putting into words what I meant by idea. I began to think about the word. Sentences with the word, idea, floated into my mind. Like, "I have an idea. Why don't we order pizza?" That was an eye-opener for me.

My guess is that most of us use the word without knowing exactly what it means. "I have an idea of what we might do. Maybe we could go out for Chinese food. But It's just an idea" - meaning this need not come to pass, but we think it might be fun. That is obviously not what I meant by idea.

"I have an idea. Maybe you left your hat in the car." Again, no

""My idea is that we go in together and talk to her." No.

These are all legitimate uses of the term, idea, but it's not what I meant when I came to name The Idea Emporium. And I'm sure it's not what people might expect if they click on The Idea Emporium - because it's not what most people mean by the word "idea."

Word has a built-in dictionary. This is what it says:

Idea -
a personal opinion or belief;
a thought to be presented as a suggestion;
an impression or knowledge of something;
a realization of a possible way of doing something or of something to be done;
the aim or purpose of a plan or project;
the gist or précis of something such as a book, report, project or plan;
a thought about or mental picture of something such as a future or possible event;
a concept that exists in the mind only;
a mental image that reflects reality.

The last is what I'm most interested in - ideas that reflect reality as well as possible. But I've decided that I like it that idea is such a wide term.

Here I am taking idea to mean (and I think this is what most of us think of when we think of the meaning of the word, idea) some thought one has about something. "I have an idea" - meaning, I am not sure this concept fits reality, but it is a hypothesis I have formed.

I also think that, when I named The Idea Emporium, I was blurring words together in my mind - idea, concept, conception, understanding, hypothesis.

The Idea Emporium - a place for all these things.

This is not the same as people having "an idee fixe" - meaning, a fixed idea, a rigid belief that something is one way or another.
The sooner people get rid of such ideas, the better. The Idea Emporium is not a place to set out rock-hard beliefs and stone people with them, hurling them like missiles at all and any that come within striking range.

That is not The Idea Emporium.

The Idea Emporium - a place to present and explore ideas - for now my ideas.

That does not mean the idea need to be timidly set forth, all hemming and hawing, tentative even when the evidence is strong.

The Idea Emporium – the goal is smart opinions, critical thought, perception, good analysis.

The Idea Emporium. Smart opinions - meaning, drawing on every resource possible, rather than "it's my opinion, that's why I believe it, and it's as good as yours any day. Who are you to say blacks can do math, women can learn to read, Jews deserve to live. I have every right to my opinion." Personally, I'd rather do my best to think well, but many others are clearly proud of their avowed right to be thoughtless.

That's not The Idea Emporium.

The Idea Emporium. Critical thought - that means we do our best to think well, to apply logic, information, all our capacities.

The Idea Emporium. Good analysis. Again, that means we try to ensure that we use valid arguments - not, "because it's my opinion," "because I say so" "because I know that's right" "because my god says so" "because everyone knows that's right" . We both draw conclusions from evidence (so there may be evidence showing patterns and tendencies in certain groups (for instance, I've done lots of research on the impact of rights movements on those who get involved, and have found lots of evidence for patterns of response) - and at the same time we are careful not to generalize, to draw conclusions beyond what we have evidence for, and even contradicting the evidence ("Women are ..." "Muslims believe ..." "everyone this happens to ..." "Jews are..." "Gays are ..."

The Idea Emporium. Perception. Not easy to perceive. We each do it through a filter of experience, memory, assumptions, and so on. We have all learned not to perceive many things - denial - and to magnify other things. The goal at The Idea Emporium (and this should be the goal everywhere) is to be as perceptive - taking in as much information - as possible.

The Idea Emporium. i could go on and on. But this is enough for a start. More important now to put it into action - because it's ideas came first, surging inside me, wanting to find a place to be heard.

I'm (among other things) a college teacher, so my teaching gives me one outlet for my ideas, to express them, modify them, listen to other ideas, test the evidence, the power (or lack thereof) of different arguments.

But that hasn't been enough for me. One small class at a time.

I have a sense that I have some ideas that could be valuable to many people - ideas many people don't have (many have very different ideas), ideas where my ideas may help other people struggling with some of the same concerns, and so on. I think these ideas could help make some kind of positive difference in the world, reach people who are reachable, maybe even break through some shells many people live inside, shells that stop them from perceiving things.

There will be space for the ideas of others as well. Right now I am starting with a few ideas of mine. But I envisage that The Idea Emporium is a place that will grow, enriching both others and also myself - that I and my ideas will grow from some of what comes back.

Elsa
July 30, 2006

copyright © Elsa Schieder 2006, 2011
publishing house - FlufferDuff Impressions 2006, 2011

Questions - on rage, hatred, narcissism, empathy, caring, peace.
Good thinking and analysis. Logic plus emotion.
The Idea Emporium - facts, ideas, conclusions.
Plus stupid opinions exposed.

IDEA * EVALUATION * CONCLUSION * INSIGHT * COMMENTARY * CONTROVERSY * INTELLECTUAL CONFLICTS * CONFLICTING VERSIONS AND CONCLUSIONS * DIFFICULT AREAS * OPINION * WELL-REASONED OPINION * UNFOUNDED OPINION * STUPID OPINION * THEORY * THEORIZING * FEMINIST THEORIES * PERCEPTION * PERCEPTIONS * PERSPECTIVES * PSYCHOANALYTICAL THEORIES *

ENVORINMENTAL CONCERNS * ANALYSIS * DISCOVERING UNDERLYING CAUSES * AMBIVALENCES * AMBIGUITIES * FEAR OF AND RAGE AGAINST IDEAS * FEAR OF EXPRESSING IDEAS *
ANTI-THINKING TORRORISM * ANTI-INTELLECTUAL TERRORISM * FALLACIES * FLAWED REASONING *
THE RAGE AGAINST UNWANTED IDEAS * THE RAGE AGAINST UNWANTED VISONS OF REALITY *

BLINKERS AGAINST PERCEPTION * BARRIERS TO THINKING * BARRIERS TO REASONING *
INTELLECTUAL STIMULATION * STIMULATING IDEAS * FERTILE THOUGHT * VIEWPOINTS * UNDERSTANDINGS * COMPLEXITIES * UNCERTAINTIES * GUESSES * HUNCHES *
FACTS * GUT FEELINGS ABOUT THINGS * EXPLORING IDEAS * EXPLORATIONS OF IDEAS *
THE IDEA EMPORIUM + THE IDEA EMPORIUM + THE IDEA EMPORIUM * THE IDEA EMPORIUM
EXPERIMENTS TO VERIFY IDEAS * REALITIES * REASONING * IN-DEPTH ANALYSIS *
THOUGHT OF THE DAY * PERCEPTION * PERSPECTIVE * DATA * INFORMATION *
OPINION PIECES * LOGICAL THINKING * CRITICAL THOUGHT * INTELLECTUAL LAZINESS * IDEA
THE IDEA EMPORIUM * THE IDEA EMPORIUM * THE IDEA EMPORIUM * THE IDEA EMPORIUM