The Open Mat

I say 1.0 because this is a seemingly never ending issue and I’m sure I will be revisiting this next month, and the month after, and the month after that.

My train of thought only started by an amusing coincidence. I like to listen to NPR while driving to work, which happens to be way early in the morning. Since I don’t watch a lot of news at home, it gives me a review of yesterday’s news. I can’t remember who the interview was with (it was early and no coffee had yet entered my thirsting system), but the topic was on the movie Moonlight. I haven’t watched, but apparently, some Hollywood people seem to think it’s neat. Luke Cage was also mentioned (again early/lack of coffee). So doing a quick Google search, I assume the person being interviewed was Mahershala Ali (via involvement in both). The interviewer was asking about black films and representation at the Oscars. The response of the interviewee was entirely pleasant (for me).

Paraphrasing the response, the message was that we need to get to a point in society that these questions are not even being asked. We need to get past a time that the media reports on a black movie was being recognized to a great movie was being recognized (by movie people who I assume know movies). This immediately reminded me of a time that another actor, Morgan Freeman, gave a similar response to race issues. [A half hour spent re-familiarizing myself with the who, what, when, where, and why via interweb]

Allow me to remind you, good readers, Black History month (aka February) 2005, on 60 Minutes with Mike Wallace. Morgan Freeman states that he finds Black History month to be “ridiculous.” Mr. Freeman’s reasoning being “Black history is American history.” To focus on race as opposed to person does more harm than good. I agree with the message, but I like the monthly history themes. Someone always puts out a reading list for “X history month,” and I get to find or rediscover some good books.

After my enlightening drive to work, I proceed to mainline coffee into my system. I check my email and find an email from a family member poking fun at my alma mater, University of Washington. UW – Tacoma had caused some amusing internet banter with their Writing Center’s “Statement on Antiracist and Social Justice Work in the Writing Center.” So I decided to dig deep into the rabbit hole that my morning commute had already primed me for.

Some media outlets had already written on it and the school had released a statement countering them. No agreement on either side, no one was swayed, and no one cared (you can do your own research, should you feel the need). I feel that the outlets missed the critical issue. The main issue they hit on was the Writing Center declaring that insisting on “proper” English only spread racist ideas. The development of language is constant, that is just the way it is (ever tried talking to a teenager?). But the Writing Center also basically said that “if you talk a certain was, people are going to think your an idiot,” an idea I strongly support.

The key issue is with the very first line, “helping writers write and succeed in a racist society.” This is the very first line in the OUR BELIEFS portion of the statement. Meaning that the whole center starts from the assumption that we are in a society where, “racism is the normal condition of things,” and present “in the systems, structures, rules, languages, expectations, and guidelines,” so really everything. This is both lazy and erroneous.

I will toss my hat into the ring of Anti-Racism every time there is a real issue. I read an article today about a man, Adam Purinton, killing another, Srivinas Kuchibhotla, and injuring two other men, Alok Madasni and Ian Grillot, in a bar with a gun because he assumed Mr. Kuchibhotla and Madasni were from Iran (they are actually Indian, but that is not the point). Mr. Grillot was injured trying to intervene. Fuck you, Adam. Go directly to jail and do not pass go. My heart goes out to the families of Mr. Kuchibhotla, Madasni, and Grillot for the idiotic and senseless violence that was conducted by a racist asshole. Mr. Grillot, thank you for being the kind of person the rest of us can look up to.

It’s not our society that is racist, it’s certain people who do racist things. We give people an out to be racist by insisting that it is society that makes them so. If we stop giving racist idiots such a high platform by allowing them to be victims of society that is racist, then we can actually get to the real issue. We might actually be able to truly confront people who commit crimes such as these. Punish the perpetrator, and don’t give them an excuse.

Now it could be that I am too conservative (maybe stoic) for my own good, but the political scene does not scare me as much as most people tell me I should.

I just do not believe that either the Left or the Right wants to see the world end. Anything that I read or am told that suggests something along these lines, feels forced and unreal. Bentham got it right, I feel, when addressing people’s motivation, pleasure. Mill improved upon that by adding greater nuance to utilitarianism. Some people like push-pin and others poetry (Bentham’s version), but pleasure at the end state. What I ask is, what possible pleasure does a politician get by running their own country into the ground? Doesn’t make sense to me and I conclude that no one (citizens of the US primarily) actually wants the US to implode.

Reporters and TV hosts alike, “the end of the world approaches, come join the fight on the side of righteousness.” I understand wanting to make everything into a fierce fight of right and wrong. It appears to be a human need to want to be a central figure of an important conflict, a hero/martyr complex. I personally have made my own relatively small conflicts at work and projected them into my stand at Thermopylae. Just because you or I deem something to be so, doesn’t make it. So we can all just take a breather.

I am no fan of the person or candidate Donald Trump. I respect President Trump. It has been just over a month of his four year opportunity to shape the United States (and let’s be honest the rest of the world). He talks too much and he likes to go way over the top on the rhetoric. Just before I started writing this, I read an article depicting a staff of (really bored and overpaid) journalists who studied his movements. Literally where and what President Trump has been doing every  hour of his month long presidency. They found that he spent more time golfing than attending intelligence briefs (this is funny because, Obama). The man has faults.

I hope that President Trump does make this country great. The protesters exercising their 1st Amendment Right to Free Speech, represents part of that greatness. Protests are cool. Democracy in action. USA! USA! However, we can do without the “Never Trump” or the “antifas” (fascist) movements. No one is saying that you must like the guy, I don’t. Respect the office this man has been elected to. Some benefit of the doubt, I think, will go a long way in providing a peaceful presidency.

You know what we could do if we got rid of the ridiculous shouting match (from the MSM and the response from the White House)? We might be able to get some civil debate. You know what we might be able to do with civil debate? We might be able to come to an agreement on certain topics and get some real progress.

I am not saying that if the President is doing something you disagree with you should or have to wait. Actions that are immoral, unethical, or (most especially) illegal should be met with protest. Protest meaning a peaceful gathering. Acknowledge that if it does not fall into those three categories that its is a disagreement and not all out war. And please just remember one thing,

The sun will come out tomorrow.

-BP

So I visited my friend’s school and I walked away with some interesting thoughts

My friend is a high school math teacher. To paint the picture the best way possible, she is pretty, white, blond haired, blue eyed, and very liberal. If ever I need to learn what the politically correct opinion is, then she is my go to. None of this means that I agree with her all or even most of the time. But, I do have to thank her for giving me some interesting topics to think about during my visit.

Diversity doesn’t mean majority.

One of the things I was told before I visited was the school was very diverse. So I walked in expecting some United Nations situation. It was not the case. The school is 70-80% black (African-American if you prefer, but it IS less descriptive, my cousin of the super white variety was born in Zimbabwe so he is African-American but that is not the group to which I refer), with the rest of the students being either white or Mexican. It could just be that “diverse” is her way or the politically correct way to say mostly black, but I think it’s dishonest. I don’t care that a school is mostly black, but just say so. Unless you think saying so is bad, which is a wrong way to think.

Controversy doesn’t count if everyone agrees.

The high school students were given an art project to make a banner about controversial topics. The first one I saw was of a large blue puzzle, which had some pop science references to global warming. Each puzzle piece had a lonely artic animal being separated from the others by drifting ice islands. Tears and sadness. The polar bear population is on the rise, but who cares about facts in the world of liberal high school teachers and students who DGAF because they got the new apple thingy. So the giant poster whose sole baseline was heat is bad because it hurts artic creatures, rates about a 3 in the controversial scale (10 is the debate for who has the best cuisine, 1 is beer, just the statement “beer”). A giant poster of the Black Lives Matter movement, hung against a window in the staircase. Is the BLM movement controversial, yes. This school however is majority black which makes me think that any contrary opinion of BLM was non-existent. A third poster was “Diversity,” and fourth was “Solidarity.” Really not sure what is controversial about these two.

I would have loved to have seen some real controversy, even if I ended up disagreeing. What I got instead was blatant pandering of the students to what the teachers agreed with. BORING.

I want to be better.

One of my many hobbies is Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Most BJJ gyms open their doors Saturday morning to allow practice sessions. These sessions are referred to as “open mat.” During open mat you are encouraged to focus on what it is you want to improve. If your coach has been using the week to teach the class up on guard passes and you just want to work on perfecting your scissor sweep or you just have not been able to nail the triangle quite like you wanted, open mat is the time to do so. Get your practice in so you can succeed in the way you want to play.

Not too long ago, I took a good look at myself. The last two years haven’t gone the way I planned, or even how I wanted. At first, I thrust all the blame on my work and my circumstance. Nothing I could do. It was the gods fault. It was my bosses and colleagues who failed to appreciate the gift they had been given, me. These thoughts didn’t help at all. I went from feeling bad to worse, every day the same thing. I later developed an incredible hunger for reading, so I read, a lot. My diet consisted of classic literature/fiction mixed in with philosophy (ancient and modern) and some pop psychology with a pinch of business/personal growth. Biographies made the garnish. That helped a little. I still feel incomplete. A wide and far reaching base, but without depth or solidity. Mentally I feel Jack of all, master of none.

There is a song by Aaron Tippin, the lyric goes you’ve got to stand for something/ or you’ll fall for anything. My dad raised me listening to country music and I knew that song by heart. But it wasn’t until I was my own man that I understood what that really means. So there I was with all my collected knowledge, theories, and best practices, but I had no firm foundation of me.

People in the BJJ community refer to their style as their “game.” My personality as a thinker has affected my BJJ game to be methodical and precise. I detest an ugly move. We can be embraced in a great big grappling embrace soaked in sweat (not just from us, but everyone else we’ve rolled with that day) but a haphazard lunge or some sloppy power play will be the thing that turns me off. That is just how I like to play. So I have this distinct “game” for one of my favorite hobbies, but I could not discern what my own “personal game” is or looks like. Something that is not just a hobby, but who I am.

So here is what I envision my Open Mat to be. A place were I can go to work on me. Every time I come here I want to get a little closer to perfection of my game. I want to work on determining where I stand on certain issues. I want to know what I think and I know that fine tuning a proper argument is the best way for me to figure that out. I want to perfect my art game, my literature game, my political game, and whatever other games I develop along the way. I have so many thoughts to put down and I am so thrilled to start this.

Last note, this is an open mat. As I explained at the start, open mat is a particular thing in the BJJ community. Focus on community, you can’t have an open mat by yourself. I want anyone who enters the open mat to feel welcome to work on their own games too. Argue, debate, and share best practices. BJJ is a martial art and I expect there to be a martial aspect of what goes on here, so thick skin is necessary. If you lose or can’t come to any agreement. Bow out, thank the other, bump, slap and roll with the next person.