Finding hope
Jan. 29th, 2025 09:23 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rosa_heartlilyI think I'm going to focus on the theme of hope on Sunday. Between Trumpism, the rise of the Far Right, and the current situation with the Bishop, it feels like a time to be actively seeking hope. I think the Hebrews reading (God taking on human form to understand us better) paired with Luke (Simeon and Anna waiting in hope for the Messiah) are the direction to go in. And I'll look for hymns that reflect the reading from Malachi and Psalm 24. That's the current plan, anyway. I'm also planning to use the story of Pandora's Box.
A year ago, I was lamenting the terrible weather on younger grandson's birthday, making plans for our PMO, cheering Dave on as he made his way through FFVII OG, and enjoying The Traitors - Australia.
Today, I whipped up a quick satisfaction survey on MSForms, met up with an old friend who's moved away from Liverpool, and drafted the monthly report on the state of the portfolio. In the VERY near future, I plan to make most of the latter as automated as possible!
I also attended a training session on antisemitism, its history, modern forms, and finding the boundary between criticism of the government of the State of Israel and antisemitism. According to the IHRA definition, as long as the criticism of Israel is criticism that can be levelled at any other country, it is legitimate. However, likening the government's behaviour to that of the Nazis would be antisemitism. My friend suggested the behaviour of the US Government towards First Nation Peoples as an alternative analogy. There was a member of the group that I know is Muslim who challenged the use of the IHRA definition, citing a number of cases where it had been successfully challenged in court. The Jewish person leading the session pointed out that the definition had been supported by a majority of members of the Jewish Student Union, it's a working definition so can be changed in the future, and it's not legally binding. The Muslim also took exception to comments made about Arabic words, but I felt they were overreacting - but I didn't offer a counter-challenge to their comments because I don't want to be a white Christian oppressor. I did think it was a shame the Jewish person and the Muslim couldn't sit down over a cup of coffee and discuss their shared experiences - I'm sure they have more in common than they have differences. But I may be making some HUGE assumptions, there.
I do know a bit more about what antisemitism looks like than I did this morning, though, so that can only be a good thing. And I do wonder how Jeremy Corbyn couldn't see what the problem was with that mural - and how the artist themselves couldn't see what they were creating. I hesitate to accuse either of deliberately setting out to cause offence, but again I really don't know enough to properly judge.
Oh, and I read the Chicago University Protocols today - a sane approach to freedom of speech if ever I saw one.
A year ago, I was lamenting the terrible weather on younger grandson's birthday, making plans for our PMO, cheering Dave on as he made his way through FFVII OG, and enjoying The Traitors - Australia.
Today, I whipped up a quick satisfaction survey on MSForms, met up with an old friend who's moved away from Liverpool, and drafted the monthly report on the state of the portfolio. In the VERY near future, I plan to make most of the latter as automated as possible!
I also attended a training session on antisemitism, its history, modern forms, and finding the boundary between criticism of the government of the State of Israel and antisemitism. According to the IHRA definition, as long as the criticism of Israel is criticism that can be levelled at any other country, it is legitimate. However, likening the government's behaviour to that of the Nazis would be antisemitism. My friend suggested the behaviour of the US Government towards First Nation Peoples as an alternative analogy. There was a member of the group that I know is Muslim who challenged the use of the IHRA definition, citing a number of cases where it had been successfully challenged in court. The Jewish person leading the session pointed out that the definition had been supported by a majority of members of the Jewish Student Union, it's a working definition so can be changed in the future, and it's not legally binding. The Muslim also took exception to comments made about Arabic words, but I felt they were overreacting - but I didn't offer a counter-challenge to their comments because I don't want to be a white Christian oppressor. I did think it was a shame the Jewish person and the Muslim couldn't sit down over a cup of coffee and discuss their shared experiences - I'm sure they have more in common than they have differences. But I may be making some HUGE assumptions, there.
I do know a bit more about what antisemitism looks like than I did this morning, though, so that can only be a good thing. And I do wonder how Jeremy Corbyn couldn't see what the problem was with that mural - and how the artist themselves couldn't see what they were creating. I hesitate to accuse either of deliberately setting out to cause offence, but again I really don't know enough to properly judge.
Oh, and I read the Chicago University Protocols today - a sane approach to freedom of speech if ever I saw one.
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Date: 2025-01-30 08:22 pm (UTC)