Racism, Coexist, and who needs Peace?

Apparently the UN is having talks on racism, and had to kick some people out. That didn't surprise me at first, since the people were kicked out while Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was speaking, and the people exhibited unacceptable disruptive behavior. One article mentioned them wearing clown wigs and throwing red noses at him... Yeah, sounds disruptive. And mature to boot!

But that was only what caught my attention at first. What really hooked me when it was mentioned that COEXIST had members there who got kicked out. Ok, so, it's possible that someone wants to deal with racism, but isn't interested in peace. But the concept of COEXIST, I had assumed, would include peacefulness. Living and coexisting together is more than just not hating each other, we need to know how to get along, work together, like one another to a degree, or so I had thought. But apparently there is a limit to their tolerance.

I'm not entirely sure if the COEXIST that was there is connected to the two things I've seen, but if not then that means there are at least three COEXIST's out there, and frankly that's a little ridiculous. The first I saw came from Bono: Looks nice. Focused on Jerusalem, make sense. A bit idealistic I thought, but not too bad. The second I saw looked like the first on steroids: You can also find it at www.PeaceMonger.org, a site that actually strikes me as a bit obnoxious. As one site called the sticker, it represents "systems of thought," a nice way of saying we can all think differently and get along, so what's the big deal? Be eclectic! I did find a third, called the "Coexist Foundation," but they don't have a nifty bumper sticker to show off. And then there's a microagency...

Ok, so I have no idea who the COEXISTers were who got kicked out!

But in any case, the name to me just doesn't seem to match the kind of obnoxious, inflammatory behavior that was exhibited. Yes, there were reasons to be upset with the person who was speaking. Yes, things need to be done. But it seems a bit hypocritical to be all about coexisting, saying we can all get along, but not being willing to deal with bigots and racists. Hey, there are a lot of bigots and racists out there! There's no avoiding them! And I'm not convinced that it's possible to erase that from people entirely, so if you really want total coexistence, either you need to figure out how to erase bigotry/racism from those people, or learn to live with them anyways. Or, as I'm more assuming, realize that you can't really have total coexistence so long as people are broken and imprefect, and change what your goals are.

Rainbow

I'm sitting in class, not paying a whole lot of attention, just enough to know that the prof is still going through the chapters we read two weeks ago. It has been raining most of the day, though the sun has finally come out strong. I glanced out the window, and saw a huge, gorgeous rainbow. And realized, that it has been a while since I saw such a gorgeous thing, not some small thing in the rain on the road, or in a sprinkler, but painted powerfully from red to purple all across the sky. The thing is huge! Solid! Wish I had a camera!

Now it's fading... But I'm very glad I glanced out the window.

Almost Prophetic, I was

If I had written out my story thoughts, I would have almost been prophetic. I have sci-fi plots in my head that included weather altering satellites, though in my case they will end up going horribly wrong. There's just not as much plot in things that go right. And now, the solar feed satellite thing, which will solve all our energy concerns (or at least I'm betting someone thinks so), can apparently kill hurricanes.

Nifty, if it works. Sucks, if it ends up making worse weather problems...