[Buddha-l] Buddhism and the "status quo"

[Richard Hayes]

On Thursday 21 September 2006 11:25, Dan Lusthaus wrote:

> And so the aging hippie Buddhist wannabes still root for antisemitic
> facists. The more things change, the more they stay the same. (sigh)

I'm searching feverishly through that sentence for a grain of verisimilitude. 
As far as I can see, the only part of that description that comes even close 
to being true is the adjective "aging." I plead guilty to aging. All the 
other parts of the subject and predicate fail to nail. 

I never was a hippie or even a hippie wannabe. When everyone else was being a 
hippie I was earning my livelihood as a cowboy wannabe in redneck Alberta.

I am not and never have been a Buddhist wannabe. I'm a Buddhist. Period. (To 
dismiss me as a wannabe may be an example of your inability to regard anyone 
as a Buddhist who doesn't keep kosher and daven.)

As a former member of the campus Marxists, I have never been a fan of any kind 
of Fascism. Fascism is usually based on ethnocentrism, for which I have no 
use at all.

Ahmadinejad's critique of the USA and Israel was right on target. His 
reference to the coming of the Mahdi left me cold. Chavez's critique of the 
USA was brilliant. His reference to Bush as el diablo was stupid and 
regrettable. Not everything said by someone who says some worthwhile things 
is worthwhile. Hence the need for discernment.


-- 
Richard P. Hayes
Department of Philosophy
University of New Mexico
http://www.unm.edu/~rhayes