madness

Last week I posted a general poke in the eye entry about Oklahoma. Embedded in said entry was an aside about some of the reasons why Oklahoma is an ever-changing enigma to me. Included in said rant was a link to Byrneunit, a snarky Tulsa/OKC couple who I would probably hunt down and befriend if I still lived in Oklahoma. We would wax poetical about 90210 at the High Low. It would be wonderful.

Well, their link is now defunct and they mention this in passing in yesterday’s entry. Which brings me to another reason why I no longer live in Oklahoma -- the censorship of all things that authorities think is immoral or blasphemous to minds of the poor citizens who don’t have the ability to think for themselves. So, since byrneunit is not allowed or would rather not be pulled into the public arena about this topic, I am leaving a link authored by the Associated Press on a website that most likely won’t be yanked or threatened by the state or agents thereof. There are some other sources, here and here.

Now, since I’m on my soapbox, is a little writing restraint philosophy. This is a little bit of a winding road, so bear with me. These thoughts are derived from French critic and philosopher Michel Foucault and Palestinian American theorist Edward Said*. These paragraphs barely scratch the surface of what these critics dedicated their lives to.

Said laid down this theory called Orientalism and contributed to the term, “the Other.” This is a long tradition that started with Eurocentric ambitions in colonialism and imperialism. Orientalism is a form of western logic that eroticizes false concepts about eastern and middle eastern cultures. This, in turn, creates a gap and an us/them mentality. When a group then perceives itself dominant to other groups, they then have an opportunity to dehumanize the “inferior” and then act upon their beliefs, often in forms of sexual degradation, cultural genocide, etc.

Foucault talks about the physical separation that society creates when they don’t understand or refuse to understand another group. This theory is fleshed out in his essay, Madness and Civilization. He used a former French society as an example who did not like living with or working with the mentally ill. They are considered unfit to live with civilized society and then are placed in an asylum, generally tucked away from the rest of the world. A civil/mad paradigm (also referred to doctor/patient) is then created and group dominance can then be applied, then dehumanization, such as shock therapy or heavy medication. Essentially, there is a direct relation between power and knowledge.

I see this legislation playing out the same way in the libraries of Oklahoma. The Commission would like to see the books placed in a special adult section, which I later learned will also house books on child and drug abuse. This response may be a fear of a child wondering about his or her sexual preference. It also may be an attempt to “protect” children from alternative lifestyles. What they actually may be doing is widening this gap of understanding between two cultures based on sexuality, rather than bridging it with knowledge. In my eyes, this separation is a form of bigotry, especially within a public institution.

I mean, what would I have done if I could not have read Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. Or Everyone Poops. Because I know there is some confusion about this pooping business. And, really, it’s okay. Everyone poops, even if it mostly comes out of some legislators’ mouths.

*I once gave a presentation on Edward Said and Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. Throughout, I kept referring to his last name as the way I read it: Said. After I ended the talk and opened up for Q&A, one of the members raised her hand and said, “You mean ‘Sa-yeed’.” Awkward moment.