Simon E. wrote:There is the blatant and unreformed sexism and chauvinism to a degree currently and happily
rare in modern society.
There is the equally blatant racism.
There is the remarkable degree of homophobia.
Can't say I've seen much nastiness, here, that hasn't come from a certain very-entertaining ex-member or perhaps a couple of 'homophobic' ex-Christian repressed homosexuals. And this coming from someone (me) who wrote a couple of essays as a teenager (yeah, I know that hasn't changed, lol) for my eyes only, and did so by addressing none other than the 'evils' of those four phenomena. {This was the early 90s, just before UK 'society' finally wrapped up a considered response to such prejudices.}
Simon E. wrote:There is the anti-science and anti-western bias.
Buddhism has its origins in what we westerners call the Orient. It forms a kind of 'science' more than it does a religion, but does not accept the post-postmodern self-deception that all understanding necessarily comes from a strict adherence to the empirical scientific method. Therefore, those who do call themselves Buddhists are likely to express doubts that all conceivable positive culture and understanding must have their origins in Europe. This obviously breaks taboos, which means that such comments are already pre-labelled as expressing whatever ideas are currently unacceptable, despite clearly having nothing to do with them on a literal reading.
Honestly, I don't see that I owe any blind
intellectual loyalty to any of the cultural heritage of my country, as long as I make a full effort to play a part in the
activities of the society it belongs to and which surrounds me. Some might even say that, as an autistic,
I owe society less than even that form of 'loyalty', since the message rammed down my throat (as I read it 'between the lines' while growing up) was always "you must play a full part in society, but you won't be able to do that duty (or indeed do
anything substantial) unless you learn to constantly manipulate others through your communication" (something all autistics are innately unable to do beyond a basic level, as well as something that turns out to be less essential, in many fields, than we were all led to believe).
Since you claim to be an academic and scientific professional, I feel very queezy about your blind faith in matters that others have merely guessed at, for example the falsehood of astrology that you were mouthing off about on another thread recently. {Astrology, along with fairies and the like, form falsifiable scientific hypotheses which can now be rested on scientifically-verified truths such as gravity and multiple dimensions, and which will therefore take big technological advances to finally disprove - Both blind faith and blind dismissal are therefore inappropriate, here, in the context of actual science.}
On the other hand, I've noticed that 'science', here, is often as shorthand for 'unscientific prejudices taken to be pro-scienctific by those who hold them'. {If everyone wrote like philosophers, as I often end up doing, no-one would bother reading!} Likewise, frustration with the 'tribulations' of a life influenced by US culture ends up just forming part of the US Left's anti-western rhetoric. So I can partly see where you're coming from, although I tend not to read from the 'meaty' threads on core Buddhist topics that might explain the more serious of your concerns.
I can't see that any of the prejudices you mentioned have any place in Buddhism. This isn't comparable to how it is in Christianity, where peaceable claims have to be weighed against scripture that mandates genocide - There's just too much Budddhist scripture and teaching that implicitly -or explicitly- rules out justification for the kind of prejudices you mentioned, and not enough (none I've come across) that support it. At the same time, the sangha have no justification within lay Buddhism to punish those who claim to be Buddhist while voicing prejudices - Perhaps more female mods, as was suggested on another thread, might help tone down some of the harshness you sense, particularly if they helped form a new forum. For example, I think I recall atleast one member voicing a certain stereotype of mental health professionals whilst debating you recently; a 'mod board' more concerned to protect the reputation of Buddhadharma -as well as its members' feelings- might simply have removed that comment while sending a polite PM to its writer-?
"Removing the barrier between this and that is the only solution" {Chogyam Trungpa - "The Lion's Roar"}
