,
CRASHing the Matrix
P R E S E N T S :
Reducing ISM-induced delusions in Eugene
With the beautiful Rhoda Gravel
T h u r s d a y 7- 1 0 p m
B-I-N-G-O
FREE BINGO
I
am from L.A., unabashedly, proudly. That city was founded before most of
America. There were 44 “founding fathers,” and only three of them were white.
The white people weren’t considered illegal or superior. As part of Mexico, slavery
would be made illegal; slaves would be freed long before they were free in America, by
a black-Indian president who was a former slave. When Alta California was forcibly
brought into the U.S. and English became the official language, race relations changed
dramatically. I’m not suggesting that English is the only language that vectors ISMs, but
it spreads the ones we are most familiar with here.
In the movie Crash, you see the personal devil’s bargain that everyone in the film
makes with every level of racism: overt individual (Type I), covert individual (Type II),
unconscious institutional (Type III), legal conscious institutional (Type IV), illegal con-
scious institutional (Type V) and socio-structural violence (Type VI). Different skills and
strategies are needed to deal with an individual who is discriminating against you for
their own personal reasons (Types I and II), or who is discriminating against you as part
of an organization or institution (Types III-VI).
Einstein once described what we’d call ISMs as an “optical delusion of conscious-
ness.” He wrote, “This delusion is a prison, restricting us to our personal desires and to
affection for a few persons close to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from our
prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all humanity and the whole of
nature in its beauty.”
DENTISTRY, PC
By taking a holistic approach and arrang-
ing for health rather than merely treating
disease, we offer an opportunity to
restore your oral health to its optimum.
We look at the whole picture, consider
health and underlying factors, and take
steps to perfect your smile while prevent-
ing problems before they occur.
ANNIVERSARY BASH
with Dale & Rhoda
DJ/music: 80’s music & more
Friday, 7pm
J U LY
WELLNESS CENTERED
PARADOX
★ n o c ove r
S a t u rd ay 9 p m
OPEN AUDITIONS
W omen Entertainers of all kinds are
encouraged to come ready to perform
★
★ VENOM
VANITY
★
★
Tu e s d ay 5 p m
hosts a benefit/show/ dinner
J U LY
T
he new movie Crash, set in today’s Los Angeles,
depicts what I referred to in my interview
(“We’re All Infected,” EW 12/23/04): We are all
infected with the memetic virus of racism. A meme is
described as a virus of the mind. Like their biological
cousins, memes are transmitted through any mode of
human communication, and they mutate.
Simply stated, an ISM meme is transmitted through
the English language, affecting your ability to see others as
part of your human family and act accordingly. Think of ISMs
like a form of herpes virus that attacks the underlying structure of
humanity. Herpes infections like chicken pox cause inflammation and delusions, and de-
stroy the integrity of healthy tissue. ISMs and their resulting systems of discrimination de-
stroy the unity underlying any perceptible human differences: Class(ism), Race(ism),
Addiction, Ability, Sex(ism), Heterosex(ism) (CRASH model, Calalang, Harris 2001).
I describe ISM (Individual Societal Structural Mentality) as a mentality that is vec-
tored and incorporated through every structure in society and infects individuals. For
every ISM there is an “invisible” structure of privilege supporting it — invisible in the
sense that you are not meant to see it in operation, but you can train yourself to see it,
much like seeing rain in your headlights at night, or dust in a dark room when you use a
flashlight. It’s always there; you simply need the right tool to see it.
Individuals can reduce their ISM-induced delusions through a process of self-educa-
tion and self-actualization. Outside of prison, few men worry about the risk of being
sexually assaulted walking across a parking lot to their car at night. For many women, it
is a real possibility. Male privilege, which is part of the system of sexism, keeps men
from seeing their hidden advantage in this regard.
Intersexed people are about 1 to 3 percent of human births currently. On this conti-
nent and in Africa before European contact, persons displaying the resulting sexual di-
versity held integral, often sacred roles in their societies. That they don’t in this society
is evidence of heterosexual privilege.
When Rush Limbaugh was found to have an illegal three-year supply of a prescrip-
tion drug that he was addicted to (a felony), was he arrested? In this case you see the
intersection of four kinds of privilege: male, white race, upper class, pharmaceutical ad-
diction. If he had been of color, female, poor and in possession of a three-day supply of
any street drug, would his legal treatment be the same? Would he be treated the same
at any rehabilitation center in America? No.
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J U LY
DARIN J. WARD
J U LY J U LY
Sam s Place
BY MARK HARRIS
DARIN J. WARD , DDS F . A . G . D .
for Greenhill Humane Society
$5 all you can eat spaghetti dinner
Fellow of the Academy of General Dentistry
Wellness Centered Dentistry, PC
300 COUNTRY CLUB RD., STE. 290
EUGENE, OR 97401 • (541) 868-2008
484-4455
825 Wilson St ★ Eugene
(North off West 11th, look for Burrito Boy)
CAMP
GUIDE
Nearby
Nature
Outdoor Daycamps
in Local Parks
Experienced Naturalist Educators
Small Groups, Hands-On Exploring
Ages 4 1/2 - 11, Weekly Sessions
For registration call 687-9699
or visit www.nearbynature.org
EWEB Sponsored Scholarships
Available for Conservation-Based Daycamps
Mark Harris is an instructor and substance abuse prevention coordinator at Lane Community College.
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JULY 7, 2005 7