Month: June 2003

THE ACCIDENTAL VOICE

I recently declared in this space that I don’t believe in any god, messiah, prophet, or afterlife. I further declared that I believe religion does more harm than good, and that presidents, prime ministers, and judges who promote religious ideas are dangerous to the world at large. Religion, I asserted, maims, tortures, kills and demoralizes. Religion is the root of much evil, I wrote, and it should be kept out of government.

I had hoped that my Declaration of Disbelief would be read by the fundamentalists and evangelicals in Memphis and maybe elsewhere. I had hoped to push the preachers, smug as they are, up against a wall of questions and into the rare position of having to defend their beliefs against two-fisted skepticism. I had expected–let’s be honest, I had even hoped for–angry emails from the Bible-thumpers consigning me to hell for denying God.

But that’s not what happened. The audience I had wanted to reach simply ignored me. I received only one email sending me to hell and telling me I’d better start praying to Jesus today if I want to save my soul. Either the old-time religionists were cowed by the brilliance of my arguments or they never read what I wrote. I don’t think they were cowed.

Instead of hate mail, though, I began receiving something else: hundreds upon hundreds of emails praising me for what I had written! I got emails not just from Memphis, but from almost every state in the union, not to mention Canada, Brazil, England and Scotland. Somehow my column had made its way through the Internet to sites with names like “Internet Infidels,” “Atheist Parents,” “The Secular Web” “The Heathen Handbook,” “Freedom from Religion” and “The Freethinkers Forum.”

Thousands of nonbelievers were reading my little screed, drinking it in, they said, as if it were the purest spring water, and many of them felt compelled to write to me. Their emails contained the same messages over and over: “Thank you for saying what needed to be said.” “You are so brave to write what you wrote.” “You have written what I have always believed and could never say.” “I’m sending your column to everyone I know.” “May I reprint your column for our local atheist group?” “I wish I could speak out as you have.” “When I told my [family/friends/coworkers] that I didn’t believe in God, I was [ostracized/cursed/ fired]. I admire your courage.” “I hope you don’t lose your job for writing what you wrote.” “I hope our support will serve as a small antidote to those heaps of ignorant derision you’ll get from the church-goers.”

This has been an experience both heartening and discouraging. I had failed to reach the knee-jerk believers I wanted to challenge, which was disappointing. But I had somehow succeeded in speaking for thousands of nonbelievers who are desperate for a public voice, which was rewarding. Yet in a way, that very success was also disheartening. Why didn’t those thousands of nonbelievers feel they had a voice of their own? What does it say about America today that, in a supposedly secular nation, there are millions of people who are afraid to say that they don’t believe in any god or in any life after death? What does it say that they can’t speak out lest their families and friends disown them?

It says, I think, that the tyranny of the majority, as de Toqueville called it, is still a mighty restraint on free speech in this supposedly free society.

I’ve learned some lessons from all this:

I’ve learned that sometimes it doesn’t matter if you miss the audience you’re trying to reach. Sometimes all that matters is that you declare what you believe, as honestly and articulately as you can, because you might find another audience that needs to hear what you have to say.

I’ve learned that when you speak frankly for yourself, you almost inevitably speak for thousands of others who need a voice.

I’ve learned that even if you can’t change the world–just as I can’t unelect a president who blurs the distinction between church and state–it is useful to express your opinion, if only to give a sense of community to the like-minded who think they’re alone.

I’ve learned that if you would find alternative ideas, you would do best to look in alternative media, like the Internet and the weekly newspapers.

I’ve learned that strangers will worry about you (“I hope you don’t lose your job”) and wish you well just because they like your words.

I’ve learned that what’s compulsion for one person is courage for another. It took no bravery for me to write what I wrote; I’m driven to write what I believe, come what may. But I understand better now the strength it takes for others to express unpopular opinions when job, family, friendship or simple social acceptance is on the line.

And I’ve been reminded once more that such strength is the muscle of democracy.

So whoever you are, whatever your opinions, I hope that you think hard, stake out your corner, then climb your platform in the bright light of full noon and shout your policies to anyone who stops to listen. So what if you’re greeted with catcalls and rotten fruit? If you believe that France was right and Bush was wrong about Iraq, say so aloud, though the mass of jingoists call you traitor. If you believe that the rich should be made to share more with the poor, and not vice versa, let everybody know it, though bleeding-heart liberals may be out of fashion this year. And if you have no god, proclaim your godlessness to the world, though you fear the mob will damn you forever to hell.

Speak out, speak out, speak out. With the world as it is, silence is a sin.

Yeah, we were inverted.

Dan McClung was hovering, upside down directly above me, both of us seemingly suspended in air, while he waved vigorously and signaled thumbs up. Right then, my head started to flood with more than blood. Much like they had so many times on my Nintendo and VCR, my mind kept rewinding the images: Kenny Loggins, lots of Kenny Loggins singing about flying into a “Danger Zone.” A Polaroid picture taken from one inverted F14 cockpit. And, of course, Maverick, Goose, and Ice Man. Those were just a few of my thoughts, all images and sounds courtesy of an unnecessary number of viewings of that cinematic classic “Top Gun.”

Bulls–t, you say? Well, so did Val Kilmer (Ice Man, for those un-pop-cultured).

Alas, having forgotten my camera, I have no inverted mid-air picture for proof like Goose (that “ER” guy) did, only mental snapshots and feelings, all derived from the The Red Eagle Air Show Team’s practice/media ride I participated in. I can only hope to convey second hand the speed, power, and — during this centennial birthday celebration of the Wright Bros. first 1903 flight — history on display in the set up stage of the Midsouth Charity Air Show 2003, which will Saturday and Sunday at Millington Municipal Airport. The flying begins both days at 9:30 a.m.

Respect. Awe. Out-of-body. And, “the need for speed” that “Mav” spoke of (if you don’t know his character and that he was played by Tom Cruise, or haven’t seen “Top Gun” by now, then I have a few other “talkies” or “moving picture show” suggestions for you). That was what I felt after Buck Roetman, the pilot of the nearly 20-feet wide and long Eagle Talon bi-plane I was passenger in, performed three consecutive, forward loops. Land, sky, and sun. I saw them all thrice in a matter of seconds. With apologies to that other Land south of Millington perpetually celebrating Liberty in Memphis, this ride was a smidgeon better than The Revolution or The Zippin’ Pippin.

And, all the while, McClung, a current major commercial airline and former Top Gun pilot who uses his “off” time in the summer to fly the truly high-performance version of the Eagle Talon, circled around Buck and I. He would fly within inches of our wing, then abruptly pull away, and circle us again in seconds. Then, inch in from the other side.

Then came the whole inversion thing. I kid you not, McClung and Buck called it the “Top Gun.” McClung slowly descended — upside down — to within a few feet of our cockpit canopy. Without the glass, I could have reached up and shook his hand.

To think, only 15 minutes before, Buck had been looking for a new engine part for the very bi-plane I rode in. But, such normally heart-, head-, and gut-pounding antics are common for the Red Eagle guys, similar to our daily ho hum navigation through rush hour traffic.

“First of all, we all started as pilots, but right now, I see us first as entertainers,” McClung said. “I see us as trying to be role models. So, we are put to a pretty high standard out there.

It’s basically choreography,” McClung added. “It’s tantamount to being a high performance athlete. Like when you are standing up facing Roger Clemens. You really aren’t worried about a 100 MPH fastball. You’re thinking about the technique and all the things that you practiced.”

So, why look death in the face (or, comparably, “buzz the tower” with “permission denied”) during McClung’s vacation days, while already tackling the ever-increasing stress of flying commercially?

“We do it for excitement, we do it for entertainment, and we do it for education, and the education and the charities part of it and the kids is our main emphasis,” McClung said. “We are pretty big into getting youth involved in the Young Eagles program. We try to tell the kids that, ÔYou too can do this.’ All you have to do is stay in school and study hard, and it all will come.”

The Experimental Aviation Association’s Young Eagle Program, targeted at children 8-17 years old, was created to reach one million potential young pilots through 2003 and “provide a motivational aviation experience for young people through an actual demonstration flight.”

Maybe that makes me the oldest Young Eagle. What I do know is I can now be counted among the already large legion of Blue Angels fans. And, it took all of one synchronized maneuver, in less than a second.

The Navy’s renowned Blue Angels, or Blues, the headline performers for the Midsouth Charity Air Show 2003, arrived in Memphis Thursday — and they made their presence known in style. Flying only hundreds of feet over the runway, all six F18 Hornets passed in Delta formation and, in the time it takes you to finish this sentence, they had abruptly broke off in opposite directions, spinning into those hard

90-degree-angled turns. It was merely a teaser for what the expectedly large air show audiences can expect.

“Anytime you in the same air show was a jet team, that will usually bring out anywhere from 50,000 to 100,000 more people,” McClung said. “America loves that stuff. And, we all are mostly patriotic kind of people anyway. Especially now (following the war in Iraq), we are at a time our lives when we are really patriotic. I think that we are seeing bigger turnouts for air shows all over the country.

“If you didn’t have a good heartfelt feeling about America, then something is wrong,” McClung added. “More people are realizing that freedom didn’t come without any cost at all. It’s kind of fun to see.”

Of course, there some of you out there who don’t see the fun. For the Top Gun-style “going down in flames” liberals, this air show is just another representation of what’s wrong with America. A showcase for how we continue spend billions on defense weapons and foreign wars, while there are homeless, uneducated, starving, poor ….

So what? That’s what I ask, though, I agree that there sometimes can be too much Cowboy-style handling of international problems. Still, if you got it, flaunt it. Show off how powerful the human mind can be, and the technology that has made this country the most remarkable in history. That’s the American way.

If you like such displays of patriotism, and aerial velocity and omnipotence, then have fun at the Midsouth Charity Air Show when flying starts at 9:30 a.m. Saturday and Sunday. If not, then go live in whatever country fosters the always unidentified jets “Mav” a.k.a “Pete Mitchell” and the rest of the “Top Gun” boys are always dogfighting. Those guys, much like the French, seem to be good at getting their asses kicked.