This could get ugly, but I’m going to open the can anyway. Because when there’s a chance to take a pop culture discussion to a deeper level, we should take it! If only to test whether my critical thinking skills are still in tact.
Sharon Stone made this comment at the Cannes Film Festival about the recent China quake:
I’m not happy about the way the Chinese are treating the Tibetans because I don’t think anyone should be unkind to anyone else. And then this earthquake and all this stuff happened, and then I thought, is that karma? When you’re not nice that the bad things happen to you?
My question is this: If that same statement had been made by a religious leader who used the word “God” (or any translation thereof) instead of “karma,” would people (besides the Chinese) be more upset about it? It has happened time and again that religious leaders have attributed tragedy (from 9-11 to hurricane Katrina) to God — tragedy is God’s way of showing humanity that it’s doing something very wrong. Is it less offensive if karma is blamed for killing hoards of innocent people than if God were the culprit? If yes, then why?
My take on it is this: When it comes to matters of such overwhelming and inexplicable tragedy, we should just keep our blame theories to ourselves. Unless, of course, there really is someone to blame, in which case, we should blame the perpetrator. Al Qaeda? Yeah, blame those guys for 9-11. Hurricane Katrina? Myanmar cyclone? China earthquake? Let’s attribute those to a fickle and unforgiving Mother Nature, and remember that people are in deep, inconsolable pain. Telling them that some higher power — whether it’s God or karma — is punishing them by killing their loved ones is abhorrent.
I too think the Tibetans have suffered — and continue to suffer — immensely at the hands of a corrupt Chinese government. I just don’t think the children and the families of the children who lay crushed under the tons of rubble and debris should be made into sacrifices, payable to karma, on behalf of their government’s bad behavior. And even if it turns out that that’s what they are (on some esoteric level), let’s not tell them. They’ve been through enough.
Any thoughts? I know this is a severe divergence from our usual pop candy fare, but a good discussion can’t hurt, right?
So I know it’s kind of late in the week to be bringing this up, but I did battle the weekend crowds Sunday to watch the new Indiana Jones movie. Was I as disappointed as some people were? No. Did I love it? No.
