Do unto others...

"...there was a limitless affront in being beaten by a Negro as black as oneself... as low-born; perhaps branded, too.  It was as though, in the same family, the children were to beat the parents, the grandson to the grandmother, the daughters-in-law the mother who cooked for them.  Besides, in other days, the colonists... had been careful not to kill their slaves, for dead slaves were money out of their pockets.  Whereas here the death of a slave was no drain on the public funds."
(Alejo Carpentier, The Kingdom of this World, 116-117)

source

This is a hard concept to deal with - black slave owners treated black slaves worse than the white owners did.  How could this happen, when just a few years previous they were all slaves? What made them think that it was okay to treat each other like that, committing the same atrocities that they themselves endured?  A scripture comes to mind:

We have learned by sad experience

that it is the nature and disposition of

almost all men, as soon as they get a

little authority, as they suppose, they

will immediately begin to exercise

unrighteous dominion.

~D&C 121:39

I can think of two (infamous) scientific studies that proved the idea mentioned above.  The Milgram Experiment is a classic textbook example of deceitful and unethical research.  Considering the horrific acts committed by Nazi soldiers led Stanley Milgram (a Jew) to design this study to test obedience to authority figures.  He found that 65% of test subjects would administer huge electric shocks to other people (it was fake, but they didn't know that).

The Stanford Prison Experiment was another demonstration of how brutal people can be when given power.  Twenty-four males were randomly selected to act as either prison guards or prisoners in a mock prison situation.  The purpose was to study the psychological effects assuming these roles in such a scenario.  All participants were normal, healthy students with no criminal or psychological history.  Very rapidly, the "guards" were using cruel punishments and psychological abuse.  Many of the "prisoners" had mental breakdowns.  For the safety of the subjects of the study, it had to be ended after only 6 days.  To me, the sad thing about this experiment was that they all knew (initially) that it was fake, and that they'd been randomly assigned the positions.

Comments from the designer and participants of the study.

I think there's more of a dark side to ourselves than maybe we realize.  Let's always remember to take a second and consider how we treat others... you can't go wrong with the Golden Rule.

Con ton y son

The internet radio station Pandora has several pre-made genre stations to choose from.  A couple weeks ago I discovered the Cuban music station... and my life was forever changed.  Latin American music is AWESOME.

I think that non-Latin musicians like doing Latin music every now and then - it just grooves better than lots of other genres do.  For example, take the song Save the Last Dance for Me performed by the Drifters:

You can hear a very straight rhythm, especially coming from the drum set.  Now consider Michael Bublé's cover of the song:

It's obviously Latin music from the beginning - salsa, to be exact.  The clave rhythm (on claves) starts in the second verse, and you can hear the tumbao (on the conga) later on:

Even the inflection and rhythm of his singing is more syncopated, giving it a nice Latin groove.

What about Wonderful Tonight by Eric Clapton?

Just your good ol' fashioned rock ballad.  But Michael Bublé strikes again!  Here's his cover of this song:

He's turned it into a slow Brazilian bossa nova, even singing a verse or two in Portuguese.  The basic bossa nova rhythm is easily felt throughout:

For a final example, let's listen to the original version of Stand by Me by Ben E. King:

There's a little bit of a Latin vibe going on in there, but Prince Royce takes it to a whole new level:

The song is now a full-blown bachata, a style of music that originated in the Dominican Republic.  The characteristic bongos and güira are prominently heard.  A good portion of the lyrics have also been translated into Spanish.

But there aren't just Latin covers of non-Latin songs; artists cover songs that were Latin in the first place, as well as writing their own original music in different Latin styles.  Latin American music has subtly crept into the tastes of Anglo-America.  You can't help but tap your foot or bounce your head or move some part of your body while listening to it (at least I can't).  Is Latin music prevalent because of our proximity to its birthplace, or is it just great stuff?  Honestly I don't care - I'm just glad it's here.

Mary Candelary

María Candelaria (Emilio Fernández, director; 1943)

So I was going to compare this movie to Disney's The Hunchback of Notre Dame, but then I remembered that it's a Disney movie, and those are frowned upon in this class.  (Except for Pocahontas.)

Instead, I'll discuss Jonathan Livingston Seagull, a novella published by Richard Bach in 1970.  Hall Barlett directed a film adaptation which came out in 1973.  (While the book was moderately successful (top of the NYTimes Bestseller List for 38 weeks), the movie was less so - the author sued the film company, and it's one of the few films that Roger Ebert has walked out of.)

I never read the book, but I saw the movie on my mission.  (My mission president loves this movie - he had it on DVD and showed it to us.)  It's a very spiritual/transcendental/metaphysical story about a seagull who savors the joys of flying instead of conforming to the trash-eating lifestyle of his flock.  His flock eventually banishes him and treats him as an outcast because of his "radical" ideas.  Similarly, María Candelaria is an outcast in her community.  Unlike María Candelaria, however, Jonathan Livingston Seagull doesn't die.  He sticks it to the man (who in this case happens to be a council of seagull "elders") by teaching the young seagulls how to overcome the mundane conformity of garbage-scavenging.

Through the symbolism in each story, it's pretty obvious that María and Jonathan are Christ figures.  (Okay, so maybe María represents the Virgin Mary... In order to make the symbolism fit with the gender of the characters, La Virgen is the next best thing.)  Just to make sure you get the connection, the dedication at the beginning of the film reads "To the real Jonathan Livingston Seagull, who lives within us all."  From my point of view, María represents the 'redemptive' power of the Atonement; she suffered and died because of the sins of the people.  Jonathan reflects the 'exalting' power of the Atonement, because he helps others reach their full potential and become like him.

yes, Neil Diamond did the music for this movie

Another interesting connection between the two is the symbolism of their names.  Candelaria is Spanish for Candlemas, a Christian holiday celebrating the presentation of Jesus at the temple, and during which candles are blessed.  (Candles... light... Light of the World... Christ.)  As for Jonathan Livingston Seagull, is not the Savior referred to as a living stone (1 Peter 2:4-6)?  His name in the Spanish translation is less discrete:  'Juan Salvador Gaviota.'  For whatever reasons, artists have been employing Christ figure symbolism for centuries.  What other examples can you think of?