I’ve been thinking a bit lately about why exactly the Vibe works. Now, this is not a dissection at all — at all costs I don’t want to kill the Vibe while trying to understand it.  So, I’m not in any sense taking our time together apart to analyze it under the cold light of a microscope.  But here’s an observation I had — like watching a lion on the savanna — just something noticed while the animal was in beautiful motion. 

At the start of the night, DS (Sherman) delivered a stunning peace about the socio-political landscape of America and how it tugs on the fabric of the global village and our individual souls.  If you were there, I’m sure you noticed that his piece wasn’t exactly pro-Bush and probably indicated DS has a few critiques for the whole war in Iraq.  But a few artists later, Melanie took us into her experience as a soldier in the very same conflict: an on-the-ground reality that our politicizing can only approach but not penetrate.  When she was done, I looked over at DS who was sitting in the seat next to me, and we had this expression of deep appreciation and real compassion.  Whatever he thinks of politics, it seems he can appreciate all that is human.

 There it was in DS’ applause of Melanie, at least one reason why the Vibe works.  I’m not exactly sure what to call it, as if any name is too small for how profound it is.  You might call it unity or solidarity, but on the other hand, it could also be the typical opposites diversity or individuality.  I guess it’s bigger than any of these because it includes all of them.  It is both a respect that we are all very similar on a human level, and yet, also significantly different.  That’s why the Vibe can include and celebrate once-thugs-turned-Jesus-rappers, skeptic-poets, wannabe philosophers, the regular elite, and many ordinary geniuses. 

A couple of months ago I attended a Veritas forum on Race, Violence, and Reconciliation with Sal, Alisa, and some other Vibe folks.  One of the panelists, NYU professor Yvonne Latty, said something that bothered me.  She said the solution to race problems was we just need to get people to see that we’re all basically the same.  Is this true?  What if I, a white boy, went to her home neighborhood in Harlem and announced you are all the same as white people.  Like my friend Darren says, I better be wearing my fast sneakers. 

Saying that everything is the same thing is a boring, base, and dangerous view of the world.  Lately, I’ve been having this conversation on a blog I share with the atheist Drunkentune.  We formed the blog because believers like me and atheists like Drunkentune usually have a lot of problems talking and even more collaborating for a better world.  I recently wrote an article about a popular form of religious pluralism that says all religions are basically the same [see On Pluralism].  For atheists, this often means they can dismiss all religions together as irrelevant and personally private.  

To explain why this type of pluralism misses a lot, I used an example from genetics:  Chimps and humans are only 1.2 percent different in terms of DNA, about 35 million chemical letters.  So you could say that, since our DNA is 98.8% the same, chimps and humans are basically the same.  But this misses just how significant 1.2 percent can be.  For the last 6,000 years, chimps have been cracking nuts on stumps with rocks & they are just entering their stone-age.  On the other hand, in the same period of time, man has developed advanced language and culture, built cities and civilizations, created amazing technologies, and colonized all of the world and parts of space.  So, in this view, being human has to do largely with 1.2 percent of difference. 

So, back to the Vibe and why, in part, I think it works.  It works because we can appreciate both how similar we are on a human level and how significant our personal differences really are.  If we do this at the same time, celebrating unity-in-diversity, then I think we have something unique, or at least powerful.  Too many things are trying to make us all the same, as if we could be homogenized like a dairy product into a generic, sitcom humanity.  Too many are also attempting to fragment the world on behalf of myopic issues or special interests.  The Vibe gives me hope because it seems that we are hearing both our great commonality and our significant difference.

Check out:

Website featuring DS’ poetry and many others: http://hiphoppoetry.com/

My blog with an atheist: Philaletheia.com