Sentientism 165: "I don't believe that people are born bad" - Alexandra Paul - Actress and Activist - Sentientism
Alexandra is an actress, activist and health coach. She has appeared in more than 100 feature films and television programs starring alongside actors including Tom Hanks, Pamela Anderson, Pierce Brosnan, Kevin Costner and Dan Ackroyd. She is internationally recognized for her 5-year starring role in the tv series Baywatch.
Alexandra has been a lifelong and often award-winning (and arrested!) activist, spanning causes including animal liberation, environmentalism, human population, peace, voting rights and LGBTQ rights. She competes in long distance swimming and Ironman races, including the World Ironman Championship in Hawaii.
In Sentientist Conversations we talk about the two most important questions: “what’s real?” & “who matters?”
Sentientism is "evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings." The video of our conversation is here on YouTube.
We discuss:
00:00 Clips & Welcome
- Crystal Heath episode (thanks for the intro!)
02:30 Alexandra's Intro
- Acting, #baywatch , marriage, activism
- "I am an actress by trade but I feel like I'm an activist - that's the thing that feeds my soul... gives me purpose & meaning"
- Human population, animals
- Moving to Oregon
- #YesOnIP13 ballot initiative & David Michelson episode
04:55 What's Real?
- Growing up in a Christian #protestant household. Church every sunday.
- Boarding school with church every morning
- "It drives me crazy when our President swears on the Bible because I thought there was separation of church & state..."
- Confirmed into the church at 12 yrs old "When in doubt do what Jesus would do - the kindest thing"
- Midnight mass at 17 yrs old "A pastor said 'we're all born with sin'... I just thought 'that's not true'... that was pretty much the end of me and religion"
- "I also felt that religion didn't deal with the things that needed to be done on earth - like the environment"
- "So I never went back to church after that"
- "The tenet about Jesus doing the kindest thing has evolved into Ingrid Newkirk's... 'be kind, be kind, be kind'" Ingrid episode
- "I personally don't have a god"
- "I've got a lot of work to do on earth... I'm not even going to deal with religion because it's just a waste of time.. I need to fix things on earth... I don't consider myself a spiritual person."
- Visiting the Vatican "horrified at the riches in that place"
- "Also the anthropocentric view of the bible - that humans are the centre and we have dominion over everything else... and very male-dominated"
- Protesting the Iraq war & being arrested with the Catholic Workers "They put into practice what is talked about in the Bible about loving your fellow man"
- The meaning, solace & community some get from religion and how activism can provide the same
- "I will not join a religion because of the exclusiveness & the hierarchy... and humans are at the centre"
- "I don't believe that people are born bad... circumstances can twist them... humans get damaged"
- #Moralluck , blame and retribution. #Sentientistjustice https://sentientism.info/sentientism-in-action/sentientist-justice
- "How good a person would I be" if I'd been born in different (tougher) circumstances
- "I worried that my character was weak... I think that's one of the reasons I've become an activist... I remember being afraid that I was a bad person underneath."
30:21 What Matters?
34:25 Who Matters?
54:37 A Better Future
...and much more. Full show notes at Sentientism.info.
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