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Walk Your Dog Safely at Night with a Retractable LED Dog Leash
http://pd.gophercentral.com/u/1157/c/186/a/25
August 30, 2010
Greetings...
In this day and age of communication via the Internet and social sites
such as Facebook, forming a "friendship" with a stranger is not only
easy, but commmon. You may or may not share a lot of information and
the information you choose to share may be limited for your own safety,
or because it may be "easier" to keep some things to yourself...
Are you puzzled by that last sentence? I will explain and promise I
will make plenty of people uncomfortable and mad enough to send me
a nasty note before unsubscribing. Feel free to do both because what
I am going to write about is real and shows the bigotry and ignorance
of people, people who are quick to pontificate when it comes to their
religion of choice and show ignorance, intolerance, and hatred as soon
as they are done telling you about their "values"...
With the diversity in the world today, assuming you can tell the nationality
or religious background of anyone is ignorance at its best. I will concede
you can recognize a black person immediately, but that still doesn't give
you insight as to the background of that person, ie, Jamaican, African, etc.
The reason I titled today's column is where it begins...
If you knew that the person you have been emailing for months and found
to be a pleasant person was in fact, a Muslim, would you be kicking yourself
for sending the mass email forwards to him/her disrespecing their race and
religion and falsely labeling them all terrorists? Would you be mad that
they never said anything so you could have edited your email list a little?
If you knew the pretty blonde friend on Facebook, who lists her status
as "married" didn't state, "to an African-American", would you apologize
for sending racially insensitive emails and posts after finding out the
truth?
If you knew the person you thought was Italian, was in fact, Hispanic,
would you scan your brain for all the racially charged name calling
you did while discussing illegal immigration?
If you knew that the Oriental couple standing in line a few feet ahead
of you were born and raised in the U.S. and spoke only English, would
you care if they heard the ethnic slur you used as a joke with your
friend?
If you knew that the "Christian values" that are used in arguments against
diversity actually consist of infecting Native Americans with blankets
loaded with the smallpox vaccine, the murder of thousands of men, women
and children after accusations of being witches, infecting black soldiers
fighting for our country with the syphillis vaccine as an experiment,
the bombings of abortion clinics that resulted in many deaths, or even
the Spanish Inquisition which was the most violent, intolerant time in
history, would you be so quick to use that as your argument to non-Christians?
You may wonder where all of this is coming from. It comes from many
directions and many people. The current wave of "Islamaphobia" due
to the anger at the bulding of the Muslim cultural center a few blocks
from Ground Zero in New York has opened the floodgates and not in a
good way. The ugliness that has erupted isn't a new thing because
history always repeats itself. Ask any Japanese-American what they
went through after Pearl Harbor was attacked and there will be little
room to argue any difference. German-Americans also had a hard time
living in American during and after World War 2. How many Japanese
Americans had a hand in bombing Pearl Harbor? How many German-Americans
were part of the SS and worshipped Adolph Hitler?
We haven't learned a thing...
But this is different right? These are religious fanatics who don't
believe what "we" do, they don't believe Jesus Christ is the son of
God and their Lord and Savior. Jews don't believe that either, does
anyone question their faith in God?
All Muslims are terrorists...
OK...
All Catholic Priests are pedophiles...
Since the "N" word is bound to get people in trouble, opponents of
President Obama have found a unique way to instill hatred and fear
via the Internet, radio and television by calling him the "M" word...
Muslim...
All of us will say things behind closed doors that we may not say when
those doors are open. I am no different than most in that respect. That
being said, I have limits and a line I do not and will not cross because
I never want or wanted my children to grow up with prejudices that would
affect their opinions of people without getting to know them. It no longer
matters if the door is opened or closed, people are confusing the right
to an opinion with the right to enforce their opinions in any way they
see fit, even if it means distorting facts to sway public opinion or
joining forces that result in mob mentality...
The United States is a young country compared to most of the countries
"out there". September 11th was the biggest tragedy on our soil that we
have ever experienced. The sorrow, the anger, the fear. We will never
forget this act of terrorism or the people who lost their lives that day...
I would just remind you that there were many people of many different
ethnic and religious backgrounds...
Which "one" was the "right" background and when you think you have the
answer, find a family member of one of the victims that is a different
religion or ethnicity than yourself and tell them they are the wrong
"flavor of the week"...