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I usually ignore things like this. "Forward this" and "forward that" type emails usually aren't even privy to being opened, let alone perused! And at first, that's what I did. Ignored it. It was one of those religious forwards meant to appeal to your sense of decency, your patriotism, and to your devout faith in god. I know a lot of my friends are very strong god believers, hence I expect to get these every now and again. Such is life, right?
The email in question is in it's entirety below, and ended with the usual:
If you agree with this, please pass it on.
If not delete it.
Of course, most people who know me know that the way to get me to share an opinion is to tell me not to share an opinion... I know, I know... This time I played right into the right-wing's evil plans by doing exactly that--I deleted it. Sigh. But then one of my other friends just had to hit "Reply All" with the following statement:
IN JESUS NAME.... AMEN! Thank you for sending this along. I usually ignore forwards, but I am glad this one washed upon my inbox. I pity the poor SOB that dictates to me to deny CHRIST :-D
Ugh. Okay, that's the part that not only got my goat, but sold it into slavery, beat it with a whip, forced it to eat brambles, and then sent it home with a belly ache on death's door. (My poor goat!) Never mind that the email had nothing to do with denying Christ, but was about praying before football games... Which, while I suppose one could read into no state-sponsored prayer before a game as a "denial" of Christ, the stretch is... Well, beyond reasonable.
First off: Andy Rooney, right-wing blabber mouth that he is, never said the words in this email even though they are ascribed to him. Or, if he did, he completely plagiarized them. (Note that this email makes the rounds also crediting these words to Paul Harvey--which is just as untrue...) Actually, most of these words were written by Nick Gholson... But that's another story...
Onto the meat of the matter, the email itself. You know how these things work: it's filled with pictures of our soldiers, a cross or three, a bible--you know, just in case words are not enough, pics are included to portray another thousand words or so.
Pray if you want to!
Oh, thank you for your permission! Never mind that everyone in this country can pray if they want to...
CBS and Katie Couric et al must be in a panic and rushing to reassure the White House that this is not network policy.
Yes, yes, that's what happens when Andy Rooney says something in his op-ed block on television--people "scramble" to make sure Obama and company "know" that this isn't "network policy". Except that Andy Rooney never said it. And neither did Paul Harvey. So even though there wouldn't have been any scrambling, and no reason to to begin with... Well... Yeah...
Folks, this is the year that we RE-TAKE AMERICA & CANADA.
Who took them? Anybody? Anybody? You mean... No one took them anywhere?! I would think even the U.S. and Canada would like a field trip every now and then... But there they are, still... Well, there... Right where they were, spinning around the sun just like always... Go figure...
********* Get Ready *********
Keep this going around the globe.
So it's not just the U.S. and Canada!? Oh, dear!
Read it and forward every time you receive it... We can't give up on this issue.
Just so we're clear--the issue seems to be relocating the entire Western half of the Northern Hemisphere...
Andy Rooney and Prayer. Andy Rooney says:
As stated above, no, he doesn't.
I don't believe in Santa Claus, but I'm not going to sue somebody for singing a Ho-Ho-Ho song in December.
I couldn't even begin to imagine how one would go about suing for that reason. And thank goodness that we, as adults, are now allowed to stop believing in imaginary beings! Whew!
I don't agree with Darwin , but I didn't go out and hire a lawyer when my high school teacher taught his theory of evolution.
Well, that's good because you would have lost. You see, the teacher was busy teaching you about facts, which, among other things, didn't include Santa Claus. The fact that you think Santa and scientific law are somehow related to one another is not helping your cause in any way.
Life, liberty or your pursuit of happiness will not be endangered in any way because someone says a 30-second prayer before a football game.
Actually, it's very possible you did infringe upon some one's liberty. Were the football students coerced into joining in because of fear of retribution from not participating? (Yes, this has happened... Probably more often than we would like to admit...) Having a moment so that people can pray to their deity of choice is not the issue--having the coach lead the students and players as if suddenly everyone there were in fact Christian and praying to the same god, IS an issue, especially if that coach is a state employee. Especially if that "voluntary" prayer is being broadcast tot he entire stadium over the stadium's state-paid-for PA system. Especially if the school policy allowed only for "appropriate" messages and imposed other guidelines that give the student's message "the imprint of the state." Separation of church and state isn't a matter of opinion or belief--it's the law. That being said, I, as most other atheists I know, don't get upset at these little Pray-Alongs. We just hum quietly, count the ceiling tiles, or make faces at you while your heads are bowed... Generally, we find a way of amusing ourselves, sometimes at your expense, while you all pray to some invisible deity who, in all honesty, if he did exist, could probably give two shits about who does or doesn't win your game of choice.
So what's the big deal?
It's not like somebody is up there reading the entire Book of Acts.
They have in the past. And they would if no one ever said anything. And that's a fact.
They're just talking to a God they believe in and asking him to grant safety to the players on the field and the fans going home from the game.
Asking for no injuries and safe play while strapping on padding and a helmet only makes me question your faith more. If you're asking your god to protect you while playing, why the need for the shoulder pads and helmet? Not that I mind if you wear them to bed--Ooh, lala! But something tells me you have less faith than you claim...
But it's a Christian prayer, some will argue. Yes, and this is the United States of America, and Canada, countries founded on Christian principles. According to our very own phone book, Christian churches outnumber all others better than 200-to-1. So what would you expect -- somebody chanting Hare Krishna?
So because there are more of you, screw everyone else's beliefs? Why should the Muslim player on the team have to sit there and listen to the coach's prayer to the Christian god? Why not let the players pray to themselves? Is the coach going to lead as prayer to Allah, then? In fact (and please pay attention to this part, it's vitally important...), we are not Christian nations. We may have been founded on some of the principles in life that Christianity happens to share in common with multiple other religions around the globe, but the Founding Fathers expressly prevented mentioning any type of god in our Constitution (despite many a pastor and preacher's protestations to do just that) simply because they knew it was divisive and did *not* want to go down the path of our mother country, England. They saw what state-sponsored religion could do to a nation, and thus, not only erected a wall in the first amendment, but also included a clause in the Constitution which forbade "any religious test" as a prerequisite to holding public office. I can't speak for the history of the Canadian government's freedom of religion, but I can assure you that the United States is not a Christian nation, just a nation that happens to have a disproportionately high number of Christians...
If I went to a football game in Jerusalem, I would expect to hear a Jewish prayer.
As football isn't nearly so popular in the Middle East, and considering half of Jerusalem is under Israeli control while the other half is under Palestinian control (aka mostly Muslims...)--well, odds are about 50/50 depending on what type of prayer you would hear...
If I went to a soccer game in Baghdad, I would expect to hear a Muslim prayer.
So do they say a prayer to Allah in Baghdad? I'm just curious...
If I went to a ping pong match in China, I would expect to hear someone pray to Buddha.
Only if the Communist authorities allowed it. I expect, given that they have to approve any and all religious practices, the Communist Chinese government would have specific words pre-approved--if approved at all--to pray before a sporting event.
And I wouldn't be offended. It wouldn't bother me one bit.
But you are offended that not everyone here in the U.S. and Canada may *not* be a Christian? Or--wait--are you offended because people may be offended by your practices holding up a sporting event with no religious affiliation whatsoever? I mean, I could understand a bit better perhaps if, say, Jesus had said, "And whosoever toucheth the pigskin, or the orange bouncer, or taketh upon themselves any sporting event not involving lions, should say a prayer, and thank the father for the blessings of sports"--well, then, I might understand your compulsion to pray for safety as you strap on 50 pounds worth of safety equipment. But since he didn't... Well... You see my issue, right?
But what about the atheists? Is another argument. What about them?
Um... We live here, too. And we play sports. And if you want to give people time to pray before a game--fine. We'll be counting the blades of grass, eying up the competition, and running through our last minute game plays while the rest of you pray to sky fairy.
Nobody is asking them to be baptized.
Um, you do live here, right? Happens to me at my house at least once every three months!
We're not going to pass the collection plate.
Oh, but you would if you could. And you know it. Just like that "it's only ten percent" line you try in your actual churches, with your stupid felt-board thermometers keeping track of just how close you are to the new roof, the summer camp trip, the missions project to Appalachia... You would.
Just humour us for 30 seconds.
Because you don't exercise your privileges enough? You need that extra 30 seconds (which is a lie, you pompous windbags! You go on for hours sometimes!) to pray--why? I thought your god was omniscient? That he knew your needs and whims? You need to pray before the game--why, exactly?
If that's asking too much, bring a Walkman or a pair of ear plugs. Go to the bathroom. Visit the concession stand. Call your lawyer!
What do you think we've been doing all these years? You thought we enjoyed staring at you down on your knees, delaying the start of every major event in our lives?
Or, just exercise their right to leave this country!
Ah, the old stand-by. "You don't like it, you can leave!" You'd like that, wouldn't you? Fortunately, I love this country just as much as you, I simply don't have the need to tell others how to live, what to do, and to be quiet while you sacrifice a chicken, or whatever the hell it is you guys do on Wednesday evenings these days. Pray all you want, I'll keep making faces, but I'll be damned if I'll leave simply because you somehow think it's a "persecution" that some people just no longer have the patience to listen to you twaddle off at invisible sky daddies.
Unfortunately, one or two will call their lawyer.
And Christian fundies never sue anyone, right?
One or two will tell thousands what they can and cannot do. I don't think a short prayer at a football game is going to shake the world's foundations.
Maybe not the world, but you Christians love to play the victim when in fact, you were making victims of others. You see, dear reader,this entire email stems from a ruling by the United States Supreme Court in 2000, when it was found that Texan school officials were allowing "student-led" prayer before games, when in reality it was just a ploy to get around the law forbidding coach-led prayers before a game. (Source.) In the Supreme Courts own ruling, it stated: "Nothing in the Constitution as interpreted by this Court prohibits any public school student from voluntarily praying at any time before, during, or after the school day. But the religious liberty protected by the Constitution is abridged when the State affirmatively sponsors the particular religious practice of prayer." Hmm, just as I said above. Imagine that.
Christians are just sick and tired of turning the other cheek while our courts strip us of all our rights.
None of your rights have been stripped! Not to mention Jesus COMMANDS you to turn the other cheek! What has happened, however, is that Christian Privilege is no longer tolerated. We are still in process, but our country is leveling the playing field, so to speak, when it comes to religion in this country. How would you feel if Jews were suddenly demanding that a Jewish prayer be led by teachers every morning? After all, we are just as much a Jewish nation as a Christian one--yet I hear of no Jewish peoples complaining about their god not being present in school as the source of all that is wrong with the United States--why is that?
Our parents and grandparents taught us to pray before eating, to pray before we go to sleep.
Not every one's parents taught their children these things. Hence, religious freedom.
Our Bible tells us to pray without ceasing.
Your bible. Not "our" bible. Again, that pesky religious freedom thing.
Now a handful of people and their lawyers are telling us to cease praying.
No--they are telling you to stop elevating Christianity above all other religions in this country. Again, you still have your right to pray--just not to expect the state to lead you in that prayer, promote that prayer, or in any other way make your prayer more special than anyone else's prayer.
God, help us.
Guess that praying isn't doing you too much good after all, then, eh?
And if that last sentence offends you, well, just sue me.
We would, but that would only feed your victim complex, you non-Andy Rooney-esque idiot.
The silent majority has been silent too long.
Could have fooled me. Seems I can't do anything without seeing your churches, hearing you on television, trying to keep you from making your religious beliefs into the law of the land. You are everywhere, yet still carry a persecution complex. Amazing the amount of self-deception that goes into these emails...
It's time we tell that one or two who scream loud enough to be heard that the vast majority doesn't care what they want! It is time that the majority rules!
You may not care, but that's the beauty of this country--majority rule with minority rights. This country wasn't founded by the mob for the mob. Mob rule has no place here for very good reason--reasons like the rhetoric in this email. And claiming that "you don't care what they want" isn't exactly a "love thy neighbor" type of position, is it? I'd like to hear you defend that before your supposed Creator. "Well, you see, God, I didn't mean that I didn't care, so much as I wished they would let me rule the country in your name. So you see, it was all for you, God!" Uh-huh.
It's time we tell them, "You don't have to pray; you don't have to say the Pledge of Allegiance; you don't have to believe in God or attend services that honor Him.
We already knew that, and certainly didn't need to listen to all that rabble-rousing to get there. We don't pray. We do pledge our allegiance to this country (omitting that silly phrase entered by the Christian wing-nuts in the 1900s fearful of the Communists, "under god."); and we don't believe in god or attend your silly worships, but only because we made laws over the years redacting old state laws that made such worship compulsive. (A fact, see here.)
That is your right, and we will honor your rights, but by golly, you are no longer going to take our rights away. We are fighting back, and we WILL WIN!"
Again, your rights have not, nor will they ever be, taken away. Freedom of Religion, dippy! (Jeebus, do these wing nuts have ear muffs on??) Saying you are going to "win" makes it seem as if you've lost something, and you haven't (unless it's your faith in your sky fairy, in which case I applaud you...)
God bless us one and all...Especially those who denounce Him, God bless America and Canada,
Yadda, yadda. Ugh. It's exhausting dealing with such stupidity...
Claims about discrimination and persecution would be justified by the Christian right if we were dealing strictly with Constitutional rights (such as the right to free speech, or the right to bear arms), but we're not talking about these things are we? As much as the Christian right would like to make this about a "violation of rights," it's really just a leveling of the playing field, and a loss of their "specialness." The truth is that Christians are losing privileges, actions, and entitlements they feel strongly about--not rights. They are losing the power to get treated better than everyone else. They are not actually being discriminated against--its just that they can no longer discriminate in their traditional ways and means, and are starting to be treated the same as everyone else. It’s certainly not unlike how the end of “white privilege” was perceived by whites during the Civil Rights era of the fifties and sixties (you know, the good old days when all these right-wingers claimed that "life" was somehow better?)
Christian privilege is one of the few traditional privileges that continues to be openly defended in today's United States. Other forms of privilege (like "white male privilege") may continue to exist, but it’s wrong actually argue in defense of them anymore (to many a discriminatory person's chagrin). Perhaps one day religious privilege will go the way that white male privilege are going, but conservative Christians are already bemoaning their loss and fighting tooth and nail (in the humility and love of Christ, of course).
One wonders what they'll resort to when all privilege is gone?
Where to begin? As it has been said, it is best, I suppose, to start at the beginning...
There is a reason we won't go back in the closet. As with any other human being on this planet, we are human beings, first and foremost. We have hopes and dreams, fears and failings, desires, ambitions, happy thoughts and sad, and we have lives.
We are brothers and sisters; we are mothers and fathers; we are sons and daughters; we are grandsons and granddaughters; we love and are loved. We eat, drink, laugh, cry, love and hate; we sing in the shower, yell at people who cut us off on the freeway, scream at the television when something pisses us off...
And we do get pissed off. Much like anyone would be when their lives are up for "popular vote."
We are not a nameless mass huddled in a dark corner ashamed to exist, although there are some who would like to make us feel that way. We do not have horns and forked tales and carry pitchforks trying to "recruit" people into the homosexual "lifestyle." As Harvey Milk once said, "I was born of heterosexual parents, taught by heterosexual teachers... If it were true that children mimicked their teachers, there'd be a hell of a lot more nuns running around." Much like red hair, left-handedness, even a white child born to African American parents, we just happen. We are not of the devil, we are not because we were molested as children, we are not some degenerate throw-backs--we are PEOPLE. We come in all colors, exist in all nations, adhere to a plurality of religious backgrounds and traditions, as well as a plurality of orientations. We are born of you, raised by you, loved and hated by you, work with you, shop with you, employ and are employed by you--but we are not a virus, a plague, nor are we lesser than you, my fellow American.
We are gay, lesbian, bisexual, and yes, we are transgendered and transsexual. We are male and female and somewhere between, and we are all human beings with the same inalienable rights. You know us, whether you like to admit it or not. We exist, whether or not you'd prefer to acknowledge it. You are entitled to your opinion, and on most days, any American would be happy to respect it...
But not today.
Today I am angry. If you would have put women's suffrage up for a "popular vote"? It would have lost, and you would have heard that women should just be grateful that God provided them with husbands and children that needed cared for. It was their "proper place," being in the home, without right to land, money, or even a vote to voice an opinion. Civil rights for African Americans? Wouldn't have had a prayer. Children's labor laws? Perish the thought! The Civil War? You know, the one where we fought tooth and nail just for the right to exist as a new nation, to not suffer under horrible taxation laws, no right to trial, presumed guilty unless by some miracle proven innocent? Two thirds of the people living in America at the time of the American Civil War were AGAINST the war!
Because people, ultimately first and foremost, fear what they do not know, cringe from change, find comfort in the status quo. When Kennedy was running for president, the largest fear was that the Pope would run American politics. It took years and years of Catholics running for office before Kennedy even had a prayer of winning! Change comes slowly when people fear the unknown, and I suppose I find small comfort in the fact.
Very small comfort.
But when you know someone who is gay? It's much harder for you to put up their lives for a "popular vote." That's also just another simple fact, do with it what you will. For the longest time, it was thought that homosexuals were the principle perpetrators of child molestation when in fact it is 95% of men who identify as straight and are usually related to the child who commit these vile acts. It was thought that gays were "demon infested"--sadly, something still thought of as true not only in small pockets of the United States, but in countries the world over as well. It was thought to have been "caused" by having been molested, or having a "distant" father or "overbearing mother," none of which is even remotely true. Ask us, we'll tell you. We'll set the record straight, if you'll pardon the pun.
There's a reason we won't just be "happy" to live quiet lives so you can remain ignorant, so you can raise more gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered and transsexual children, ignorantly telling them their entire lives that they are wrong, that they are sick, that they are perverts! YOUR CHILDREN! Ignorance is not an excuse. Naivete is no longer an option. That's who were are! That's who we will always be. Your children. And when you pulled that lever to say "We don't want gays marrying!" guess whose happiness and dreams you've just put up for a vote? It wasn't some nameless mass of "gays" four states away and a world apart. It was people you see every day. It was your fellow American. It was your children.
When I woke up this morning and saw the news that Maine voters had overturned same-sex marriage in their state, I was not shocked. "Saddened," perhaps. "Angry" most certainly! But shocked? I hadn't even dared to hope.
But there's a reason I do now. There's a reason I hope once more.
You see, back in the 1970s there was a state-by-state banning of gay civil rights, started by Anita Bryant. State by state she helped states repeal or ban ordinances that protected homosexuals from being fired or denied housing just for being gay. Not based on job performance, mind you, or credit scores, or anything else even remotely objective--back in the 1970s, you could be fired or evicted just for being a gay human being. But, of course, it was the "morally correct" action to make sure these homosexuals didn't have basic human rights (as if denying someone the right to earn a living and live in a decent home could even be remotely spun as a moral thing to do!) And state by state, the moral majority was mostly successful! Just shy of forty years ago, California was the first state to take a stand and say, "We will protect all of our citizens!" and did not bow to the immorality of the moral majority. It became illegal, in 1978, when I was two years old, to discriminate against an individual because of their sexual orientation in the state of California...
Now 30 states protect persons from such discrimination, and by years' end, it should be federally illegal to do so (thus mandatory in all 50 states...) And while I am sad to say, my state covers sexual orientation and gender identity only if you actually happen to work for the state (i.e., it is not one of the thirty states), thirty states is more than the one state almost forty years ago...
Indeed, change comes slowly, but it does come. And as angry as I am right now, I do have that hope that, perhaps in forty more years, it won't just be five states that allow people to share their love and joy through marriage (Massachusetts, Connecticut, Iowa, Vermont, and New Hampshire), but all fifty states. In forty more years, I hope that you, America, will recognize what a dumb bachagaloop you've been--putting human rights up for a vote?!
Once you have said it is okay to do to one minority group, others aren't far behind. Hitler, too, had a shopping list. And considered himself quite a good Christian.
Offended by that analogy? Offended enough to rethink your approach to human rights?
After all, I, too, am an American. It's just that I happen to be gay as well. Is that really a reason to tell me I cannot marry the man I love? Is it?
In forty years, look back on this moment, dear voters in Maine. Look back at what you voted on.
You voted to deny a fellow American the right to marriage.
A fellow American.
I hope you feel proud.
One wonders what the qualifier is for being a racist then?
But apparently, Keith Bardwell, justice of the peace in Tangipahoa Parish in Louisianna, has "piles and piles of black friends."
Perhaps he uses them for kindling?
He goes on to say, "There is a problem with both groups accepting a child from such a marriage," Bardwell said. "I think those children suffer and I won't help put them through it."
Has this man heard of President Obama? Mariah Carey?
This may be a case of "prjection" on Bardwell's part...
Bardwell also says in his own defense "I try to treat everyone equally," he said. He claims that if he married one interracial couple, he'd have to marry other interracial couples. So I suppose it's in the spirit of "equality" that he refuses to marry any of them, thus "treating them all equally."
Only in the south...
Mom: I just heard from your Uncle Kip...
Me: Oh yeah? About what?
Mom: Well, you know where he lives, right? And that he flies a rebel flag off his front porch?
Me: That's news?
Mom: It is! Someone wrote in a letter to the editor... Apparently they think Kip is against Obama or something...
Me: (Laughter) Well, he is a racist at heart and in mouth, so...
Mom: I know! I mean, I fly it just because I like how it looks--I always like to think of myself as a rebel! But your uncle... Oh my...
Me: Wait, wait, wait... Kip reads the paper?
Mom: I think someone must have told him about it...
What is it about flags, dear reader? What is it we say, with bits of cloth strung together in a colorful pattern? These bits of cloth evoke feelings of pride, rage, anger, love, patriotism, hatred...
Funny how little bits of cloth can sway our hearts and minds so, isn't it?
I've recently redecorated my car with a pride sticker after years of letting Betsy travel naked on America's highways and biways. You see, dear reader, once upon a time, my kid brother Mike was in a strange place in his life (when aren't each of us in that strange place, yeah?) and borrowed my car for a little while...
It came back sans pride sticker. Not that I blamed him--it's not like you could expect to see me running around in a car with an "I ♥ Jesus," right? Perish the thought! But I stood back in satisfaction as I surveyed my once naked Betsy now all aglow with her new rainbow strip across the back, just under the word MUSTANG. It's a beautiful thing...
This is where my older brother Tom would declare something along the lines of, "How come I don't have a straight pride flag? I want a straight pride day!" Never minding the fact that any time, on any day, at any given moment, straight pride is in every peck on your significant others' cheek, when you file taxes jointly, when someone comments on your ring (or tan line where the ring belongs!), the dominant culture is always a bit jealous of the many minority cultures it must "put up with" (or eradicate) when they make themselves known as unashamed of being not-so-mainstream.
Perhaps it's the rebel in all of us? Always wanting to feel unique, special, and different? To make ourselves stand out from all the other riff-raff we find ourselves surrounded by? A reminder to the rest of the world that we are all aren't the same, that there are those who live in your neighborhood, shop at your grocery store, work in your building, and pay their taxes just like you do, but have a slightly different perspective than you about all of it...
We went camping this past weekend, as you might know based on the last post to grace this blogs top spot (Helllooooooo hotties!) to a "gay men only" campground. Of course, being the prude's that we are, we made a solemn promise to ourselves that if it was in any way sleazy, we were going to leave. What we found out, however, that while there were a few there solely for a sleazy time, there were many more there just for the love of camping in a safe environment (and yes, there are many unsafe camping environments for homosexuals, FYI...). But the truly awesome thing? It was like Christmas! The lights, tiki torches, flags from every nationality, candles, decorated tents, decorated campers--it was insane! But each site was unique, and each camper took great pride in the way they made their camp area special. But even though each site was unique and special in it's own way, there was one thing that had brought us all together... Okay, well, two things: Love of Camping, and Love of Men... And as we started talking to some of these thousands of men, we found out, of course, that we had much more in common than that--our love of life, first and foremost.
And, of course, we all know (or should know) that nine times out of ten (that last dentist wouldn't take the bribe to recommend that particular brand of fluoride...) what we have in common is much more numerous than that which separates us, no matter where we are on this earth. No matter who we are, where we come from, who we sleep with, or who we don't sleep with, we are all humans just trying to find the best way to live our lives in this world...
Which, in my opinion, is all the more reason to celebrate... So find and fly your flag, my fellow human being, and be proud of who you are and what you stand for--even if I disagree with the sentiment, it's hard to hate when we're open and discussing what we believe and why... Even if it is a flag of a different color... :)
Oh, and that second pic? That was our camp site--the most under-colored, under-lit site in the whole place... Granted, it was right there by the stream, under the pines, truly beautiful... But we've already been to Walmart to start spicing it up the next time we set up camp...
I'm feeling very Natalie Imbruglia about the election results, if I must be honest. Not that I'm in any way upset that Obama won--that's been my happy thought since about 10:30 pm last night!
I have to applaud my American citizens for finally getting over the "black thing," if I am to put it politely (if mostly because they feel their wallets are more important than skin color). That's progress, if you care to look at the proverbial glass as half full, I suppose. Most of them were able to see McCain's politicizing for what it was, his pandering, and his lack of focus, and, even though I know most people didn't vote for Obama because he is a Democrat (most people just wanted change, they really didn't care where it came from, I believe...), I love how new blogger on the scene "Not Lacking an Opinion" put it:
It seems as though McCain countered the Obama's African-American candidacy with a female running mate. "I see that African-American and raise you one woman!" Well it didn't work. The citizens of the United States were smarter than that. They chose substance over image.
Love that sentence! Perhaps I'll have T-shirts made...
But there are microcosms of citizens that are most unhappy, as I was reminded on my Facebook this morning. Granted, most of my Facebook friends are from my Appalachian Bible College days, right-wingers mostly, although I love them dearly, I am sorely disappointed in their reactions. Granted, some of them were very gracious; things like "Congratulations to Obama, now let's pray for him," or "trusting God's sovereignty." I can't make too much fun, as these people are trying really hard to look at the bright side, even if their bright side is nonexistent.
But then there were the others: things like "in shock that our country just elected osama i mean obama for president. God have mercy on us!" and "May God have Mercy on our souls!" and "there were many evil kings that God appointed over Israel, there's a reason for it no doubt, I'm just disappointed in the Christians of this country" and "my daughter prayed this morning when we told her the bad news. she said she sure hopes obama asks Jesus in his heart so he can make good choices."
Evil kings? Assuming he's not a Christian? Have mercy on us?? (Step away from the de-friend button, step away from the de-friend button...) I am appalled by the pride, the arrogance, the sense that they have god, but apparently Obama does not; that they know that their opinions are the only good opinions, that they are the only thing standing between god and our total annihilation-- I wish they had humble buttons I could take away! What utter, horrifying cheek!
Much like QED who commented very strangely on my last post, saying things like "He's not a Christian because he's not a very good one!" I know a lot of people who make very bad human beings, does that mean they aren't? Of course not! These are the same people that claim their god sees the heart, and no other man can know it--and they know he's not "saved"? Not a Christian? An "evil king," for crying out loud?!
There is a very good reason for why there are over 38,000 Christian denominations--None of you can agree on who each other is, who is right, what make a "real" Christian, and you all have too much god damned pride to admit you may be wrong. After all, how could you be wrong? You pray, you read your own copy of a bible, and you all draw your own conclusions with "feelings" and "leading from" the spirit (something a little Pepto would fix right up...) What could possibly go wrong with that?
I've said it before and I'll say it again: I believe their hearts' are in the right places, but I don't know where the hell their heads are at. I may have hated Bush (still do!), but I would never think of him as a man of intentional ill intent--I'm very sure he does, did, and will continue to do what he actually thinks is best, no matter how ass-backward I feel his actions to be! (or stupid, moronic, or ill-thought...) I believe there to be a very huge difference between talking about a man's actions, and who a man is, and if these are the followers of the so-called "prince of peace," it doesn't take a genius to figure out why so many were (are) disillusioned with the church, no matter what their spiritual status...
But I digress to touch on another portion of this election season in which I am very disappointed in my America, my United States: they haven't gotten over the "gay thing" apparently...
Three states had constitutional amendments on their ballots, and one had an anti-gay adoption law to be voted on, and, due mostly to lying pastors and dishonest right-wing groups ("We'll have to perform those marriages!" "We won't be able to stop them from using our churches!" "We will be arrested if we disagree with them!"--all lies...), they all passed--although some barely.
The one bright side, as FC pointed out in the comments of my last post, this now sets up a Supreme Court showdown. After all, rights were given to gay couples in California. They have wed (and will still do so until California's "amendment" takes effect--unsure of the time line there...), and now will have to appeal to federal levels to make sure they can retain those rights, as the 14th Amendment of the federal Constitution states:
Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
Emphasis, of course, is mine. Now that the "privilege" of marriage (later found to be a right, see Loving V Virginia: Marriage is one of the "basic civil rights of man"...) has been granted, it cannot be taken away from the citizens of California (or Massachusetts), and thus all those discriminatory bans and state amendments will be overturned (until such a time as the right-wing can once again sweep the country into their ideological abyss and try to pass a federal ban on gay marriage), and once again cries of "judicial activism" will fill the air waves (even though most of the time, they are not being "activist," they are doing their jobs!)
So even in this, I have hope.
I can understand the disappointment of McCain's supporters (as, when I fell asleep in 2000 with Gore as my president and woke up with Bush as my president), but at least the election was fair (unlike in 2000), Obama won the popular vote (unlike Bush in 2000), there were no tidal waves of "voter fraud" (unlike in 2000), so I'm pretty prepared to say "Deal with it!"
But what I've been hearing today isn't disappointment.
It's just being plain mean.
I park in front of my home. Something is different... floats through my mind. Granted, I had just pulled an illegal U-turn--twice--to read a sign at the end of the bridge that reads, and I quote:
If you won't vote for Obama because he's black, then vote for the white half!
I'll see if the sign is still there tomorrow and snap a picture. That something like that even needs put on a sign in my quiet little mountain town says something.
But this isn't why I was sitting in my car, engine off, staring at my yard.
My Obama sign.
It wasn't hanging on the black Shepherd's hook at the end of my sidewalk.
That's odd, I think as I step out of the car...
And step on my Obama sign. It's dirty. It's smeared with purple gunk. The two corners where it was hanging from the Shepherd's hook are torn.
Now I'm angry.
I turn and stare up the street, then turn around and stare down the street. McCain seems to have suffered no losses. Granted, I could be wrong--after all, there are so many, who is to say if one has gone missing? But the fact that I just passed an overtly-racist pro-Obama sign less than a mile from my home, I have to wonder if I was the victim of a knee-jerk reaction to someone who wanted to avoid being seen at the busiest intersection in town...
As I lean down and pick up my sign to carry it inside and clean it up, I do another scan of the neighborhood. Seeing no curtains being fluttered or other suspect persons ducking beind bushes, I step into my home to inventory the damage. Luckily, the plastic casing I had the sign in received the brunt. I managed to get most of the dirt, mud, and purple stuff off, removed the sign from the sleeve to inspect it--mostly just creases, nothing that makes it illegible--but the plastic is different story. Some of the purple gunk just won't come off.
Never mind, I think. I put the sign back into the sleeve, tape it shut, grab more twine, and head back out to my Shepherd's hook where I proudly reattach it. I am angry, but I will not succumb to the pressures of ill-motivated persons. If I come home tomorrow and it is once again on the ground, I will hang it back up. If it goes missing, I will go to Wal-Mart, buy some poster board, and make my own damn signs.
But I will not be silenced.
This is despicable. I don't care if it's bored teens with a hormonally charged sense of indignation at the town faggot voting for a nigger. I don't care if it's Grandma Moses thinking she's simply doing what Jesus would do (although the purple what I suspect is paint-balls gunk certainly doesn't point in their collective direction...)
Yes, I sacrificed some things when I moved out of the city--one of those things being tolerance, apparently, which I didn't think was the case. I realize people get emotionally charged over politics, the (mistaken) intertwining of their personal morals with those politics, but I certainly don't forgive or condone vandalism or censorship. I realize this was probably just one rogue individual, but I can't help but wonder how many of my McCain-supporting neighbors silently agree with the action taken on my front lawn today...
I can only wonder...
The sun is shining and the grass is green,
Under the 3 feet of the snow I mean,
This is a day when its hard to wear a frown,
All the happy people stop to say hello!
Stranger: Get out of my way!,
Stan: Even though the temperature's low,
Its a perfect Sunday morning in my quiet little mountain town...
Need I mention that the whole concept of "races" is really quite illogical? The term itself, races, implies a special separation that simply doesn't exist! And while various groups of humans sub-evolved and adapted to their climates, the DNA itself that we all share is 100% the same--superficial distinctions like the amount of melanin in one's skin, the shape of one's eyes, or the texture of one's hair are simply like the various colors a Great Dane comes in. Nothing more.
That said, knowing that what we all are, despite our various superficial variations, why is race such a primal motivator for much of our country's--dare I say, much of the worlds?--issues and problems?
Being that human beings are illogical and irrational even on our best of days, I am reminded of a cover on a magazine one year... I wish I could remember the magazine, or find a copy of the cover, but, in essence, it showed over fifty squares that just showed patches of skin, and asked in bold letters, CAN YOU IDENTIFY WHICH RACE EACH SKIN BELONGS TO?, or something to that effect...
Of course, I couldn't. One shade led gradually to another shade which led gradually to another shade, showing the myriad of colors present in each and every "color" of human skin, much like paint chip samples in WalMart.
It was eye opening...
Sometimes you feel the racist inside, screaming at the people of color on your television speaking of the unfair system, the unfair balance, and how inequality isn't there, and it screams, "Get off your lazy asses and get a job!!" Or, "It's all in your head! Reverse racism!!" My mind knows this is a lie, a lie of comfort that says, "It's their fault." Or, "It's them, not us--full of excuses." A lie meant to sooth the primal part of me that fears difference, that fears anything remotely unfamiliar.
In these times, I am so ashamed of myself...
Anyone who says racism isn't alive and well also hasn't been watching their television. What one stupid white kid in the town of Jena did in a moment of heated fear, by hanging a noose from a tree where one black student had expressed an interest in sitting with his fellow human beings, has started a chain reaction: a Home Depot in Illinois, Colombia University in New York, the University of Maryland, a police station in NY, two Coast Guard locker rooms, in a North Carolina high school, a South Carolina high school... The list could go on... And who knows how many person's of color haven't reported finding nooses, fearing for their safety...
I have to wonder, how many more empty nooses will we find?
We Yankees like to think we're above all that--or, at least, most of us do. I'm sure there are a few who openly wear their racism like a Boy Scout badge... I am related to at least one that I know of. But when we hear of racism, we automatically think of the South. After all, we reason, they're the ones we had to fight to free the slaves in the first place. But the truth is, where the South was quite open in their hostility for blacks, we Yankees just hid it better, and blamed them afterward for being unable to make a living like we could--in our country, in our culture, in our lives and at our behest...
I have no idea what it feels like to walk into a room and count how many other whites are present. I just assume they'll be more like me there. It never even crosses my mind to think I may be a minority, until it is night time, I am in the city, and I think I may be lost. Cliche? Part racism, part reality. And the reality was created, for the most part, by inherent racism.
I know I personally like to think, perhaps wrongly as Journey Woman hinted at, that this whole "racism" thing is in the past--an original sin that, while there are some ramifications, it's nothing of consequence and mostly atoned for, and everyone just needs to get over it... This is the racist in me.
I don't know what it's like to worry about finding a noose on my front door, except from what I fear from mostly my fellow whites in regards to my sexuality--and, while there are parallels, isn't the same at the core... (I can hear the right-wingers now, yelling, "See? We told you it wasn't the same, but you insisted! No marriage for you!"--I'll take care of y'all later...)
I challenge all of you to take a quiz: A quiz that pits what you think you know about skin color, and what it means about a person. At PBS, there are twenty-five people, and five "race" categories--you have to match the person to the race with which they identify. I got five right--and none of which I expected to be right about... The quiz is here.
I don't know if it will be as eye opening for you as that magazine cover from the forgotten past was for me, but I remember that being the moment that I stopped swallowing the easy answers that both my mind and society came up with for why people of color still suffer in our country...
And started looking for the truth as to why they DO still suffer inequality...
I don't have all the answers. I know I still have a racist in me that screams to come through--we all do, no matter what color or creed we may be--that's the ironic thing about racism--it's color blind in the opposite way in which it effects all of us...
Perhaps Journey is right, and speaking about her anger and my fear and guilt as a society is part of the healing process--or maybe it prolongs the suffering--who's to say?
What do you say?
