Monday, August 16, 2010

The Anti-Social Network




Who even started this bullshit claim?
Are churches therefore celebrations of the Crusades?

Racism on Facebook (and everywhere else, really) is making me want to throw up all over my keyboard lately. I finally suspended my account after enough racist comments about Muslims surfaced to make me lose all hope in humanity--or sanity.

There is an impermeable belief that Muslim = Terrorist. For everyone who has been under a fucking rock for the last 1000 years, this is actually FALSE. But the people writing this have never studied the culture they fear or spent more than a few days in an Arab country. They get their news from Glenn Beck, so what can you expect?

I tried to ignore the racist comments--especially if they were friends of friends--not my actual FB friends--but it's too much. The two final straws?

1. Man I just met at Lolla informed me I wouldn't be able to understand the tragedy of 9/11 because I don't live in NYC and didn't know anyone who died. That was completely insulting to ANYONE outside NYC and personally extremely disturbing. How fucking arrogant.

2. A casual horse friend commented on my post that building a mosque near ground zero was equal to putting up a facility for sex-offenders next to an elementary school. That one made me physically ill.

I have friends who believe as I do--obviously in the minority--but I can't even open the front page without seeing more hate, ignorance and misinformation. Just the Obama-bashing alone is so fucking tired. Do these people have nothing better to do that promote racism and hate?

Well, I do have better things to do than read about it. Maybe it will blow over--maybe it will blow up--but I have said my peace, and that is all I can do. I can't fix the fear of millions. I can understand it--but I can't understand why they don't recognize it and educate themselves about the true nature of Islam, which has NO CONNECTION to the men who destroyed the WTC. For that, we can look to our own CIA-trained ex-agent Osama bin Laden. Wonder where he learned his tricks? Ask Reagan. We taught bin Laden and armed him during Russia's occupation of Afghanistan. People have such short memories.

So I left FB--no big deal--and opened Yahoo. And found this article and picture.

On Facebook: Israeli soldier posed with bound Arab



You do the math.

Is there any hope for peace? It sure isn't looking good from where I stand.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nancy,
Posting anything political on FB is not going to win many friends. Political nonsense is divisive and if there were consensus, then we probably would be living in a dictatorship, something I'm sort of opposed to, and offended by, being an American. When someone posts a benign comment, it's best to take it that way versus turning someone's commentary into a hate-fest. I neither hate Muslims nor any religion, regardless of whether I call myself a Christian. It seems that for all the painstaking defense of other religions, Liberals have taken to criticizing Christians at every turn as fanatical. Actually, I don't care because it's kind of amusing, to be quite honest. But to some, who aren't able to see the hypocrisy, it is offensive. And yet, no one seems to care. When I complained about an exhibit at a local gallery which displayed Christ with someone urinating on him, I was told that free expression is "artistic". And though you might be one of those who believe that as well, it's actually quite sickening and would not be tolerated if it were anyone else's religious symbol. So, I'm glad that there are people like you who are out there defending other religions, but actually, this country was built on the foundation of Christianity and so be it. For those that want to join other religions or no religion, there are ways to do that and still respect the majority who are Christian.
There is nothing inherently wrong
in being a Christian. Fanatics are present in every religion (and political party)and so is hypocrisy. Enjoying political commentary whether it be Glenn Beck or Jon Stewart does not inherently make you a "hater" or "fanatic" or "anti-social". You cannot defend someone's rights only when it is convenient to your belief system. Everyone has the right to believe what they wish.
As for my suggestion which you found "physically sickening", it really was a benign comment. Being a horse lover, it might be hard for you to pass a slaughter house for horses everyday or a battered Women's shelter next to a prison. These might be emotional issues for you. Other people too, have valid emotions that should be respected. At what point do we decide whose emotions are to be respected? I vote for those who are citizens of our country.

I have found, that Liberal ideology is really a lack of the human experience. Gun control for instance, might make sense when you listen to the Liberal dogma, but when you are being held at gunpoint by a stranger, you might wish you had a gun. To suggest though, that your opinion on any matter is the correct one, is one of egocentricity. An opinion is based on whatever nonsense you listen to as well, whether it's Michael Moore or any network news that presents illegals as "victims". Regardless of whether people want to flee their country, there are legal processes and it would be illegal in any country to sneak in and collect benefits, not just ours. Having an opinion that all illegals should come in freely might be interesting fodder for discussion but regardless it is against the present law, despite the current president.But that's a whole other discussion.

Nancy Dietrich said...

To my anonymous friend K,

I strongly recommend you start your own blog.

Comparing law-abiding Muslim worshippers to sex offenders still makes me physically ill. These people have NOT committed any crime, and wish only to exercise their right to freedom of religion, in a mosque that was there before 9/11 even occurred. THAT--freedom of Religion--is what America was founded on--not Christianity. We got sick of being pushed around by the Church of England and therefore founded our own country (on Native American lands) to do so. So we had to kill a few Indians--it was worth it. They were Luddites, really.

Finally, this political discourse is as much nonsense as a debate over the constitution. I will continue to work to destroy appalling stereotypes of Arabs and Muslims as long as I live, just as I do for gays (oh no, more sex offenders!) and other groups maligned due to lack of education in this country. I'm not doing it to win or keep friends. I'm doing it because it's the right thing to do, and I'll do it alone if it comes to that. That does not bother me in the least.