Now that I'm thinking of it.....
Maybe the Muslim community DID have it right after 9/11 (generally speaking....here). If you're going to condemn a terrorist attack, why not also condemn bigotry directed at you? The thing is, some people are just so eager to have an excuse to hate an entire group. Is the hatred of Muslim Terrorists that much different from the hatred of people who used 9/11 as an excuse to do violence (or speak violently) against Muslims?
I've heard this saying before. If he wasn't Jewish, he'd be an antisemite. This is directed towards those Jews who speak passionately against the Holocaust and anti-semitism, yet they cheerfully talk trash about Muslims, black people, Mexicans, Polish folks, Germans, Asians, etc.
It's really not about black, white, Jewish, Muslim, Australian, American, right-wing, left-wing. It's about hatred vs. understanding, and critical thinking vs. hyperbole.
I still feel I didn't hear enough outrage from the Muslim community regarding 9/11. Maybe they didn't speak loud enough. Maybe I didn't listen hard enough. Maybe (most likely) the media presented things in a certain way. I don't know.
Maybe they started out vocally outraged about 9/11 but then their feelings got hurt when they saw all the crap written about them on message boards. Maybe they lost sympathy when Bush started the war.
I think what I'm going to do is NOT direct my anger at certain people or entities. I'm going to even try to stop saying things about our evil American government, and our evil bank institutions. Even that's generalizing. Not everyone in the American government is participating in the Wikileaks witch hunt.
I'm going to direct my anger at a certain personality. These are the people who are eager to hate and make generalizations. You know it's like SOME (hopefully a minority) of non-Americans who hate Americans because they imagine we're all huge fans of FOX news and love George W. Bush. But by thinking this way, they're VERY much like the Americans who watch FOX news. They're believing what they see in the media way too easily. Oh shit. Now I'm generalizing about FOX news fans. I have friends and family that DO watch FOX news.They're lovely people. Oh crap. Now I sound like those people who say Some of my best friends are gay......
Okay. Yeah. I do have my own prejudices. I'm far from perfect. But I think where I differ from those I heavily criticize is I recognize that I'm prejudiced. I recognize that I'm hypocritical. The people that get on my nerves are the ones who think it's horrible to be anti-(whatever they are), but perfectly okay for them to be anti (whatever the other group is).
Anyway, so for now on I'm not going to think of WikiLeaks/Assange as the heroes and the American government as the villains. I'm going to think of closed-minded, gullible, manipulative, xenophobic, corrupt, and hateful people as the villains. The heroes are the people who are open-minded, fair, courageous, and inclusive. I think you can find these heroes in every country, every ethnic group, every political persuasion, every religion, every gender, etc. The same goes for the villains.
Maybe the Muslim community DID have it right after 9/11 (generally speaking....here). If you're going to condemn a terrorist attack, why not also condemn bigotry directed at you? The thing is, some people are just so eager to have an excuse to hate an entire group. Is the hatred of Muslim Terrorists that much different from the hatred of people who used 9/11 as an excuse to do violence (or speak violently) against Muslims?
I've heard this saying before. If he wasn't Jewish, he'd be an antisemite. This is directed towards those Jews who speak passionately against the Holocaust and anti-semitism, yet they cheerfully talk trash about Muslims, black people, Mexicans, Polish folks, Germans, Asians, etc.
It's really not about black, white, Jewish, Muslim, Australian, American, right-wing, left-wing. It's about hatred vs. understanding, and critical thinking vs. hyperbole.
I still feel I didn't hear enough outrage from the Muslim community regarding 9/11. Maybe they didn't speak loud enough. Maybe I didn't listen hard enough. Maybe (most likely) the media presented things in a certain way. I don't know.
Maybe they started out vocally outraged about 9/11 but then their feelings got hurt when they saw all the crap written about them on message boards. Maybe they lost sympathy when Bush started the war.
I think what I'm going to do is NOT direct my anger at certain people or entities. I'm going to even try to stop saying things about our evil American government, and our evil bank institutions. Even that's generalizing. Not everyone in the American government is participating in the Wikileaks witch hunt.
I'm going to direct my anger at a certain personality. These are the people who are eager to hate and make generalizations. You know it's like SOME (hopefully a minority) of non-Americans who hate Americans because they imagine we're all huge fans of FOX news and love George W. Bush. But by thinking this way, they're VERY much like the Americans who watch FOX news. They're believing what they see in the media way too easily. Oh shit. Now I'm generalizing about FOX news fans. I have friends and family that DO watch FOX news.They're lovely people. Oh crap. Now I sound like those people who say Some of my best friends are gay......
Okay. Yeah. I do have my own prejudices. I'm far from perfect. But I think where I differ from those I heavily criticize is I recognize that I'm prejudiced. I recognize that I'm hypocritical. The people that get on my nerves are the ones who think it's horrible to be anti-(whatever they are), but perfectly okay for them to be anti (whatever the other group is).
Anyway, so for now on I'm not going to think of WikiLeaks/Assange as the heroes and the American government as the villains. I'm going to think of closed-minded, gullible, manipulative, xenophobic, corrupt, and hateful people as the villains. The heroes are the people who are open-minded, fair, courageous, and inclusive. I think you can find these heroes in every country, every ethnic group, every political persuasion, every religion, every gender, etc. The same goes for the villains.
