I generally avoid touching on hot-button political issues straight on because of what I do for a living. It's a slippery slope if I start criticizing things directly, so I just make fun of dumb people that say and do really dumb things. Although by this time, I'm sure fans of What's YOUR Deal?!? have a fairly decent idea of my opinions on certain topics. But this time, Adam made some excellent point that I just want to throw my two cents in on. (Apologies Adam for slightly piggy backing on your totally excellent Facebook note.)
I just think that If only more people saw the world like that... everyone gay or straight would be living in a wold that is far more just and equitable. But apparently equality is scary to people that currently possess rights that others want. Historically speaking, every race, color, and creed has been persecuted. There were settlers that came to the New World to escape religious persecution so that they could practice their religion freely. America was founded on liberty and equality. Throughout our history we've done dumb things to the rights of others, but eventually America realizes the error of its ways and changes course. How many Americans wouldn't be where they're at right now if it wasn't for the pioneers of civil rights fighting uphill battles against the status quo? I am a minority woman in the United States military... if my rights weren't fought for me generations ago, I'd most likely be making "flied lice" as an indentured servant, unable to vote, get an education, or write this wonderful blog that you are currently reading.
I'm sorry that just because something is different to people that it suddenly also becomes dumb and dangerous. Seriously, does it REALLY matter to me or you personally if Adam and Steve or Ada and Eve got married rather than Adam and Eve? Are they consummating their marriages in YOUR bedroom? Probably not, but if they are... it's not just gay or straight people that you have the problem with, it's really just the rude friends that you have. I don't care whose wedding I go to, it's free food, good cake, and I get to chuck rice at my friends (every Asian person's sub-conscious dream).
Did the world come to an end when slavery ended? How about when the military desegregated? What about when women started to work? How about when minorities and women were able to vote? More importantly, did the world come to an end when gay people in Massachusetts first were able to get married there? Did the institution of marriage spontaneously combust? Above all, ask yourself this question: What about those gay Chinese penguins?
I mean, I understand that the world won't suddenly be holding hands and singing songs around a campfire together. Race relations still has growing pains:
http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/05/29/ny.officer.killed/index.html
An police officer in New York shooting the first armed black man they see, when unfortunately the armed black man is actually an plain clothed NYPD officer. According to the article:
"The officer in the front passenger seat got out of the vehicle and shouted for Edwards to stop running and drop his weapon.
According to Kelly, the officers reported that, after the command was given, Edwards turned toward Dunton with his gun in his hand."
Apparently, turning around to acknowledge the command to stop and probably trying to identify yourself as a fellow police officer is enough to get shot if you happened to be a black officer. Great. I wonder if that means if I get pulled over, police will assume I'll dry clean their uniform and pull an egg roll out of my butt...
There is so much wrong with American society today. We are so afraid of the sterotypes and the "threat" that minorities of all kinds apparently pose. We fought and won World War II to stop that kind of racial purification propaganda from spreading across the world. Remember that? Remember Nazis? They didn't like minorities, women, and gay people either.
And religious fanatics need not apply:
We are all human beings. We all die equally, why can't we all live equally. Why do we always have to seek out differences among each other and fear anything we find?
Minorities aren't scary.
Women aren't scary.
Gays and lesbians aren't scary.
People in general ARE scary though, regardless of the color of your skin, the church you go to or not go to, or the people that you love. Dumb people exist everywhere. Can't we focus on them, rather than the innocent minority, woman, or gay person? Don't get me wrong, there are some dumb ass minorities, women, and gay people that I wouldn't want to think came from the same evolutionary path that I do.
Case in point, this is a talking point flyer from the National Organization for Marriage website:
http://www.nationformarriage.org/atf/cf/%7B39D8B5C1-F9FE-48C0-ABE6-1029BA77854C%7D/CatholicEnglish.pdf
Now... let's change the words a little to create "7 Scientific Reasons" to ban dumb people:
Elimination of dumb people reduces the risk of poverty for children and communities.
The majority of children whose parents are dumb experience at least a year of poverty.
Dumb people households increase crime. Boys whose parents are dumb, for example, are two to three times more likely to end up in jail as adults.
Elimination of dumb people protects children’s physical and mental health. Children
whose parents are not dumb are healthier and also much less likely to suffer mental illness, including depression and teen suicide.
Both men and women who aren't dumb live longer, healthier and happier lives. On
virtually every measure of health and well-being, non-dumb people are better-off than
otherwise similar singles, on average.
Just pretending to be smart is not the same as being smart. Smart pretenders are thirty to fifty percent more likely to divorce. People who are dumb do not
get the same boost to health, welfare and happiness, on average, as non-dumb people. Neither do their children. Children whose parents are dumb are at increased risk for domestic violence and child abuse and neglect. Children born to parents who are dumb are also three times more likely to experience their parents’ stupidity by age 5.
Parents who are dumb put children’s education at risk. Children
whose parents are dumb have lower grade point averages, are more
likely to be held back a grade, and to drop out of school. They are also less likely
to end up college graduates.
When dumb people exist, ties between parents and children typically weaken too. Adult children whose parents are dumb are only half as likely to have warm, close ties to both their mothers and their fathers. For example, in one large national survey, 65 percent of adult children of dumb people reported they were not close to their fathers (compared to 29 percent of adults from non-dumb people).
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How's that make you feel? Don't those talking points make sense regardless of what group you fill in the blanks for? We can justify discrimination to anyone and everyone. But that doesn't mean we should.
