This is a post that I wrote last year. I was going through my drafts and found it among about 100 others. Why didn't I post? I am not sure. However, with the current political craziness that is going on around us and in Washington, I thought I would share. I still have no answers, but I know in my heart that a ban does not make sense. Racism, xenophobia and hate are not the answer to any of our problems.
I admit it. I jumped on the band wagon. My Facebook profile picture is the French flag. I am normally not one to do so, but there is something that Steve said that made me do so. France is one of the most accepting countries of religious differences.
He hit the nail on the head of what has been bothering me for years about our country. We don't embrace differences. Oh, we will try your food and embrace your heritage if it suits our current fashion trend (think fringe and bohemian dresses, thank you native Americans and India), but you had better get in line when it comes to everything else. Your faith, speech, accent and public life better damn well reflect our homogenized watered down, version of America.
Turn on the "news", read a "publication" or just look at your Facebook newsfeed and you will see what I am talking about. No matter if you align yourself with the right or the left in our country, we all hate what is not like us. Not disagree with or dislike, we HATE. We HATE poor people, fat people, Muslims, Mexicans and apparently our own children.
Which brings me back to Paris. France is flawed country, just like ours. They are democracy with arbitrary laws, high taxes and rampant racism, just like ours. France could be a mirror of us. We profess to be the open armed savior of the world. But we really aren't. We are like France. We will let you in, but you will never be one of us. We will never accept you and eventually we will turn on you.
France is full of marginalized people, ripe for the brainwashing and hate breeding that so easily comes from being one of the "hated". Guess who else is a country full of marginalized citizens? Good Old U.S. of A. We have under educated several generations of people. We have turned ourselves into a nation of "us" and "them", with the "them" being anyone who does not align with our idealogy.
I am as guilty as the next person. I have a real issue with people who cannot differentiate between a religion and a terrorist. I loathe people who want to blame poor people for what is wrong with our country. I get my back up just like the next person, when my views are questioned, and then hate myself for buying in to the system of sides.
So when Paris was attacked, after Beirut and all the other places that suffer daily threats and murders, I stood up and paid attention. Paris is me. The deeply flawed protector of differences. Liberal and open minded, but deeply clueless when it comes to how to fix the problem.
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| Holocaust Memorial in Boston |
I admit it. I jumped on the band wagon. My Facebook profile picture is the French flag. I am normally not one to do so, but there is something that Steve said that made me do so. France is one of the most accepting countries of religious differences.
He hit the nail on the head of what has been bothering me for years about our country. We don't embrace differences. Oh, we will try your food and embrace your heritage if it suits our current fashion trend (think fringe and bohemian dresses, thank you native Americans and India), but you had better get in line when it comes to everything else. Your faith, speech, accent and public life better damn well reflect our homogenized watered down, version of America.
Turn on the "news", read a "publication" or just look at your Facebook newsfeed and you will see what I am talking about. No matter if you align yourself with the right or the left in our country, we all hate what is not like us. Not disagree with or dislike, we HATE. We HATE poor people, fat people, Muslims, Mexicans and apparently our own children.
Which brings me back to Paris. France is flawed country, just like ours. They are democracy with arbitrary laws, high taxes and rampant racism, just like ours. France could be a mirror of us. We profess to be the open armed savior of the world. But we really aren't. We are like France. We will let you in, but you will never be one of us. We will never accept you and eventually we will turn on you.
France is full of marginalized people, ripe for the brainwashing and hate breeding that so easily comes from being one of the "hated". Guess who else is a country full of marginalized citizens? Good Old U.S. of A. We have under educated several generations of people. We have turned ourselves into a nation of "us" and "them", with the "them" being anyone who does not align with our idealogy.
I am as guilty as the next person. I have a real issue with people who cannot differentiate between a religion and a terrorist. I loathe people who want to blame poor people for what is wrong with our country. I get my back up just like the next person, when my views are questioned, and then hate myself for buying in to the system of sides.
So when Paris was attacked, after Beirut and all the other places that suffer daily threats and murders, I stood up and paid attention. Paris is me. The deeply flawed protector of differences. Liberal and open minded, but deeply clueless when it comes to how to fix the problem.
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