This chain mail has been drifting around the web, and my In Laws just sent it to me. I decided to post a point by point rebuttal of the email. Here it is.
---- BUDD ***** <***************.net>
Hi, Joel here. Karhma showed me this and I just felt like I ought to respond.
Firstly Andy Rooney didn't say any of this. http://www.snopes.com/...
Secondly, I'd just like to go through this point by point.
CBS DIDN'T STOP HIM- THIS IS GREAT
-
Good for him!!!
Surprised CBS let him get away with this, even though he's right!
Andy
Rooney said on '60 Minutes' a few weeks back:
'I don't think being a minority
Makes you a victim of anything except numbers. The
Only things I can think of that are truly
Discriminatory are things like the United Negro
College Fund, Jet Magazine, Black Entertainment
Television, and Miss Black America.. Try to have
Things like the United Caucasian College Fund, Cloud
Magazine, White Entertainment Television, or Miss
White America ; and see what happens...Jesse Jackson
Will be knocking down your door.
Response: The reason there is no White History Month, White Entertainment Television etc. is because every month is white history month, most television is focused towards whites, etc. So it's not that the United Negro College Fund is discriminatory so much as it is leveling the playing field somewhat. When you have a monetary gap as big as we do between white and black families http://moneywatch.bnet.com/... black students need all the help they can get in order to make it.
Guns do not make you a killer. I
Think killing makes you a killer. You can kill
Someone with a baseball bat or a car, but no one is
Trying to ban you from driving to the ball game.
Response: This is just silly. The sole purpose of a gun is to kill. You can't drive a gun to a baseball game or use it to hit a home run. Baseball bats and cars have other purposes than killing, guns do not.
I believe they are called the
Boy Scouts for a reason, which is why there are no
Girls allowed. Girls belong in the Girl Scouts! ARE
YOU LISTENING MARTHA BURKE ?
Response: I believe they are called whites only lunch counters for a reason, because there are no blacks allowed! Blacks belong at the blacks only lunch counter, ARE YOU LISTENING ROSA PARKS?
This argument is absurd, doing something just because it's the way it's always been done is not a good reason. Discrimination is discrimination and we all know how "separate but equal" worked out in this country.
I think that if you feel homosexuality is wrong, it is
Not a phobia, it is an
Opinion.
You are correct, it's not a phobia. The term homophobia refers to people who react with a strong aversion or disgust towards homosexuality. Hence the term phobia.
I have the right 'NOT' to be
Tolerant of others because they are different,
Weird, or tick me off.
Response: Absolutely, no one said you don't have the right to be a bigot. But what you don't have is the right to not get called out for being a bigot
When 70%
Of the people who get arrested are black, in cities
Where 70% of the population is black, that is not
Racial profiling; it is the Law of Probability.
Response: just because it might be effective doesn't make it right.
I believe that if you are
Selling me a milkshake, a pack of cigarettes, a
Newspaper or a hotel room, you must do it in
English! As a matter of fact, if you want to
Be an American citizen, you should have to speak
English!
Response: considering the amazing amount of immigrants that have come to this country and made it great, I believe your request is ridiculous. The current xenophobia that is occurring against Hispanics is nothing new; the Jews, the Irish, the Chinese, and many other groups were discriminated against when they first immigrated to this country as well. America is a country founded by immigrants, and to deny that is to deny our heritage.
My father and
Grandfather didn't die in vain so you can leave the
Countries you were born in to come over and
Disrespect ours..
Response: This is really vague, I don't know what the 'die in vain' part was nor what disrespect was offered.
I think the
Police should have every right to shoot you if you
Threaten them after they tell you to stop. If you
Can't understand the word 'freeze' or 'stop' in
English, see the above lines..
Response: Police officers CAN shoot you if they deem you are a threat. The above complaint is nonsensical.
I don't think just because you were not born in this
Country, you are qualified for any special loan
Programs, government sponsored bank loans or tax
Breaks, etc., so you can open a hotel, coffee shop,
Trinket store, or any other business.
Response: Just about anyone who tries to open a small business gets a tax break, special loan rate etc. They just have to know what hoops to jump through. This is another nonsensical argument.
We did not go to the aid of
Certain foreign countries and risk our lives in wars
To defend their freedoms, so that decades later they
Could come over here and tell us our constitution is
A living document and open to their
Interpretations
Response: Considering that this refers to President Obama referring to the constitution as a living document (in specific reference to the mentioning of slavery in the constitution) I'm just going to view this line as a veiled attack on our President's citizenship and therefore not worth responding to. I'm not even sure which "certain foreign countries" this is supposed to refer to.
.
I don't hate
The rich; I don't pity the poor.
Response: You don't have to hate the rich to realize that they have an obligation to society the same as everyone else. Percentage wise, rich people paid less in taxes than I did last year, thanks to loopholes and tax shelters.
And if you don't pity the poor then I guess it's your right to ignore Jesus' teaching about them.
I know pro wrestling is fake, but so are movies and
Television. That doesn't stop you from watching
Them.
Response: I have no problem with this. It's a silly statement but sure, watch pro wrestling.
I think Bill Gates has
Every right to keep every penny he made and continue
To make more. If it ticks you off, go and
Invent the next operating system that's better, and
Put your name on the building.
Response: To a reasonable extent you are correct here. Bill Gates does have the right to keep all the money he makes, provided he also contributes his share of taxes.
It doesn't take a whole village
To raise a child right, but it does take a parent to
Stand up to the kid
And say 'NO!' when necessary.
Response: This is just one of those platitudes that everyone likes. Though I would say it does take a village to raise a child, this is nothing to argue with.
I think tattoos and piercings are fine if you want
Them, but please don't pretend they are a political
Statement. And, please, stay home until that new lip
Ring heals. I don't want to look at your ugly
Infected mouth as you serve me French fries!
Response: Just like you have the right to not be tolerant of weird people, I have the right to not care if you don't want to see my piercings.
I am sick of 'Political
Correctness.' I know a lot of black people, and not
A single one of them was born in Africa ,
So how can they be 'African-Americans'?
Besides, Africa
Is a continent. I don't go around saying I am a
European-American because my great, great, great,
Great, great, great grandfather was
From
Europe .
I am proud to be from America
And nowhere else.
Response: Most black folks I know prefer to be called black. However the term African American recognizes their origins, the same as Chinese American or Mexican American does. How recently you immigrated has nothing to do with it. Again, you have the right not to like it, but I have the right to not care if you don't like political correctness.
And if you
Don't like my point of view, tough...
I was asked to send this on if I
Agree or delete if I don't. It is said that 86% of
Americans believe in God.. Therefore I have a very
Hard time understanding why there is such a problem
in having 'In God We Trust' on our money and having
'God' in the Pledge of Allegiance. Why don't we just
tell the 14% to BE QUIET!!!
Response: Because the majority oppressing a minority has never been a bad thing in the history of the world eh? The total population percentage of Jews in Germany pre WWII was 1.3% so I guess if they didn't like the pogroms, book burnings, renditions, disappearances etc. they should have just been quiet like the 98.7 percent of the German population wanted them to be eh?
I tried to not be too harsh, as they are Faux News addicts and therefore anything resembling confrontation turns into a screaming match replete with fingers in ears etc. So, was I too harsh or too nice or just right?