I wrote a diary the other day that apparently struck a nerve. It got passed around some on Twitter and FaceBook and you wouldn't believe the swarm of haters and trolls that swept into the diary to beat their chests and prove my points. The gist of the diary was that we have a lot of dumbasses and assholes in America, such as the ones who threw a 'draw the prophet' contest to exercise their right to free speech and provoke and insult Muslims. Some people got killed as a result of their little hate fest. I laid partial blame at the feet of Pam Geller and the yahoos who participated in that ugly stunt because they were clearly seeking to provoke Muslims out of pure hate. It was no different than that dumbass down in Florida who wanted to burn a mountain of Korans. What a mean, hateful, disrespectful and insulting thing to do for no good goddamn reason. But he's got the right. He's got the right. He's got the fucking RIGHT!
I also said the shooters were wrong and that their actions were not remotely justified, but that it was predictable provocation and therefore at least partly the fault of the organizers of that stupid stunt. Everybody wants to make it about free speech but in my view it's more about cultural insensitivity, intentional provocation, hatred, bigotry and small-mindedness, which is unhelpful to anyone who would like to see peace in the world.
It also makes America look like a bunch of gigantic assholes to much of the rest of the world. I know it's not very American to care about such matters, but we should. The de-assholization of America would be very welcome in the rest of the world. America is not the center of the fucking universe ya know, no matter how loudly and insistently we scream it in the faces of our fellow earthlings. Cultural sensitivity and respect for other cultures is not a bad thing, but you'd never know it observing the behavior or hearing the intolerant views of a lot of Americans. Go read the comment thread in that diary if you want to see what I mean. The hate and dumbassery was rampant.
There was a lot of reading comprehension failure on display. People thought I said all kinds of shit I never said.
I did not defend the attackers.
I did not advocate for censorship.
I did not argue that the yahoos had no right to do what they did. I expressly stated that they did.
I just pointed out that it was stupid, hateful, mean and unhelpful – you know in the middle of a fucking war and all. And in the wake of the tragic Charlie Hebdo murders and all the others. Even the guy who did the Charlie Hebdo cartoons says he won't draw them anymore. Why insist on provoking more of that shit?
Some said I was hating on America. I'll admit I hate many things about our shallow, violent and insensitive culture. It's hard to be proud of warmongering, torturing and bullying. We've become a hateful, aggressive and dangerous nation to our neighbors – hell! even to ourselves. As much as I love what America was supposed to be, it's hard to love what she's become. But if I didn't love this country, I wouldn't be wasting my time adding my voice to the chorus that's trying to change her into something all of us can be proud of. I'm not alone in this, which is why the previous diary got so much positive support. We're not all clueless, in denial or acquiescent. And we're not all on board with all that's mean, stupid and hateful about America.
You want to know what else is mean, stupid and hateful about America?
Racism, homophobia, the 1%, the Military Industrial Complex, Republicans, starting unnecessary and horribly expensive wars while at the same time cutting taxes to the hideously fucking rich, the surveillance state, the Patriot Act, the Drug War, the fucking assholes in Congress, war crimes, the failure to attend to the needs of the American people, the failure to respond meaningfully to the climate crisis, the thieving banks and our failure to rein in the financial brigands, laws against feeding the hungry, widespread homelessness, 22 veterans committing suicide EVERY FUCKING DAY, militarized police forces, police killings, police brutality, police routinely getting away with heinous crimes against the people, Wall Street shenanigans, corporate lobbyists, the TPP and all other schemes to export our jobs and lower our standard of living, the revolving door between Congress and corporate lobbying, the death penalty, our atrocious and inhumane prison system, our dysfunctional criminal justice system, predatory lenders, for-profit schools and colleges, FOX News, our failure to curtail the environmental harm and pollution caused by industry, our failure to control the proliferation of guns, our aging and ludicrous stockpile of unusable but incredibly dangerous atomic warheads, our doubling down on fossil fuels, our corrupt government, our rampant greed, our rotting and ignored infrastructure, corporate welfare, our proud and willful ignorance, our shallow and self-centered culture, the steady media stream of bullshit and propaganda, our ethnocentrism and insularity, neocons, neoliberals, our contempt for humanity - I could go on and on, but I'll consider my point made. There is a lot about America that we should all be unhappy with. It seems to me that anyone who actually loves America would be dismayed too.
I was amazed at the astonishing ignorance and hatred of many of the people who commented in that previous diary. Cheering the unnecessary killing of two idiots who were deliberately provoked into their foolish and murderous actions by hateful bigots like Pam Geller is just fucking sad. Who needs peace in the world, right?
People invoked the memory of 9/11, as if it justifies anything and everything and as if there was no history that led up to those attacks, as if Americans did absolutely nothing to provoke the Muslim world for decades before 9/11/2001. Then in the aftermath, we stupidly vowed to stomp out terrorism. Like we didn't have a hand in creating it in the first place. As if it's even possible to kill all the 'terrorists.' Like every time we kill one we don't create many more. How fucking stupid! Our ham-handed, blundering, knuckle-dragging response to 9/11 has exacerbated the problem to such an extraordinary extent, that it's hard to imagine how we could possibly have done any worse if we had tried. We took terrorism and supersized it. Like the hateful dummies so many of us, including our detestable, lying, warlike, torturing leaders, are.
Personally, I will never again vote for another fucking warmonger. Or another torturer.
We've done enough harm in the world. It's high time we stop the killing, torturing and bombing and start cleaning up our mess. Righting the wrongs. Making amends. We have a lot to make up for. Just ask them in South America where we have murdered innocents, assassinated activists and union leaders, overthrown democratically elected governments, propped up petty and cruel dictators, organized and run death squads, started wars and tortured people to death by the thousands. We've done all those things and then some in the Middle East as well. It is absolutely no wonder that many people around the world hate us and want to hurt us. It is NOT hating on America to point all of this out. It's merely facing the facts, owning up, acknowledging the truth and being real. We'll never be a better country if we can't bring ourselves to admit our shortcomings, our failures and our crimes against humanity.
The astonishing ignorance of so many Americans and their inability to think beyond the immediate moment, or peer beneath the surface of anything, or to have the least understanding of history or social context, or connect any fucking dots in the web of deceit woven by the 1% is a huge part of the problem. This is the natural consequence of the Republicans' decades old movement to dumb down America and degrade education. By their policies they have blessed cursed us with all these dumbasses, who are, of course, the primary source of their popular support. Tea-baggers, neocons and knuckle-draggers. The dumbassery goes 'round in circles with these guys.
People who were clueless about the preceding history thought that the 9/11 attacks came from out of left field – completely out of the blue. We were attacked for no reason at all. They hated us for our freedoms! Radical Muslims fell from the sky and they were already angry – for no reason at all. Anyone who knows anything about our history in the Middle East knows better.
If we are incapable of acknowledging our own part in this war, then we'll never find peace. We'll keep feeding into the cycle of hatred, violence, revenge and retribution. That is unacceptable to me. It should be unacceptable to all Americans. It's a pity that's not true.
A lot of people got all defensive about Christianity. One guy accused me of being anti-Christian. Totally untrue. I think disrespecting anyone's religion is mean, hateful and unnecessary. Do people have a right to do so? Sure, but it's mean, dumb and hateful...so not very nice. The fact that the prohibition against making images of Mohammad is an actual tenet of Islam, makes it a little different. But I do think all of it is wrong on a social or moral level.
But please note, I'm not against artistic freedom or free speech. I'm just against stupidity and meanness.
There is also the fact that there is a raging war going on between us and much of the Muslim world and many lives have been tragically lost. In that context, knowingly pouring gasoline on the fire just to prove you've got the right to do it seems stupider than hell - but it's anyone's right to be stupider than hell.
I have never insulted or mocked Christianity or any other religion, and I've never said Christians are evil. A lot of them are raging hypocrites, and I have spoken to that, but that's another matter.
It's anyone's right to be a raging fucking asshole by knowingly provoking unstable killers, but no one has to like it. That's the catch to free speech. No one has to like what you say and they have a free speech right to let you know about it.
I don't think these idiots should be stopped, I think they should be mocked, ridiculed and shamed for their foolish actions - and I'm trying to do my part.
I affirm the free speech right of the idiots who did this, but for me this is about common courtesy, common decency, common respect for humanity and other cultures. It's about being a caring, respectful, empathetic and compassionate human being versus being a bigoted, hateful, disrespectful asshole.
Tolerance of cultural, ethnic and religious differences is a requirement for world peace. It's also a characteristic of any well-rounded human being.
There is a potential for resolving differences and conflicts peacefully where there is mutual respect, and very little hope of it where there is none.
A word about cultural sensitivity:
If you should ever travel to Thailand, you will likely be warned at some point that in Thailand it is a grave offense to touch someone's head as it is considered the locus of the soul. That may strike you as dumb, and it may be, but if you go around touching peoples heads in Thailand, you will be regarded as a raging asshole. So even though it doesn't make sense to you, you're an ignorant, stupid asshole if you do it. The Thai people, among the loveliest on earth, will hate you for it.
Spitting on people's cultural taboos is wrong, especially when it is entirely unnecessary and costs you nothing to show a little respect. This is a lesson a lot of Americans never learn because they never travel to foreign lands and acquaint themselves in any real way with the fact that there are other cultures in the world. But the world is getting smaller all the time, wars are raging, people are being bombed, slaughtered and tortured every day, and not just by radical Muslims. Hatred and fear of other people, particularly Muslims, is on the rise. Perhaps we should be a bit more sensitive and understanding. Perhaps we should try to stop the hatred and the killing. Perhaps we should be thinking about peace.
As far as I'm concerned, everyone has all the rights enumerated in the Constitution and Bill of Rights and then some. But as one who loves and desires peace, I have to hope that people will freely choose, out of the kindness of their hearts, the compassion in their souls and the fullness of their human wisdom, to stop pouring gasoline on the fires raging across the globe and do everything they possibly can to bring about peace, love and understanding.
People who pull against peace or work against peace or do anything to advance hate are assholes – which is, of course, their perfect right. But they're still assholes.