Today was an interesting day. Actually it was going pretty good until I went to lunch with a friend. For the first time ever, I was confronted by a person that loves Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and the rest of them...
I'd say it was a pretty decent day today. I had 2 exams and I thought I did very well, so I was feeling good. My friend texted me asking me if I'd like to go to lunch with her. And with that text she also told me how she accidentally sent the same text to one of her friends. I still agreed to go knowing there would be somebody I didn't know going along with us. We met up and I met this guy who seemed okay. We all were just having random conversations, then suddenly, it all went downhill.
I mentioned that there were some "Jesus people" on campus today (basically crazy preachers, and I call them Jesus people lol). He was telling me that he saw them too and they had a sign that listed Muslims, Mormons, Jews and others with things like "baby killers" and other degrading things next to each one. Then he said a crowd had gathered around them and people were calling them out on their bullshit. I made the point of saying that it's pretty foolish of them to come to a college campus when they know it's more than likely so liberal, so they know they'll be confronted. He agreed, but then that's when it happened...he looked at my friend and said, "Well, you know I'm not even close to being a liberal!" I laughed thinking he was kidding or something, because it was so random. Then I saw that he wasn't laughing, so I asked him, "Are you being serious? Are you a conservative Republican?" He passionately said yes. My friend then said that he hates Obama. I then asked, "So wait, do you like people like Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity?!" He proclaimed, "Yeah! Oh, Sean Hannity is my boy! That's the only 'news' I watch!" **I put news in quotes, because Hannity's show isn't news, so I have no idea why he would call it that.** At that point, I was done...
Being a black Muslim woman and sitting there with somebody that agrees with the things Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck and others say, I just cannot do it. I sat there in silence the rest of the time. At one point my friend asked me, "What's wrong?" I simply said, "I'm sorry, but I just can't do it..." What I meant by that was, I cannot associate myself with a person that stands against everything I am and everything I believe in. I wholeheartedly believe that those that love and follow everything Limbaugh, Hannity, Beck, etc say are anti-Muslims, anti-blacks, anti-Hispanics, anti-gays/gay rights, anti-feminism, and anti anything else I am and believe in. I couldn't fake it and act like it was okay. So if sitting there in silence is what I had to do to get my message across, then so be it.
While I believe that people can believe and say whatever they want, it doesn't mean I have to associate myself with them. I'm passionate in the things I believe in and I cannot compromise it by being chummy with somebody that probably hates those like me and those that I love. So today, I stood my ground...
**Update** Hmm...so I just found out he's a Sarah Palin supporter. For those defending this guy, I think that should tell you enough right there.
Also...I guess I should mention that the irritation pretty much vanished, because as we were pulling out of the parking lot after the lunch, I saw that the car next to us had a bumper sticker that said "I WANT A PUBLIC OPTION!" :)