I was reading this diary this morning. It is about the incorrect beliefs many people in Mississippi and Alabama have about President Obama’s religion and about evolution.
I think this is very sad. It is very sad that significant portions of one of the most powerful and wealthy countries in the world are so misinformed.
I also read the last line of the diary where the diarist called the people who hold these beliefs “assholes”. I then read the comments in the diary. Many people were very angry with the people who hold these false beliefs.
I respect the diarist and I understand where the anger comes from. But there is a line.
Sure the beliefs are maddeningly infuriating. I get it. But there is a line.
I think we have to save our anger for those who are responsible for the beliefs of these people. These Americans did not come to believe that Obama was a Muslim and that evolution is simply an unproven theory in a vacuum. There are reasons why they believe the things that they believe and it has very little to do with their personal character.
We know that many of these fellow Americans grew up in a culture where hate is taught generation to generation. We know that many of these fellow Americans grow up in a cycle of poverty. We know that many of these fellow Americans have been educated in schools that have been decimated by years of neglect by those with power. We know that these fellow Americans have been systematically propagandized to believe what they believe.
So I say there is a line. There is a line we must draw. We must draw a line between those that have the power and those that do not.
I think it is counterproductive to pile our animosity onto those Americans who lack power and who have been, and continue to be, systematically victimized by those that have the power. I say that these people are really our brothers and sisters in the fight against those with power who use their power to enrich themselves at the expense of us. It is not only we who are victimized by the selfish and evil ideas and policies of the powerful, but it is also the misinformed people of Mississippi and Alabama.
We are the lucky ones. We have seen past the lies. We have found a community of people who have seen past the lies and we are fortunate enough to be in a position to join together and push back against those powers.
The people of Mississippi and Alabama don’t deserve our hate. They deserve our help. They are on our side, they just don’t know it yet.
So save your vitriol for the people who deserve your righteous anger. Save it for the powerful that have taken advantage of the poor and the vulnerable among us and twisted them so badly they can no longer discern a friend from an enemy. We should not add to our brother’s and sister’s problems, but instead focus our passions on those that oppress them (and us).
For if we believe that most of these fellow Americans, with their incorrect beliefs, are inherently bad people then it seems to me we can no longer believe in government of, for and by the people.
I saw a comment in the diary that I thought shows what happens when we cross the line. I’ll quote it here.
Okay...
..I get you have a clear agenda here, & have a flock of sheep to keep in a constant state of agitation.
But my mother & father are Mississippians who believe Obama is a Muslim.
And if I ever see you in person, I will punch you in the mouth for calling them assholes
.
The fight is not between those of us who have seen past the lies and those that haven’t. The fight is against those who propagate the lies and steal from us. Wasting our energy in any other way does nothing but hurt our cause.