Well, another police officer has been caught on camera gunning down an unarmed black man. This time, the man was obviously running from the officer who shoots him 8 times in the back as he runs away.
The officer then calls for backup from the body he has just handcuffed, because he's obviously a threat. Oh, the officer then tosses a taser by the body. I can't say "plants" but why are you throwing a taser next to the handcuffed body of a man you just shot in the back 8 times? Oh, and then accused of attempting to take said taser from you which is why you feared for your life and had to shoot him.
Why did this start? Drug dealing? Robbery? Or a busted tail light? If you guessed C, you would be correct.
I'd love to claim that THIS will be the one that changes people's minds. That wakes them up that there is a problem with cops killing black men, especially unarmed black men, for minor offenses.
But it won't be. Why? Because upper and middle class whites are going to believe the police when they smear this guy. They've been trained to believe from little on up that the police are the good guys (and many are) and for them, for WHITE people the police are! For too many blacks they are not.
Chris Rock the prominent comedian has started posting instagram pics every time he is pulled over. A black man driving a nice car. I'm sure he was driving all over the road.
Not all cops are bad cops. In fact, few cops are truly bad. Its the culture of cops that is toxic. Its the culture that was going to cover up this crime, for it is a crime, until the video surfaced. Its the culture that turns otherwise good men and women into accessories to murder, theft, rape, and assault.
Look at the NYPD study on complaints of police brutality. A small percentage of cops made up a giant proportion of the complaints! Instead of "re-training" theses criminals again and again, kick them off the force and insure they cannot work in a police or security facility again. Many people aren't cut out to be cops and a lot of them are not because they are too timid, its because they have a criminal mindset themselves.
I grieve for the family of Walter Scott and I can only pray that justice is served. But I'm not naive enough to believe its going to change anything. Sadly.
Tuesday, April 7, 2015
Why are certain "sins" more "sinful?"
The current furor over Indiana's Religious Freedom Restoration Act raises all sorts of questions. First might be, what Religious Freedom's need restored? Another might be why all the fancy language to just say "We want to legalize discrimination."
Apparently certain vocal minorities of Christians feel that they should be able to have their cake and eat it too. Now look, I get it, we all love cake, but here's the thing, when you start a business, you don't instantly get to choose your customers. I work a job that has some retail aspects. Trust me, I wish I could choose my customers.
But, you start a business, a public business, you don't just get to say "Well, I only sell to Y." See, they used to do that in the South, and heck, even in many Northern places. It was discrimination then, its discrimination now whether its because of skin color or sexual orientation or the color of their eyes.
"BUT MAH BELIEFS!" you cry, railing that baking a cake, making a pizza, or selling flowers to "the gays" is somehow an affront to God (pro tip: its not) and you think you shouldn't have to go against your beliefs. YOU are special. YOU have beliefs unlike others. (Or something, I'm sorry, I don't really get the logic, but whatever I'm about to destroy it anyway.)
Here's the problem: Why is homosexuality apparently the "worst" sin? I mean, if you have a business you've sold to adulterers, fornicators, the greedy, liars, thieves, wife beaters, and child abusers. You've done transactions with people involved in pretty much every sin out there. I mean, your customers, they're human, they sorta have flaws. Just like YOU have flaws. Just like I do.
So, why are homosexuals somehow the worst? Because you know about their "sin?" That by having a transaction with them you somehow tacitly approve of their "lifestyle?" They're your customer. They're giving you money for your service. That's where it begins and ends.
I suppose the excuse "But I KNOW about their sin!" still exists. But again, it doesn't make any sense. Why is obvious "sin" worse than hidden sin? One could argue hidden sin is actually worse for a whole bunch of reasons.
But basically the issue boils down to this: If you don't want to do business with people whose lifestyles you don't agree with, don't own a business. Be someone else's employee and let them worry about the "moral" implications of their sales.
You can approach this from another angle too. Why would you not want to serve these people and do the best job possible? Show that you love them as you love anyone? What does building walls do to help show God's love? Or, is the real issue you only believe God's love really applies to those who think like you?
Apparently certain vocal minorities of Christians feel that they should be able to have their cake and eat it too. Now look, I get it, we all love cake, but here's the thing, when you start a business, you don't instantly get to choose your customers. I work a job that has some retail aspects. Trust me, I wish I could choose my customers.
But, you start a business, a public business, you don't just get to say "Well, I only sell to Y." See, they used to do that in the South, and heck, even in many Northern places. It was discrimination then, its discrimination now whether its because of skin color or sexual orientation or the color of their eyes.
"BUT MAH BELIEFS!" you cry, railing that baking a cake, making a pizza, or selling flowers to "the gays" is somehow an affront to God (pro tip: its not) and you think you shouldn't have to go against your beliefs. YOU are special. YOU have beliefs unlike others. (Or something, I'm sorry, I don't really get the logic, but whatever I'm about to destroy it anyway.)
Here's the problem: Why is homosexuality apparently the "worst" sin? I mean, if you have a business you've sold to adulterers, fornicators, the greedy, liars, thieves, wife beaters, and child abusers. You've done transactions with people involved in pretty much every sin out there. I mean, your customers, they're human, they sorta have flaws. Just like YOU have flaws. Just like I do.
So, why are homosexuals somehow the worst? Because you know about their "sin?" That by having a transaction with them you somehow tacitly approve of their "lifestyle?" They're your customer. They're giving you money for your service. That's where it begins and ends.
I suppose the excuse "But I KNOW about their sin!" still exists. But again, it doesn't make any sense. Why is obvious "sin" worse than hidden sin? One could argue hidden sin is actually worse for a whole bunch of reasons.
But basically the issue boils down to this: If you don't want to do business with people whose lifestyles you don't agree with, don't own a business. Be someone else's employee and let them worry about the "moral" implications of their sales.
You can approach this from another angle too. Why would you not want to serve these people and do the best job possible? Show that you love them as you love anyone? What does building walls do to help show God's love? Or, is the real issue you only believe God's love really applies to those who think like you?
Sunday, August 17, 2014
His name was Michael Brown
I spent last Wednesday, August 13, 2014, glued to my computer. Scrolling across my twitter feed were the stories coming from Ferguson, MO. I was watching live video, not from some giant news corporation, because none of them had crews there (the locals did, but their footage, if it existed was not making its way to the national coverage) but of people actually on the ground as a heavily armed and armored police force tear-gassed its way through a residential neighborhood. Imploring protesters to "Go home, this is no longer a peaceful protest!" all while firing stun grenades, tear gas, flares, rubber bullets and having the piercing shriek of an LRAD blasting in the background.
I read in real time as two reporters were arrested for not leaving a McDonalds quickly enough, and then after the Police Chief found out, quickly being let go. I saw the reporters of Al-Jazeera flee their camera equipment as a tear gas canister exploded near them. I read the eye-witness reports of people saying officers pointing that camera to the ground.
A local reporter spoke live on camera of her fear as police searched the media vans, military rifles in hand, and suggested it was time for the media to leave as the police couldn't vouch for their safety.
I've since followed various narratives on the story since. The brief day of mostly calm on Thursday as the thugs of the St. Louis County Police were pulled out and the Missouri Highway Patrol, under the command of native son, Capt. Ron Johnson took over.
I watched and read with disgust on Friday as the Ferguson Police finally released the name of the officer who shot Michael Brown while simultaneously releasing video of what appears to be Brown robbing a convenience store minutes before he was shot.
Then, hours later mentioning, oh, the officer in question had no knowledge of the robbery so that had nothing to do with Brown's death.
I've watched and been sickened by so much racist vitriol, both blatant and carefully camouflaged has been spewed about the looting that happened the day Brown was killed. Mostly ignoring all arrested for looting had come into Ferguson from out of town. There has since been a bit of looting, but the images of the citizens of Ferguson, standing guard outside the stores to stop looting are poignant. These people LIVE there. They don't want to steal from neighbors or destroy their property. There is a criminal element anywhere and they are always opportunistic. Seeing regular folks standing up to thugs both with a badge and without is heartening.
What is disheartening is another unarmed black man is dead. I'm not certain what happened on August 9th. All I know is an unarmed 18 year old black man was lying dead on the pavement over thirty feet from the police car where the initial shot was fired. All I know is his body lay on the pavement for over 4 hours as they "processed the scene." All I know is that it took a week for them to even release the name of the officer involved. All I know is the police response was akin to what I would expect in Moscow, only I believe the Russians could actually have executed it in a professional manner.
The Michael Brown case brings so many issues to light yet again. Race issues. Police issues. Political issues. If I can bring myself to write about some of those I will. Right now, my heart breaks for the family of Michael Brown.
And my heart breaks for Darren Wilson, who has to live with the fact he shot an unarmed man to death. He apparently felt justified in the moment, but someone is dead because of his actions and that person didn't even have a weapon. Maybe Wilson is some racist monster, but I think more likely he a fairly regular officer for Ferguson, though, read some of the articles on that and you might be appalled.
I'll stop for the moment with this: If you were more concerned by the limited looting that occured over a week of protests than you are that an 18 year old man had his life cut short for little apparent reason, then you probably need to take a good hard look at your values.
I read in real time as two reporters were arrested for not leaving a McDonalds quickly enough, and then after the Police Chief found out, quickly being let go. I saw the reporters of Al-Jazeera flee their camera equipment as a tear gas canister exploded near them. I read the eye-witness reports of people saying officers pointing that camera to the ground.
A local reporter spoke live on camera of her fear as police searched the media vans, military rifles in hand, and suggested it was time for the media to leave as the police couldn't vouch for their safety.
I've since followed various narratives on the story since. The brief day of mostly calm on Thursday as the thugs of the St. Louis County Police were pulled out and the Missouri Highway Patrol, under the command of native son, Capt. Ron Johnson took over.
I watched and read with disgust on Friday as the Ferguson Police finally released the name of the officer who shot Michael Brown while simultaneously releasing video of what appears to be Brown robbing a convenience store minutes before he was shot.
Then, hours later mentioning, oh, the officer in question had no knowledge of the robbery so that had nothing to do with Brown's death.
I've watched and been sickened by so much racist vitriol, both blatant and carefully camouflaged has been spewed about the looting that happened the day Brown was killed. Mostly ignoring all arrested for looting had come into Ferguson from out of town. There has since been a bit of looting, but the images of the citizens of Ferguson, standing guard outside the stores to stop looting are poignant. These people LIVE there. They don't want to steal from neighbors or destroy their property. There is a criminal element anywhere and they are always opportunistic. Seeing regular folks standing up to thugs both with a badge and without is heartening.
What is disheartening is another unarmed black man is dead. I'm not certain what happened on August 9th. All I know is an unarmed 18 year old black man was lying dead on the pavement over thirty feet from the police car where the initial shot was fired. All I know is his body lay on the pavement for over 4 hours as they "processed the scene." All I know is that it took a week for them to even release the name of the officer involved. All I know is the police response was akin to what I would expect in Moscow, only I believe the Russians could actually have executed it in a professional manner.
The Michael Brown case brings so many issues to light yet again. Race issues. Police issues. Political issues. If I can bring myself to write about some of those I will. Right now, my heart breaks for the family of Michael Brown.
And my heart breaks for Darren Wilson, who has to live with the fact he shot an unarmed man to death. He apparently felt justified in the moment, but someone is dead because of his actions and that person didn't even have a weapon. Maybe Wilson is some racist monster, but I think more likely he a fairly regular officer for Ferguson, though, read some of the articles on that and you might be appalled.
I'll stop for the moment with this: If you were more concerned by the limited looting that occured over a week of protests than you are that an 18 year old man had his life cut short for little apparent reason, then you probably need to take a good hard look at your values.
Thursday, April 3, 2014
Its Official, Stop Saying they're Conservative.
Thanks to the McCutcheon decision by the SCotUS yesterday we officially became an oligarchy. Now, you might say with cases like Citizens United we've been headed towards this for a few years and you'd be right.
However, those brilliant minds at the Supreme Court have stripped all campaign finance limits. A single donaor can pump as much directly to campaigns as they want. No more arbitrary $100k limit. Nothing.
The "conservatives" claim this will not lead to bribery as there needs to be proof of bribery. Apparently they live in a bubble. Bribery happens DAILY in Congress and in politics around the country. Its the horse-trading that goes on by lobbyists. Its the cushy multiple six figure jobs waiting for ex-Congressional members. Its how members of Congress become millionaires while in office working a job that pays well, but shouldn't make them multi-millionaires.
So, is it bribery in the sense of "I give you 50k cash you vote X way?" Nope. Is it bribery all the same? Yes.
Overturning decades of legal precedent the "conservative" justices decided that free and fair elections are not important to a democracy. The rights of a few super-rich are more important than the lives and rights of the hundreds of millions of American who are not super-rich.
They are not conservative. They are every bit as activist as the most liberal judges have been and have done more in the last decade to destroy the health of America for the average American than was done in 50 years of liberal courts.
They can also stop pretending about being "originalists." Scalia and Thomas are two of the most bought members of the court. Their precious Founding Fathers and Constitution are apparently a joke as they make ruling after ruling creating a new nobility, a nobility of wealth.
However, those brilliant minds at the Supreme Court have stripped all campaign finance limits. A single donaor can pump as much directly to campaigns as they want. No more arbitrary $100k limit. Nothing.
The "conservatives" claim this will not lead to bribery as there needs to be proof of bribery. Apparently they live in a bubble. Bribery happens DAILY in Congress and in politics around the country. Its the horse-trading that goes on by lobbyists. Its the cushy multiple six figure jobs waiting for ex-Congressional members. Its how members of Congress become millionaires while in office working a job that pays well, but shouldn't make them multi-millionaires.
So, is it bribery in the sense of "I give you 50k cash you vote X way?" Nope. Is it bribery all the same? Yes.
Overturning decades of legal precedent the "conservative" justices decided that free and fair elections are not important to a democracy. The rights of a few super-rich are more important than the lives and rights of the hundreds of millions of American who are not super-rich.
They are not conservative. They are every bit as activist as the most liberal judges have been and have done more in the last decade to destroy the health of America for the average American than was done in 50 years of liberal courts.
They can also stop pretending about being "originalists." Scalia and Thomas are two of the most bought members of the court. Their precious Founding Fathers and Constitution are apparently a joke as they make ruling after ruling creating a new nobility, a nobility of wealth.
Sunday, February 16, 2014
What a joke
So, its no surprise to any living, breathing American that our government officials and private corporations are far too cozy.
Republicans might be the most egregious offenders, but Democrats work hard to keep pace. After all, how else could Rahm Emmanuel leave his job in the Clinton administration and get a job that paid him millions at a bank, with absolutely no banking experience?
Merely the latest in a steady stream of politicians cum lobbyists is the now-former FCC Commissioner Attwell Baker. She is leaving her position to join Comcast's lobbying group based in Washington DC.
Nice, so the person who previously was in charge of regulating companies like Comcast, now works on their behalf pressuring congress and presumably whoever takes her old position.
I'd love to just rail away at Ms. Baker for being a person with no principles, and to a degree I feel that way. But why attack one person? The entire system is so hilariously broken its not even funny.
We have ex-Congressmen and staffers stepping into jobs at the companies they passed legislation in favor of. We have countless government employees, both appointees, and rank and file who leave their government jobs to then lobby the very people who took their place. We have ex-military getting hired by arms companies and "security" companies to cajole their still in service pals to buy their new weapon or hire their mercenaries, er, contractors to help defend the next "humanitarian" mission.
As if it isn't bad enough that corporations can now donate with impunity to elections we allow those who make policy decisions to step away from their jobs and instantly step into their counterparts role.
Our government needs moratorium periods on certain workers before they can take certain jobs. If you want to leave your post to go run a college, or a company, ok. But if you are leaving your post to take a job where your sole purpose is to use your insider information to unduly influence a decision in your new employer's favor? I'm sorry, you'd need to wait at least 2 years MINIMUM before doing that. I'd prefer a waiting period of 5 years.
Go get a real job for a bit. Actually produce something possibly. Or, am I asking too much out of the money machine that is federal politics?
Republicans might be the most egregious offenders, but Democrats work hard to keep pace. After all, how else could Rahm Emmanuel leave his job in the Clinton administration and get a job that paid him millions at a bank, with absolutely no banking experience?
Merely the latest in a steady stream of politicians cum lobbyists is the now-former FCC Commissioner Attwell Baker. She is leaving her position to join Comcast's lobbying group based in Washington DC.
Nice, so the person who previously was in charge of regulating companies like Comcast, now works on their behalf pressuring congress and presumably whoever takes her old position.
I'd love to just rail away at Ms. Baker for being a person with no principles, and to a degree I feel that way. But why attack one person? The entire system is so hilariously broken its not even funny.
We have ex-Congressmen and staffers stepping into jobs at the companies they passed legislation in favor of. We have countless government employees, both appointees, and rank and file who leave their government jobs to then lobby the very people who took their place. We have ex-military getting hired by arms companies and "security" companies to cajole their still in service pals to buy their new weapon or hire their mercenaries, er, contractors to help defend the next "humanitarian" mission.
As if it isn't bad enough that corporations can now donate with impunity to elections we allow those who make policy decisions to step away from their jobs and instantly step into their counterparts role.
Our government needs moratorium periods on certain workers before they can take certain jobs. If you want to leave your post to go run a college, or a company, ok. But if you are leaving your post to take a job where your sole purpose is to use your insider information to unduly influence a decision in your new employer's favor? I'm sorry, you'd need to wait at least 2 years MINIMUM before doing that. I'd prefer a waiting period of 5 years.
Go get a real job for a bit. Actually produce something possibly. Or, am I asking too much out of the money machine that is federal politics?
The system worked, but no one won
So the verdict came down in the Michael Dunn case. Convicted on three counts of attempted murder and one count of illegal firearm discharge Mr. Dunn is going to be going to jail for a long time. The first degree murder charge against him for the death of Jordan Davis resulted in a hung jury and mistrail. It will most likely be retried.
The case came about after Mr. Dunn approached a Dodge Durango filled with 4 black teens complaining their music was too loud. Mr. Dunn was carrying a weapon as allowed by Florida law. The teens, being teens, ignored Mr. Dunn's request and probably said some things that were rude and they shouldn't have said.
Mr. Dunn then thought he saw a gun in the vehicle which prompted him to pull his weapon and fire 10 times into the car, three of the bullets striking Jordan Davis killing him.
No gun was found in the vehicle, though it did initially leave the scene (I'm fairly certain I would've as well if some crazy person was shooting at me.) They did return to the scene and if a gun was ever in the vehicle, there was no evidence of it. All there was evidence of was a dead teenager and a man who ruined many lives, including his own.
We'll never know if there was a gun in that Durango and honestly I feel it doesn't matter. Mr. Dunn was not a law enforcement officer. He had no official capacity to enforce gun laws. If he felt threatened, he probably should have done what most people would do and back down from a hostile situation.
But no, not in our modern American. Not in a land where "Stand Your Ground" laws exist because those pesky criminals have too much power.
We have guns and we should be able to carry them where we wish and we can protect ourselves when we feel threatened.
Except, doesn't that kind of leave a lot of open space? I mean, "feeling threatened." That's pretty damn vague. So vague that it led a man carrying a gun to fire into a vehicle with four teenagers inside. It also allowed a man to fire at another in a theater who was texting and threw popcorn at him.
I don't mean to make my blog about guns or gun violence, but its been weighing on me heavily lately.
Lives are being ruined all over this country by America's blind love of guns in any and all situations.
Do I think Michael Dunn is some monster? Someone who was just looking for an excuse to kill? Of course not. I think he was probably a pretty normal person. However, pretty normal can change when you're carrying a gun. Its unfortunately, but too many people view guns as some kind of panacea.
I have to wonder, as I do in most of these situations, if Mr. Dunn would have approached the Durango if he had not been armed. Why he felt the need to be the enforcer of public decency, I'm not sure. Were the kids being disrespectful with their loud music? Quite possibly, they're kids, it happens.
But, so what? Its annoying. How many things in life are annoying? I could start a list that never ends. How many of them are worth killing or dying over? List just got a whole lot shorter.
However, the gun lobby has done an excellent job of instilling fear in Americans making them think that carrying a weapon is needed to live in safety.
One can only hope cases such as this, with one life lost, and other lives mangled, will be the aberration, not the norm going forward.
The case came about after Mr. Dunn approached a Dodge Durango filled with 4 black teens complaining their music was too loud. Mr. Dunn was carrying a weapon as allowed by Florida law. The teens, being teens, ignored Mr. Dunn's request and probably said some things that were rude and they shouldn't have said.
Mr. Dunn then thought he saw a gun in the vehicle which prompted him to pull his weapon and fire 10 times into the car, three of the bullets striking Jordan Davis killing him.
No gun was found in the vehicle, though it did initially leave the scene (I'm fairly certain I would've as well if some crazy person was shooting at me.) They did return to the scene and if a gun was ever in the vehicle, there was no evidence of it. All there was evidence of was a dead teenager and a man who ruined many lives, including his own.
We'll never know if there was a gun in that Durango and honestly I feel it doesn't matter. Mr. Dunn was not a law enforcement officer. He had no official capacity to enforce gun laws. If he felt threatened, he probably should have done what most people would do and back down from a hostile situation.
But no, not in our modern American. Not in a land where "Stand Your Ground" laws exist because those pesky criminals have too much power.
We have guns and we should be able to carry them where we wish and we can protect ourselves when we feel threatened.
Except, doesn't that kind of leave a lot of open space? I mean, "feeling threatened." That's pretty damn vague. So vague that it led a man carrying a gun to fire into a vehicle with four teenagers inside. It also allowed a man to fire at another in a theater who was texting and threw popcorn at him.
I don't mean to make my blog about guns or gun violence, but its been weighing on me heavily lately.
Lives are being ruined all over this country by America's blind love of guns in any and all situations.
Do I think Michael Dunn is some monster? Someone who was just looking for an excuse to kill? Of course not. I think he was probably a pretty normal person. However, pretty normal can change when you're carrying a gun. Its unfortunately, but too many people view guns as some kind of panacea.
I have to wonder, as I do in most of these situations, if Mr. Dunn would have approached the Durango if he had not been armed. Why he felt the need to be the enforcer of public decency, I'm not sure. Were the kids being disrespectful with their loud music? Quite possibly, they're kids, it happens.
But, so what? Its annoying. How many things in life are annoying? I could start a list that never ends. How many of them are worth killing or dying over? List just got a whole lot shorter.
However, the gun lobby has done an excellent job of instilling fear in Americans making them think that carrying a weapon is needed to live in safety.
One can only hope cases such as this, with one life lost, and other lives mangled, will be the aberration, not the norm going forward.
Monday, February 3, 2014
Boycott Coke? Really? This is the crushing issue facing you people?
I'll try to keep this post from degenerating to bitter and spiteful ad hominem attacks on those I disagree with. Its gonna be tough, but I'm pretty sure I can do it.
Apparently a slightly sappy, slightly touchy, seemingly out of place, yet overall innocuous Coke ad has the racists up in arms. I'll admit, I love when people get upset about stuff like this because it lets me know who I can pretty much write off their opinion about anything.
The ad, oh the horrible, terrible ad, featured "America the Beautiful" a song sung by Queen Latifa not more than 90 minutes prior to the commercial. Why the fuss? Because, HORRORS, the song was sung in many languages, NOT JUST ENGLISH!
Oh no! Whatever shall we do? How can we face the fact we're a multi-racial, multi-lingual, extremely diverse country? I know what we should do, we should take to Twitter and Facebook and blogs like mine nobody reads and react as racist and xenophobic as possible!
"In my 'Murkah we speak English gash darn it!"
Well, frankly America has never been a nation of one language, not should it be now. Prior to Europeans landing there was a plethora of Native American languages being spoken. The first European language spoken was Viking (yeah, I have no idea what language they spoke, some old form of Danish?), the second, Spanish. Then French, THEN English.
Sure, the English crown came to rule the 13 colonies who in a fit of tea party pique decided to rebel and instead of becoming more like Canada allowed us to become the joke we are today, but even then, all sorts of languages were being spoken, daily, across the continent.
Immigrant groups came, and came, and came and somehow America trudged along, getting along with these strange newcomers and their odd accents and culture. They slowly assimilated, keeping some traditions, sometimes keeping a langauge (rarely) but mostly becoming more or less American.
Now though, somehow this is a threat. All these people that don't look like me, don't talk like me and don't dress like me, they're dangerous and scary. And Coke is putting them in a commercial and goshdarnit Coke you gave me diabetus and made me require a Hoverround but I am quitting you over this. For good. Big KKK, er Big K is my drink of choice now. Or Shasta. Or a good American drink like Sam's Cola from them nice folks at Wal-mart (speaking of commercials to make you hurl....)
Get over it people. America has always been, will always been, and SHOULD always be diverse! And goodness, a multinational company selling things all over the world (including pretty much the only functioning factory in Somalia) is probably all about the diversity don't you think? Oh, but that only applies elsewhere. Got it.
If you want to get annoyed about anything, get annoyed by the faux patriotism tied to every sporting event now. I get it, most of the country is watching football (I love football), but there's nothing inherently patriotic about a sporting event no matter how many times we butcher the anthem, no matter how many flyovers we do, or how many times we show the troops in some far off country that don't need to be in watching the game at god knows what hour of the night instead of being home with their families watching it.
The Coke ad, which I found a bit sappy, was an accurate portrayal of America as it is now, as it has been and how it should and will be, regardless of how much you racist hillbillies want to pretend otherwise.
So, go buy your cheap beer brewed by a foreign company, purchase it at your local sprawlmart paying subhuman wages and importing everything possible from China, whine about how hard the white man has it in America and continue to believe giving more money to rich people and deporting everyone who doesn't learn English in a timely fashion is going to solve your problems. You are the anachronism and you are the problem. Not the person with the accent, the funny clothes or the different colored skin.
Apparently a slightly sappy, slightly touchy, seemingly out of place, yet overall innocuous Coke ad has the racists up in arms. I'll admit, I love when people get upset about stuff like this because it lets me know who I can pretty much write off their opinion about anything.
The ad, oh the horrible, terrible ad, featured "America the Beautiful" a song sung by Queen Latifa not more than 90 minutes prior to the commercial. Why the fuss? Because, HORRORS, the song was sung in many languages, NOT JUST ENGLISH!
Oh no! Whatever shall we do? How can we face the fact we're a multi-racial, multi-lingual, extremely diverse country? I know what we should do, we should take to Twitter and Facebook and blogs like mine nobody reads and react as racist and xenophobic as possible!
"In my 'Murkah we speak English gash darn it!"
Well, frankly America has never been a nation of one language, not should it be now. Prior to Europeans landing there was a plethora of Native American languages being spoken. The first European language spoken was Viking (yeah, I have no idea what language they spoke, some old form of Danish?), the second, Spanish. Then French, THEN English.
Sure, the English crown came to rule the 13 colonies who in a fit of tea party pique decided to rebel and instead of becoming more like Canada allowed us to become the joke we are today, but even then, all sorts of languages were being spoken, daily, across the continent.
Immigrant groups came, and came, and came and somehow America trudged along, getting along with these strange newcomers and their odd accents and culture. They slowly assimilated, keeping some traditions, sometimes keeping a langauge (rarely) but mostly becoming more or less American.
Now though, somehow this is a threat. All these people that don't look like me, don't talk like me and don't dress like me, they're dangerous and scary. And Coke is putting them in a commercial and goshdarnit Coke you gave me diabetus and made me require a Hoverround but I am quitting you over this. For good. Big KKK, er Big K is my drink of choice now. Or Shasta. Or a good American drink like Sam's Cola from them nice folks at Wal-mart (speaking of commercials to make you hurl....)
Get over it people. America has always been, will always been, and SHOULD always be diverse! And goodness, a multinational company selling things all over the world (including pretty much the only functioning factory in Somalia) is probably all about the diversity don't you think? Oh, but that only applies elsewhere. Got it.
If you want to get annoyed about anything, get annoyed by the faux patriotism tied to every sporting event now. I get it, most of the country is watching football (I love football), but there's nothing inherently patriotic about a sporting event no matter how many times we butcher the anthem, no matter how many flyovers we do, or how many times we show the troops in some far off country that don't need to be in watching the game at god knows what hour of the night instead of being home with their families watching it.
The Coke ad, which I found a bit sappy, was an accurate portrayal of America as it is now, as it has been and how it should and will be, regardless of how much you racist hillbillies want to pretend otherwise.
So, go buy your cheap beer brewed by a foreign company, purchase it at your local sprawlmart paying subhuman wages and importing everything possible from China, whine about how hard the white man has it in America and continue to believe giving more money to rich people and deporting everyone who doesn't learn English in a timely fashion is going to solve your problems. You are the anachronism and you are the problem. Not the person with the accent, the funny clothes or the different colored skin.
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