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After 9-11, people in the liberal media have always wanted to ask "why they hate us". Many also say that while 9-11 was a horrific and dastardly act, they could understand the anger that would drive people to do such things because of US foreign policy, or our economic policies, etc. When someone shoots up a school, the media wants to see how he's bullied, what led to that anger, what drove this guy to do it. I read an article that asked readers to understand Jeremiah Wright and the black church, and why Wright holds the beliefs that he does.
However it seems nobody in the media wants to understand the anger and resentment from mainstream/middle class/blue collar white America or from minorities like myself who don't fit into an easy mold. They see a tea party, or someone speaking out against illegal immigration and automatically call the person a racist, and dismisses their concerns. More about that later actually. A lot of the liberal elites are actually not exposed to illegal immigrants except those who work in their houses and many live in "gentrified" areas but are separate from the ghetto culture.
I had a chance to experience the pulse of mainstream America yesterday, on the ninth anniversary of September 11th, at a concert in Northern Virginia, just outside Washington DC. Now this is a relatively cosmopolitan region but I'd say the crowd was about 95% white. There were plenty of so called rednecks and good ol' boys there, but also many suburbanites, including middle class people from both the suburban and rural areas. Now in that area (I went to high school there, lvie in Baltimore now which is much more blue-collar and far less international) people never let their prejudices be known usually since it was so diverse, but put them in a 95% white crowd, add a lot of alcohol to the picture and you really do feel the pulse of a large chunk of America.
I was one of the few minorities there but the way I carry myself, the clothes I wear I did fit in, and the majority of my closest friends come from small town and/or blue collar backgrounds. This was 9-11 and both Toby Keith and Trace Adkins, who opened for him rallied the audience and it was a very patriotic and pro-American occasion. Toby Keith showed his appreciation for our troops for fighting the terrorists in Iraq and Afghanistan and reminded us of what happened 9 years ago on this tragic day. At the same time you can feel the anger in the crowd. People shouted F the Middle East (some of these were actually veterans and active duty military including minorites), and cursed Barack Obama (it was refreshing to some extent to be in an enviornment where my own hatred of the president can be expressed safely) and shotued against having a mosque at Ground Zero (an opinion I agree with.)
However I was somewhat shocked to hear the N word a couple times when people referred to Obama. During the tailgating before the concert, we were hanging out with folks from the cars next to us. One of them went to high school in Maryland (in the DC burbs) close to where I did. He talked about how it had changed a lot, and how there were too many "N___" and "Mexicans" moving in from the city. Now of course I've heard the N word before, but it was always among close friends and always in private (and not very common), and when it was used it really was never against all black people, only certain "ghetto" types. But I was surprised to hear it from a near stranger. I recently also saw a swastika along with "Mexicans go home" carved into a gas station wall in Maryland in response to gang graffiti from MS-13, a violent illegal alien gang that is actually from El Salvador, not Mexico.
It was noticeable how much anger and resentment there has been lately. But maybe we really should try to understand it. I think Obama has divded this country more and more. People like Jeremiah Wright, the illegal Mexicans who marched with Mexican flags, the Mexican-American kids at the California school who were offended by US flags on Cinco de Mayo) arent helping at all. While this anger is troubling.....as an assimilated minority and the son of LEGAL immigrants I can understand it somewhat. I would never personally use the N word and have travelled enough, especially in the rural South and parts of Texas and in my home state of Louisiana, to know that most black people are not ghetto and that there are many Hispanics who are legal and very assimilated, who love this country and are very integrated into our culture.
Yes what that young man said was racist, about how blacks and Mexicans are moving into his neighborhood. BUT.....I know exactly where he lived, and I can tell you for a fact that that area was completely ruined by illegal immigration and the influx from the DC ghetto. It has turned from idyllic suburbia where neighbors knew one another and people felt safe, to having gangs and drugs everywhere, with illegal alien and black gangs roaming the streets of high school and illegals joyriding around shopping centers every night of the week drunk and harassing women. Illegals are a large strain on local resources. Also many people who have moved from the ghetto and many illegal aliens behave rudely, they play their music loud all night and have no respect for laws or courtesy or etiquette. Contrary to what some people might believe, its actually the more diverse areas where people tend to be more racist and polarized because of their personal experiences. I know an aquaitance who moved to Baltimore from an all-white town on Long Island and went to a mostly white college in Pennsylvania and he never hated anyone before. Now after living for a year in a mostly black and crime-ridden part of town, and having his car broken into, he regularly uses racist slurs. My own father has lost his job to illegal immigrants before. And it is hard not to feel anger when you see illegals demanding in-state tuition, getting welfare, and showing disrespect to our country and our flag.
Maybe we should also try to understand the blue collar worker who worked hard all his life and now his money is taken by the government and redistributed to those who never worked and who always asked for a handout. I think that prejudice is very regrettable and that its something we should all resist and fight against. But I'm just saying we should try to understand all sides of the story. It definitely is NOT okay to say racist things just like there is no justifcation for hijacking planes or shooting up schools. Hating Obama, calling him a socialist and a Muslim is okay, but I would stop at calling him the N word.
But if we as a country are to come together again we do need to hear everyone's side of the story, and stop with the black and Hispanic victminiation, the sympathy for illegal immigrants and Muslims, etc and to truly give everyone an equal voice especially with the media and government.
Point 1: Learn how to rant better. Toss a few periods into your sentences. Don't question yourself so much. Be more exciting to read.
Point 2: Hating Obama for any reason is ok. We still have the right to hate our leaders, and anyone we want. You make a lot of points that really have no point. I can only assume you are against Political Correctness to some extent, and feel like there is a valid source of anger coming from certain individuals in America.
Point 3: I take issue with you referring to these hateful people as "Mainstream" America. Just what in the **** does that mean? Is there an un-mainstream America? Anybody different is not mainstream? Nonsense euphemism. What you mean to say is "White, Bible-Thumping America," and we've had that discussion very recently, in many forms, in dozens of threads. These people are resentful because they lost an election, and it happened to be to a mulatto man. They may not actually be full-blown racists, but simply have an unquestioning fear of those who look or act differently. It is their right to feel this way. It is their right to hurl racial slurs and all manner of derogatory things. But let us be clear about what they are: Bigots. And ignorant, if they continue to pretend that Obama is a Muslim when he has said over-and-over that he is a Christian. They claim to know a person's heart. If their own faith were questioned by large groups of people on a daily basis, they would throw a fit.
Point 4: Oh the hell with it. I am not going to spend another half hour refuting the insecurities and fears of the Dim Americans, who hate blacks and hispanics because they have slightly different iterations of a common genetic code, and Muslims because they are brainwashed in a different way than Christians. Why? All of the hate threads spring from fear, and the fear is usually always unfounded. There is no reason to point out to someone that yelling the N word at a concert is like waving a flag that says "I'm too dumb to understand my own basic xenophobia, so I'm ruled by it."
And to answer your last paragraph, we do not have "sympathy" for those who are treated as second-class citizens. We have the Constitution. That old thing again? Yes. No matter how many different groups bigots find to hate, the Constitution protects all of them, just as it protects the bigots. We now find ourselves fighting to protect the Constitution itself from the bigots. Your hate is your problem. Learn how to deal with it, and don't trample the rights of others in your quest for inner peace.
I don't think the OP's post was a rant by any means; it seems rather thoughtful overall.
I think a lot of social trends stem in part from what is seen as a loss of community, or a loss of cultural commonality.
Think about the way in which a lot of interactions in society rely on unstated, mutually-understood norms and values.
For example, I visited an auto scrapyard this weekend because I wanted to pick up a few parts for a cheap fixer-upper car that one of my nephews will be working on.
The conversation I had with the yard manager could not have taken place if we had not been acquainted with a common cultural background. Everything from talking about the nature of this year's growing season to the local college football team to a couple of municipal issues.
It's not as though we knew each other before this weekend, but we had a commonality of background which facilitated a type of familiarity that was evident as soon as we began talking to each other.
As you remove more and more of those aspects of commonality, the conversation takes place at a greater and greater level of distance. And if you live in a community where the average level of conversational distance has been increasing, it can be extremely disconcerting.
Under prosperous economic circumstances, this isn't always much of an issue. But when the economy puts more people under strain, the easiest reaction is to dump the blame onto the sorts of groups who seem to be part of this reduction of cultural commonality.
However, this is often a false attribution. Which is to say, even if you restored your community to "how things used to be" (or how you imagine you'd like things to have been...), you'd still be screwed, since the economic changes stem from macroscopic factors that are beyond the reach of government policy. Such as the aging of the country, and the strain this places on social entitlement programs. Or the deregulation of the derivatives market over the past decade.
These types of factors are often distant and difficult to place into context, while local changes are much easier to appreciate.
LMAO , I was thinking that .
I think the OP doesn't understand common sense is not common in the media/ DC .
They need to be replaced and be wrong at home .
TomLennox, I really liked your thoughtful post but I have a couple of quibbles that maybe you can help me with. Why do you say, or think, that only "the liberal media" wanted to understand the motivation of the 9/11 hijackers? It's not unpatriotic to wonder "How did this happen?" It's human nature. Millions of people drew the conclusion you're saying was solely projected by "the liberal media." (You may not like the unflattering answer but come to find out those conclusions were right: they weren't "jealous of our freedoms," etc., after all. This is not "the liberal media"'s fault.)
You go on yourself to observe for yourself the actions and words at the concert, and you're sympathetic to those guys and make a plea: "maybe we really should try to understand [it from their point of view]." Why, because it's also your point of view? Though yes, we should try to understand all points of view, shouldnt we? Ya think?
Also I have to ask, why do you say Obama "has divided the country more and more"? Do you mean perceptions of Obama? The way the guys at the concert see him, the way Fox viewers see him, the way -- I've got to say, clear headed rational adults who were aware of politics before 2008 see him?
If you could clarify this I'd appreciate. I really liked your post, though. Thanks.
Your obvious contempt for Muslims, Obama etc. puts you in the same corner as all the other pseudo-patriots ranting on CD, even though you are hiding your agenda behind more elaborate wording
After 9-11, people in the liberal media have always wanted to ask "why they hate us". Many also say that while 9-11 was a horrific and dastardly act, they could understand the anger that would drive people to do such things because of US foreign policy, or our economic policies, etc. When someone shoots up a school, the media wants to see how he's bullied, what led to that anger, what drove this guy to do it. I read an article that asked readers to understand Jeremiah Wright and the black church, and why Wright holds the beliefs that he does.
However it seems nobody in the media wants to understand the anger and resentment from mainstream/middle class/blue collar white America or from minorities like myself who don't fit into an easy mold. They see a tea party, or someone speaking out against illegal immigration and automatically call the person a racist, and dismisses their concerns. More about that later actually. A lot of the liberal elites are actually not exposed to illegal immigrants except those who work in their houses and many live in "gentrified" areas but are separate from the ghetto culture.
I had a chance to experience the pulse of mainstream America yesterday, on the ninth anniversary of September 11th, at a concert in Northern Virginia, just outside Washington DC. Now this is a relatively cosmopolitan region but I'd say the crowd was about 95% white. There were plenty of so called rednecks and good ol' boys there, but also many suburbanites, including middle class people from both the suburban and rural areas. Now in that area (I went to high school there, lvie in Baltimore now which is much more blue-collar and far less international) people never let their prejudices be known usually since it was so diverse, but put them in a 95% white crowd, add a lot of alcohol to the picture and you really do feel the pulse of a large chunk of America.
I was one of the few minorities there but the way I carry myself, the clothes I wear I did fit in, and the majority of my closest friends come from small town and/or blue collar backgrounds. This was 9-11 and both Toby Keith and Trace Adkins, who opened for him rallied the audience and it was a very patriotic and pro-American occasion. Toby Keith showed his appreciation for our troops for fighting the terrorists in Iraq and Afghanistan and reminded us of what happened 9 years ago on this tragic day. At the same time you can feel the anger in the crowd. People shouted F the Middle East (some of these were actually veterans and active duty military including minorites), and cursed Barack Obama (it was refreshing to some extent to be in an enviornment where my own hatred of the president can be expressed safely) and shotued against having a mosque at Ground Zero (an opinion I agree with.)
However I was somewhat shocked to hear the N word a couple times when people referred to Obama. During the tailgating before the concert, we were hanging out with folks from the cars next to us. One of them went to high school in Maryland (in the DC burbs) close to where I did. He talked about how it had changed a lot, and how there were too many "N___" and "Mexicans" moving in from the city. Now of course I've heard the N word before, but it was always among close friends and always in private (and not very common), and when it was used it really was never against all black people, only certain "ghetto" types. But I was surprised to hear it from a near stranger. I recently also saw a swastika along with "Mexicans go home" carved into a gas station wall in Maryland in response to gang graffiti from MS-13, a violent illegal alien gang that is actually from El Salvador, not Mexico.
It was noticeable how much anger and resentment there has been lately. But maybe we really should try to understand it. I think Obama has divded this country more and more. People like Jeremiah Wright, the illegal Mexicans who marched with Mexican flags, the Mexican-American kids at the California school who were offended by US flags on Cinco de Mayo) arent helping at all. While this anger is troubling.....as an assimilated minority and the son of LEGAL immigrants I can understand it somewhat. I would never personally use the N word and have travelled enough, especially in the rural South and parts of Texas and in my home state of Louisiana, to know that most black people are not ghetto and that there are many Hispanics who are legal and very assimilated, who love this country and are very integrated into our culture.
Yes what that young man said was racist, about how blacks and Mexicans are moving into his neighborhood. BUT.....I know exactly where he lived, and I can tell you for a fact that that area was completely ruined by illegal immigration and the influx from the DC ghetto. It has turned from idyllic suburbia where neighbors knew one another and people felt safe, to having gangs and drugs everywhere, with illegal alien and black gangs roaming the streets of high school and illegals joyriding around shopping centers every night of the week drunk and harassing women. Illegals are a large strain on local resources. Also many people who have moved from the ghetto and many illegal aliens behave rudely, they play their music loud all night and have no respect for laws or courtesy or etiquette. Contrary to what some people might believe, its actually the more diverse areas where people tend to be more racist and polarized because of their personal experiences. I know an aquaitance who moved to Baltimore from an all-white town on Long Island and went to a mostly white college in Pennsylvania and he never hated anyone before. Now after living for a year in a mostly black and crime-ridden part of town, and having his car broken into, he regularly uses racist slurs. My own father has lost his job to illegal immigrants before. And it is hard not to feel anger when you see illegals demanding in-state tuition, getting welfare, and showing disrespect to our country and our flag.
Maybe we should also try to understand the blue collar worker who worked hard all his life and now his money is taken by the government and redistributed to those who never worked and who always asked for a handout. I think that prejudice is very regrettable and that its something we should all resist and fight against. But I'm just saying we should try to understand all sides of the story. It definitely is NOT okay to say racist things just like there is no justifcation for hijacking planes or shooting up schools. Hating Obama, calling him a socialist and a Muslim is okay, but I would stop at calling him the N word.
But if we as a country are to come together again we do need to hear everyone's side of the story, and stop with the black and Hispanic victminiation, the sympathy for illegal immigrants and Muslims, etc and to truly give everyone an equal voice especially with the media and government.
That you describe this person as "young" offers me hope since we all grow out of stupid thoughtless habits we acquire growing up. I personally find hate based on race the lazy thinkers way of seeing life. With so many valid reasons to despise a person, why settle on race? Anyways, sorry you had to see the ugly side of my race.
My beef with the left, and it's only the left, is being blamed for every ill that besets the minority world because of my race. I didn't choose to be born white and really don't see how whites today are responsible for poor choices of the left's kept groups. It just gets a little old sometimes.
Maybe we should also try to understand the blue collar worker who worked hard all his life and now his money is taken by the government and redistributed to those who never worked and who always asked for a handout. I think that prejudice is very regrettable and that its something we should all resist and fight against. But I'm just saying we should try to understand all sides of the story. It definitely is NOT okay to say racist things just like there is no justifcation for hijacking planes or shooting up schools. Hating Obama, calling him a socialist and a Muslim is okay, but I would stop at calling him the N word.
But if we as a country are to come together again we do need to hear everyone's side of the story, and stop with the black and Hispanic victminiation, the sympathy for illegal immigrants and Muslims, etc and to truly give everyone an equal voice especially with the media and government.
I can understand and agree with the bulk of your post, I do however take issue with a specific slice of the part quoted above.
The so called "Blue Collar" worker has not had his money "re-distributed", he has had his job sent overseas. He never had enough of a salary to "re-distribute", that is just a bunch of Fox (Faux) News propaganda.
When you look at the picture with rationality and openness, eventually one sees that this country of over 400 million is being run by a very significant few, and they are so out of touch with the people they rule it is utterly ridiculous.
This is not a partisan view either, I take issue with major concepts of both democrats and republicans, in fact I go so far as to say that they are the very issue with our country.
Our country was not founded on two opposing political beliefs, it was founded on the belief that "all men are equal" and the government was to be "of the people, by the people, for the people".
Well the democrats and republicans are from such a tiny slice "of the people", they have no idea about "the people"
There has been entire industries created to pander to one political party or the other, and there has been entire industries created playing one party against the other. And at the center of it all is the "Almighty DOLLAR!!!!!"
Let's face it folks, America has become a place of "money talks", and everything else is BS.
No matter how good your message or noble your cause, if it aint got money, it's merely BS and background fodder. And it will remain this way until we educate ourselves to what is happening.
I agree with the tea party demand of ousting all incumbents, that is a good start. But if "We The People" don't stand up and pay attention, the next round of politicians are going to repeat the same process all over again.
When a congressman or senator subscribes to any party, they are effectively dis-associating some of their constituents. I believe the only political pandering an elected official should do, is to their constituents. If they subscribe to any other political belief, they have ceased to represent "THE PEOPLE".
Instead, they end up pandering to their chosen political party, so they can get the backing of the party, and what we end up with is a small slice of America getting bombarded with multi-million dollar campaign ads that have nothing to do with the district the race is in, it is merely the two party political system vying for a Majority status in DC.
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