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WOW, I've been gone for a while. Who is this rebel?
I know I'm way late on the conversation, but I have plenty of friends who live in West O, Downtown, South O, Benson, all over Oama. I live in Midtown, and my best friend, white, teaches elementary at Druid Hill (30th & Ames), we all mix very well and are not of the same ethnic background.
I will be the one who will say what you didn't want to hear, not all Nebraskans are bigots or racists just as all of your beloved Californians are not all diverse and accepting of other cultures/ethnicities. Guess what, my ethnic friends are the ones who live in West O.
Again, my friend is a white, 5'0' 100 lb female and feels very safe going to her school in the morning and leaving after conferences at night. I have dinner w/several friends of different ethnicities and sexual orientations and oh, wait, we even venture outside of our houses together. We don't get stares or snickers everywhere we go.
I'm not doubting your experiences and am sorry you felt attacked, but I've been in all 48 contiguous states and overseas to several different countries, racism (unfortuantely) isn't just in Omaha, West O, or Nebraska. Sadly enough, it is all over this great big world.
I wish you the best of luck in NV and hope that you can find peace w/your wife, but please, don't think that you are any more diverse or have experienced more culture than all Nebraskans.
I have been checking in on this thread but find I must state my opinion on how I feel about not just the great state of Nebraska but this great city of Omaha. Sure, we have our "problems" but the what place doesn't?
I am originally from El Paso,Texas and moved here in 1978 when I was in the Army. I met my wonderful wife and we raised four wonderful kids here, and now have almost 8 grandchildren. I am of mixed race (Mexican American) and have a "white" blond wife.
I have lived east of 72nd all my Nebraska life and work two jobs near my home which I have lived in since 1985.
I have worked closely with many people, as I am employed as a school bus driver (12 years) and the MAT bus system since 1981. I have contact with many people of all ages and diverse groups. The majority of citizens here are good, honest hard working people.
Omaha has been good...very good to me and to my family. Though I miss my original Texas roots, I will stay here the rest of my life.
I am proud of Omaha Nebraska.
I hope you find happiness Society's Rebel. It feels pretty good!
GO BIG RED!
Last edited by Victor 13; 05-11-2008 at 01:02 AM..
Nebraskan values - hate hate and then there's more hate
I agree with you and I'm just glad you got out of this state my friend.
I won't slam Omaha because I don't live there but people keep telling me that Lincoln is so much better than Omaha because Lincoln has the University and that means there's more tolerance here due to the influx of kids coming from out of state and they're educated (yarite NOT!).
I moved to Lincoln six years ago and in the first 3 months, I heard more hate rhetoric than I've ever been exposed to in my entire life.
I've lived in numerous cities in this country and outside of the United States and I truly was shocked by what the Nebraskan idea of "family values" amounted to.
Hate.
If it's different, hate it. If it's a different race, if it's a different religion, if it's a different way of life from you own...
Hate it.
For the posters on here to deny that racism, homophobia, intolerance of people different than their white christian selves in general is running rampant here, is ridiculous.
They have adds running here about abortion stating as fact that abortion causes breast cancer for gods sake! GET A CLUE! Go check the breast cancer association... I did! It's a lie but it's a sure way to get some poor woman who's stuck in a bad situation scared to death and perhaps she'll do what "they" want her to.
In Nebraska, if it's not right wing, xtian values? All bets are off! They'll lie, steal, do anything...Murder and hate crimes? Oh ya. That's the Nebraskan way (Can we say Teena Brandon?).
The ads on TV concerning the war! Ya.. ads on TV!
"DON'T LEAVE IRAQ...DON'T BETRAY THE VETERANS THAT ARE SERVING THERE!"
What is THAT about?
A bit one sided? What about those of us that don't support the war there?
Well, there ARE no ads given that express our viewpoints. We just don't exist.
Then again, here in Nebraska, that's to be expected (apparently).
One sided, uneducated, ill informed, hacks, that on too many times for me to number, have complained to me about:
Non-white people having civil rights. Can you believe that? At first, I couldn't. I kept thinking, "This has to be some odd weird neighborhood I'm living in."
So I moved.
It didn't change. It's everywhere here.
Stand in line at the store and you'll hear it.
I think I've heard it all right here in the family values state. Nebraska.
Because I look like my white father, you'd be surprised what people are willing to HEAP upon me. They assume that I'm like them...which suggests to me that there's a lot MORE people here just like them! (hateful.. just mean, spiteful and hateful).
Oh..and whatever you do, don't bring up gay people. Them is fighting words.
Sin, sin, sin and deserves worse than DEATH (is what these fools have told me!).
Did I mention that the majority of white people I have run into refer to African Americans as "coloured folks" (HELLO?? and many have used a far worse term.. disgusting!) and I've been told several times that people who are of Latino heritage (worse is said if they're new arrivals) are animals. Yep! ANIMALS! When I've attempted to debate the issue, the people just shake their heads at me as if *I* am the fool. When I explained to them that I'm from San Diego, two miles from the border of Mexico and NO.. Mexicans are NOT animals or vicious people by nature .. They're just like people anywhere, good, bad, nice, not nice...and in my experience, most ARE nice...
They inform me that I'm sickened and unable to see correctly due to my obvious "liberal" viewpoint (something I've not been accused of EVER until I got to N e b r a s k a).
I know of three families in just the last year that were mixed marriages that have moved OUT OF STATE ...
Can you guess why?
If you can't .. I'll inform you.
They were treated like hell ongoing by just about anyone and everyone in Lincoln. All three families when trying to move to my neighborhood had ten times the issues I DID trying to get a place to live. Excuses made as for why they weren't being rented to! It's illegal but how do you prove these things?
The landlord just claims, "There was another family that was coming back to rent the place or so they said, thus I told the "smiths" they couldn't have it but then the other family never showed up." And it kept happening over and over and over again.
Try to disprove something like that and frankly, there's no support from any one in this state that resembles a lawyer to insure that these people's rights aren't SLAMMED to hell.
I literally could write pages ...(did you know that if you're a gay person, you can be EVICTED from the home you rent? Fired from your job? Oh, for gods sake people! Get a life!)
I used to live in Reno, Nevada (for two years) and Reno isn't perfect by a long shot but it's a LOT better than Nebraska.
Oh...btw, they have a ceiling on civil suits here. If someone runs you over and you're paralyzed for life, you can't sue for over $250,000. A whole persons LIFE is worth $250,000? HOW is that possible?
I guess in a state the devalues any life that isn't middle class, xtian and white ..
Life is indeed cheap if you're one of us who doesn't belong to their little club.
Is it just me? I don't think so. My cousin came out here to visit and spent three weeks with me.
Now, my cousin is a white woman and a conservative republican.
She was shocked.
Before leaving she told me, "These people do not represent me or my view point in any way, shape or form. They're racist and hateful people Ghost. I really think you should move as soon as finances allow because *I* could not live around this kind of hate."
I didn't solicit her comment either.
It's unfortunate when health issues mess you up and you can't move because believe me, I'm praying to God that my health will improve and I can get out of here. Thus far though, no luck.
Perhaps this is meant to be a learning experience (about how not to live your life), eh?
In any case, good luck in your new home and thank you for your post. I'm glad that some people when they move on remember what is happening out here in the "heartland" (heart? Where is there any other here?) because people from out of state need to know that this kind of thing is happening.
Ghost
PS Did I mention what people have said to me about Jewish folks? Never mind. It was disgusting and best not shared lest some more idiot Nebraskans read this post, get their hands on it and propagate more of it.
As I said, I could write pages (if not a book).
I think the reason Nebraska has a unicam is similar to the reason Nebraska has decided that people 18 years old aren't adults (19 is):
Just because they can and it makes them feel "different."
Sound like a stupid reason?
WELL...if you read my other posts on what I think of Nebraska, you'll know that I don't think highly of the majority of people who live here in the corn state and the word "stupid" frequently comes to mind when conversing with people here.
(A Disclaimer, which is not meant for the person who posted the original post: If you are a Nebraskan who doesn't believe that hate is a family value, then you're not on my "pathetic, rotten and stupid nebraskans" list and please don't take what I'm posting here personally. Anyone of you who believe that intolerance and hate ARE family values.. then yes, you are on my list of pathetic, rotten and stupid nebraskans.
I am intolerant of intolerance.
Sorry about that
No I'm not .. I just said I was sorry to fool you and make you think I cared about your feelings.. which I don't. I have a strict disregard for the feelings of people who invest themselves in hating other people for being different than themselves. Yawl just don't matter to me one little bit)
Well, welcome to the forum, first post and you are starting off with a bang and while I'm sorry about what has happened to you, I have a different viewpoint and I'm sure many others will as well. I would say the minority in Nebraska are what you described and the majority are not. I just have a couple questions. Where have you seen these ads on abortion and Iraq, I sure haven't seen anything like that? Have you reported the landlord who evicted the gay person or denied the mixed-families to the housing authority?
All I can say is wow! This thread is actually a merger of several threads I started to address issues that i came across while living in Nebraska! Although you said things a little more direct than I would have, I couldn't agree with you more!
Nebraskans are just different, and while there are many good things about Nebraska there are also many bad too, I think Omaha as a whole is trying to improve itself however, with all the new projects and development. There are still many intollerant, hateful people out there, but one thing I have learned is that everyone isn't that way, but I'm sure Nebraska has a higher amount per capita of hateful people than some other more integrated states!
I'm not saying I have witnessed everything you are saying (some links to sources would be nice) but when you brought up the abortion thing it made me remember something...
It was a nice spring day and I had just gotten done eating at the Popeye's on Broadway over in CB (they have the bottomless plate M-F from opening to 2:30 pm). And as I turned West onto broadway to head back to Omaha, this large RV or Bus I can't remember which passed me going the other direction. This large vehicle was sporting a repulsive, disgusting, indecent scene, it was showing aborted fetuses as big as day, with their heads cut open and blood everywhere!
It was the most horrific sight I had ever seen and it was just cruising down broadway like it was the thing to do! Absolutely repugnant!
Since then I had seen it a couple more times throughout the metro, on Dodge in Omaha and in Bellevue (I think they finally got in trouble for it down there).
But the point is that this wasn't freedom of speech, this was first and foremost an indecent display of human carnage, and secondly it was hate speech directed toward pro-choice people, it was there to make abortions look like murders and to show it off to everyone...
I can't even imagine what would have happened if that same RV was in San Francisco, it probably would have started a riot! But in the Omaha Metro people just let it slide for a while... absolutely disgusting! How would you explain that to your 5 year old daughter if she had seen it?
And furthermore they were depicting a third-term or "partial birth" (as they like to call it) abortions which are already illegal anyway! So what exactly was their point other than to rile people up and cause problems. If a woman at 8 weeks pregnant takes an RU-486 pill it does not look like what they showed at all!
This was a prime example of the kind of intolerance displayed by people in the area and it also shows us how much of an influence the Religious Christian Right has in the area. Sometimes the Christians can be so extreme that they are like an American version of Al-Queda but usually they are in smaller sects when they get that extreme like those Mormons down in Texas that were living on that ranch raping all those underage girls!
In fact, just to throw this out there, has anyone noticed similarities between the fundamental muslims and the extreme Christians? Both Catholics and Al-Queda tend to think women should cover themselves up more than in other cultures, such as Catholic Nuns for example. And both religions shun sex as if it were something evil! Priests can't have sex so they molest little boys and so on! In the muslim culture they mutilate women by way of "infibulation" Infibulation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia <- Check it out if you don't believe me! Why does religion always have to get so extreme? Maybe the Soviets were on to something when they outlawed religion!
But let me get back on topic, the main thing is that this hate and intollerance in Nebraska, and much of the Midwest for that matter, is a growing problem that needs to be addressed! If we let it run rampant it will just grow and cause more problems in Omaha and there will be more problems like the Omaha Race Riot of 1919! Omaha Race Riot of 1919 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia!
Right before we moved out of Omaha, I remember there was even a Neo-Nazi demonstration on Dodge! WTF? Neo-Nazi's are allowed to demonstrate in Nebraska? No wonder there is so much hate, they are allowed to organize like GreenPeace and spread their message of hate! Whats next, the KKK marching down O street in Lincoln?
It's obvious you came to this board to vent, this board is not meant to vent... I am beginning to really hate this board.. My experiences as a gay person have not been bad at all.. I am so sick of people coming here to vent their frustrations to make us look like a bunch of hick like jerks.. I just don't want to be here anymore...
It's obvious you came to this board to vent, this board is not meant to vent... I am beginning to really hate this board.. My experiences as a gay person have not been bad at all.. I am so sick of people coming here to vent their frustrations to make us look like a bunch of hick like jerks.. I just don't want to be here anymore...
Thanks for that comment... this board is refreshing... I know there are "conservative evangelical christians" on here and that there are gay individuals. There are city folk and rural folk. There are white folk, multi-racial, and others. This is a very diverse board with folks that the poster claims shouldn't be getting along in Nebraska. I hope its this tone that I've experienced with these many viewpoints of common citizens that keeps going.
OK, I go away to pack and all of this stuff comes out!
I am moving to NE next week.
I have lived many places and stayed in quite a few in the US; ID, UT, NM, NV, OH, PA, SC, NC, GA, AL, WV, IL, IN. Know what?
There are people who talk about family values everywhere - and some of those same people everywhere are prejudiced. They will ram their ideas down your throat at any given moment. They are all about telling you how you should live your life - "in the sight of God, Allah, Buddah, Kali, Yahweh, Jesus" - whomever their god happens to be. They promote themselves as "god-fearing" but think it is ok to rip off, lie to, cheat, or steal from any and everyone, including members of their own church or race. These people are trash. Period. Doesn't matter what race, religion, or color they happen to be - they are TRASH, and not worth anyone's time; and especially not worth anyone's angst or misery. Screaming against them here - or anywhere - does no good and solves nothing; they do not recognize themselves for who and what they are. If you can legally prosecute them for violating someone else's rights, then it should be done. If not - well, then let it go.
Where did that nasty truck come from? Who knows? There are people (and vehicles) like that here too. White supremacists? Please. The KKK and white supremacists are alive and well everywhere, in every state. They have a legal right to march as much as anyone else - being in government I know this -but they do not have a legal right to infringe on anyone's civil rights. You can believe what ever you want, and preach it - you simply do not have a right to ACT on it to the point where you invade someone else's rights. My daughter has a "Darwin Fish" on her bumper - she has a right to believe in that as much as the people who put bumper stickers on their car that say "Marriage = 1 Man, 1 Woman" - the difference is that neither of them has the right to rip it off of each other's bumpers, or invade each other's rights.
I have met a lot of great people on this board; been invited to events, people have offered to help us during and after our move - and they have never seen me, do not know if I am white or black or American Indian or Phillipino or Mexican. They only assume I am female and married because of my 'name' and that I talk about my hubby and our kids... People on here from what I have seen judge by character. Maybe that is a good example of what is really the truth of the matter.
I spent two weeks in NE, wandering around in the area to which we are moving. The people there didn't know me from Adam's house cat, but were 99% welcoming, friendly, and open. The 1% that were not simply didn't matter. Because it was what I expected, and because I know that there are people like that everywhere.
PS my son lives in NV, and has for over 10 years - and there is prejudice there too. Do yourself a favor and don't think for one minute that any place has perfect (think "Stepford Wives" or "Children of the Corn") type people, or you will always eventually be disappointed. The type of people with whom you associate is what matters - as well as the changes that you decide to make together. Forever seeking the "perfect place" will keep you on the road - because, like OZ, it simply does not exist. Humans are humans everywhere. If you seek fulfillment in them, you will be forever miserable.
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Nebraskan values - hate hate and then there's more hate
Answer to the question of the unicam
