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Northeastern Pennsylvania Scranton, Wilkes-Barre, Pocono area
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Old 11-05-2008, 07:34 PM
 
Location: Dallas, PA
1,418 posts, read 3,584,702 times
Reputation: 602

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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jungle George View Post
The "Muslim" thing is just another facet of what I call "people's comfort zones".

Everybody has a different "zone" based on the values they were taught, the prejudices they learned & the behaviors they were exposed to in formative years that they now view as "normal". If Obama's name was Ben Johnson nobody would care!! (except to make penis jokes using the "Johnson" part )

If someone is brought up around Muslims, they are "familiar" & therefore "fit" in the "comfort zone". If someone is brought up around gays, they are "familiar" & therefore "fit" in the "comfort zone". If someone is brought up around African Americans, they are "familiar" & therefore "fit" in the "comfort zone". The variations are endless & unique to each person.

The immigrants that came to the U.S. usually formed a clique of the same ethnicity & lived in the same neighborhood: Italians with Italians, Polish with Polish, etc. Thus when an Irishman entered a Jewish neighborhood, or a Chinese man entered an Italian neighborhood (for examples), he was viewed with fear, contempt & disdain because he was "different" & didn't "fit" into those people's "comfort zones".

Now that we are becoming more & more culturally diverse, these prejudices are slowly dissipating, but they are still present & form a percentage of what shapes our lives & votes.

Whenever we are exposed to something outside of our "comfort zone" & unfamiliar, there is fear of the unknown. Fear of the unknown breeds hatred, distrust & a whole slew of negativity.

Negativity breeds bigotry, intolerance, ridicule & sometimes violence.

I hope that Obama's being elected will continue to chip away at the intolerance & bigotry that is still hanging on in our country, but it's really up to the individual to go outside of their own "comfort zone" & educate themselves & thus learn that we ALL are the same, no matter our differences, & that if we cannot live & work together & try to eradicate this fear of the unknown, we will stagnate or worse.

My name is Jungle George & I approved this message.
And a wonderful message it was JG....excellent post
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Old 11-05-2008, 07:36 PM
 
Location: Marshall-Shadeland, Pittsburgh, PA
32,620 posts, read 77,624,272 times
Reputation: 19102
Quote:
Originally Posted by EnyaGirl View Post
And a wonderful message it was JG....excellent post
Agreed! Please rep him for me! It said I had to "spread it around!"
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Old 11-05-2008, 07:49 PM
 
Location: Chicago
3,340 posts, read 9,690,476 times
Reputation: 1238
Ohh I hate it when it does that! It did it to me too!
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Old 11-05-2008, 07:51 PM
 
Location: Sheeptown, USA
3,236 posts, read 6,659,511 times
Reputation: 907
Quote:
Originally Posted by mbs7 View Post
What does his name have to do with anything? This is a country of immigrants; the only people who have been here for any length of time are Native Americans and even they came from other places originally.
Obama's father was not from the Middle East, but from Kenya. And if Obama's father had been from the Middle East, why would that matter? It isn't as if being from the Middle East automatically makes someone responsible for or supportive of the 9/11 attacks!

Also, Obama is not a socialist. Sometimes these terms get used so freely that we forget what they actually mean.

Anyway, I'm glad that the jury is still out for you, NYRangers 2008. I hope that you will put your "bad feeling" aside and give Obama a chance.
I said I would give him a chance. It's just going to take some adjusting to. I'm willing to be open minded, I just have doubts. I hope he proves me wrong.
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Old 11-05-2008, 08:11 PM
 
2,473 posts, read 5,454,994 times
Reputation: 1204
I grew up as an only kid & my parents were VERY prejudiced!! When I got to the age of starting to be able to think for myself (43.....just kidding), I took it upon myself to "look into" what caused them to be that way.

My 1st girlfriend (at age 13) was a Puerto Rican. My 2 best friends at the time were African American & Spanish. I CHOSE to get interested in both to "see" why they could be so "hated" by my folks.

I tried & tried, but I couldn't see why...they really were not much different than me!!

I tried to bring them to the apartment, but my folks wouldn't allow them in. After they turned around & went home I was informed they didn't want any "sp*cs" or "ni**ers" in their house!!!

THAT is what made me go out & investigate MORE cultures & ethnicities to broaden my view & understand the differences between us all. This understanding brought about many wonderful things throughout my life like friendship, love & respect whose roots were actually in my parent's learned bigotry.

BUT...I CHOSE to get out & MAKE myself get exposed to people that were not in my "comfort zone" which brought about familiarity & eventually many wonderful experiences & lifelong friends who learned from me & I from them!!

THAT is the key!! If someone chooses to do nothing but wallow in their learned behavior & just believe what "fits" that "comfort zone", they are just going to stagnate & pass along that stagnation to their kids (unless the kids choose to broaden themselves).

But if they CHOOSE to take a step forward & start learning, their lives would become just that much brighter!!
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Old 11-05-2008, 09:00 PM
 
Location: Idiocracy
904 posts, read 2,055,581 times
Reputation: 371
Quote:
Originally Posted by weluvpa View Post
Banning or restricting our constitutional rights whether its the 1st, 4th or 5th Amendment is wrong and you cannot justify your stance by using guns as answer because its not about the guns as much as it is about OUR RIGHTS TO HAVE THEM!
So then you agree that we should all have the right buy tanks, surface-to-air missiles, and machine guns?

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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Old 11-05-2008, 09:07 PM
 
Location: Marshall-Shadeland, Pittsburgh, PA
32,620 posts, read 77,624,272 times
Reputation: 19102
Quote:
Originally Posted by blip View Post
So then you agree that we should all have the right buy tanks, surface-to-air missiles, and machine guns?

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
HA! Looks like the city council meetings!
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Old 11-05-2008, 09:29 PM
 
Location: Chicago
3,340 posts, read 9,690,476 times
Reputation: 1238
Quote:
Originally Posted by blip View Post
So then you agree that we should all have the right buy tanks, surface-to-air missiles, and machine guns?

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Only? Please, here in Nebraska, your 5th birthday present is a Tank and Surface to Air Missile, and at 16, you get a nuke!
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Old 11-05-2008, 10:46 PM
 
Location: Scranton native, now in upstate NY
325 posts, read 806,527 times
Reputation: 94
Quote:
Originally Posted by MermanMike View Post
mbs7 said...


I think you said it mbs7...what's the problem in being from the Middle East?

I think most people in the Middle East would rather hug you than hurt you.

It really disappoints me when I hear someone hating an entire group of people based on their impressions of just a few. That whole way of thinking should be over with by this point in history. Everybody who is still hanging on to that kind of thinking, start having thoughts that are your own, based on the life experiences you create for yourself, not thoughts fed to you from the well of groupthink.

Agreed!
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Old 11-05-2008, 10:49 PM
 
Location: Scranton native, now in upstate NY
325 posts, read 806,527 times
Reputation: 94
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jungle George View Post
I grew up as an only kid & my parents were VERY prejudiced!! When I got to the age of starting to be able to think for myself (43.....just kidding), I took it upon myself to "look into" what caused them to be that way.

My 1st girlfriend (at age 13) was a Puerto Rican. My 2 best friends at the time were African American & Spanish. I CHOSE to get interested in both to "see" why they could be so "hated" by my folks.

I tried & tried, but I couldn't see why...they really were not much different than me!!

I tried to bring them to the apartment, but my folks wouldn't allow them in. After they turned around & went home I was informed they didn't want any "sp*cs" or "ni**ers" in their house!!!

THAT is what made me go out & investigate MORE cultures & ethnicities to broaden my view & understand the differences between us all. This understanding brought about many wonderful things throughout my life like friendship, love & respect whose roots were actually in my parent's learned bigotry.

BUT...I CHOSE to get out & MAKE myself get exposed to people that were not in my "comfort zone" which brought about familiarity & eventually many wonderful experiences & lifelong friends who learned from me & I from them!!

THAT is the key!! If someone chooses to do nothing but wallow in their learned behavior & just believe what "fits" that "comfort zone", they are just going to stagnate & pass along that stagnation to their kids (unless the kids choose to broaden themselves).

But if they CHOOSE to take a step forward & start learning, their lives would become just that much brighter!!
This is so true--the "comfort zone" is a terrible (and terribly misleading) place to spend one's life!
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