Hate Disguised as Patriotism
Judging from the number of headers on it, the e-mail I just received has already been forwarded around the Internet (or at least around Utah) a few times. Here is what it said in its entirety: "Now that Barack Obama has been officially elected President of the United States, our country will fall to pieces." On any other day, I probably would have just deleted it without a second thought, but it reminded me of what I had been hearing from ninth graders all day at school. Here are some direct quotes:
"Now that Obama is in office, we're all going to be killed by terrorists."
"He's going to take all our money."
"We're all gonna die!"
"Don't worry. He's going to get assassinated."
It chills my blood, but here's the part that concerns me most about actually writing these things down: Most of the people who read this blog probably don't see anything wrong here. They (You) will think these are, of course, perfectly reasonable responses to John McCain's defeat.
Shame on you! Contrary to what you may have been led to believe by the hate-mongers who were booing and cursing him at McCain's campaign rallies, Barack Obama doesn't deserve your hatred just because he mobilized enough voters to get himself elected. That's the American Way, and none of you were complaining when George Bush did it twice in the last eight years. It's one thing to disagree with someone's politics, but the ridiculous accusations and threats scare me. Is this such a bankrupt society that we really believe a historic election like this one is cause for such bitterness, anger, and hatred? Or are there just a lot of sore losers among us?
Informed criticism should be part of any political campaign. Note the wording there: Informed! Maybe what frustrates me the most is that the imbeciles who spew this vitriol don't know what they are talking about. In the case of students at school, I would guess that most of them don't fully grasp even a single issue that was debated during the campaign, and their entire knowledge of Obama is based on the character-assassinating, anonymous e-mails that have been flying around for a year or more. Clearly, they are only repeating, loudly and proudly, the hate speech that circulates on the Internet and/or in their homes, and frankly, it doesn't reflect well on anyone. But it's easy, isn't it, to be part of a howling mob? If enough of you yell loudly enough, you'll drown out the voice of reason.
I know that a lot of folks around our school make important decisions by asking themselves this question: What would Jesus do? Would Jesus applaud assassination, forward hateful messages, and spread lies? If you don't think He would, then consider speaking up the next time you hear one of your friends doing so.
"Now that Obama is in office, we're all going to be killed by terrorists."
"He's going to take all our money."
"We're all gonna die!"
"Don't worry. He's going to get assassinated."
It chills my blood, but here's the part that concerns me most about actually writing these things down: Most of the people who read this blog probably don't see anything wrong here. They (You) will think these are, of course, perfectly reasonable responses to John McCain's defeat.
Shame on you! Contrary to what you may have been led to believe by the hate-mongers who were booing and cursing him at McCain's campaign rallies, Barack Obama doesn't deserve your hatred just because he mobilized enough voters to get himself elected. That's the American Way, and none of you were complaining when George Bush did it twice in the last eight years. It's one thing to disagree with someone's politics, but the ridiculous accusations and threats scare me. Is this such a bankrupt society that we really believe a historic election like this one is cause for such bitterness, anger, and hatred? Or are there just a lot of sore losers among us?
Informed criticism should be part of any political campaign. Note the wording there: Informed! Maybe what frustrates me the most is that the imbeciles who spew this vitriol don't know what they are talking about. In the case of students at school, I would guess that most of them don't fully grasp even a single issue that was debated during the campaign, and their entire knowledge of Obama is based on the character-assassinating, anonymous e-mails that have been flying around for a year or more. Clearly, they are only repeating, loudly and proudly, the hate speech that circulates on the Internet and/or in their homes, and frankly, it doesn't reflect well on anyone. But it's easy, isn't it, to be part of a howling mob? If enough of you yell loudly enough, you'll drown out the voice of reason.
I know that a lot of folks around our school make important decisions by asking themselves this question: What would Jesus do? Would Jesus applaud assassination, forward hateful messages, and spread lies? If you don't think He would, then consider speaking up the next time you hear one of your friends doing so.
posted by MRT at 3:57 PM
6 Comments:
I got that email too! I was a bit surprised, actually, to see how many misinformed pessimists were among my friends, especially when I was under the impression that they THOUGHT about what the said before they chose to say it. Thanks for your blog- I was starting to feel like I was the only one that wasn't so adamant about our future demise.
"If enough of you yell loudly enough, you'll drown out the voice of reason." I really like that quote. Just thought I should let you know.
Also, I'm glad that you took time to write this blog. It irritates me to no end how the negativeness towards Obama are growing way out of hand. On a busy street right around where I live there was actually a person with a megaphone or whatever shouting "Welcome to Obamanation!"
On top of that I got a txt saying "All white people must meet at the cotton fields for orientation." At first, I didn't get it and simply deleted it. Later I found out that others had gotten that same text in my family and explained it to me.
I don't know which is worse- The people that are going around starting these things or the people that are continuing them.
It is beyond frustrating to see all this and just observe and listen the way I do in order to avoid conflict. I mean, I think people should stand up for what they think and believe in, but in doing so they should keep their respect for the other side in check, ya know?
I have also heard and received emails with a lot of misinformed comments... I don't mind when someone makes a statement concerning the election when they actually understand what's going on, but it EXTREMELY bothers me when people just go off, simply repeating what they've heard, as you said. So many times I have heard people saying that Obama's name sounds like Osama if you take away the letter "b". My thoughts are, "What does that have to do with anything?!?" Ridiculous things like that just prove that the speaker of them doesn't know what they are talking about.
Thank you MRT. Although perhaps I wished Mcain would win... it doesn't mean Obama is going to be a horrible president. He isn't even a horrible person. Of the rumors I've heard flying around there are also among them "he is going to rewrite the constitution," "he is going to rob us," and "he is going to close the mormon temples." Oh please people. He doesn't have authorization to rewrite the constution on his own, take away our basic right of freedom of religion, and he certainly cant ROB us. And as you said, the source of all this commotion is the emails. Emails can be made up and changed by any old person that wants to in order to create some hatred. Besides, even if he wasn't your choice of candidate, you will do more to harm the country in rising against its officers than what the officers can do to you.
Hmm...I find this a little odd as I was just about to write about the same thing. I would say that I am a proud American. I believe in the constitution and all that it upholds. I would also say that almost all, if not all, of my school would say they believe the same things. Yet, I am repeatedly shocked as I hear good, well-meaning and intelligent kids saying extremely Non-American phrases like, "Now that Obama is president, I'm going to move to Europe or Canada to escape his socialism." I think it's ironic that they know what socialism is and yet are unaware that Europe, Canada, and pretty much anywhere else in this world, are more socialist that America.
As every AMERICAN should know, we are a free people. We have the freedom of speech, the freedom to bear arms, the freedom of thought, the freedom of press, and so much more. And if you call yourself American, you would know that Obama has every freedom to run for president without unfounded threats on his life or his politics.
I think that the main problem is that people don't have either the guts or the intellect to form their own opinions. Of course, that's not entirely true, but if it was a tad more extreme that's how I'd address it. The thing that scares me is that I know that the kids' attitude is reflective of what their parents say at home. Personally, I was kind of disgusted with blind McCain disciplism (is that a real word?) and people voting for Obama strictly because he was different. The US is just as corrupted as any other country if not more, and the people who think that he's going to take something away from us are just as bad as the 'intentions', false or not.
Not that I've really got anything to say or anything, I'd just like to throw that out.
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