Flag on my Backpack

Hate is a pretty strong word, but it does have it’s place.  ”I hate broccoli” “I hate the tag in the back of my shirt” or “I hate how you have to insert the toner cartridge into the printer”.  Those are sometimes heard comments to everyday life.  And justifiably so. I’m not a fan of broccoli myself, nor cauliflower.

But there’s other uses for the word, which are much more dangerous and hurtful.  Hate is being used in an all encompassing way at present in the political climate.  Everyone with a sense of realism and at least two brain cells to rub together can see it.  But the other side, the ones that use it, for some strange reason cannot see it.

Hate can be ultimately broken down into different areas.

Racism

Historically, we’ve seen the effects of racism.  Whereby one section of society with different coloured skin or different religious points of view oppresses or hurls hate filled messages toward another section of society.  We’ve seen it with the first explorers that came to North America and met the First Nations People.  They were often treated by many of the people to this new world as inferior beings.  It continued throughout the 18th and 19th centuries with the growing “business” of slavery.  Human beings, almost always black, were traded, bought and sold like cattle.  And there was a staunch belief that blacks were not human.  This continued into the 20th century, where the rights and freedoms of black people in the United States was constantly held down.  That began to change in the 1960’s to what we currently have.

Now, the focus isn’t on just a people with different skin colour, but a completely different religion.  Christians, the world’s dominating oppressors whether you like to admit it or not, are mocking and making fun of Muslims.  From calling each and every Muslim a terrorist to denouncing the construction of a Mosque at ground zero in New York (which is actually two blocks away from ground zero, and the people who wish to build the Mosque own the land, but, ya know…).

Even language is treated this way.  Currently in the States, there are many in the extreme right who demand that people learn to speak English.  Did you know English is the hardest languages to speak?  But to be fair, these people didn’t corner the market on language racism.  It took place in Canada decades before the country finally celebrated it’s Dominion.  Wars were fought between the French and the English, and many times French Canadians were treated as second class citizens.  That’s continued on into present day, where there still festers some of the old hate for anyone from Quebec, and there seems to be a bitter rivalry (not a very healthy one) between Western Canada and Quebec.  Meanwhile, the only serious rivalry there should be needs to be between the Montreal Alouettes and the Saskatchewan Roughriders of the Canadian Football League.

I haven’t even pointed out anti-semitic views yet.  But then, I’d be here all day.  Jews have been the world’s punching bag for thousands of years.  I honestly don’t know why.  I understand what’s happened in history, I’ve read about the behaviour toward Jews.  But I haven’t seen it myself.  I’m not saying it doesn’t exist, I just don’t understand why.  Not that any other form of racism isn’t just as demeaning.

In the end, racism is just a form of hate.

Sexism

Sexism has also existed for centuries.  At one time it was believed (by men) that women should stay in the home, do the cooking and cleaning and raising of the children (even if they were pregnant, because that’s stuff a woman does).  So all of that was the prominent activities for a woman, but it wasn’t even recognized as a job.  Stay at home mothers more than likely bust their asses harder and more often than some pencil pusher in an office tower.

Women for years were also left out of major decisions, and could not vote in democratic elections.  Canada allowed women to vote in 1917.  In the States, 1920.  Other countries allowed women to vote earlier than that, with the earliest being the Piticaim Islands in 1838.  Today there are calls for such a right to be removed from women.  Most vocally, this is heard in the United States.  Shockingly, much of this is coming from women.  Not saying that women are the driving force to remove the right to vote for themselves, but there are a number of women who agree with the men folk that they “are too emotional to make a logical decision such as voting.”

There are many societies in the world that revere women and hold them in a high status.  But as the “civilized nations” in the west, women are often used as the butt of many jokes and are often told “they just wouldn’t understand”.  I’ve actually heard a man say this to a woman while they were discussing abortion.  I’m still trying to figure that one out.

Sexism is a form of hate.

Homophobia

It is said we live in a new, and exciting age, where nations around the world are finally recognizing the rights of all individuals, no matter colour, creed or sexual orientation.  That was also said 200 years ago.  Minus the sexual orientation, of course.

There is, obviously, two sides in the argument of gay rights.  For the sake of argument, gay, lesbian, transgender, and bi will all be lumped into one.  This is like discussing racism with Jews, there’s a lot of examples, it’s happened for centuries, I could be here forever, let’s break it down to its simplest form.

Many countries have a constitution which was drafted to protect the rights and freedoms of the individual citizens of the populace.  In Canada, it’s called the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.  But there is a large population that does not wish to give those rights and freedoms to the LGBT community.

I’m actually not going to use the examples in the Bible, because there are many which contradict each other.  The Bible is an evolving history, and as time marches forward, thought and perception change.  Some call it enlightenment.  The Old Testament condemned homosexual acts, while the New Testament, not necessary giving it a stamp of approval can be seen as saying “Whoa! Whoa! Maybe we should rethink the whole execution thing, because these people need love just like anybody else.”  Actually, I was wrong.  The only thing from the Bible I’ll focus on is that last piece.

Every single human being on the face of the planet has undeniable rights.  A right to shelter.  A right to food.  A right to clothing.  A right to human comfort.  And a right to love.  These are aside from many other rights such as breathing (and no, you don’t have a right to own a gun!).  What right do we have to tell one person “you don’t have the right to love that person”?  We don’t have that right, bottom line.

And don’t even give me the argument that it’s “unnatural and disgusting”.  I’ve heard, read about and seen a few downright unnatural and disgusting things done by heterosexuals as well.

But thanks to the fear of not understanding homosexuality, homophobia has become even worse.

It’s become a form of hate.

Classism

Poor.  Middle class.  The wealthy.  Each grabbing for another piece of the pie.  The wealthy grab their share, pushing aside the middle class from the pig trough, who stampede fast enough that by the time the lower class gets there, all there is left is garbage.  The wealthy believe that they have a God given right to their riches, and should hold onto that like royalty.

News flash:  even the Royal Family in England has to pay taxes.  In 1992, the Queen offered to pay income tax.  Since 1993, the Royal Family has payed income tax just like any other British citizen.  Suck in American wealthy!  And even more “in your face”, the Queen volunteered to do it.

For centuries the rich have used the poor for labour, treating them with anything less than dignified (another basic human right, to be treated with dignity).  It is for these reasons that we currently have labour unions.  To keep in check all of the transgressions of the upper classes that are committed upon the working class.  So that the working class isn’t treated poorly, or, like slaves.

It isn’t all about money.  Health care, respect, retirement benefits, and an increase in wage that matches inflation.  Work place safety.  Fair treatment.  Granted, there are those that abuse this system.  That cannot be argued.  But for every person that would abuse the system, there are hundreds of others that the system supports in a meaningful way.

The rich will spout “You can’t tax my money!  I earned it!”  No, you didn’t.  Somewhere down the line, some poor schmuck worked his skin off so that your ancestors could live comfortably.  That poor schmo and all his poor schmo friends were treated like dirt.  Just so you could have Peking Duck on a marble table in your energy non-efficient dining room.  You know, the one the size of a football field.  With the massive fire place belching out heat.

Currently, the extreme right has it in their heads that taxing the rich will not in fact help with fiscal development.  That it will in fact, prolong the recession.  I wonder if the wealthy has a grasp on basic math.

Classism is a form of hate.

Each of us knows someone who fits into one (or all) of those categories.  I don’t mean someone we see on television, but someone we know and speak to everyday.  The only weapon against such ignorance is to educate.

Hopefully, we’ll be able to make some progress.

stfuconservatives:

From Tim: “As promised, two protest signs for Comic-Con to wave in the face of Phelps and his cronies. I can make more if ya want.”

I heard the protest is going to be on Thursday, and I’m only going Friday-Saturday (/sob). BOOOOOOO. But keep these coming - someone is bound to be there!!!

stfuconservatives:

From Tim: “Here’s a few more I came up with.”

stfuconservatives:

he-is-she-is-he:

skeksis:

So I know it’s taken me a while to get to this, and I’m pretty sure that a couple of my new followers are only following me because they’re waiting for this post. (although I do hope you’ll stuck around after this is all done.)

usually I would leave these sorts of debates alone. I find that other people do a better job or I just don’t want to get involved in all the drama.

Now before I jump into this I’d like to state a few things. I’m straight, I’m female, and for the sake of simplicity we’ll say that I’m Christian. These things shouldn’t matter but in my experience I’ve found that people feel they do.

And yes, I’m aware of the stigma that comes with the Christian label. I hope that maybe this does a little to clear that up.

I could sit and argue about how many women die in home abortions when clinical ones aren’t made available. I could talk about the suicide rates of LGBT Teens. I know from experience though that none of these stats will sway a Christian who feels that the bible is definitive proof that these things are wrong. So instead I’m going to talk about the bible and what the bible tells us about all of this.

In the old testament there are 5 patriarchs. Adam is the first, then Noah, Abraham, Moses, and David. Each of these patriarchs made a covenant with God, which is a fancy way of saying they made a deal. You may remember this biblical exchange:

“Noah, build me an arc”

“k God”

“good job, here’s a rainbow to show you I won’t ever flood the world again”

“kthnx God”

All the other patriarchs made similar deals, they did something for god and he promised he would do something for them/mankind. Each of these covenants signalled a new age.

Jesus is the patriarch of the new testament. He made the covenant with god that still stands today. God asked him to sacrifice himself so that animal sacrifice was no longer necessary, as well all the rules about cleanliness and such were scrapped. This means that any of the rules from the old testament are outdated and no longer relevant to anyone who says they follow Christ. Hint: leviticus is in the old testament.
Things that we gain from the new covenant:

We can be forgiven simply by asking.

We are to love everyone, even if they seem unlovable.

We are to forgive others, no matter how badly they have hurt us.

Jesus is a good role model, be like him.

God gave us free will. He allows us to make our own decisions. We should allow others to make their own decisions.

Now, at this point I’d like to pause to clarify that I’m in full support of the LGBT community. I don’t think it’s a sun or wrong in any way. Jesus and God tell us to love, he doesn’t specify which gender. I just can’t see that love of any sort is wrong.

As Christians we need to be the best person we can. We need to be the example of morality and right that we want others to be. Jesus tells us this and says that this will do far more to bring others to Christ than out words.

So be an example, have a good family, teach your children right from wrong. Show tolerance, acceptance, and love. As long as no one is hurting someone else with their decisions it’s no worry of ours.

By spewing hatred all we do is show others that it’s alright to hate.

Also any one is free to add their thoughts or call me an idiot, just as long as you can back your statement up.

 

See, y’all, there are Christians out there who understand what being a Christian and following Christ is about.

And I agree with all of this. I’d be a pretty good Christian myself, if I believed in Jesus’ Divinity and God, as I think a lot of Jesus’ teachings are good. I’m more Gnostic in that sense, I guess.

This is great. Like I’ve said before, Jesus was the original socialist hippie.

This is something that makes me proud to call myself a Christian.

And Chuck Norris totally rocks.