I find it amazing in this country that people find it okay to ignore facts that they themselves present or to flat out attack someone because they disagree with their point of view. Yesterday I read an article in the New York Times about a conservative talk show host that is gaining popularity. It was a positive article about someone who has called out the NYT many times, but theyfelt that this person was worth mentioning. I’m going to leave out the name of the person as it really has no bearing on what I’m talking about. I’ve taken a few of the comments from the article and posted them here. After each you’ll get my comments on what the commenter is saying.
I am appalled and frightened by ******'s comment to the effect that God and religion are under attack. No one is attacking religion. Our president himself is a religious person. Yes, religion is less apparent in American politics today -- and American atheists are thrilled that we are no longer having offensive rhetoric shoved down our throats. Yet religion is certainly not "under attack" in America. Such comments are dangerously alarmist.
P.S. The man's statement about FEMA concentration camps is even more disturbing. Who says such things except deluded, senseless, paranoid individuals? He should seriously look into psychiatric help if he believes that the American government would do such a thing to its people.
Charlotte, Kiev
While, I agree that religion is coming under attack in this country I’m going to focus on the comment about FEMA Concentration camps and how the American government would never let such a thing happen to their own people.
There were at least 10 known concentration camps for Japanese Americans in the United States during WW2, all of which had populations in the thousands. Those camps existed on US soil under the watch of the US government. Now, if that happened then, during one of the country's most trying times, why wouldn’t it happen again?
Though competition over at Fox News is fierce, **** has to be the dumbest person on that channel. He has been ranting like a lunatic for months now about how "this has been tried (the bailouts) in the Weimar Republic, and they wound up having to bring wheelbarrows of money to the store to buy bread! It's been tried, it never works! The result is always the same!" and on and on and on.
Of course, the collapse of the currency during the Weimar Republic had not the slightest thing to do with government bailouts - the Germans were printing money as fast as they could to meet their reparations payments under the Versailles Treaty.***** is an ignorant, uninformed maniac - he'll be a hit on Fox for years.
Mike, New York
The first paragraph is simply an attack on the man. The next paragraph is interesting. The US government is currently printing money in an effort to bailout the economy of the country. He says that the Germans were printing money as fast as they could to meet their reparation payments. How is that any different that what the US is doing now? Are we not printing money as fast as we can in effort to pay companies so they can “stay afloat?” While the situations are different, and the reasons for printing money is different both have resulted in a government printing money as fast as they could in an effort to pay for something.
Putting the principles of our Founding Fathers and the Constitution aside for a moment, has anyone realized that the world is a bit more complex then it was in 1780?—
jt, Wilton, CT
Putting the principals of the founding fathers aside would defeat the purpose of them creating the documents and the government that they did. They created the documents they did because of their principles. It was for that reason they felt the government of England was acting against the best wishes of the colonies.
They used their principles in an effort to break away from a government they felt was oppressive. You cannot cast aside someone’s principals when talking about the actions they performed. The world is a bit more complex than it was in 1780 which is exactly why you should stick to your principles. There are more things that can be used to attack a country today than there were in the 1700’s.
Another Republicriminal neo-con shill dispensing lies and slander to the gullible, brain dead American people. Whey American tolerates a right wing media propaganda network run by a foreigner is beyond me. Revoke the honorary citizenship that Reagan and his GOP crime cronies bestowed on Murdoch, break the Fox Propaganda Network into community oriented, public access stations and cable channels, and send Dr. Goebbels and company back to the land down under to ply their fascist agenda.
Ignatz Farquad, New York, NY
Again, a blatant attack on a group of people. The commenter also wants to silence a free citizen because he is not from this country and destroy the livelihood that Mr. Murdoch created in this country and likens him to one of the most notorious propagandist’s in Nazi Germany. I did not find a single piece of evidence in this comment to help people make a decision, except for attacks on a person. That’s definitely a class act.
The beauty of America is that everyone has access to all the information about a subject they could want. All they have to do is put in a little effort to find it. Then they can make a perfectly informed decision themselves. They don’t have to “rely” on someone giving it them. You should never take a person’s word as truth, unless that man is Jesus. You should always use it as a basis to begin your research, but find the facts yourself so you can make up your own mind.
Do not ever attack a person because they don’t believe what you do. If you feel they’ve been misinformed help them find the information that you used to make your decision and let them decide for themselves. If they feel the information is flawed then they need to do a bit more research themselves to find all the facts.
Given the choice between become more like a raional socialist European country (which is what ***** is fighting?) or becoming a ultra conservative religious nation like Middle Eastern countries I would much rather move towards the European model.What Fox News wants, and apparently *****, is that America become a fascist religious nation like Saudi Arabia only with Christianity instead of Islam. I think people need to actually think abotu what these guys are advocating.
WillT26, San Francisco
I think this one speaks for itself. This person would rather rely on the government to provide for their needs rather than rely on their own strength. That’s what socialist countries are all about. The Soviet Union failed because people relied on the government. Once capitalism was introduced the country began to flourish. The same happened in Japan, Germany, and Italy.
No country should tell another person what religion they should follow. That should be an individual choice and should not be forced upon someone. That’s part of the reason people fled to this country from England. They did not believe they should be told by the government what to do. Christianity was the basis of the founding documents of this country and a true Biblical approach to life does not force Christianity on a person. People do not go around anymore saying if you don’t become a Christian I will kill you. I would tell you that person is not a true Christian at all. Christianity is about free will and individual freedom.
Muslim countries limit women’s rights, what entertainment and media a person can listen to, and what religions can be allowed in the country. They are not given choice in how they make their decisions. This country has news and entertainment from every viewpoint you could imagine.
No one is truly silenced.
Showing posts with label Right. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Right. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Monday, March 30, 2009
Are We Racist?
I recently read an article on FOX News that former Law & Order star Angie Harmon is having to defend herself against claims of racism because she disagrees with Barack Obama’s current direction as President.
"Here's my problem with this, I'm just going to come out and say it. If I have anything to say against Obama it's not because I'm a racist, it's because I don't like what he's doing as President and anybody should be able to feel that way, but what I find now is that if you say anything against him you're called a racist.” She goes on to say, "But it has nothing to do with it, I don’t care what color he is. I’m just not crazy about what he's doing and I heard all about this, and he’s gonna do that and change and change, so okay …”
I have to agree with her here. The left is using the fact that the man is of dark skinned descent to further their claims that Conservatives in America are racist. For the most part, that couldn’t be further from the truth. The general public will tell you they don’t disagree with the color of his skin, but of the policies he is putting forth. It could be that people are uncomfortable with him being a socialist rather than black.
I’ll give you a few examples. The recent news that the CEO of General Motors has been “asked” to step down by President Obama is one example. If he doesn’t GM cannot continue to get money from the administration in order to stay in business. This shouldn’t have happened for a number of reasons, but we won’t discuss them all here. The government has no business telling a company who can and can’t be in charge of their business, even if the government is “invested” in that company because that shouldn’t have happened to begin with. That’s bordering on unconstitutionality.
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has requested the power to seize other firms besides banks in order to help with financial distress of firms such as large insurance companies, hedge funds, and investment firms. The Obama administration got a taste of the power they have with the auto industry and banks by investing in them and bringing them under government control. They now want to extend that power with these other firms. This is similar to a vampire. Once you start feeding you can’t stop or you die.
Those are just two quick examples of socialist practices already in play in this administration there are more, but that’s not really what this article is about. It’s claims that you are a racist if you disagree with President Obama because he’s black. Well, lets see what the definition of racism is.
Racism – noun
A belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial difference produce an inherent superiority of a particular race.
Racial prejudice or discrimination.
Both of these definitions of the word suppose that you are saying that his race tells you that he is wrong. Well, I don’t think race has been brought up in disagreements with him in the general population. Sure there are a few people that will say he’s wrong because he’s black. Look at the statement from Angie Harmon above. She doesn’t say I think he’s wrong because he’s black. She says, I don’t like what he’s doing as President.
A well thought out, intelligent argument against Barack Obama will tell you that his positions are leading towards more government control over parts of America and that once you begin to get power all you want is more. I believe that is where the disagreement with the man comes from. People don’t want the government controlling what they do. They want the government out of their hair as much as possible. The only people who want the government involved in their lives are the people looking for handouts, the ones who don’t want to work hard for their stuff. They want to know that the government will be there to give them what they need.
Racism stems from people not being given a “fair” shake because they’re a different color. It was a big problem in the 17 and 1800’s because people who were not white were not thought of as people. As time went on laws had to be created that gave people the same rights as everyone else no matter what the color of their skin was. In the beginning those laws were good and necessary though I believe they are less and less relevant as we go along.
People want a colorblind society. I do as well. The color of a person’s skin is not, and should not be an issue. You judge people on the words they speak, and on the actions they perform. Everyone is created by God with the same rights as the person next to them. There is no doubt about that. It’s in all of our founding documents.
Racism comes because people are hurt and even killed because of the color of their skin. They’re not given a job because of the color of their skin. If you truly want a colorblind society you have to remove these things from your thinking. They need to be taken off of applications for employment, education, and anything else that asks you what race you consider yourself. Until then people are always going to judge you by what you call yourself.
We need to remove labels such as African-American, Italian-America, Asian-American. What do all of those phrases have in common? They all label you as something before you’re an American. If you truly want to have a society where you are judged by the person you are you have to quit labeling yourself as something other than American. That’s what we all are, Americans. We’re not black, we’re not white, we’re not Asian. We’re people. We’re Americans.
If you disagree with a person you’re not a racist. You have a different viewpoint than them. It’s not wrong to have a different opinion from someone, especially in this country. It’s the beauty of America. People from all over the world can come here and live the life they want to live no matter what color they are, what religion they are.
I will continue to disagree with these positions of our President, and yes he is OUR president no matter what political party you belong to. If you’re an American he is your President. I will not however consider him wrong because he’s black. That would truly be Un-American.
"Here's my problem with this, I'm just going to come out and say it. If I have anything to say against Obama it's not because I'm a racist, it's because I don't like what he's doing as President and anybody should be able to feel that way, but what I find now is that if you say anything against him you're called a racist.” She goes on to say, "But it has nothing to do with it, I don’t care what color he is. I’m just not crazy about what he's doing and I heard all about this, and he’s gonna do that and change and change, so okay …”
I have to agree with her here. The left is using the fact that the man is of dark skinned descent to further their claims that Conservatives in America are racist. For the most part, that couldn’t be further from the truth. The general public will tell you they don’t disagree with the color of his skin, but of the policies he is putting forth. It could be that people are uncomfortable with him being a socialist rather than black.
I’ll give you a few examples. The recent news that the CEO of General Motors has been “asked” to step down by President Obama is one example. If he doesn’t GM cannot continue to get money from the administration in order to stay in business. This shouldn’t have happened for a number of reasons, but we won’t discuss them all here. The government has no business telling a company who can and can’t be in charge of their business, even if the government is “invested” in that company because that shouldn’t have happened to begin with. That’s bordering on unconstitutionality.
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has requested the power to seize other firms besides banks in order to help with financial distress of firms such as large insurance companies, hedge funds, and investment firms. The Obama administration got a taste of the power they have with the auto industry and banks by investing in them and bringing them under government control. They now want to extend that power with these other firms. This is similar to a vampire. Once you start feeding you can’t stop or you die.
Those are just two quick examples of socialist practices already in play in this administration there are more, but that’s not really what this article is about. It’s claims that you are a racist if you disagree with President Obama because he’s black. Well, lets see what the definition of racism is.
Racism – noun
A belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial difference produce an inherent superiority of a particular race.
Racial prejudice or discrimination.
Both of these definitions of the word suppose that you are saying that his race tells you that he is wrong. Well, I don’t think race has been brought up in disagreements with him in the general population. Sure there are a few people that will say he’s wrong because he’s black. Look at the statement from Angie Harmon above. She doesn’t say I think he’s wrong because he’s black. She says, I don’t like what he’s doing as President.
A well thought out, intelligent argument against Barack Obama will tell you that his positions are leading towards more government control over parts of America and that once you begin to get power all you want is more. I believe that is where the disagreement with the man comes from. People don’t want the government controlling what they do. They want the government out of their hair as much as possible. The only people who want the government involved in their lives are the people looking for handouts, the ones who don’t want to work hard for their stuff. They want to know that the government will be there to give them what they need.
Racism stems from people not being given a “fair” shake because they’re a different color. It was a big problem in the 17 and 1800’s because people who were not white were not thought of as people. As time went on laws had to be created that gave people the same rights as everyone else no matter what the color of their skin was. In the beginning those laws were good and necessary though I believe they are less and less relevant as we go along.
People want a colorblind society. I do as well. The color of a person’s skin is not, and should not be an issue. You judge people on the words they speak, and on the actions they perform. Everyone is created by God with the same rights as the person next to them. There is no doubt about that. It’s in all of our founding documents.
Racism comes because people are hurt and even killed because of the color of their skin. They’re not given a job because of the color of their skin. If you truly want a colorblind society you have to remove these things from your thinking. They need to be taken off of applications for employment, education, and anything else that asks you what race you consider yourself. Until then people are always going to judge you by what you call yourself.
We need to remove labels such as African-American, Italian-America, Asian-American. What do all of those phrases have in common? They all label you as something before you’re an American. If you truly want to have a society where you are judged by the person you are you have to quit labeling yourself as something other than American. That’s what we all are, Americans. We’re not black, we’re not white, we’re not Asian. We’re people. We’re Americans.
If you disagree with a person you’re not a racist. You have a different viewpoint than them. It’s not wrong to have a different opinion from someone, especially in this country. It’s the beauty of America. People from all over the world can come here and live the life they want to live no matter what color they are, what religion they are.
I will continue to disagree with these positions of our President, and yes he is OUR president no matter what political party you belong to. If you’re an American he is your President. I will not however consider him wrong because he’s black. That would truly be Un-American.
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