A rather simple concept.
I fight for LGBT rights. I also believe strongly in racial equality, gender equality, and basically the equality of all people. I think that we are founded upon a simple idea based on French Humanist thought: that we are ALL created equal. Two-hundred plus years after that idea was made a main foundation-stone of our national identity -- why have we not figured this out yet? Why are there still so many that want to defeat this ideal and demonize, punish and scapegoat someone different then they are? Is there something in us that makes us repeat the mistakes of history over and over again? Is this fundamental flaw in us stronger then the founding ideals of our nation? I hope not... or the future is bleak indeed.
Go back throughout history... when there are economic stressors, then it is the common response for the dominant culture to look around for scapegoats to blame and chase from the village gates. The Russian Pogroms, the Inquisitions, the racial cleansings, the genocide, the holocaust, the Balkan Wars, the... the list of abuses against human rights go on and on, both abroad and here in the United States. But still, as we have seen in Arizona and Texas lately, there are those who want to continue this sad and evil historical heritage.
It's time we rose above this. It's time we start seeing ourselves as humans first and members of other groups only after we finally acknowledge that if WE are humans, and have certain inalienable rights, then so are and do others... no matter their differences.
What are these inalienable rights? Simple -- if it is a right that YOU take for granted, then it is a right that should be granted to all. It's that simple! Underneath it all we are all the same... we have the same needs, we bleed the same, we have loves and dreams and hopes and plans for our future and are made by our own pasts and presents. So why is there discrimination still? Why are we divided up and concquered one by one while those truly responsible for our conditions play the public like puppets on a string? And why the fuck do we look away when it is someone else and not us?
It's time we grew up and realized that the kids on the playground that are different then us are not there to bully, harrass and take rights away from? When are we going to realize that we are ALL in this together... the world is getting smaller and smaller and borders and discrete heritages are dissapearing and we are more and more starting to become only human. When are we going to stop saying "it's THEM!" And realize that maybe it is "US" instead... ALL of us?
Until we do this, until we grow up and start thinking a little more broadly then our definitions of "Us and Them," then we are doomed to repeat history, and it is not until we realize that the eventual result of "Us vs. Them" usually ends with nothing more then wasted lives, a black mark on our history-books and our souls, and an eventual realization that underneath it all... the only difference between us lies a lot more then skin-deep.
Go back throughout history... when there are economic stressors, then it is the common response for the dominant culture to look around for scapegoats to blame and chase from the village gates. The Russian Pogroms, the Inquisitions, the racial cleansings, the genocide, the holocaust, the Balkan Wars, the... the list of abuses against human rights go on and on, both abroad and here in the United States. But still, as we have seen in Arizona and Texas lately, there are those who want to continue this sad and evil historical heritage.
It's time we rose above this. It's time we start seeing ourselves as humans first and members of other groups only after we finally acknowledge that if WE are humans, and have certain inalienable rights, then so are and do others... no matter their differences.
What are these inalienable rights? Simple -- if it is a right that YOU take for granted, then it is a right that should be granted to all. It's that simple! Underneath it all we are all the same... we have the same needs, we bleed the same, we have loves and dreams and hopes and plans for our future and are made by our own pasts and presents. So why is there discrimination still? Why are we divided up and concquered one by one while those truly responsible for our conditions play the public like puppets on a string? And why the fuck do we look away when it is someone else and not us?
It's time we grew up and realized that the kids on the playground that are different then us are not there to bully, harrass and take rights away from? When are we going to realize that we are ALL in this together... the world is getting smaller and smaller and borders and discrete heritages are dissapearing and we are more and more starting to become only human. When are we going to stop saying "it's THEM!" And realize that maybe it is "US" instead... ALL of us?
Until we do this, until we grow up and start thinking a little more broadly then our definitions of "Us and Them," then we are doomed to repeat history, and it is not until we realize that the eventual result of "Us vs. Them" usually ends with nothing more then wasted lives, a black mark on our history-books and our souls, and an eventual realization that underneath it all... the only difference between us lies a lot more then skin-deep.