DeeEl's Mo Chroí Scríofa

The Sheer Ugliness Of It All, But Hope Can Be Had

I was reading my Tweets this morning and came upon one from @JaseR75 regarding his latest blog post, “All American Bigotry” and putting an end to the hatred of Muslims.  I began reading his post and wanted to vomit.  I do not have cable and so had never watched the TLC reality show, All American Muslim.  I also try to avoid the news and had not heard that Lowe’s pulled its advertising from this show because it is a Muslim themed program.  The blog post related that the author was amazed at the fact that so many of his friends posted on Facebook and Twitter that they would now support Lowe’s even more since the home improvement chain pulled their advertising from this show.  I was appalled.

After reading the post, I Googled the television program and watched a few clips.  As I am not into reality television, it really wouldn’t be a program I would watch regularly.  However, as it is a reality television show, I found it to be quite enlightening.  People will spend hours watching others humiliate themselves in the various reality television shows that seem to consume the digital air ways these days.  But a show that wants to educate and enlighten the general population is hit with bigotry and hatred.

I didn’t stop with just looking at the website for All American Muslim, I also Googled the controversy with Lowe’s.  It seems that not all American’s are bigots like Lowe’s and their new-found supporters for pulling their advertising.  It seems there are many who are now boycotting Lowe’s because of this.

It is true that this is a country with the freedom of choice.  I choose not to hate.  I choose to look at everyone as human beings, until they (as in this case with some who posted their support in a very ugly manner on Lowe’s FB page) prove that they have the mannerisms of wild animals.

The month of December is for many a holy month with the celebration of Chanukah, Ramadan, Kwanza and Christmas.  All of these promote peace and good will toward others.  Apparently not all who keep these holidays believe in what they stand for.

A couple centuries ago some Native Americans went up against the new comers to their land and the hatred of the Native American began.  Some were savages so the settlers decided that ALL were savages.

Decades ago, blacks fought back because of the ill treatment they received due to the fact that their ancestors were brought here as slaves.  They were hated because they were different and fought back.

Today, a handful of people who happen to be Muslim become radical and turn their rage on Americans, therefore Americans hate ALL Muslims.

Hatred, bigotry, prejudice; whatever name you give it, it is a disease worse than the black plague.  An idea is planted and begins to fester and grow until it is full blown and violence ensues.  We must end this or we will not have a future world for those who come after us.

I had intended to write a post today to include my latest piece of writing.  It fits perfectly here.  Many of you know the song by John Lennon War Is Over.  It is only played during this time of year.  I only came to know this song a few years ago and I cry every time I hear it.  This is the biggest mistake of Mr. Lennon (I have blogged this before).  This song needs to be heard year round.

Since I keep Chanukah, many are surprised that I spend hours listening to a supposed Christmas song, but I do.  Tuesday night, trying to get into the Chanukah spirit, I put on some music and forgot I added War Is Over to the mix.

I was resting and listening when the song began to play.  I found myself sitting up and my pen was in my hand with a note pad.  The following words found their way to my page as a re-write of Mr. Lennon’s song.  I do give him credit on this one as well, this is just my version to make it more universal to be heard year-round.

War Is Over (Look To The Future)

Look to the future
and what you have done
one life is over
a new one just begun

Just look to the future
I hope you had fun
with your near ones and dear ones
your old and your young

Here’s to your future
and every New Year
can you make them good ones
without any fear

Here’s to the future
for the weak and the strong
for the rich and the poor ones
the road is very long

Let’s look to the future
for black and for white
for the yellow and red ones
we must end all the fights

Here’s to the future
and every New Year
can you make them good ones
without any fear

Look to the future
what have you done?
One life is over
a new one just begun

Just look to the future
I hope you had fun
with your near ones and dear ones
your old and your young

Here’s to our future
and every New Year
can we make them good ones
without any fear?

War IS over
IF you want it
War IS over
NOW!!!

December 13, 2011

© John Lennon & DL Bach

Hatred Unfounded

The other morning, like most of you, I woke to the news of the latest cast selected for the ABC television reality show Dancing With The Stars.  Apparently this selection has stirred up more controversy than the first season which came back to provide a dance-off.  This morning I woke up to more news regarding the selection of Chaz Bono for DWTS.  It seems the good christian folks in the United States find fault and are trying to make a statement.

I do not make it a habit of watching reality television.  Real life is reality enough for me.  However, there are times I am flipping through and land on one or two and may pause for a moment to see what is on that channel.  Doing this I have landed on DWTS several times.  Before I got sick, I loved to dance and especially ballroom dances.  So I pause longer at times if the pair dancing is dancing well.  There have been times in doing this that I have regretted my decision to pause.  It seems more and more that DWTS gets away from the dancing and focuses on the costuming, or lack thereof.  Dancing should be about dancing and NOT about the lack of clothing, unless of course it is striptease.  It is my understanding that DWTS was designed to showcase ballroom dancing and not tawdry stripping.

That said, back to the issue at hand.  So-called Christians all over the United States are saying they are going to boycott DWTS if Caz Bono is not removed from the cast.  This morning on the news they were claiming it would cause confusion for children.  I don’t understand how a man dancing with a woman on a television show is going to cause confusion for anyone especially children.  These same people don’t have an issue with their children watching strippers so why should they have a problem with their children watching a person who is very happy and healthy dancing and enjoying life.

Chaz Bono did not feel happy in his own body and like many people decided to do something about it.  The only difference between Mr. Bono and the rest of the celebrities is that he didn’t just have cosmetic surgery, he changed his gender.   I have heard arguments regarding transgender from the churches where they use a statement that God doesn’t make mistakes.  This implies that we should accept our bodies as they were given.  If I were a gambler, I would lay bets on the mass majority of those protesting Mr. Bono have and do attempt to change themselves on a daily basis through dieting, exercising, potions and lotions for anti-aging and so forth.  In my opinion, their claims hold nothing more than a lot of hot air.

Humans have difficulty looking within and how the festering hatred they harbor is worse for them than anyone else.  I never rally considered the reality of transgender until I met someone who is in the process to transgender.  I accepted this dear sweet soul as a human being long before I learned of what they were going through.  When I learned of my friends’ decision I could have deserted and forsaken the friendship formed to latch onto hatred toward the decision.  Had I done that I would have missed out on further getting to know one of the most gentle souls I have ever met with a heart bigger than the state of Texas.

It seems to me that as a whole, the christian sect is full of even more hatred that white supremacists and other radical groups.  These outcries only serve to add even more tarnish to their group and those who are part of the group and don’t harbor such hatred have to endure the ugliness heaped upon them due to those who go too far.

Hatred causes even more pain.  Acceptance of each other on the grounds that we are all human beings is what will go the distance to bring about peace.

Borrowed From Mr. Bono's Website http://www.chazbono.net/

**NOTE:  This is not meant to say that all Christians are haters.  I personally know some Christians who have very good and kind souls.

Ignorance Isn’t Always Bliss

The assimilation of the internet into the daily lives of the vast population of the world affords the ability to explore the truths about our fellow human beings.  We have, literally, at our fingertips the ability to learn and understand cultures which are not our own.  So why is there still so much ignorance and hatred masquerading as intelligent personage?

On Thursday November 5, 2009, a mass shooting took place on an American military base on US soil.  It has been said that this is the worst shooting at an American military installation in history.  While no reports initially coming out of Fort Hood indicating any type of terrorist activity, people began posting on social networks (i.e.: Facebook, Twitter, etc.) that the shooter was Muslim and indicated it therefore had to be an act of terrorism.

Reports that I watched bespoke Maj. Nidal Malik had had several deployments and was working as a psychiatrist with many individuals returning from deployment with symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).  However, even the experts can miss or even supress symptoms of PTSD in themselves.

Ignorance regarding other religions and cultures leads to untoward hatred.  Ignorance regarding mental illness in general and PTSD specifically, leads to fear and ill-fated hatred.  Hence, all roads lead to hatred.

In the 1958 film South Pacific, the song “You Have To Be Taught” was sung by sung by two of the primary leads.  One an American, the other a Frenchman.  they had both fallen in love with someone outside their upbringing.  Trying to justify not following their hearts regarding love, the American and the American the Frenchman fell in love with discussed the hatred they were taught to have toward all those who are different from themselves and their American families.

I was raised more or less sheltered from the hatred in the outside world.  However, I knew that my family was prejudiced against blacks and anyone not of the ‘christian’ faith.  I was not overtly subjected to acts of hatred or even slurs, but I knew.  I even found myself as an adult having similar ideation.

Two years ago I really began to look at myself deeper.  I found myself calling people friend that had I known certain things about them before, I would not have gotten any closer to them than as an acquaintance.  The internet allowed me to get to know people from different religions, cultures and political affiliations without the bias of knowing these things.  I found that I get to know and enjoy people who are differnt from me.

The old cliche’ “nothing new under the sun” is so accurate it’s scary.  Small minded people have been stiring up fear and hatred in otherwise intelligent people since the beginning of time.  The problem today is the ease of information flowing out for our education.  In other words, there is NO excuse for ignorant fear and hatred in societies today.  I wonder if Maj. Malik’s name were Johnson or Greene, would people have been so fast to holler “terrorist”?  Today, education is bliss  ~~  ignorance is remiss.

This post was actually written 11/6/09, however, due to computer issues I was unable to publish it till now.