Mongrel Army

All this talk about immigration and "ground zero mosques" has got me thinking about what it means to be an American. It came to a 'head' so to speak Friday at my work. I had a guy with a very elaborate tattoo on his arm come in to pay his bills. He seemed very nice and he was paying his bills early. Then I noticed the swastika tattoo on his arm. I try to hide my disgust and then, God help me, I noticed he had five points on his driving record that didn't look like they should be there. I called the company and discovered they think he still has an expired driver's license (unverifiable driving record). I take a picture of his license and tell him his insurance will be a lot cheaper in September.

Let me explain something here: I frickin' hate Nazis. I'm un-fond of racists of all stripes but I frickin' hate Nazis. I hate the original Nazis and I hate the neo-Nazis even more. People who voluntarily associate with them end up on list of people who need their ass kicked real quick. It's bordering on irrational how much I hate Nazis. Having one sit at my desk makes me want to throw up in my mouth. Actually, I wouldn't mind so much if it hit them. I think the problem I have is that they expect me not to mind that they hate Jews, Blacks, Mexicans, and Roman Catholics because I'm white and a Protestant. If they think I might mind, they just expect me not to speak up about it because they aren't actively killing people, they're just open to the possibility.

I could have let that issue with the guy's insurance policy pass. I could have ignored it. I was, after all, just uploading a payment, right? I found myself helping the guy out anyway. Both my religions got in the way of me just doing what I wanted to do and being nasty.

Wait? Both your religions?

You probably have two as well. My sacred religion is Christianity. My civil religion consists of the rituals observed and the obligations imposed by the fact that I am an American citizen. Saluting the flag, standing for the star spangled banner, not letting the flag touch the earth, those are all rituals that are part of our civil religion. Respecting that piece of white trash's right to think like a racist pig without being rude to him when he hadn't actually antagonized me that day was my obligation as an American citizen. (Obviously, that bit about doing good to your enemies is the form a certain Jew's voice took shape in my inner monologue.)

Let me explain: I am a white anglo-saxon protestant. I am a WASP, in popular speak. I also happen to be a Democrat. I'm an Episcopalian and a Christian. I tend to lean a bit left of center politically and I qualify as a wacky mystic religiously speaking. I'm an unmarried female and I own a house and a car. I like being all these things. Living in this country under our constitution guarantees me the right to have and be all these things without interference from the government because this is America and I'm an American citizen. If I want to continue to be a member of all these groups, I have to recognize that everyone else has the same privileges I do. In other words, if I want to be free, that neo-Nazi has to be free too. He's an American and so am I, and if he loses his rights I am diminished by it. The reason I support his right to be a racist prick is the same reason he makes me sick.

In the United States, no matter what else we are, we're all Americans. Black, white, hispanic, asian, pacific islander or indian, we're all Americans. Christians, Jews, Pagans, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists and atheists, we're all Americans. We fight amongst ourselves and we all have our obnoxious cliques and gangs but we are a Nation. We all have the right to be a member of whatever minority we choose to belong to and we all have the responsibility to defend the rights of others to be members of whatever minority they choose to be a member of. Why? Because we've spent the last two hundred years fighting and trying like hell to live up our creed. That all men are created equal, and that we (men meaning humankind) have a right to pursue happiness. We've spilled the blood of our brothers for it, we've spilled blood overseas to keep people from taking it from us, and we've had countless thieves try and swindle us into giving it up voluntarily. People who try and divide us. People who stand up in the streets and try and tell us that another American is THE OTHER. The one who's trying to steal our jobs and push us down when they are the ones trying to push us down.

I watched an old video yesterday that I think someone put together in the fifties. I say they put it together in the fifties because the screaming man in the video kept saying the word Negro and he was wearing a hat. The Hungarian American narrator started talking about our 'mongrel army' that helped put down Hitler's "master race". I like that term: mongrel army.

We're strong as a mongrel army.
People hate us for a lot of reasons. They hate us for our 'decadence' and they hate us because they need someone to hate. They hate us because we're sometimes rude and arrogant and we think we know better. They hate us mostly because we have the courage to be mongrel nation on our good days. They hate us because we allow churches and mosques and temples to be built and we don't have hidden cameras in them reporting what's being said within the walls to the government. They hate us because we have the freedom to not be religious at all. They hate us because women walk around unchaperoned with their faces unveiled. They hate us because we allow women to cover their heads and their faces if they choose to.

They hate us because we are free.

We missed a grand opportunity when people started protesting a mosque in downtown Manhattan. The American people do not gain anything from this debate. The people who gain something from this debate are the jihadists who are going to use it to convince American youth that their own country hates them and fear mongering Republicans who are going to get the scared WASP votes out of it. Please note that I am not picking on Republicans who are not using this for political gain, just the ones who associate with a certain news network that recently dropped $1million on the Republican party and keeps covering this the way they have been. They want your votes and they're willing to steal our freedom to get it.

Tell them no. Speak up. Don't pretend it doesn't effect you because it does. If you want to be free, the people you don't like have to be free too. It isn't about whether you like them or their faith or creed, it's about being an American. It's about being a people comprised of many peoples.

Religion doesn't kill people...

Religion doesn't kill people. People kill people. (I started to say bears kill people when they're trying to steal pot, but the article says they're docile so I'm back to people killing people.) I've been discussing this furor over the "ground zero mosque" thing with some of my friends and trying to figure out why normally smart people are being so stupid about it.

1) It's more like YMCA with a chapel than the Muslim equivalent of a Baptist Church with a gym out back.
2) I don't see how it's more disturbing to the neighborhood than the strip clubs that are located even closer to the site.
3) They've said everyone will be welcome their so if Christians, Jews and Atheists want to go in and spy on them I'm sure we can.

That being said, let me go on to my point. Religions don't kill people. People kill people. One thing that I've learned about human beings in the last several years is that people have a really hard time separating people who do horrible from things from the religion of the people doing horrible things if they are members of a different faith. In other words, non-Christians have trouble separating Episcopalians who are only fairly certain that people who don't chill the salad forks are going to do time in purgatory from Westboro Baptist Church members who think everyone is going to hell except them. They can't tell Mennonites (pacifists) from evangelicals who lose it and decide to murder doctors who work at abortion clinics. I've also gleaned that it's pretty much universal opinion among non-Christian people meeting me for the first time assume that I don't believe in dinosaurs and think that gay people are all evil. I'm making a point here---it's not just Christians who assume things about peoples of other faiths. I read an article the other day written by what seems like a perfectly reasonable Jew that seemed to assume I and my other brothers and sisters are all bent on ushering in slaughter to bring about the second coming of Christ and that's why Christians are being nice to Israel and cozying up to Jews.

Whaat???? Who said anything about slaughter? Oh....those people again. The rest of us aren't into that honey...

Moving on. All Muslims are not terrorists any more than all Christians are terrorists. Wait? Christian terrorists? We have those? You guys remember the Klu Klux Klan? I don't know about you, but I think hanging men in the night with bags over your head (should have left out the eye holes asshats) without trial and burning a giant cross on people's lawns to intimidate them qualifies. That's terrorism. Neo Nazis? Terrorists. When they get violent anyway. They all eventually do. Call them "sleeper cells" if you must, because they're waiting around for the right provocation. We let them have their buildings. I don't think a lot of us like it, but we let them have their buildings because we know that if we want to be free we have to let them be free. (Until they start killing people, then "we" get to help file a wrongful death suit and bankrupt them, which is the American way of making roaches scatter.)

Guys, it's a community center. If they were training terrorists on site it'd be way smarter to buy land out in the Arizona desert or something where nobody comes around much like and they can play war games and talk about how the government is out to get them... oh wait, that's the white guys already doing that. Maybe not enough room in the Arizona desert?

If you don't want to be painted with the same brush as the assholes who practice your religion, stop being an asshole about this. Cause you know what? By doing that, you're helping convince perfectly sane young people that their country is out to get them and playing into the real terrorists' hands. Cut it out. You're making your own fears come true.