Perhaps the core reason for the robust and enduring nature of American bigotry is the uniquely American view that knowledge and education are for pussies. We mock intelligent politicians--we even question their ability to lead--but we celebrate idiots like George W. Bush and Sarah Palin. And my favorite defense of Bush is that he is secretly intelligent and just plays dumb to be popular.
Find me another democracy where one of only two governing parties crusades against science and reason and crusades for fear and superstition.
In fact, it is something of a miracle that some degree of freedom has survived in this nation when you consider that we only have two political parties and one of them is currently—and proudly--hanging its hat on legalized bigotry and mythology over science and reason. A recent study revealed that more than half of the Republican members of Congress actually claim to believe that humans and dinosaurs co-existed some 6,000 years ago. I say “claim” to believe because I don’t believe they really do believe such nonsense but are just playing to the morons who keep them in office.
Nonetheless, it is disturbingly disappointing and toxic to democracy that our President doesn’t dress these morons down daily and instead panders to them and seeks compromise. Freedom is based in knowledge, education and reason and is always under threat from ignorance, fear and blind faith. Only fascists and theocrats would argue this--even when they call themselves "patriots" and "Republicans".
History and knowledge would beach the current war against equality. It really wouldn't take much.
God help almost every argument made by Republicans and Evangelicals if facts and history were to be examined.
Certainly the greatest irony weighing down on the current "Don’t ask, Don’t Tell" "debate" is that one could easily argue—and many historians have done so—that the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the end of legal discrimination targeting people of color, women and Jews was born in the United States military beginning with the Second World War and continuing with Korea and Vietnam. And, in fact, it is exactly for this historic reason that the repeal of DADT so frightens Evangelicals, Republicans and even some Democrats.
The truth of ending DADT is that it will have an unstoppable ripple effect on the rest of society as young men from all parts of this nation, of all faiths, of all colors and of all socio-economic backgrounds discover in the showers, in the trenches, in the sleeping quarters, in the mess halls and in the bars that we are all the same and that the fear mongering fostered by older generations is simply rubbish. They will learn quickly that sexual orientation hardly defines who you are or how you behave. Fear, hate, ignorance and persecution however very much define who we are--remove them and we are left with tolerance, productive diversity and brotherhood.
No fewer than 25 nations today know this and have openly gay men and women serving in their armed forces. All evidence suggests that DADT is rubbish; and there is absolutely NO evidence to support it--other than fear and stupidity.
It was in a necessarily and increasingly diverse military during World War II, Korea and Vietnam that young boys from Alabama discovered that a black man could save your life and that Jews from New York did not actually have horns.
Americans of all colors, shades, religions and nationalities suddenly found themselves thrown together and in the trenches in defense of democracy and freedom. Tolerance was essential to survival and over the course of a few years during the 1940s, America came face to face with its spectacular diversity--and it made us stronger and better.
By 1948, the United States military was racially integrated--a move that was born in the military and preceded society by almost 20 years.
Millions of GIs learned that we are all cut from the same human cloth and then they carried this message home from the barracks to the nation.
As new generations emerged from the Second World War, Korea and then Vietnam and then came to power across this nation, racism, sexism and antisemitism began to whither. It was a difficult and sometimes violent road, but thanks to integration and diversity in the military, it became an inevitability that changed American society for the better and forever.
This is our history, a history that easily exposes the silliness, the lies and the irrational and ungrounded fears of those who would fight for the kind of environment in the United States Armed Forces that was exposed for its destructiveness some 70 years ago. And yet here we are again, as if yesterday never happened.
History teaches us that it is not diversity that threatens national security, it is bigotry. Church leaders and Republicans are well aware of this fact which is why they work so hard to blind their constituents and protect their power with endless deafening and blinding Bible thumping.
As for why they do this? Easy. Diversity and tolerance are the hobgoblins of fascism.
And why does Obama and Congress keep delaying the end of DADT and continue to call for further "research" and discussion on DADT? That is a very good question and not one I can answer. They are playing some disgusting, immoral and unethical political game with the dignity, rights and lives of gay Americans and for that they should be ashamed and for that Obama will go down in history as a disappointment at best.
Recent Comments