The Human Race-ist

Though millions of Americans may have been under the unfortunate delusion that the election of the first African-American to President of America signaled a shift in race relations, time has rained the cold waters of reality down upon that proud parade. Every day, we are faced with new, disturbing displays of racism, hatred, and fear in places public and private.

Take Serena Williams' recent outburst during the final moments of her Semi-Final tennis match against Kim Clijsters at the US Open - an unnecessary display of anger, for sure, but what that moment revealed was another chapter in the disdainful language, and vitriolic racism that seemingly boils beneath the thin veil of Caucasian dominance. A cursory review of comments posted in YouTube.com (of video of the meltdown), from the seeming safety of internet anonymity, reveals a barrage of racist comments about blacks everywhere - conjured school-ground racist taunts that, as a nation, we would have hoped we had seen the dying days of.

The advent of blogging (just as I am doing here), forums, YouTube and posts to AOL's tabloid-drenched news articles has given license to angry, ignorant, repugnant, and bigoted rants. In debates of the impact of the internet to the news we digest every day, these posts surely rank among the most detrimental to any civil discourse we could hope to participate in.

Sadly, the displays of blatant racism are not limited to the emboldening anonymity of the internet. This weekend, as a self-described "angry mob" of protesters descended upon Washington, D.C. -- in surprising numbers -- we bore witness to proud placards that proclaimed Obama to be Hitler, Stalin, a communist, and other entirely childish, but dangerous things. But the worse could be seen on a lady's sign, the written sign of an angry conservative who had joined the thousands bent on lambasting government taxes, socialism, healthcare takeover, and other such matters - her sign made reference to the an African Lion at a zoo, and a "lyin' African" in the White House. Seriously? This is what the debate over differences has come to, grotesque displays of the kind of racism that sent lynch mobs after young black men by the thousands - stringing them up by their necks until they were dead for deeds such as looking at a white woman, or failing to obey the orders of whites. The kind of awful racism that rendered blacks as subordinate, well over a hundred years after slavery had ended. The kind of vicious racism that placated a white majority into deep seeded opinions that blacks were inferior; to be feared; to not offer them jobs, loans, or other facets of society that the majority enjoys without question.

When is it enough? When do we follow the path from vile protester signs to the voices that misinform them; when do we trace the path from outspoken ignorance to the bloated, hate-spewing, careless and dangerous voices that happily wind up the broken toy and set it ablaze in a society that, even in spite of such retardation of progress, tries hard to help the U.S. become a better union.

Come on, people. Do something about it. Confront it. Counter it. Educate the misinformed, propagate the truth, and help our slice of the human race kick the racist blight from our shining potential.

The Evil That (wo)Men Do

I could spend all my waking hours mocking the idiocy of the de-facto leader of the Republican Party; the disastrous and vicious tongued right-wing nut job, Sarah Palin. Aside from dedicating her voluntarily unemployed days to directing her staff to update her Facebook and Twitter pages, the former Alaskan Governor has been dreaming up new ways to misrepresent the intent of President Obama's Health Care Reform.

Interspersed through her meandering ramblings are surprising and ludicrous fabrications of reality. Her 'Death Panel' claim; where she stated that the 'end of life counseling' that was to be offered in the bill (a service that provides voluntary support to those who need help navigating the painful and sad decision when death looms) was in fact covert language for the government deciding whether American Citizens live or die - has, despite its safe status as a bold-faced lie, picked up steam among the more ignorant and foolish out there. And sadly, their numbers seem to be growing.

To make matters worse, she recently described the National Health Service (NHS), the free health care provided by the United Kingdom, as "evil". Evil? Providing for British Citizen's health care needs, from heart surgery to broken arms; from pulmonary fibrosis to ingrown toe-nails is evil?

Sadder still is the parroting of such lunacy by those in the GOP who would give their left leg (and their under-read Twitter account) to hold as much sway and media attention as the Alaskan nut who made it up in the first place. Former Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich recently augmented the "evil" comment by saying the NHS was run by "Orwellian" bureaucrats.

Learned are those who understand what they read; comprehend what they hear and can critically think through what they have been presented. A shame, then, that two significant figures of the Republican Party (Palin and Gingrich) seem to feel more comfortable pandering to fear; appealing to hate and stirring up anger, without investing the small amount of time it should take to reflect on such things, and realize that they are just plain wrong.

Redistributing the Health

I grew up in the United Kingdom and my parents never worried about how they would pay to fix my broken arm; my sister's tonsillitis or my brother's broken leg. When we got sick, the only worry that my parents had was how which one of them would have to drive us to the emergency room or to the doctor. Sounds pretty good, right? It is.

I was diagnosed with diabetes shortly after I moved to the United States (must be all the unecessary sugar in EVERTHING on the grocery store shelves) and for the first time in my life, I worried about how I would pay for the ongoing maintenance of my disease if I ever lost my health care benefits where I worked.

As I watch the ugly behavior at the townhall debates - and Lou Dobb's smug grin as he describes the chaos (like it was an Ultimate Fighting Championship) - I am reminded of the saying "everyone hates lawyers...until they need one". I wonder how many of the uninformed, rumor-reliant blowhards that disrupt these townhall meetings in favor of turning their faces red as they drown out reasoned debate are without coverage. I wonder how hard they would shout and bluster if their insurance company denied a claim; I wonder how vitriolic they would be if they found themselves unemployed and unable to afford the high cost of COBRA - or found themselves without coverage at all.

I have heard some of the tragically ignorant rail against paying for "all the illigal immigrants" to get health care (there is no such provision in the current bill to pay for anyone but citizens). I have heard others complain that they don't want or need the government telling them they must have health care. But if the doctor was to sit them down and tell them they have diabetes, multiple scelrosis, Parkinson's disease - or any number of illnesses which frequently bankrupt 'hard-working (red blooded) Americans", I would bet my pretty good health care plan that their tune would change.

In the end - is it too much to ask that we all take 10 minutes out of our day and actually check out even one of the many non-partisan sources out there to get the truth. Forget Lou Dobbs, forget Michael Steele and forget Glen Beck (Oh, I wish I could) and get some truth unfiltered. Then, and only then, show up to a townhall debate and open your mouth.

Neil

The First of Many

Welcome to my new blog. Rants, chants and opinions galore will rattle the confines of this page in the days, weeks, months and years to come. Visit often,

Neil