Bigotry masquerading as patriotism
Recently, while I was on Facebook, I saw one of my friends post something disturbing on her newsfeed. This friend is from Illinois and there was apparently an event involving transgendered people going on nearby. However, she was sharing a post in order to show off the bigotry of another woman who was trying to get the event shutdown.
One of the things that disturbed me about the post was that the woman was saying that this was “another” event that they needed to get shut down. That means that there had already been an event that was successfully shut down prior to this one and she was actually proud of this fact.
The other thing that disturbed me was that she said the event needed to be shut down so that our nation’s kids wouldn’t be confused by what they were seeing.
No, lady, the problem is that you’re confused by a culture that is not your own. The problem is that you’ve probably taught your own kids that your culture and ideas are the only ones that matter. Therefore, they are understandably confused when they see that their culture and lifestyle are not the only ones in the country and that they are accepted by most people beyond their mother.
The problem is that it’s the lady’s fault for not teaching her kids and the kids around her that this is a plural nation.
We are (supposed to be) welcoming of all religions and cultures and we are (supposed to be) promoting inclusivity and equality for all Americans.
Don’t get me wrong, she can definitely teach her kids about her culture and her lifestyle. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that ... beyond the apparent bigotry, of course. That’s just wrong, no matter how you slice it.
Therefore, she can also teach her kids and others that people are different and that it’s a good thing to learn about other cultures in addition to her own.
That way, those poor kids won’t be so “confused” when they see how things are in the real world as opposed to her own twisted take on the world where only her culture should be the one to exist.
Now, I’m being pretty nice here by not calling this woman out by name, but that’s only because that’s not the point of this column. The point is that we live in a plural society and if you are not accepting of other ethnicities, religions and cultures, then maybe you don’t deserve to be a part of this society.
What kills me is that these people think that they are doing something positive for the country by being exclusive and trying to kill other people’s cultures.
That’s not how this works, though. This nation is meant to be equal for everyone, but people like the woman in question always remind us that we still have a lot of work to do in that area.
While there are many more discussions to be had about equality in America, one thing that I can say for certain is that you can’t just hide your bigotry behind a false flag of patriotism.