Listening to America's Critics

Much has been made of the clips of Barak Obama's pastor Jeremiah Wright. For one, this is nothing but guilt by association. Rob Bell's my pastor so I must agree with everything Rob Bell says? Thankfully, this morning on Meet the Press Clinton supporter Nita Lowey said that Obama's condemnation of Wright's remarks should be good enough and nothing more should be made of it. Honestly though, I didn't find the remarks all that offensive.

Days after 9/11 Wright said "We bombed Hiroshima, we bombed Nagasaki, and we nuked far more than the thousands in New York and the Pentagon, and we never batted an eye... We have supported state terrorism against the Palestinians and black South Africans, and now we are indignant because the stuff we have done overseas is now brought right back to our own front yards. America's chickens are coming home to roost"
Aside from the parts about Palestinians and black South Africans of which I know little about, I find a lot of truth in this statement. He's essentially saying that when it comes to the people the U.S. killed in other countries, namely the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Americans show little regard for the hundreds of thousands of lives lost in those bombings. Our motives might have been just, but what we did was horrible. He's also pointing out that those who live by the sword die by the sword. Violence breeds violence.

The other quote from Wright referred to the way America has, in the past, and currently treats black Americans. Wright said, "The government gives them the drugs, builds bigger prisons, passes a three-strike law and then wants us to sing 'God Bless America.' No, no, no, God damn America, that's in the Bible for killing innocent people. God damn America for treating our citizens as less than human. God damn America for as long as she acts like she is God and she is supreme."
Once again, I'm not incredibly knowledgeable about all the topics he hit, but even if half of what he said is true I'm not seeing the huge controversy. Sure, he's being hyperbolic and provocative. And perhaps rather than saying "God damn America" pastor Wright should have said "God have mercy on America and empower your church to bring change by being the image of Christ." But, the fact is that when most Americans, and especially Christians, see statements like these and immediately cry "anti-Americanism," they are just confirming the last portion of what he said. Americans think this country is supreme and above all criticism. Any suggestion that America reaps what she sows is met with angry charges of anti-Americanism.

When all is said and done America is just another country. Like Tony Campolo says, and I paraphrase, "America is the best Babylon there ever was, but she's a Babylon nonetheless." Some of the critics might need to tone the fire and rhetoric down a tad, but I believe much of that fire stems from a deep thirst for justice and peace, and some of their voices (NOT ALL!) should be listened to. And I would argue that some of the MOST outspoken critics of America should be Christians. Because, after all, many times the kingdom itself is anti-American.

Like People are Actually Offended...

The other day at work my manager and another employee were discussing the 3 hour free coffee promotion at Biggby's. During the discussion my manager noted that he thinks the name change from Beaner's to Biggby's is kind of dumb and he doubts anyone was really offended. I, so badly, wanted to ask the Mexican cleaning guy Miguel, who was standing in the same room as us if he agreed, but I figured that wouldn't be very wise. I've heard other people express these same ideas, but, apparently, according to the news story I linked to people did take notice. In fact, a couple friends who moved to Michigan a year ago were shocked that the name of a popular coffee chain was a derogatory term for Hispanic Americans.

My question is why do we caucasians have such crappy attitudes when other people feel offended by something? Shouldn't we respect other culture's feelings on such matters? Who are we to judge what other people are offended at? I understand that some groups take things too far, but I really don't believe this is one of those instances. Don't get me wrong I liked the name "Beaner's" very much, and I'll probably continue to call it that. The name Biggby-- don't ask me why, it's probably something from my childhood-- make's me think of a large, dumb cartoon dog Maybe they should have compromised and changed their logo to a large coffee bean to drive the meaning home.

But, in the end, shouldn't we consider this progress? Not that long ago in the 50's the government actually had a deportation program called, "Operation Wetback." We thought nothing about throwing around racially disparaging remarks. I'm not saying we should be politically correct, but historically we (caucasians) have done a lot of evil to other people in this country, and the least we can do is respect a racially oppressed people's right to be offended.

Poverty in Michigan

In keeping with the topic of poverty, Michigan Radio political correspondent Jack Lessenberry did an essay on poverty in Michigan.

When discussing whether the poor can actually be helped Lessenberry writes: "I think some of that came from experiences people had during the War on Poverty. Some of the starry-eyed were disillusioned when many of the poor turned out not to have good work habits. They also tended to be lacking in social skills. Helping them proved to be harder than just finding them a job interview.
Well, guess what. Most really important things aren’t easy to do. If they were, someone would have done them already. "

More importantly, he writes about children born into poverty saying: "But there are more than half a million children in this state who are poor through no fault of their own. If we don’t do what it takes to help them, we aren’t even a good, let alone great, society."

Thoughts?

Poverty Actually Causes Neurological Damage??!

It appears that people aren't poor just because they're lazy. Who'd a thunk it?

Thanks Ryan.

Just Set your Prejudices Aside for 15 Minutes and Watch

I eat meat. I eat chicken, veal, lamb, pork, cow and fish. I have no intention of becoming a vegetarian any time soon. That said, what do I do after watching a video like this? Yup, it's narrated by Alec Baldwin the big, scary, LIBERAL actor who should just act rather than try to force his political views on us good ol' God-fearing Midwestern folk. It also mentions the evil, ultra-liberal group PETA who is, in fact, so incredibly liberal they are incapable of speaking one truth. So with that, I would urge all of my fellow carnivores who consider themselves compassionate, and even more importantly claim to follow Jesus, who drop by my blog to watch this video. What you do with it is your business; I'm not sure how I'll respond, but I think it's important to be informed.

Stop Hurting America!

In '04 Jon Stewart went on Crossfire and kicked Tucker Carlson and Paul Begala in the balls-- well not really-- but what he did was even better then that. If you missed his appearance you should check it out because I think the disdain he exhibits is manifesting itself in the huge youth turnout for Obama and in the imminent nomination of McCain.

Rush Limbaugh and company have been coming unglued over McCain, and I admit that part of me enjoys listening to these meltdowns. The reason Rush hates McCain is because he sees McCain as a trojan horse who will, "let the enemy in" because what Limbaugh, and people like Tom DeLay, want is a Republican-controlled country; not a democracy. I think that the country is sick of the us-versus-them politics that has enveloped the last eight years. I think that, especially, college-educated young people and independents are looking for leaders who will work with those in the other party and champion what's best for the country and the rest of the world, and not Republican or Democratic dogma. The Stewart-Crossfire appearance struck me because for far too long we've had shows like Crossfire and Hannity and Colmes perpetuating divisiveness and this either-or, liberal versus conservative garbage.

A McCain-Obama contest would be good for America, and elevate the political discourse. And a McCain or Obama presidency would, hopefully, bring together some of the good things from both parties.

Enough with the Cell Phones!

At work we're forced to listen to John Tesh. On the Tesh's show he regularly has anti-driving while talking on a cell phone segments. These drive me nuts. The other day he claimed a study showed that drivers who are talking on cell phones- even ones with blue tooth- slow down traffic. Here's my beef with this: I, personally, don't have issues with talking on my phone while driving. I have a much more difficult time talking to people who are in the car with me. Furthermore, what about driving while eating and/or drinking, or driving with a backseat full of screaming, fighting, taddle-tailing kids? What about the studies for those situations? Are you going to tell me the mom with all the fighting, loud, crying kids in the car is less distracted then someone talking on a cell phone? Are we going to create legislation outlawing driving with kids? My problem with those who want to create cell phone laws is that they're trying to legislate distractibility, and we could do endless studies proving that everything from fellow passengers to billboards distract people and cause accidents, slower traffic etc... I think the focus on cell-phones is assinine; go after the soccer moms.