You might be a racist if...

...you think that the fact that the shooter at Ft. Hood was a Muslim has any bearing on the gravity of the situation. A dear friend of mine recently said that "a real American soldier" would never have done anything like that. To this, I ask: have you watched the news? Recently? Ever? This guy was crazy, plain and simple. It had nothing to do with his race, religion or ethnic background. It had to do with his malfunctioning brain. Period.

We all agree that the September 11, 2001 attacks were a terrible thing. I'm pretty sure we all remember what we were doing that day when we found out...much like the generation before us remembers what they were doing when Kennedy was shot. But let me take you back further than that. Let's go back to the worst attack on U.S. soil that had happened to that point: Pearl Harbor. On December 7, 1941 - and I know that date by heart, even though my parents weren't even born yet - our naval fleet was attacked and badly damaged by the Japanese. They were very sneaky about it, both diplomatically and militarily. There have been movies about it...like Tora! Tora! Tora! and Pearl Harbor...to name the biggest two I know of. (Not a big fan of the latter...love the former.) But you know what you don't hear a lot about? The Japanese internment camps. We were vehemently opposed to the Axis powers because everyone agreed how terrible the Nazis were. They are reviled to this day, because of the concentration camps they had for the Jews. The Holocaust killed millions...and all because someone didn't like them, based on their religion or race. Everyone seems to agree that it was a terrible thing. But people forget that we did something similar - though we didn't kill anyone, and that is indeed a huge difference - to many Japanese Americans in the 1940s. Our government later had to apologize for it, and make reparations, to the tune of $20,000 a person to each survivor. The main reason? It was a violation of their civil rights.

So what makes it right today? Folks, I have a news flash for you: not all Muslims are out to get us. It's not like every Muslim in the world is the sworn enemy of America. If you believe that they are, you are ignorant beyond any help I can give you anyway. There's a thing called "extremism". Those are the ones that are the problem...and they make up a minority of Muslims in the world today. But let's look at it from another angle, and a much more important one. The reason these people are so sworn to get us is that they are interpreting their book - the Qur'an - that way. When two different groups of people interpret the same book in different ways, you get conflict. In this case, there's a group that are considered fundamentalists, meaning loosely that they take what the book says and interpret everything in it as literally as possible, word for word, leaving little or no room for allegory, metaphor or any real artistic license. They're the problem.

Now let's go back to crazy for a moment. Anyone can be crazy. Groups can be crazy...or a leader can be crazy, and his followers just carrying out the leader's crazy agenda. There's Hitler for you. But in this case, it's a group...fundamentalist Muslim extremists. They're nuts. I think we can all agree that wanting to kill innocent people because you think a book that's supposed to be about peace told you to. But hey...isn't that what religion's done forever? But the point remains...they're crazy...but because there's a crazy group of Muslims doesn't mean all Muslims are crazy. That's just...well, crazy talk.

Now let's go back to race for a minute. The friend I have said to look at the Ft. Hood shooter's name and face...and that a real American wouldn't do that. America is supposed to be this wonderful bastion of freedom and liberty...so much so that we've tried to forcibly give this "happiness" to other countries. (See Iraq.) And it's always been a melting pot. No matter what color your skin is, or where your family comes from, you can be an American, as long as you were born here...or become a citizen. So there are all types of Americans...but what we can easily infer from this is that because he didn't "look American" or have what they considered "an American name", that they weren't a "real American". Let's be frank here: they meant white. If he was white, he'd never have done this.

Well, guess what? White people do more crazy stuff than anyone else in this country. There haven't been too many black serial killers, for example. Two that I can think of...and one was just found in Cleveland last week. Most of the horrible things we see in the news, as far as mass killings, are white people. So to suggest that a white person wouldn't have done this is ignorant...and it shows one is uninformed. And another thing: at some point, most of you reading this - if not all - have relatives that aren't from here. They emigrated from Europe, in most cases. Oh, but I'm sure that's different, right? The ONLY reason that could be is that you're white, if indeed you are a white person reading this. Funny, though...I've yet to hear a black person really get racist about the Muslims. You know why? They know how it feels to be on the other end of things.

So back to the fundamentalists again. They're scary. They're scary because it's an entire group of people who think that their god wants them to kill us, en masse, and that they'll be rewarded for it. That part is very real, and very frightening. But because it exists doesn't mean that it's the norm, even amongst Muslims. This fear of anything that's Middle Eastern is stupid...and racist, by definition. It's as ignorant as thinking that you'll catch some sort of disease by swimming in the water with black people. When we played baseball in DeLand growing up, we had a lot of black teammates...and we'd invite them over to swim without hesitation. I'm still disease free, I'm happy to report.

Folks, it's stuff like this that creates needless conflict that can result in more harm being done than good. If you really want to be the "good example" as a nation, then it has to stop. You think that people in other countries look at us and think, "Wow...I wish I could be like them." when they see statements like that? If you do, you don't know a lot of people from other countries. Lastly, there's the issue of religion, though. And most of you reading this are Christian, if you have a religion at all. It's the religion of "love thy neighbor" and forgiveness. Well, based on that, and based on what I see them say about this issue, it's a religion like all others: a religion of hypocrisy. You can sit there and rationalize it away all you want, but the moment you say you're a Christian, and then turn to persecute another person because of their religion, race or creed, you're a hypocrite. Look it up...in YOUR bible. It's there. And while we're on the subject of said bible, I'd submit that you should look up another word that I've used here today: fundamentalism. That's right...there are absolutely SCADS of fundamentalist Christians in this country, and in my opinion, they're every bit as dangerous as a fundamentalist from any religion. Think for a moment about how "two wrongs don't make a right". I'm not saying we should just say, "September 11th? Ah...forget about it." Far from it. But I am saying that their targeting of innocent people is exactly what got us all so angry in the first place...and the moment we indiscriminately target innocent people abroad - or here at home - is the moment we're just as bad as they are. Again...not all Muslims are anti-American...some are Americans themselves, and are just as appalled as you are that 9/11 happened...and even more upset, perhaps...because it was done under the auspices of their own belief system, which to their knowledge, was a belief system of love and peace. Just imagine what it would be like to be them. Pretend YOU are the minority. Pretend YOU are the persecuted one. Really, truly think about it, long and hard. Then tell me you can justify this sort of stuff and call it anything BUT discriminatory, racist, persecutory and just plain wrong. I defy you to do it with any sort of logic.

So, in closing: this guy was nuts. Just like the guy who shot up the office here in Orlando the other day. Just like the guy who had the 11 bodies in his house. Just like the people who kill their families and themselves on what seems to be an almost daily basis. Pick up a newspaper, watch the news, read the news online, and tell me that Americans don't do things like this. I defy you even more to do that. Because I DO read the news...and I promise you that it's NOT the case. And statistics show that it's mostly white people who kill en masse...by a VERY large margin. White Americans, to be more precise. This world has a lot of crazy, unstable people in it. And they come in all colors, genders, races, religious beliefs, creeds and walks of life...just like the world is populated by a huge mix of people...and just like America is populated by the same mix. Real American? That guy is as "real" as it gets. And as long as people keep denying that fact, they'll keep promoting the same sort of hatred and ignorance that they're allegedly against. He's as American as anyone else...and that's sad, but true.

A.D.

(And I shouldn't have to say it, but I will...because I know how people get sometimes. I am not, in any way, advocating what this guy did. He'll get the death penalty, for sure...because he's in the military. If he hadn't been, it'd be up to the state's laws...but of course, he was in Texas, so it's a win-win there. But he is a despicable, worthless piece of detritus, and I hope they'll find new ways of torture to use and kill him slow. That being said, the difference between me and apparently many others, is that I don't think that should apply to everyone else who's the same color, religion or race as he is.)

(Also, the person who wrote the stuff that prompted this isn't someone I hate or have any dislike for...far from it. I just don't think they realize that what they said has this connotation to it. Unfortunately, racist things aren't always intentional. I think that by seeing things we do without malicious intent, and working to not do those things, or see things in a different light, is a good thing. So if this has the intended effect - on her or on anyone else - it'll be a positive thing, not a negative one. I've also not named this person, or even defined their gender, so as not to identify them, and make them think I'm calling them out specifically. It's just that their words got me to thinking about this.)