An otherwise regular person I know, someone with no obvious racial hatred of bigotry, forwarded an email calling for a "boycott" of a Muslim "Christmas" stamp. The mail itself, one of many we've all gotten, didn't really surprise me. The person who sent it did.Here's my reply:
First of all, this is not a "Christmas" stamp, and it's not new. You can read the history of this "controversy" here.
Interesting that even "president" Bush promotes this stamp on the White House web site.
Now, if I were to go back in history, say, to the Panama invasion where American forces killed 3000 innocent civilians, and then I said that was a "Christian firebombing" of an entire city block, that wouldn't really be fair to the Christian religion, now would it? Or, what if we said that the 1,000,000 Iraqi Civilians killed in Iraq were the result of a "Christian" invasion? That wouldn't be fair.
I try to remember that when I see religious nuts like Muslim Bombers or the Reverend Fred Phelps (who shows up at soldiers' funerals saying they died because we condone homosexuality), that they do not represent their whole religion. That's why this email is obviously from a bigot, recirculated now from a probable Giuliani supporter who knows the Republicans are going to lose unless they scare everyone with the big bad Muslim bogey man.
About a year ago, the Muslim woman who lives around here was trying to get someone to give her car a jump. No one would help her. When I stopped, she was crying. Her kids were in the back seat crying. I felt so bad for her. She couldn't stop thanking me. She never bombed anyone. She was just grocery shopping.
Turns out that in this Mormon neighborhood, I--a devout agnostic--did the most "Christian" thing.
Furthermore, this email goes on to suggest that I'm not patriotic because I won't boycott this stamp. I'm so sick of these right wing nut cases saying that because I don't buy into their particular line of racist crap that I'm not patriotic. Please tell me who wrote this, or just send this mail back to them. I'd like to let them know that there are plenty of patriotic Americans who think it is people like them who are ruining this country. I'd like them to call me unpatriotic to my face.
Please keep sending me these things so I can point out how crazy and bigoted they are.
1 comment:
You've proven that you are the better person by aiding the muslim woman in need.
As for not being "patriotic" I can only say that patriotism is as much a crutch for the weak as it is a badge of honor. It nears pointlessness when it is thrown about when the one lobbing has no argument for their inhumanity. I may have been born in the USofA but it doesn't keep me from loving and respecting the peoples of the world. I, and the world, can do without patriotism, but not without more people like yourself.
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