LJ Idol Season 8: Week 36(B); Artifice

What is it with politics and the internet that turn people into first class A-holes? In a time where anyone can gain information and pass it along with the a click of a button, you'd think we could grow as a civilization. We’d learn more about the people around us and appreciate the differences amongst our neighbors.

What it’s done has shown me a side of people I’d never have guessed existed, and sadly it’s not usually in a good way. Friends that at one time, I admired and thought highly of, regardless of our difference of opinions, have shown a completely different side of themselves. A side that I’m having a really hard time liking.

Just recently, a male college friend of mine went on an angry tirade against women, basically saying any woman who used birth control is a slut. His buddy Rush did it, so it’s all good, right?

Wrong. That’s only the tip of the iceberg, and I have to say... I was shocked to read what he really thought of my gender.

I lost respect for you, dude. All of it. I don't care about those nights at Denny's where you seemed like a perfectly good guy, the hatred you spew toward women via Facebook proves to me that you're not exactly what you seemed to be back then.

If he were the only one, I might think he’s just a two-faced jerk. But he’s not. One of my sorority sisters, a girl who seemed so quiet and sweet back in the day, recently went on a rant against gays. When one of our sisters, a Christian who also happens to be a lesbian chimed in, mentioning that denying her rights is discrimination. The response from our so-called friend?

"So are we discriminating against child molestors because we oppose their freedom? Yes, I suppose we are. Is that wrong? I'm going with no.”

She directly compared being gay to child molestation. Really now? Remember, the girl she just said this to is a good friend of ours, someone who recently had a civil ceremony and is very happily married to her wife. She’s also a Christian too, if that even matters, but apparently it did to the commenters on the post. Though I suppose, she can’t be a real Christian if she’s gay, or so they said.

The hardest part of this all is how prevalent it’s getting. It seems now that the floodgates are open, due to incidents with Rush Limbaugh and now Chick-Fil-A among others, it’s okay to post about gays going to Hell or deserving to remain in hiding or being rounded up and put into concentration camps if not outright shot.

One of my other friends, a good Christian liberal girl (or so she claims), posted a photo of two men kissing in public. Not making out. Not having sex. A chaste kiss between two men in love which I found to be very sweet. However, her response was, "Is this really necessary?!?” Basically she was yelling that by them kissing in a public place, they were pushing they gay agenda on to her and she was fighting back because being gay is wrong!

Though really, I read through the lines and what she wanted to say was, "I think gays are icky and seeing them kiss is gross!”

Grow the fuck up. And let me explain something to you. They were merely practicing their freedom to love each other much like any straight couple can. They weren’t taking away your rights, or telling you that you were wrong for being homophobic. They weren’t forcing you to make out with them. Them merely being alive is NOT infringing upon your Freedom of Religion as you like to claim. Sorry, the world doesn’t revolve around what makes you comfortable or what you deem is right.

It’s a little thing called Separation of Church and State and that doesn’t simply mean that the government should stay out of Church affairs, which you often fight to the death about... It also means the damn Church needs to stay out of our government. You can’t base laws upon what you feel is wrong or what the Bible supposedly says about an issue. I’m sorry, if you want to live in a society where our laws are based around religion, I’m sure Iran would love to have you.

That's the thing so many people are struggling with right now... Me practicing my Freedom of Speech or Freedom of Commerce isn't infringing upon anyone's Freedom of Religion or their Freedom of Speech. I'm not discriminating by making a choice where I spend my money or saying I disagree with how someone runs their business.

Chick-Fil-A can donate money to hate groups. They can kick puppies and only hire married women for all I care. If they aren’t breaking any laws, that’s their right to do whatever the hell they want to do.

But guess what? I also have a little right to spend my money wherever the heck I want to. I don’t like Wal-Mart’s labor practices? I shop elsewhere. I don’t like McDonald’s usage of chemicals in their food? I don’t eat there.

And let me tell ya... This is NOT discrimination. This is NOT infringing on someone’s Freedom of Speech or Freedom of Religion. I’m utilizing my rights and freedoms and despite what some of these folks say, it doesn’t automatically take the rights of others away.

But go ahead, keep it under the guise of fighting for Freedom of Speech while you are also trying to stop MY Freedom of Speech. You have every right to do so. But if you’re truly for that kind of freedom, then you’d also respect mine even if my views don’t match yours.

Stop pretending you're for the rights of others as you try to strip the rights of those who don't live the life that you approve of. Stop crying Freedom of Religion when no one is saying that anyone has to support gays if they don't want to.

In fact, isn't it the same people trying to use their religious beliefs to make laws based on what they think is right? How free is that, I have to ask?

Do I agree that government can ban businesses from opening up? No, I never said that I did. Let the consumers have their Freedom of Choice. Yes, I'd like to see companies go under when I don't agree with them, but I don't like government having the control to pick and choose which side they're on. Because while it may be prohibiting a store that I don't agree with opening up now.... Years down the road, they could switch and stop business that support gay marriage from opening up too.

So it goes both ways and I get that. But the tone and hatred that people are spewing at those who don’t agree? Ridiculous. It honestly comes from both sides too, I’m just more exposed to this angle due to who I know and what I see publicly posted on Facebook among other places.

Though sometimes I wonder if I really know any of these people at all. Or if I do, do I really want to call myself their "friend”?

Maybe it's about time some of these people put down the mouse and keyboard and actually read the teachings of the man they purport to devote their life to. Or maybe they’re just continue to hide behind their computer monitors spewing hatred all over the place. Just know that I see you for who you really are by the way you treat others who aren't your friends or who don't share your political beliefs.

And guess what? You're not fooling me.



(Whew! I made it! My fifth and final piece for this round of Hell Week in therealljidol. As always, thanks for reading and for all your support. It's been a very busy week and I'm proud of getting all my entries in on time!)