Americas bigots recoiled in horror and spewed venom all over the Internet over Coca Colas savvy, 60-second, Superbowl diversity ad. It targets every possible customer imaginable. My friend Thomas just tore the Neanderthals a new a-hole. Sharing: Its conservatives like this that make me happy to call myself a liberal. We have our mistakes and our shortcomings, but...this kind of rhetoric is evil. Its the rhetoric of the Ku Klux Klan. Its the rhetoric of the white supremacists, the ones who would riot at the thought of black folks being treated like human beings, who thought that lynching was the unfortunate cost of maintaining respectable society. Its the rhetoric of the Know-Nothings who were so proud of their xenophobic racist garbage that they dared not name it in public, but we all knew it for what it was. Its the Antisemitism that was all the rage in this country until Hitler did us the favor of taking it to its logical conclusion, and now expresses itself in a mindless terror of Muslims. Its the attitude that thinks that flirting with a straight man while gay is a lynchable offense, if the straight man is sufficiently inebriated. Its the WASPS who climb the ladder to prosperity by making it almost impossible for anyone else to even get to the first rung. Its the mile long list of sins in this country that make me empathize when someone preaches God Damn America! I know some Americans, Mr Breitbart. They dont speak fluent English, but they came here legally back in the day, and they settled, and theyre proud of this place. And they sacrificed a lot to get here and have given themselves to its work. Some of them could pass for Anglo-American as you so tactfully put it, until they open their mouth to speak, and you realize theyre from Serbia, or Poland, or Russia, or Pakistan, etc. And ya know what? They have kids here, who are thus Americans by accident of birth, and they speak English fluently and some keep their native tongue as well. And the next generation becomes monolingual, in the cases Ive met, and could pass for WASP easily. And I know folks who are easily WASP, but theyre gay. And theyre raising beautiful children. And they vote, and do their civic duty, and work as hard as you can expect of anyone in this country. And I know folks who arent WASP who are likewise gay and American and all that. They know what this country is about. I suppose, being a straight white male with ancestry going back to the pilgrims (not kidding) you must accept my American identity. And I will forsake every pasty white privileged ounce of that before I join your crowd. Feel offended? Good. I feel no need to apologize. You should be ashamed of yourself for participating in this filthy rhetorical game.
Posted on: Mon, 03 Feb 2014 20:44:03 +0000
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