Rant

I don't generally use my blog to make political or religious posts. I don't usually go down that road. Today I am.
I have friends who have totally different views of the world than I have. I don't agree with them, but if you take away their politics and religion, we have lots in common and we have managed to stay friends. OK, so some of you are asking why I would associate myself with people with such diametrically opposite view points? Maybe because I believe that people are basically good and the weird ideas they have in their heads are put their by people with more influence. I have never been one to blindly follow just because someone else tells me to. I have always done my own thinking. I know that is not true of most people. It is so much easier to espouse a position because the people closest to you do... it takes no energy on your part and you don't have to rock the proverbial boat. I think those that follow this as a guideline and don't think for themselves are just missing out and are misguided but that is just my own opinion.


We all have beliefs... whether we believe in a god/goddess, higher being, or nothing, we all have our own personal roadmap to how we live. To further ourselves along the human highways it helps if we are all rowing together. The greatest achievements in history have come when people get together and share knowledge. The darkest moments in history have come when some decide they are the only ones who are right. The most heinous perpetration against humankind has come at these times. I am fearful we are heading into or are already in the midst of such a monumental disaster.

Political and religious extremists are dangerous. It doesn't matter what the politics are or the religion is. Wars were fought in the past and wars are being fought in the present. People get killed not just with bullets and bombs, but with words. We seem to be living in an increasingly anti world. The anti's are never ending.... anti gay, anti Jew, anti Muslim, anti Black, anti Hispanic, anti left, anti right, anti Roma, anti Irish, anti Italian... and the list goes on. Who sets the standard? We supposedly live in a democratic and free nation, yet the extremists are seem to be calling the shots. Where did the forefathers of all these people come from? Were their grandparents allowed to worship as they pleased? Were they able to own property and vote? Most of them came here for the opportunity to do just those things, but their progeny seem to have forgotten those details. Have we become so complacent that we allow the few with loud voices to dictate to the many?  I hope not. We have had more than our share of crazy people in the past who have gotten away with annihilating anyone they didn't like. There was no one to stop them. It is still going on. We have very short memories apparently.
Just because someone is different from us doesn't make them bad. The haters just show how insecure and uneducated they really are. It shows how shallow minded they are and how afraid they are. It is so much easier to hold onto that security blanket than to learn about something new. After all, anything that is new has to be bad! It is always the unknown that scares us. Frankly, I think the known these days is so much more fearsome than the unknown. We are moving into the direction of the darkness not the light. Anyone have some matches?