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Posted: 19 August 2009 Updated: whenever
As always, this is an expression of my personal opinion. Obviously, my right to say what I think is still protected by the Bill of Rights - same as the author of this attachment.
On 19 August, I received an email attachment from an acquaintance who apparently believes that I either needed to hear this or I agree with its content. Well, I don't care to hear it and I don't necessarily agree with all of its content. In what follows, the content of the email is in the standard font, and my responses to the content follow in different font.
I'm reasonably confident that this email attachment will be making its way around the Internet, so you may be receiving it soon. If you're inclined to send it to me for any reason, please don't waste the bandwidth. And don't pass it on to anyone else.
I enjoy Andy Rooney on 60 Minutes, in general, but sometimes I disagree with him. Strongly. However, the really interesting part of this email attachment is that this is bogus ... see here. The content of the email attachment is not what it claims to be! In what follows, the word "you" isn't directed at Andy Rooney - rather, it's directed at whatever idiot who created this load of bigoted, nonsensical garbage, and to those who buy into this crapola.
CBS DIDN'T STOP HIM- THIS IS GREAT –
Good for him!!!
Surprised CBS let him get away with this even though he's right
Andy Rooney said on '60 Minutes' a few weeks back:
I don't think being a minority makes you a victim of anything except numbers. The only things I can think of that are truly discriminatory are things like the United Negro College Fund, Jet Magazine, Black Entertainment Television, and Miss Black America. Try to have things like the United Caucasian College Fund, Cloud Magazine, White Entertainment Television, or Miss White America; and see what happens...Jesse Jackson will be knocking down your door.
I agree with this much, here - being a member of a minority doesn't necessarily make you a victim. But does anyone suppose that some members of minorities have been victimized in one way or another? I'm pretty sure that's the case. I'm also pretty confident that members of the majority in this country also have been victims in some way. Is there any particular reason why you're addressing this specifically at only minority victims? If you think black organizations are the only ones who are discriminatory, I'm curious about what planet you've been living on all this time. [A tip of the cowboy hat to Barney Frank for that one.]
Guns do not make you a killer. I think killing makes you a killer. You can kill someone with a baseball bat or a car, but no one is trying to ban you from driving to the ball game.
Kind of a lame analogy, here. It sounds like you think gun control is analogous to revoking your driver's license. I'm not going to repeat all the gun control arguments here - see an essay I wrote on that topic a while back.
I believe they are called the Boy Scouts for a reason, which is why there are no girls allowed. Girls belong in the Girl Scouts! ARE YOU LISTENING MARTHA BURKE?
Again, I agree with this one, up to a point. Beyond the Girl Scouts, there are opportunities for girls in the Explorers and Venture Scouts. But speaking as a father with both a son (an Eagle Scout), and a daughter, I always felt uncomfortable about excluding my daughter from so many fun activities we did with my son as a Scout. To help with this problem, our Scoutmaster and his wife initiated a father-daughter campout and always encouraged whole family participation in Boy Scouts. If more Scouters did what our Scoutmaster did, the pressure for pushing girls into the Boy Scouts would certainly diminish. I prefer this to the confrontational position you seem to be advocating, here.
I think that if you feel homosexuality is wrong, it is not a phobia, it is an opinion..
I agree with this one, too - provided you don't act on your opinion in some way that violates the rights of anyone who believes homosexuality is not wrong. If you're entitled to your opinion, so is anyone who disagrees with that opinion. Being anti-gay rights might indeed be a phobia, however. It's clear enough that some folks who feel homosexuality is wrong act on it in ways that strongly suggest they are homophobes.
I have the right 'NOT' to be tolerant of others because they are different, weird, or tick me off.
Technically, I'm curious about just what you intend by "intolerant". Dictionary.com offers the following:
intolerant - adjective
1. not tolerating or respecting beliefs, opinions, usages, manners, etc., different from one's own, as in political or religious matters; bigoted.
2. unable or unwilling to tolerate or endure
3. an intolerant person; bigot
It's perfectly within your rights here in the USA to disrespect anyone you choose, for any reason - whether that disrespect is justified or not. But the question then arises - what are you willing to do about your inability to endure the beliefs, opinions, usages, manners, etc. of others? As with your opinion about homosexuality, it's what you do or encourage others to do on your behalf that matters here. And, by the way, "weird" is in the eye of the beholder. You seem to be forgetting that our cherished democracy in this country isn't defined by majority rule alone - rather, it's primarily defined by our willingness to protect the rights of minorities.
When 70% of the people who get arrested are black, in cities where 70% of the population is black, that is not racial profiling; it is the Law of Probability.
Under the conditions you describe, that might be correct. Have you ever experienced racial profiling? I think not. If I were in a situation where something bad that happened to me appears to have been justified primarily by my race, I'm pretty confident I'd be upset about it. It's true that not every single instance of a black person being arrested is an example of racial profiling, but it's not logically justifiable to conclude from that that racial profiling is an imaginary problem.
I believe that if you are selling me a milkshake, a pack of cigarettes, a newspaper or a hotel room, you must do it in English! As a matter of fact, if you want to be an American citizen, you should have to speak English! My father and grandfather didn't die in vain so you can leave the countries you were born in to come over and disrespect ours.
You believe your father and grandfather died in vain? That's sad. Doing what? Assuming that they died in overseas combat for the U.S. military in some conflict or another, it depends at least in part on the particular war whether or not they died in vain. Vietnam? Sorry, but that would have been in vain, as I see it. WWII? That would not have been in vain. But I'm quibbling here - actually, I disagree with you on the implicit thought behind this poorly written comment. Americans who died in wars that actually involved our national security did so protecting the rights of the American people to have whatever opinion they want. Freedom of speech is something worth protecting, and its loss would be an enormous tragedy for the whole world, not just the USA. If you don't like what someone thinks about the USA, you have that right, but they also have the right to hold an opinion different from yours (or mine). We should be willing to die to protect their right to have a contrary opinion!
I agree that people becoming US citizens should learn English. I believe most of them do so. And if they don't, their children are virtually guaranteed to learn English. What's your problem, here? How many clerks do you encounter who don't speak English? I don't find this to be all that common an experience, although I have run into a few whose English wasn't very good and it was a struggle to make myself understood. I don't necessarily like that but I wouldn't be inclined to put out a rant about it. You're entitled to your opinion, of course. You can try to persuade others to believe as you do. What more do you want done?
I think the police should have every right to shoot you if you threaten them after they tell you to stop. If you can't understand the word 'freeze' or 'stop' in English, see the above lines.
I appreciate how tough it must be to do the job of law enforcement, and am grateful for their willingness to put their lives at risk to uphold the law of the land. But I think most every one of us has at one time or another run into a cop who seemed to believe that they were empowered to do just about anything they damned well pleased, including violate my rights. I don't argue with people who carry guns and are willing to use them - so I think there should be some limits on, and review of, police actions when deadly force is threatened or used. Cops aren't above the law themselves, even though a minority of them seem to behave as if they thought they were.
I don't think just because you were not born in this country, you are qualified for any special loan programs, government sponsored bank loans or tax breaks, etc., so you can open a hotel, coffee shop, trinket store, or any other business.
Okay - fair enough. But you should have just as much of a right to special loan programs, etc. as other citizens. You shouldn't be excluded just because you weren't born a U.S. citizen.
We did not go to the aid of certain foreign countries and risk our lives in wars to defend their freedoms, so that decades later they could come over here and tell us our constitution is a living document; and open to their interpretations. I don't hate the rich I don't pity the poor,
See previous comment on this theme. If our constitution isn't a living document, then the founding fathers failed in their objectives - you apparently don't know much about American history. Words are inevitably open to interpretation. If someone not born here has their own interpretation of the Constitution, they're free to act on that in any way they see fit, so long as it's within the bounds of the law and doesn't violate the rights of others. Right?
I also don't hate the rich, nor pity the poor - but I have to say that I'm very grateful for not being poor in this country, where the divide between the haves and the have-nots is growing with time. This is not a formula for a stable, peaceful future for the nation, and if we could alleviate the problems of the poor by some relatively modest sacrifices by the rich (e.g., see the educational discussion here), the whole nation would benefit, including the rich, in the long run.
I know pro wrestling is fake, but so are movies and television. That doesn't stop you from watching them.
Sorry, I lost you on this one. You're saying if I watch movies and TV, I'm intellectually obligated to watch pro wrestling? What are you saying? Pro wrestling is stupid, in my opinion, and I choose not to waste my time with that. If I waste my time with something else, what business is it of yours? And why should I care what you think about pro wrestling? [This one is a strong clue this wasn't Andy Rooney's words!]
I think Bill Gates has every right to keep every penny he made and continue to make more. If it ticks you off, go and invent the next operating system that's better, and put your name on the building.
Bill Gates has the right to keep every penny he earned. But apparently you're unaware of how much Bill Gates has profited by stealing the work of others and by rapacious market practices clearly designed to drive competition out of business. If the history of his greed and dishonesty doesn't tick you off, then apparently you aren't much a free market capitolist. Bill Gates doesn't want a free market - he wants a monopoly.
It doesn't take a whole village to raise a child right, but it does take a parent to stand up to the kid; and smack their little behinds when necessary, and say 'NO!'
Okay - so? Was there some point being made here?
I think tattoos and piercings are fine if you want them, but please don't pretend they are a political statement. And, please, stay home until that new lip ring heals. I don't want to look at your ugly infected mouth as you serve me French fries!
I'm not a fan of tattoos and piercings, either. Some of them (especially tattoos) include political statements, however. I'm turned off by this piercing stuff, too, but no one is forcing it on me, so I don't feel inclined to go off on a rant about them. What someone chooses to do with their body, in general, is their own damned business and I'm good with that.
I am sick of 'Political Correctness.' I know a lot of black people, and not a single one of them was born in Africa so how can they be 'African-Americans'? Besides, Africa is a continent. I don't go around saying I am a European-American because my great, great, great, great, great, great grandfather was from Europe . I am proud to be from America and nowhere else. And if you don't like my point of view, tough...
I'm certainly no fan of being forced into PC, either. However, I'm not always proud to be an American, as when the American government says and does things that I don't support - the war in Iraq, for example. The war in Vietnam, for another. I love my home as much as anyone else, but I reserve the right to be ashamed of what the my nation's government chooses to do, ostensibly on my behalf.
I PLEDGE ALLEGIANCE TO THE FLAG, OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, AND TO THE REPUBLIC, FOR WHICH IT STANDS, ONE NATION UNDER GOD, INDIVISIBLE, WITH LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL!
I was asked to send this on if I agree or delete if I don't. It is said that 86% of Americans believe in God.. Therefore I have a very hard time understanding why there is such a problem in having 'In God We Trust' on our money and having 'God' in the Pledge of Allegiance. Why don't we just tell the 14% to BE QUIET!!!
Well, you can tell us to be quiet. That's your right. But we're not obligated to be quiet just because you don't like what we're saying about forcing your religious beliefs on us with such actions. Freedom of religion in America is supposed to include freedom from religion. Such recent changes as the insertion of "one nation, under God" into the pledge or "in God we trust" on our money is intruding on my right to be free of religion. Until we can restore the pledge to its original form, my answer is that when I say the pledge, I leave that phrase out. I do pledge my allegiance to this nation, but not to your skydaddy. I'm not going to be quiet about it and ... if you don't like my point of view, tough...