Special Interests

Sorry that it's been a while folks, but I've really been wiped out lately and needed a break, but now I'm back at least for a little while.  So, I've had an ever rising hatred of so called "Special Interest Groups" lately.  Now, let me elaborate.  I have no problem with any group wanting equality to all other people.  In my opinion, all people, regardless of race, creed, sexual orientation, religion etc. should be equal.  The only exception I have to this are those who commit such acts (murder, rape etc.) as to, in my mind, forfeit their humanity, but that's a post for another day.  What I do take exception to, however, are groups that, under the guise of equality, attempt to gain preferential treatment or otherwise portray themselves as better than all other people.  For instance, I have recently come into conflict with so called "feminists."  I have no problem with the feminist movement.  I think that women have gotten a shitty deal in the past and deserve the same opportunities, wages, and respect as men.  What annoys me are people who call themselves feminists, but are really "man haters."  A woman who hates all men is no mightier than a man who hates women, and the next time a "feminist" yells at me for holding a door open for her (a courtesy I extend to all people, male or female) and goes on a tirade about how she is an independent woman who does not need a man to hold a door for her, I may just slam the door in her face to prove a point.  These high and mighty types will ruin any movement very quickly.  Another example is the current "civil rights movement" in this country.  During the 60s, Martin Luther King spread a message of equality for all.  He marched for a future where African Americans were given the same rights and privileges as whites.  He was seeking no reparations, he wanted no hand-outs or special treatment, he simply wanted to be treated as a full person.  This was a noble cause.  However, modern black leaders such as Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson and others have not upheld this philosophy.  These men, and their followers, would like to see an America in which white people are punished for what their ancestors MAY or MAY NOT have done and in which black people are given more opportunities, wages, etc. than all others.  Not only is this hypocritical and hateful, it is, in and of itself, racist on many, many levels.  First, there is the obvious racism of basing anything at all on the color of one's skin.  However, there is another level of racism that many will not even notice: the idea that all white people are just white.  Today, whites have been stripped of their culture.  Many African Americans do not celebrate the cultures of their families have been in the U.S. for hundreds of years.  However, a large number, if not a majority of whites families in this country emigrated from Europe around the turn of the century.  In the Hispanic community, it is very offensive to lump Cubans, Puerto Ricans, Mexicans etc. as one type of people.  Why then is it not offensive for Polish Americans, Italian Americans, Irish Americans etc. to all be "white?"  Never mind the oppression and discrimination that these people endured when they came here.  People have forgotten the racial slurs of wop, dago, guinae, mick, patty, polock, fritz, kraut and other slurs used against people now considered "white."  But this is a racists dream, isn't it?  To have a whole group of people with an identical culture so you can easily pigeonhole all of them?  This also compounds the issue a bit.  How can you punish a person for something they (or their ancestors) did not commit?  Many whites can trace their ancestors to having come over AFTER the abolition of slavery.  Many of the countries they came from never practiced slavery to begin with.  So how can one justify punishing them for an act that neither they nor their ancestors took any part in?  And even for those who CAN trace their ancestors that far back in the U.S., how can you punish someone for something their ancestors MIGHT have done, or even did do?  We're talking over 100 years ago, here.  That's like me hating a black person because, since they're black they MUST be related to Kony and all of the people currently and recently committing Genocide in Africa.  This logic just doesn't stand up.  Toward the end of the 1960s, we were on our way to accepting that all people, regardless of skin color, are different in their own way and deserve to be treated equally and decently, but the folks who took over after Dr. King only served to divide blacks and whites further, painting blacks as the great victims and whites as "white devils."  Again, this is not a phenomenon unique to African Americans and the Civil Rights movement, but it is an easy, relate-able example.  This goes for any group, and these same corrupting powers can be found in evil, racist groups such as the Ku Klux Klan and the Aryan Nation.  However, since these people often hide under the guise of "Special Interest," they are left alone to their own devices as no one wants to come off as racist, sexist, prejudiced etc. for speaking out against them.  Thankfully, I don't have that problem!  Again, I fully support all of these movements for their true purpose.  I believe that homosexuals should have equal rights and should be able to get married.  I believe all people should have equal rights regardless of who they are or what they identify as, but no one deserves to get treated specially because of who they are either.  Anyway, just needed to rant about this, thanks for listening.  Hopefully I'll be posting more often now.  See you next time!