Bigotry and Prejudice... Alive and Well in America

I'd like to say I'm not a political person, that I don't wear my heart on my sleeve for social issues, that I can distance myself from current problems, that it doesn't bother me to see a race, ethnicity, any segment of the population degraded and denigrated.  None of that is true.  I have to own up to be the person that I am, and that I've tried to instill these same values into my own children that lets them be bothered by social injustice, that change can make a society better, stagnation is a killer.

Unfortunately, the publishers, editors, and one particular writer from Marie Claire didn't get the memo.  After all the publicity bullying and insensitivity have received in the past few months, you'd think that a magazine frequented by teenage/young women would employ better judgment, as well as better educated writers.  We have a subscription to this magazine, I used to read it, and when my daughter was selling magazine subscriptions through her high school as a fund raiser, I asked her if she'd like to try it too.  Well, I've apparently wasted my money, because I'll be canceling our subscription.  I know it's only my few pitiful dollars and it probably isn't going to make a difference in their overall revenues, but at least I'm not supporting hatred, bigotry, and prejudice.

That Maura Kelly was allowed to express herself is fantastic.  This is America, and it's okay for anyone to express their opinions, feelings, views and values in any public forum.  Her freedom of speech is protected, just like Neo Nazis are allowed to express their bigoted views, that's what so great about America.

But it is a fact that this article promotes dislike and misunderstanding of an entire segment of the American public, hell the whole world stage.  America has lost so much respect in recent years, once known as the land of the free and home of the brave, we find bigotry and intolerance being promoted.  Have we become the home of the sniveling and cowardly?  First we have a cowboy president and he was great.....  to have a beer with.  Now, the world is going to wonder if we're not only stupid but bigoted as well.   

Did we forget our origins?  That we were the religiously persecuted, the destitute, the unwanted colonists who fled to America?  That we were trying to find acceptance?  That our entire population is made up of immigrants fleeing the same persecutions that led our forefathers to this country?  And that we've made huge mistakes that we've tried to own up to, but still is felt in many parts of the country?  What the hell is going on?  Our country has become hate filled, gay people are abused, over weight people intolerable, people of color undervalued, women struggle for equal rights.  Why is this happening?  What has gone wrong?  Are we so socially isolated that we can't see the forest for the trees (not that there will be any trees to see soon, oh, forgive me, global warming is a myth spread by those uneducated liberals....).

Thank God there are magazines willing to tell it like it is.  Thank God America has freedom of speech.  And I also Thank God that everyday dawns new, and we have a fresh start.  Marie Claire has a chance to make this right.  They are a major magazine, they could influence a segment of our society to promote understanding and tolerance, if they want to, instead of degradation and denigration.

And to Ms. Kelly..... overweight people don't need you to send them a healthy diet plan, a good exercise program, or your misguided set of values to help them along the way.  Believe me, they're trying, as we all are, to get through life, one day at a time.

Well, at least I feel better now.....  hope you do too...