Murder or Tolerance?

Vigil in the aftermath of the deadly shooting at
Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, Oct. 27, 2018

Recent violence against our Jewish community synagogues is just another in a long line of intolerance of faith being witnessed throughout our country and the world.  Peaceful Islamic Mosques, Jewish synagogues, and Christian churches are being targeted by various factions of the League of the Perpetually Offended.  

I heard a news headline in which some moron perpetuated a fallacy; a perpetually offended tag line which basically stated our country is rife with hatred and racism.  This also perpetuates the fallacy that nobody here tries to "get along" by exercising tolerance.  These people would facilitate the murder or enslavement of everyone who isn't part of their offended base.  So, which is it going to be, tolerance or wholesale slaughter of the innocent?

If there are so many of these "offended" cowards in this country, why don't they band together and declare a civil war instead of hiding in the shadows, burning places of worship, shooting up our schools, and other cowardly acts of terrorism?  If there are so many offended cowards in this country, how come the best they can do is perpetrate hit and run attacks on their own, or only manage to enlist a few other like-minded idiots to help them?  Contrary to the perpetually offended commentary flooding our news media, our country is and has been trying to move forward, despite the divisive rhetoric from those who would hold us back.

Are there still pockets of racism in America?  Sadly, I would have to say yes.  There are laws protecting people from racism, and also hate crimes and inequality. But, I think most of it is fostered by the very people who speak out so vehemently against it.  This is either by ignorance or greed.  Greed?  Yeah, it seems to be how they make their money, keeping people down or promising more than they know they can deliver simply because they assume people are too ignorant to know better.  The sad fact is, these users are correct in their assumption.  For these "race baiters," the only way their funds keep rolling in is if they make a sad history neverending.  They keep people believing in racism instead of working to root out the last vestiges of it.

Al Sharpton is the most upfront of these race baiters, and California Representative Maxine Waters is another, in my view.  She not only perpetuates the false claims of how little we have progressed, she actually dares people of all races to be violent and bigoted against the very violence and bigotry which she perpetuates.  Really, Maxine?  The majority of violence, hatred, and intolerance, seems to be the fault of people like her and those who support them.  Why?  It's how they stay in power; how they control their base.  

But, this is so typical these folks and they have become so good at smoke and mirrors that even their own people of color seem to enjoy having the boot of these folks holding them down.  This is how out of touch we've become with our own history, and why history seems to change with the political winds.  We forget which political party has been responsible for most of the forward movement in racial equality and equal rights.  We forget it because the naysayers have everyone conned into believing the opposite.  It's like saying the Holocaust never happened and yet, despite the historical evidence and eyewitnesses to the contrary, many ignorant people buy still into the narrative.  Yeah, and the moon landing was filmed in Hollywood.  Bonjour!  History depends on how gullible you are.

How many unfulfilled promises can one political party make over 150 years before the population being abused finally wakes up to reality; to the fact that getting a free cellphone isn't going to buy them equality, much less freedom from their new masters who, it seems, are only different from the old in one respect?

Nobody really wants to get along any more than anybody seems to want to work to make our country actually work.  Now we have elected antisemitic politicians and, gee, wonder why antisemitism (e.g, racism) is on the rise.  We love this country and, yet, we elect politicians who would tear up our Constitution and force us into another failed socialist experiment which, of course, will be different than the so many others which have tried and failed or are failing as we speak.  Yeah, right.  Well, this is no wonder.  We already have racist politicians of all colors, currently serving in Congress, so why not try a racist-antisemitic-socialist experiment?  Oh, that would be Nazism.  Well, you'd have to build one hell of a lot of gulags, for one thing, and if violence remains their primary platform, we'd better start building showers and people sized furnaces next to some train tracks.  It might be easier to just dig mass graves.  Just saying. 

Do we allow the few "perpetually offended" to lead all of us off a cliff like so many lemmings, or do we call them down for the bullshit they try to perpetuate and declare that we are all better than they would have us think?  Do we all succumb to violence and murder, or do we exercise a tolerance which most of the spiritual world demands?  I think this question is best considered by the parents of our young.

These violent terrorists exist for a reason.  It isn't the availability of weapons; weapons don't shoot people, people do.  I think it is a lack of parenting.  I think it is a failure on the part parents, our educational system, and some religious and political leaders, to demand tolerance and to realistically place blame for failure where blame belongs.

Our country seems to be more fixated on partisan politics than working together for any meaning forward movement.  We focus more on the lies, which mass media will help perpetuate, than looking for facts and doing any real good.  Whether you agree with this statement or not, innocence in our places of worship, our schools, and our streets, continues to die around us because of history.  It is history and tolerance we would rather forget than teach and demand.

We are, all of us, better than this.  We need to start giving each other a hand up instead of a handout.  We need to get back to teaching our young a sense right and wrong; a sense of morality.  We need to start treating each other with mutual respect and honesty, instead of listening to those whose only concern is making money off of our misery be perpetuating the lie of growing hatred and bigotry which the majority of us are working to rise above and, thereby, stop.

Opinions are like assholes, everybody has one.  Try making your opinion constructive and tolerant of someone else's.  We need to relearn how to agree to disagree, then go buy each other a drink and toast to the mere fact that we still have the freedom to do so.  More than this, I think we need to find faith, even if its just faith in each other.

Political parties in this country used to, for the most part, want the same things, their only disagreement was in how to go about achieving them, or make them sustainable.  I'd like to get back to that bygone era and see us all leave the hate at home.

Editor's Note

(Re: disclaimer cum "get out of jail free" card)

Before you go getting your panties in a bunch, it is essential to understand that this is just an opinion site and, as such, can be subjected to scrutiny by anyone with a differing opinion. It doesn't make either opinion any more right or wrong than the other. An opinion, presented in this context, is a way of inciting others to think and, hopefully, to form opinions of their own, if they haven't already done so. This is also why, occasionally, I will present an "opinion" just to stir an emotional pot. Where it may sound like I agree with the statements made, I'm more interested in getting others to consider an alternate viewpoint. 

It is my fervent hope that we keep open and active minds when reading opinions and while engaging in peaceful and constructive discussion, in an arena of mutual respect, concerning those opinions put forth. After over twenty years with military intelligence, I have come to believe engaging each other in this manner and in this arena is the way we will learn tolerance and respect for differing beliefs, cultures, and viewpoints.

We all fall from grace, some more often than others; it is part of being human. God's test for us is what we learn from the experience, and what we do afterward.

Pastor Tony spent 22 years with United States Air Force Intelligence as a planner, analyst, briefer, instructor, and senior manager. He spent 17 years, following his service career, working with the premier, world renowned, Institutional Review Board helping to protect the rights of human subjects involved in pharmaceutical research. Ordained 1n 2013 as an "interfaith" minister, he founded the Congregation for Religious Tolerance in response to intolerance shown by Christians toward peaceful Islam. As the weapon for his war on intolerance he chose the pen, and wages his "battle" in the guise of the Congregation's official online blog, The Path, of which he is both author and editor. "The Path" offers a vehicle for commentary and guidance concerning one's own personal, spiritual, path toward peace and the final destination for us all. He currently resides in Pass Christian, Mississippi, where he volunteers as lead Chaplain and Chaplain Program Liaison, at the regional medical center.