Good freaking hell, people.

[stoney321]

Let me start off with I'm exhausted from all the physical labor I've done today. Worn out. May not be able to reply tonight. Probably not. BUT. Apparently some things need to be said to the General Public, as the General Public keeps proving it's full of assholes.

If you're "sick and tired" of the Jews "complaining" and "constantly harping on" about the Holocaust, let me say this to you:

WHAT A LUXURY. How lucky for you to not have that ache in your heart. How lucky for you to not have to look into your uncle/aunt/grandparent's eyes and see Auschwitz or Dachau. How lucky for you to not hear your uncle/aunt/grandparent cry, remembering. How lucky for you to not have a family tree that just stops. How lucky for you to not know discrimination, to know hate, to hear whispers every day about the evilness inherent, simply because of the way you respect your god (a god usurped by the Christians, let's not forget)/the country you were born in.

Also, you could do a search/replace for "Blacks" and "slavery." Or Native Americans and the loss of AN ENTIRE COUNTRY AND LIFE. Etc. Etc.

If you get to complain about how you're tired of hearing of a minority group "bitching," please know that you are one of the lucky ones. Oh, and you need to grow up. And remember that we tell our stories so we don't repeat the dumb mistakes made over the centuries. We remind our children and grandchildren of past horrors so they will know why their Grandma walks with her head high and doesn't mind wearing sleeves that show her numbers. So our children and grandchildren will remember peace can come from the Great Spirit. So our children and grandchildren will know why it's important that they get a degree, because blacks weren't allowed into the white schools or able to have white collar jobs.

Finally, I remember in 1977 that outside my first grade classroom was a "whites only" water fountain. And Native Americans needed permission to leave the reservation to see movies. And Native Americans STILL TO THIS DAY have governors on their vehicles. That is why I keep talking - the problem hasn't been solved yet.

How about you quit your bitching and help stop the problem? I hear there's a few million in Darfur you may have been ignoring. Much love to those on my flist being maligned. You're better than the hate.

Comments

[kita0610.livejournal.com]

The OP just replied to my comment. I would like to scream now.

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

Just read that - I mean, I get that's she's trying to be idealistic and "everyone has a voice" but really, that person didn't need to voice her bullshit.

If that racist pig had presented her ideas in a questioning statement, like, "why does the Holocaust come up often in conversation among Jews?" We could have all boggled at her, then calmly let her in on some history.

WHAT THE FUCK. I stand by your statement, too.

[altyronsmaker.livejournal.com]

*is not Jewish*
BUT.

Amen to what you just said. Everything (except the usurping part, cuz I'm not sure what ya mean exactly) makes perfect sense.

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

Christians took the Jewish faith and added to it (according to the Christian faith, they've just "finished" what the OT started.) The Jewish god (chronologically) existed first. Christians came in later and (in their faith and belief) call the god of the Old Testament Jesus Christ.

That's all I meant.

[deborahc.livejournal.com]

WTF? Whatever the kerfuffle is that sparked that heartfelt and much appreciated scolding, I've missed it. Do I even want to know, because if I were to come across the kind of comments you refer to it would make me feel very uncomfortable. But I am rather curious about where this started.

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

If you would like to read a lovely and strong and heartbreaking rebuttal, with a link to more of the anti-semitism that's been flooding LJ (bah) go to a2zmom's latest post. She is elegant and wonderful.

The person that sparked this? They are not.

[zandra-x.livejournal.com]

What you said.

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

I know I shouldn't be surprised that I have to say it, but...

Good hell.

[brunettepet.livejournal.com]

Here in Austin there are two movie theaters right next door to one another, right down the street from the capitol. The opulent, still well maintained Paramount, and its lesser neighbor, The State. One was a whites only theater. We point this out when giving friends and family members a tour because oppression and segregation are part of our history.

The Holocaust needs to be remembered. It's not whining when people in power deny it ever happened.

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

Exactly. And we need to remind people about the Japanese Internment camps here in the US. And how Frederiscksberg was occupied by our own German POWs.

And no one ever talks about the Bataan Death March. The poor Filipinos that were brutalized.

We remind each other of these things so we remember to CARE ABOUT EACH OTHER.

*hugs you*

[versaphile.livejournal.com]

governors on their vehicles

I have this mental image of Arnold strapped to the hood of someone's car like a deer. Is this the image I'm supposed to have?

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

Hahahaha. A governor is a device attached to a car's engine to keep it from exceeding certain speeds. *cough* The idea in places like AZ and NM were Indians were drunks, therefore, not allowing them to drive fast meant less work for Highway Patrolmen cleaning up their wrecks and bodies.

!!!

They cannot drive their cars faster than 45 MPH. (I think it may be 55 in places.) Hi, how about some MORE freedoms we take away? Choice, pffft. Who needs that?

It's astounding to me.

[redbrickrose.livejournal.com]

Exactly. I can't believe this KEEPS COMING UP. The whole thing is so disheartening. And kind of scary.

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

Gah, I know! I can't tell if it's just some 20 year olds in their first controversial history class and their trying on Different Thoughts For Size, or if they're just this stupid/ugly.

[nwhepcat.livejournal.com]

What in the holy hell is wrong with some people?

I've always said I wanted to do the Dope Slap Tour, where I travel all over the country smacking the skulls of people who are too stupid to be believed. Guess where I want to start?

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

I would like to be the Warm Up before your big show on that tour, please.

[stephanierb.livejournal.com]

This just keeps happening and now we're on to the Holocaust and I...I have no words.

*sigh*

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

The crazy thing is we've been on the Holocaust and other anti-semitic statements! We thought it had finally stopped and then... *hands*

[beadattitude.livejournal.com]

Brilliantly and concisely said, love.

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

People's inability to look beyond the tip of their noses and SEE people just boggles the mind.

[ljgould.livejournal.com]

Very good scolding, my dear. Unfortunately, the people who need to read it probably won't.

I just commented on a2zmom's post, so I won't repeat myself here.

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

Well, I did leave a condensed version of this on the perpetrator's comment-thread, so if they don't delete their inbox, they'll see it. :)

[fishsanwitt]

I *know*. What the hell is wrong with some people?

::hugs you::

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

I have no idea! Or rather, I have a very good idea, but don't understand how it keeps HAPPENING.

*leans*

[darlas-mom.livejournal.com]

I want to cry, Stoney. Why are people so stupid?

I posted on this, too, but yours is a lot nicer than mine. I used the word "fuck" and its adverb form a few times too many.

You're made of win.

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

Oh, I could get mean if I wanted to, but then they'd just go on the defensive and not listen to anything. Well, they probably won't listen to this much, either.

(And according to my hit counter, a few of them came over and checked out something on my lj...)

[petzipellepingo.livejournal.com]

And with your post in mind, let me link you to this letter (http://seti-drd.livejournal.com/198880.html) that I saw on my flist.

Man's inhumanity to "the other guy" never stops, even when pointed out that "the other guy" is really us. Pogo was right.

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

I saw that letter yesterday, too. Wonderful to see - good for that hotel.

Excellent point - that's the last great hurdle in society, I think.

[gillo]

Well said. I don't know what sparked it, but stuff like this cannot be repeated enough.

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

There have been some horribly anti-semitic statements hurled around since the original Yuletide aggravation happened, including racial slurs, which... really? With the youth of today? Good lord.

It had started to die down, then cropped up again last night, and I just had to say something.

[semby.livejournal.com]

Really well said. Unfortunately, the kind of people who still need to hear and absorb this kind of message are the kind of people who won't really see what it's saying in the first place - they clearly have no grip on reality and no power of perspective outside their own narrow view. It's just really sad.

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

*cough* Well, I originally commented to the Moron With The Bad Comment with a condensed version of this, so they got SOME message, if they didn't delete straight away.

(And I think I've got their IP right - they've hit my journal since I posted, too.)

[timeofchange.livejournal.com]

Thanks for this, my dear. I have simply not known how to respond to the spewing of ugly bigotry. But you did, and so beautifully.

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

I'm just so sorry for the hurt feelings you and Robin and Kita (and others) have been feeling because of carelessness and backward thinking. It's not fair, and you all are better than the small minds who keep perpetrating ugliness.

*bone crushing hugs*

[entrenous88.livejournal.com]

My god, these people are FULL OF FAIL! *goes to catch up on everything*

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

And the fact that the one girl (the OP Robin mentioned) told KITA that her comment was inflammatory, NOT the commenter with the anti-semitic bile!

[ladycat777.livejournal.com]

Thank you.

I am so angry I am shaking. AGAIN.

[tinpanalley.livejournal.com]

Word to everything you've said. It's just unbelievable that this kind of intolerance still exists. The only glimmer of light is that there are posts like this.

[xochitl42.livejournal.com]

The further in time we come from an event--particularly an event as enormous as the Holocaust, the easier it is for people to drown themselves in a balm of forgetfulness and selfish absolution and reject that event as something far lesser than it truly was. There is a victim culture prevalent in the US today; ironically, it's propagated by the very people who call it on other groups: "You were systematically executed over 60 years ago in a fashion not unlike the slaughtering of cattle, except crueller--so what?"

It's chilling and disheartening, and one of my deepest fears is that this selfish, envious repudiation will only get worse as the years go by.

So, if I'm a whiner (I'm Mexican-American, and those Spaniards sure did a number on those Mesoamericans, to say nothing of the touchy situations existing in the US today), then I'm proud to be a whiner. I'll whine till my lungs give out. Because if anyone is given an opportunity to forget, we're all sinking on the selfsame boat.

Thanks for your post, Stoney. Even the most conscientious of us need a wake-up call, and though I try, I'm by no means the most conscientious in the world.

[floweringjudas.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I remember walking around the tiny town downtown where I grew up, when I was about 8, with my mom, and seeing the outline of the words "Whites Only" on unoccupied storefront windows. Y'know, where the paint/plastic had been scraped off, but the residue was still there? *dealing in symbol and metaphor, wot*

Anyway, people suck. That OP needs a good smack, and the commenter needs a good sterilisation. Luckily the batshit hasn't spread to HP so much; we're all just racists, there. :\

[anelith.livejournal.com]

It's been an ugly time recently on LJ, yes? Seen some things we'd rather not have seen.

You can always hit the nail on the head when it comes to these things. So well put. I just flail and never know what to say.

[lumenara.livejournal.com]

You are AWESOME. Thank you so much.

I've just posted, and am now running away from my desk afraid of what I'm bringing down on myself...

[southernbangel.livejournal.com]

You know, it shouldn't boggle my mind that this debate has raised its ugly head again because there will always be racist fuckwits in this world, but it does. Whether that's because I view LJ as a relatively "safe space" for myself or what, I don't know, but the fact that your post and so many others have to be posted to serve as a wake-up call saddens me. It's like, what happened to compassion and understanding and, I don't know, respecting others, regardless of race, religion, sexuality, etc, and not belitting their experiences?

Gah, I hate humanity sometimes.