You are currently browsing posts tagged with So-Called Inclusiveness
On Race Relasians
Two-thirds of Americans think race relations are good post-election, according to a recent NY Times/CBS News survey. The Times followed up over the weekend with a story that corroborated those findings, interviewing dozens of people in seven states on the subject. As usual, the interviewees on the vast subject of race relations were limited to either black or white, although Asians were brought into the dialogue by this one fellow:
“I didn’t vote for Obama,” said Chris Miller, 46, a boat builder in Johnstown, N.Y., who is white. “But just what I saw during the campaign — you had people, white, black, yellow, green, gray, every race and nationality out there together supporting that man. That right there showed me, hey, things are changing, things are better here. I had never seen anything to that extent.”
Inclusiveness…yes!
But is it too much inclusiveness? What I mean specifically is…who the hell are these green people? (Don’t even get me started on “grays,” I think they’re about as real as centaurs.) What contributions have greens made to this country that suddenly they get to be in discussions about race, too? Our people have been here for over 150 years…can greens say the same? Did they build our railroads and do our laundry? Did they perfect take-out cuisine? Did they set new standards of excellence in science and academia and figure skating? People, you know, accuse Asians of “keeping to themselves,” but have you ever seen a green person do anything positive in your community? For that matter, have you ever even seen a green person?!
Okay, I guess some do exist, but I’ve still never seen them at church or a Little League gameY’all, this is some bullshit. I’m glad Asians are beginning to be included in the dialogue–and I credit Obama for that–but we have waited and worked and protested and agitated to be here. I don’t think you can say the same for green people. If you ask me, they’ve been a little bit apathetic and, frankly, lazy about their place in this society. I know that sounds racist. Maybe it is. In which case, race relations probably aren’t so swell after all. Harumph.
Filed under: Barack Obama, Green People, NY Times Race Relations Survey, Pet Peeves, Race Dialogue, Race Relations, So-Called Inclusiveness, Yellow People
Rick Warren Did Not Make Me a Believer
Not to be a thorn in your post-invocation side, Rick Warren, but Jesus did not teach me to pray. He didn’t teach Jews (except for those who followed him when he was alive), Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Sikhs, non-Christian theists, or agnostics, either. You chose your words for the inauguration carefully for a change–”I humbly ask this in the name of the one who changed my life, Yeshua, Isa, Jesus [Spanish pronunciation], Jesus, who taught us to pray, ‘Our father, who art in Heaven’…”–but not carefully enough, I’m afraid.
Why the pronoun-switch midstream from “me” to “us”? Who is this “us”? You and other Christians? It sounded like you meant all of us. And when you said, “Jesus, who taught us to pray,” did you really mean the Lord’s Prayer specifically, or were you implying that Jesus taught us to pray generally, too? I couldn’t tell.
Jesus did teach you and other Christians the Lord’s Prayer (unless you believe the gospel of Mark, from which the Lord’s Prayer is notably absent). And I can accept that Jesus has changed your life and taught you the Lord’s Prayer and to pray in general, but “us”? Is this what people are referring to when they’re now giving you credit for inclusiveness? That you’ve invited “us” to your Jesus party? I’m sorry, Pastor Warren, but I don’t want to be included in that way. I respect and would never seek to outlaw your right to believe, though, despite the fact that you have tried to outlaw what I can do with my body (abortion = Holocaust denial…more inclusiveness!) and who my loved ones can marry. But please don’t assume that there is an “us.” There is no “us” when it comes to you and me, and it’s not because I don’t believe in Jesus, it’s because I don’t believe in you.
Read the full transcript of Rick Warren’s inauguration invocation here.
Filed under: Abortion Rights, Believers, Christian Attitudes, Jesus, Pastor Rick Warren, Presidential Inauguration, Proposition 8, Rick Warren, Saddleback Church, So-Called Inclusiveness, The Lord's Prayer
