mad libs!

i advise you all to check this link: mad libs.  a) because it's hilarious and b) because it concerns something really very serious.

as a person who happens to be a genetic mutt with an open mind, it astounds me when people have hard-wired prejudices or intense misconceptions are people who are of the "other," especially because these prejudices are often so deeply rooted in present-day social problems that they are glaringly obvious reactions to subconscious fears.  those who carry prejudices, fearing for the future propagation of the world as they knew it (regardless of whether or not it was a good, progressive, enlightened world), rail against any and all fellow human beings who do not fit neatly into the small cube of existence that they have carved out for themselves.  and to these fear-mongers, i say, "fuck you."  (but nicely, of course, because that's my m.o.)  i'm enraged daily by the sheer ignorance and hate that gets vomited into the public discourse every day by talking heads, politicians and their supporters (this goes for both side of the aisle, for the record), who say harmful, hateful, despicable things about living, breathing, beautiful people who just happen to be different.

there is absolutely no justification, moral, religious, cultural or otherwise, for the systematic removal of the rights and status of people simply due to their otherness and those who encourage this are imbeciles.  strong language, right?  totally.  because it's true.  to subscribe to that view is simply to expose your fundamental misunderstanding of history and about what it means to be a human being.  there hasn't been a time in the last several thousand years that any one group of people was any more pure or good or righteous than another. to vilify a group in the present is to forget our collective pasts, which included such horrific events as the crusades and the holocaust, neither of which were spearheaded by today's villians de jour, homosexuals or those who practice islam.  no, the crusades and the holocaust were christian, white enterprises, but they were long enough ago that we're able to forgot about the terrible havoc our ancestors wrecked on the world and focus instead on attempting to subjugate everyone else under our very special, puritanical world views.

it's time to step down from our 21st century straight, white, middle class pedestals and start taking effective, realistic and humble action in our world.  however, as a student of history, it's not difficult for me to see why when our country is failing at pretty much everything, the first reaction is not to help solve legitimate problems, but instead is to point the finger at the supposed social monstrosities that are to blame (in 2011, those would be abortion, gay people and muslims, to name a few).  that's what fearful people have done in hard times of change all throughout history.

like, when the crusaders torched europe or when hitler killed my great-great grandparents.

glass house, stones, people.  shut the hell up about what defines rape or who gets an abortion and fix the broken american educational system, crack down on mortgage lenders and make sure we can all get the healthcare we need.  poverty, obesity and prejudice will take us down long before gay marriage.  trust.