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When I was a kid in the 70s, I was under the impression that America was (essentially) a progressive place (or at least progressing) and that because shows like The Jeffersons and All in the Family and music groups like The Village People and Parliament were popular, that we were steadily moving toward a national culture that was inclusive, even celebratory, when it came to appreciating non-white, non-heterosexual, non-Christian members of American society. But I was kid, you know, I really only knew what my parents taught me and what I observed of our culture through movies, music and television.
Since then, I've gotten older and wiser and after years of reflection am pretty much convinced that that 'happy colorful place,' that 'America' I grew up in, was sold to me, or rather that it was what I wanted to see and (because of that time and place in history) it was given to me...I'm no longer certain that it ever really existed outside of the political climate established at home by my parents and by the 'marketplace' which found these ideals to be very profitable at the time (hence the old 'liberal media conspiracy' canard, perhaps). How else could things be so different now? So terribly wrong, in my estimation.
I just spent the better part of two weeks traveling around the southeastern US and I've come back with a fortified confidence in this theory. I've read regional magazines and newspapers, seen political campaign ads on tv, overheard conversations and seen enough ignorant bumper stickers, billboards and rebel flags to cover 'Ground Zero' twice over with good old American fear and radicalism. And before the good old boys pile on, I'm not apt to believe that this is a 'Southern' thing. How could it be, it's too pervasive, too popular, to be regional.
So, I'm sorry to pile on with the 'right wing' bash-a-thon without contributing significantly to the issue with the mosque, but I think the reaction to the mosque is a perfect example of the exclusionary, reactionary antithesis of everything I was brought up to believe in as an American. This shit wouldn't have flown in 1975.
Perhaps, like much of life, this is just a turn of the tide and all the little conservative children of the world are growing up thinking that (basically) their country is heading in the right direction while their popular culture teaches them that their fears are justified and their reactions are rational. I dunno.
I guess my point is, it's my impression that all this anti-Mosque hoopla is just a single incident in a much more troubling and pervasive trend toward the legitimizing of some very old, ugly and dangerous ideas.
sorry I didn't have something more specific to add to the discussion, but to me there's no sense in talking specifically about it without addressing the bigger issue. It would be akin to swatting a single termite crawling across the floor of your living room while the multitudes are busily eating away your floorboards.
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Most people go through life dreading they'll have a traumatic experience. Freaks were born with their trauma. They've already passed their test in life. They're aristocrats. - Diane Arbus
PESSIMISM, n. A philosophy forced upon the convictions of the observer by the disheartening prevalence of the optimist with his scarecrow hope and his unsightly smile. - Ambrose Bierce
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