HELL YEAH!
Love This Comeback
One of my sons serves in the military. He is still stateside, here in
California He called me yesterday to let me know how warm and welcoming
people were to him and his troops everywhere he goes, telling me how
people shake their hands and thank them for being willing to serve and
fight for not only our own freedoms , but ! so that others may have
them also.
But he also told me about an incident in the grocery store he stopped
at yesterday on his way home from the base. He said that ahead of
several people in front of him stood a woman dressed in a burkha.
He said when she got to the cashier she loudly remarked about the U.S.
flag lapel pin the cashier wore on her smock. The cashier reached up and
touched the pin, and said proudly, 'Yes, I always wear it and probably
always will.'
The woman in the burkha then asked the cashier when she was going to
stop bombing her countrymen, explaining that she was Iraqi.
A gentleman standing behind my son stepped forward. Putting his arm
around my son's shoulders and nodding towards my son, he said in a calm
and gentle voice to the Iraqi woman:
'Lady, hundreds of thousands of men and women like this young man have
fought and died so that YOU could stand here, in MY country and accuse a
check-out cashier of bombing YOUR countrymen. It is my belief that had
you been this outspoken in YOUR own country, we wouldn't need to be
there today. But, hey, if you have now learned how to speak out so
loudly and clearly, I'll gladly buy you a ticket and pay your way back
to Iraq so you can straighten out the mess in YOUR country that you are
obviously here in MY country to avoid.
' Everyone within hearing distance cheered!
IF YOU AGREE____ Pass this on to all your proud American friends.
I just did.
I've never been one to call this land "MY country" because I believe that a higher power owns this land. No matter what religion, even atheism, people believe that there were forces beyond human capabilities that formed this habitable rock we call Earth. Something Else made us. This forwarded email exposes men's double-standard between religion and patriotism. It's no doubt that the male in this story who stood up to the Wicked Iraqi Witch of The East was supposed to represent a red-blooded christian good ol' boy. This man, since his dialog was described as being in a "calm
and gentle voice," is supposed to be read as a church-goer if not christ-like. There's no need to mention any of that in this email, since it can be assumed with just a few select words in conjunction with Defending The Troops and American Freedom. So, in this email, we have a christ-like man standing up to the Wicked Muslim of The East who is obviously not speaking from her Place. Even though the christ-man says she has the freedom to speak as she does, he makes sure that she isn't allowed the freedom to speak by putting her back in her place. He verbally abuses her in a calm and gentle voice (he'll buy a ticket for her to go back where she belongs sounds an awful lot like sending african americans "back to where they came from") because that's what good ol' boys have to do make sure those uppity women don't get their heads swollen. Especially so if you're a woman who is from another country. This is so racist and so sexist it makes my head spin. It's hard to separate the racism and the sexism in this story. It's hard to separate racism and sexism in american culture...period.
I really hate getting these emails from my dad especially when he will concur that Bush is a disaster and that this war is a disaster. But he will perpetuate the rhetoric about supporting the troops and how americans have more freedom than any other humans on Earth. Well, mostly because he believes he has the right to have guns, and lots of them. But I don't. I am married to someone who used to have a non-violent felony, and even though it has been expunged (at a pretty penny) he still is not allowed to have a gun, and neither am I since I am married to him. He can purchase an antique black powder pistol or rifle, but if he is caught shooting it or in possession of it, then it can be taken from him and he can be charged with some bullshit. We already went over this very thoroughly with people who would have rather sold us a gun than not. You know those white male NRA types that want all the other white males to have arms to bear. Oh, I just realized how close NRA is to MRA. Anyway, my dad will always get sucked in by the patriotic rhetoric. And then he thinks that it's okay to push this kind of shit on me via email. Just when I thought I'd gotten away from his constant patriarchal voice, it comes right into my own home through the modern wonders of the internet. I had been just deleting anything he sends me, but it's been at least somewhat amusing critiquing these emails after being infuriated by them for so long.
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