Saturday, August 28, 2010

Civil rights outrage

At the Lincoln Memorial today, conservative commentator Glenn Beck is to kick off a rally entitled Restoring Honor. Tea Party devotees have flocked to Washington, D.C. in their thousands to hear Beck's speech and participate in the rally.
But, lo and behold, a little something a rally-supporting blogger wrote has caused a stir. The "Tea Party: One Lump or Two?" blog cautioned rally attendees to avoid certain areas and subway lines in Washington and asserted that certain immigrants in the city, such as Arabs and Africans, should not be engaged in conversation.
Bruce Majors, the blogger in question, responded to charges of racism by asserting that all he did was post links so people could get an idea of what areas of Washington should be avoided. "My suggestion to any visitors to DC this weekend is to check these URLs and learn what is safe and what is not. All the Liberal hatemongering aimed at visiting citizens to DC is crap. Even the DC police think the Green Line is dangerous," Majors wrote.
Also, it seems that the point behind mentioning the African immigrants in Washington, despite what those civil rights activists currently crying foul have to say, was about respect for their sensitivities rather than fear-mongering.
"As a rule, African immigrants do not like for you to assume they are African-Americans," Majors wrote, "and especially do not like for you to guess they are from a neighboring country (e.g. Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia) with whom they may have political or military tensions." Majors' point would appear to be that well-intentioned people sometimes say things in ignorance that can be deemed offensive, so conversation with certain immigrants, who don't yet understand the average American's puppydog-like curiosity, should be kept to a minimum.
It's hard to fathom how either piece of advice could be considered racist. But, of course, as far as the liberals are concerned, if we don't give an African immigrant a friendly slap on the back while saying, "Hey, my brother, where you from? Somalia?" or if we're not willing to place our total and complete trust in our fellow human beings no matter what sort of neighborhood we find ourselves traversing, then we're racist and a threat to civil rights.
Because you do realize that if you're not skipping down the street in a "disadvantaged" neighborhood, handing out lollipops to everyone you see on the street, you're as bad as Hitler? Don't you?

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Thanks! I wish you well with your own Tea Party movement in the UK.

I love London and hope to visit again; I have cousins who live in Bury St. Edmunds who are coming on holiday this month to visit my aunt here in the states.

One reporter at least in the US got my story more accurately, because he picked up the phone and actually met me:

http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2010-08-28/bruce-majors-an-unlikely-tea-partier

Nightdragon said...

"Tea party" has a much different meaning here, LOL. But I suppose having the Conservatives back in power -- even if they are sharing with the Lib Dems -- amounts to as close a Tea Party movement as the Brits are capable of generating. You must understand that the average Brit's quasi-socialist world outlook and sense of "fair play" means that genuine conservatism, as we know it, doesn't stand much of a chance here. Most Brits are like Americans in that they like their taxes lowered, but that's about it.

I'm from Boston myself and look forward to my next opportunity to visit there and be among family and friends for a couple of weeks. It was difficult, to say the least, to adapt to life here. But it's been a decade now, so I think I'm doing alright!