The Five Strands of A Sedentary Empress

I Realized Something.

I have to change my view on something. It's painful, acknowledging that I may have been too confident about my opinion, so certain that it was the right one that I was ignorant to some blatant truths.

Recently, I wrote out some thoughts pertaining to race and the American election. I wrote that 'CNN needs to stop making this a black/white thing because that whole topic is old and stale for most of the world.' I was speaking as a non-American, as someone who has rarely seen race used as a factor in excluding someone from an opportunity, or from taking part in any group. I was speaking as someone who thought that the American citizens had moved beyond the antiquated and flawed thinking that skin colour or religious preference would have any sort of negative influence over how one conducts them self professionally or morally. I gave credit to a large number of people who don't deserve it. I wrongly assumed that everyone is as idealistic and fair as I try to be. Foolish, foolish girl.

Yesterday, I sat with my mouth open, watching coverage of citizens waiting to attend a Republican rally somewhere in middle America. I watched in disbelief as a man proudly held up a monkey doll, referring to it as presidential candidate Obama, laughing openly and getting the people around him to join in with his incendiary remarks and comments. I watched people plainly state they could never vote for a black individual, without offering any sort of reasonable explanation why. I listened to my friend A. rage over the phone about her American friend who will absolutely, under no circumstances vote for Barack because he's a 'Black Muslim', oblivious to how stupid she sounded to the Canadian on the other end of the phone who is fully aware that this statement was not only erroneous, but stupid. I also read an article about how the Republicans have now resorted to warning citizens who may have outstanding warrants that they will be apprehended if they choose to vote, scaring off potential left-wing voters.

I have come to realize that racism is still very much alive in the country to the south. While stale to many of us outsiders, as in 'we're sick of hearing about it every time we turn on the news or watch an American produced film that has an African American cast', it is beyond obvious that there is a reason this theme is so prevalent in American culture: it still goes on.

I have never seen people who appeared to be so proud of their ignorance before. That strange blend of pride and enamel-coated stupidity that many of us see as being intrinsically lower-class American. We watch the movies, we listen to the chatter, we are forced to get worked up over the politics in that wonderful, confusing country, but we take it all in from the relative safety of our world, the place where that kind of thing seems...bizarre. Don't get me wrong, racism exists in other countries as well, and Canada is no exception, but it almost always occurs in low-level communities, people who don't know very much and are content to remain that way. I have never known anyone who would take their backward thinking or racial/religious bias and verbalize it openly. Even if they're prejudiced, they're polite enough to keep it to themselves. The biggest issue I've experienced here is the intolerance of the English speaking citizens to the French, and even that has never been much of an issue. Because of this, I assumed that things were improving everywhere, that people were beginning to wake up and move beyond the outdated thinking and were ready to embrace a sense of community solidarity, which is what the concept of 'melting pots' are based upon. It appears I over-estimated the intelligence of a good many people.

And so, after being so good for so long, certain Americans are beginning to show their true colours. Feeling desperate and uncertain about keeping a strangehold on the country, it seems that some Republican voters are ready for this to become a 'race thing'. Now it's all beginning to come out, now we have the mouth-breathing, fried chicken eating, baseball cap wearing, Joe six-pack slurping, barely able to conduct a conversation contingent coming out in droves, letting it be known that they are afraid. They are afraid of the unknown. They are afraid that a black man will win, that they will have to answer to a person they've been conditioned to fear/loathe on sight because of what their 'grand pappies done tole 'em'. That A. was telling me about her highly educated friend from Colorado believing Obama was a Muslim based on the yammerings of people she spoke with lead me to wonder just how smart these 'educated people' actually are. Do they just give away diplomas down there? Why does there seem to be a kind of 'dumbing down' phenomenon taking place? Don't these people realize how this translates to the rest of the world who, I can guarantee you, are sitting back shaking their heads, amazed.

It isn't fair to the ones with an unobstructed view as to what makes a successful country. It is unfair to the people who believe in equality and justice for everyone around them, not just a select few. I am ashamed of the unknowing, those who are so arrogant that they will hide behind a flag whenever someone challenges their flimsy point of view. That's not patriotism. That's a coward wrapped in a flag.

This is how I see it, now, and I feel badly that I was blind to what is actually happening south of the border. We watch the American debates and the election coverage because we're fascinated by it. We know that it's important to the whole world that the right person gets the job in that country, because the last guy (and his minions) was so indisputably bad that he caused problems for countries all over the globe, not just his own. We need the Americans to be smarter this time, it's that simple.

I am so disappointed. It pains me to know that there is little chance of fixing the broken thinking. I realize that many, many people don't behave this way, nor do they actually believe any of the warped proclamations of those who are too mired down in their mental garbage to have a decent chance of ever understanding what is. I believe that the majority of the people are good, and that their intentions are clean. I'm just disgusted by the others.

Really, though, for the rest of us, the topic is really old. I just wish it was for everyone.