Two years ago, bigotry was at it’s finest- good thing we have cameras. The only difference between now and then? Censorship. Oh did I forget to mention in the good ol’ U. S. of A.? The night preceding Obama’s Cairo speech, Max Blumenthal and Joseph Dana took to the streets of Jerusalem, creating an exposé that would skyrocket their journalistic careers. However, The Huffington Post, YouTube, and Vimeo now fail to provide an outlet for Feeling the Hate in Jerusalem. (Loopholes, got to love them! Dana ‘cleverly’ posted the video on Vimeo under Feeling the Love in Jerusalem or check it out on my post).

It is in a Jerusalem pub where they interviewed Americans, for the most part. Mark C. Eades of Talking Points Memo suggests that

“Most of the youths… are obviously Americans, in Israel for some education and/or indoctrination program and feeling an all-new sense of swaggering macho entitlement and self-importance fueled by alcohol and testosterone.”

That’s awfully kind of Eades to suggest their bigotry can be rehabilitated. Below is the transcript for the video. You be the judge, are their comments somewhat justified or is their ignorance completely amplified by the booze and cameras? 

Q- What do you think, by the way, about Obama coming to the region?

1- He’s a fuckhead. Wait. Yeah—I don’t know politics, but he’s a shithead. Anyone who wants to take away my gun rights is an asshole. He’s an asshole and he deserves to get shot.

2- Obama [garble garble] Israel for shit, Netanyahu told him to fuck off, and that’s how we do it here in Israel, baby. Yeeeaaaahhhhhh!!

3- [garble] go fuck themselves! [garble garble] Israel can go fuck themselves.

4- I worked for the Obama campaign but honestly, you fuckin’ in Israel, you mother! Stop it! Alright?!

5- White power! Fuck the niggers.

6- He does care about Jews and he does care about the Arabs. The thing is, he doesn’t understand that this country is ours.

7- I think it’s really fucked up that he’s going to all the Arab states and not Israel. Oh, he’s a Muslim for sure, and who even knows if he was born in the United States? We haven’t seen his birth certificate yet. Bullshit, he’s not from the US, he’s like a terrorist. Just what is he doing for this country…so far? Nothing.

Q- What do you—

7-I’m a political science major, so like…

Q- So you know your shit?

7- I know my shit!

Q- Do you know who Benjamin Netanyahu is?

7- No. [Her other two friends also say no] Is he Israel prime minister or something? I don’t know who he is. Who’s Benjamin Yahoo?

8- He doesn’t have any place here, this is our place. Obama’s place is over there. I didn’t vote for him, I didn’t vote for nobody. I live here. I’m a yid, I’m a Jew. Am Yisroel, Eretz Yisroel(Nation of Israel, Land of Israel).

Q- You think Obama likes Jews…cares about Jews?

7- I don’t think we can trust whether he does or not.

9- You said, “Yes, we can change the world,” I ain’t see any good changes yet, Obama. What’s the deal? I think you’re a pussy. And if you don’t change the world any time soon, I know where the white house is. I’m gonna tea bag your ass. And I’m gonna put it on YouTube. Faggot. I’m comin’ for you, Obama.

10- You’re all about talkin’ to the Arabs, you’re going to Cairo, makin’ a speech to the Muslim world, tryin’ to get them to love you. What about the Jews, man? What are we, chopped liver? You don’t care about us? Are we nothing to you? Do we matter? Do you care if we get driven into the sea? Do you care if get nuked?! Like, are we even on—are—do you even care about us?!

11- [two guy talking over each other]…have some watermelon with Obama, you know? He’s another nigger from the town.

12- I think Obama is an idiot…and I just think—wait, is this gonna be on, like, national TV or something?

13- Fuck Obama! He’s an asshole. Fuck Obama. Fuck Obama. [repeat]

14- [same guy as 10]. My grandmother was at Auschwitz, Obama. We’re not gonna take any Nazi bullshit…Listen, man, my grandma’s number was 1268493. I remember her number on her arm, dude. And listen…never again will we deal with this. Never again. Bring it on, motherfuckers.

15- All I gotta say is, “I want pussy.”

Well, don’t they seem like the educated, tolerant, and proactive youth of the next generation? Can’t wait to see their candidates for leadership positions.  Number 15, wearing the yarmulke, I sure bet Yahweh approves. Classy. 

tumblrbot asked: WHERE WOULD YOU MOST LIKE TO VISIT ON YOUR PLANET?

Back to Cairo! If only…

Last September, the Pew Research Center published the results of a survey: 

[American] atheists and agnostics, Jews and Mormons are among the highest-scoring groups on a new survey of religious knowledge, outperforming evangelical Protestants, mainline Protestants and Catholics on questions about the core teachings, history and leading figures of major world religions.

This is cause for celebration. Okay, I shouldn’t glorify the overall ignorance of Americans, but this is an opportunity to say “I told you so.” I find it to be yet another (successful) opportunity for reasoning, education, and tolerance to trump the mindless word-twisting parrots of orthodoxy*.

*I’m referring to the people who…

• refuse to acknowledge science, the opposing side
• think all Muslims are sexist suicide-bombers 
• think all Christians are western-imposing racists 
• belong to the Westboro Baptist Church (or just think homosexuality is a choice) 
• ignore the fact that the Qu’ran, Bible, and Torah (are supposed to) treat each other as “people of the book”

I think you get the point… I don’t hate the religious! I am disappointed in the ignorant; it just so happens that the two tend to overlap throughout history. (i.e. Inquisitions, Crusades, current blasphemy laws- need I say more?)

You have to admit, stereotypes generally stretch the truth- or rather the perceived truth. Muslims have become the face of terrorism, this CNN article, Study: Threat of Muslim-American terrorism in U.S. exaggerated, attempts to showcase the lack of reality behind this association. Yet not all stereotypes shine negative light on its subjects, just look at the third high-ranking group: Jews. (C’mon, we were all thinking, “oh there’s a shocker.”) As incredibly politically incorrect as that last sentence was (and as I’m noticing, much of the writing thus far), it is important to keep in mind the prejudices of stereotypes at bay and taken with a grain of salt.

It can’t be denied that extreme fundamentalists of any religion tend to isolate themselves from the truths of other faiths. It is this practice that I hope such people fail miserably when attempting to prove their superiority. Now sure, you might be asking, “why would they need to show their knowledge of other religions if they whole-heartedly believe their’s is The Truth?” Well you know what? I hate to break it to you, but what is believed or even perceived isn’t actually always the truth. Yeah, this just got real. Maybe there isn’t one ’truest’ religion, and even if their is, how do you know your’s is that one? The reality is you can’t start that path of discovery without literacy in an array of religions and philosophies. 

So think you can beat the godless atheists, studious Jews, or even the Mormons? (Seriously, don’t lie. I bet you were shocked that the Mormons were so successful- Glenn Beck is pretty much their spokesman…) Why not take your chances? Think God’s on your side? Great! Think your superior intellect will take you further? Let’s see it! Take the Pew Research Center abridged Religious Knowledge Test!

Clearly I’m bias. Whenever I see someone overtly religious addressing the work and idea of atheism, something unsettles me. If they could, my thoughts would roll their metaphoric eyes. I immediately assume the faith-based argument will be circular and centered around the ‘truthiness’ (as Colbert might say) of the Bible. The fact that I enter the discussion with prejudice causes great self-disappointment. 

Now it’s not to say that I ‘disapprove’ or choose not to tolerate religions- quite the contrary. I find the comparative study of religions exceptionally intriguing, perhaps it is the ignorance of such practices that stems my frustration. People try to make elitist arguments thinking that they have complete understanding of other religions, however, if that were truly the case, how can they feel that their faith is superior? Below is a link to an example of such mindsets- the Assistant Professor of Theology at Wyoming Catholic College, Dr. Jeremy Holmes, response to Richard Dawkins’ The God Delusion. 

If one were to examen religions from a completely secular view, I suppose an argument could be made that they can be organized by level of logic. That is not to say that religions are irrational (although some aspects may be a little far out), because what is faith but a mysterious leap of hope? 

Dr. Holmes’ blog entry can be found here.