Been Down This Road Too Many Times

Na'im Akbar said it best: "There is no event which does not have simultaneous and systematic impact on other systems of existence. The body does not even experience tension that is not simultaneously registered in the mental and spiritual spheres."

I thought I had moved into a cause that did not involve men's issues. When my friend was picked up by immigration and he brought me many other immigrants in even worse circumstances than he was in - when I realized that the way detained immigrants were being treated in this country violated everything that I had grown up believing my country stood for, I thought I had an immigration issue on my hands.

Then, out of the first few immigrants targeted by ICE that came my way all were men, 2 had lived existences that seriously suggested domestic slavery and one had been deported on the word of a pissed off girlfriend and a domestic assault charge that was never proven.

Then the new director of DHS, Janet Napolitano came up with this gem: "Serious felons deserve to be in the prison model, but there are others. There are women. There are children." So Ms Napolitano - are you saying that all felons are men or that women are like children and are never felons? What exactly are you saying there?! I'm not even sure who was insulted on that one - men or women - but I know it was an insult to whatever teacher had Ms Napolitano in his logic class.

Then a young man told me of his ordeal being deported from this country 10 years ago, being separated from his daughters, being told by the judge when he asked who would raise his children that the government would and BAM! - suddenly I was right back in the same arena I've been fighting in for the last 19 years - men's rights. Good grief, people - could ya switch it up a little? This is getting old!

I have said this so many times, but here it goes again: Any belief that a person is superior or inferior due to an accident of birth, whether that be one of race, religion, gender, sexual orientation or any other bloody thing human kind can come up with to discriminate against is holding the door open for prejudice and bigotry. If you want to end prejudice . . . stop inviting it in to sit at the table! As long as it is okay to discriminate against anyone for the way he or she is born the bigots and haters of this world win. You don't have to like people of all groups. There are some I'm not overly fond of, but that doesn't give me the right to persecute them or deny them their rights. Now if you move over into the arena of chosen actions - that is a whole different ball game, but don't tell me that only men are abusers or that Mexican immigrants are more inclined to commit crimes and you have the facts and statistics to prove it . . . don't even go there! I'm old enough to remember when the "scientific evidence" pointed to how incapable women were at certain tasks and how inferior and criminally inclined blacks were. I remember when William Shockley's dissertations on eugenics were actually considered valid. Changing the targeted group does not validate any message of hate.

I am not interested in hearing the reasons why in one particular case it is the exception. I have heard them all already. I'm 60 freakin' years old people and I've heard it so many times by now I could tell it to you! Just give me the group you want to hate - men, Mexicans, gays - any group - go ahead. Give me your reasons. I guarantee that they will be the same bloody reasons that were pushed in the 60s as why blacks are naturally subservient or women are naturally weak. I promise you - the targets change, but the tactics and justification remains the same.

You want to end hatred? You want to end bigotry? You want to bring some compassion and caring to this world? Then stop your bloody hatin'!!! And yes, I am yelling! I am so sick of perfectly intelligent people presenting me with the same sorry-assed bullshit and expecting me to swallow it like it's the finest chocolate. It's BULLSHIT! Dress it up however you want. Give it all the "scientifically obtained statistics" you want to prove your point that in this case there really is proof that this one group is somehow bad or less because they were born male or Hispanic or maybe sexually confused or whatever your issue is, but don't pretend you aren't contributing to the oppression of mankind in doing so. Don't think you can demonize one select group and not harm humanity as a whole. Don't sit there and say you care about people and you are doing this for the benefit of all. And don't expect me to agree with you, because that is just insulting. It suggests that you think I'm stupid enough to buy what you are serving up and honey, I just ain't that gullible!

Do you think I'm doing something noble - sticking up for the underdog? No honey - there's nothing noble here. When injustice and cruelty become the order of the day no one is safe. Think back to the French Revolution - those who started and fed the hatred eventually lost their own heads to the violence. In a world where justice can be bent to suit the latest agenda and human rights are optional no one is safe. I'm fighting for my own welfare, nothing more. Na'im Akbar said it best.