Acceptable American Discrimination ~ Are you freaking kidding me?

I do not consider myself a conservative. While I do have some conservative values, I have very little in common with the Republican party and find that pretty much everything they stand for is in the best interest of the wealthy and white. However, I do enjoy listening to conservative talk radio for three reasons. First, I like to hear how out of touch with reality some of these people are. Second, I do not want to be ignorant about their points of view. Third, I like to have my views challenged, it makes me a more considerate person and gives me some leverage in presenting my arguments.
I majored in Anthropology in college, therefore I like to think of myself as a culturally sensitive person. I understand that there are so many misunderstandings alive and well in these United States and all over the world that have horrible consequences in the form of prejudice, discrimination, violence and war. I also consider myself a feminist and have often thought that if we replaced all the male leaders of the world with intelligent, empowered women, things would be very different, but that is a different topic for a different day.
Anyway, I was listening to a local conservative talk show the other day and the topic was the "only form of acceptable discrimination left in America." Can you guess what it was?...................................................
Unless you were listening to the show, I'm 98% sure you can't. Ready. Anti-Mormonism. Yes, this man thought that hatred toward Mormons was the only acceptable form of discrimination left in America.
I thought sure I'd hear, racism against Mexicans, against Arabs or Jews, but no, this man thought that the one article he read on a national newspaper's website was enough evidence to claim that Mormons are the only people in America who are discriminated against with recourse.
When I heard this, I was shocked and a little pissed off. There are so many people in this country who would completely disagree with this, what a ridiculous statement. I have a sneaking suspicion that most Mormons would agree that this is a pretty ridiculous statement as well. I haven't been to Utah lately, but I can assume without much reservation that too many people haven't been denied jobs because they were Mormon, or denied the opportunity to rent an apartment because they belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day saints. If an of my readers find themselves in the category of downtrodden and discriminated against Mormons, I apologize for my generalization, but I know that there are many groups of people who find themselves in much less privileged situations.
Let's take for example our friends and neighbors, the Mexicans. Conservative talk radio hosts love to talk about how horrible Americans have it because their jobs are being stolen by Mexicans who are willing to work for lower wages. Due to the fact that it can be difficult to discern between those who are in this country legally or illegally, they all get lumped together. A person with the last name Sanchez is much more likely to be discriminated against than someone named Smith. I could go on and on, but I'll move on.
Not to mention the Arabs. I purposely refrained from using the term Muslim because that is almost beside the point when things are taken at face value. If a man is wearing a turban, or if he has dark skin with straight hair, he is automatically assumed to be a Muslim/terrorist (of course this does not apply to everyone who sees him, but it is undoubtedly by a greater percentage of people than those who hate Mormons). I heard a statement on the news once were a well-spoken young women stated that "On September 11, the Arab replaced the black man as the most feared person in America." What do you think about that?
Okay, now let's talk about "the Gays." Yes, they do have enjoyed much more acceptance now than probably at any other time in history, however, almost anyone knows that it is much easier to be straight in America than "queer," especially for men. Homophobia is alive and well, no doubt about it. I will not get into this argument about gay marriage because that too is a different topic for a different post, but I do wonder how many people on capital hill refer to those pushing this piece of legislature as fags, when in the safety of their upper-class homes.
In reality, this post could be much much longer, but I have other things to do. Than you for reading, thank you for being open-minded and may God have mercy on us all.

2010: Los Angeles=Manhattan

This is for all those wonderful Angelinos stuck in traffic right now. Have you been to Hollywood and Highland lately? This weekend my good buddy and I thought we'd get dinner and do a little shopping in Hollywood. Gone are the days of the shady corners complete with shady characters. Today the streets of Hollywood are lined with tourists, police officers and trendy shops and restraunts that we not there two years ago. I remember cruising that star-lined street with the homies in high school, thinking about how trashy it all looked, but at least back then we could find a place to park.

Even closer to my heart is the destruction/construction of Pasadena. First, they wanted to give us a pro-football team (thank God that didn't happen), then they kick out all those cool old shops and a movie theatre that was a local landmark and replace them with sleek, brightly lit boutiques most of us can not afford and probably still wouldn't go to even if we could. Here's a SNtS challenge. Next time you're in the "Dena" count all the new super-condos that were not there the last time you drove by. All over the city, lots that used to hold one or two single-family homes have spawned huge, ridiculously-priced condos which are painted in trendy ultra-modern colors in efforts to attract all those yuppies who work downtown, but don't want to live there. (I realize that was a run-on sentance, but this is a blog not a textbook)

Generally, progress is a good thing. However, when you construct a building on a corner that used to house one or two families and invite two oor three hundred new people to live there, you have completely changed the dynamics of the area. The streets now have to accomodate a bunch of new traffic, but they don't get any wider. A new starbucks will soon follow, driving the old cafe that's been in town since the 70's out of business. The 210 used to be a passable freeway, now, one can expect traffic everyday (even Saturday and Sunday)!

So, what should we do? Leave? I don't want to, but I fear that one day I may be blogging from San Luis Obispo or somewhere simularly charming.

That's it for my first post! Most likely no one is going to read this, but it's good to get these frustrations off my chest. And with that, I'm out.