Bias – By Rebekkah

I’ve written several drafts of this. I won’t post this one, because I have a feeling this isn’t the final draft, but maybe it’s getting close. After all these drafts, I don’t even know where

to begin anymore.

I was going to begin with Trayvon Martin. The first draft was a hypothesis about the true cause of the shooting. It circled around to bias, the normal, everyday people who are just biased. Women biased against certain kinds of men, races wary of certain other races. Just different viewpoints, different experiences. Eventually, it circled around to the many difficulties facing our country and the world.  It was quite long, I’m sure you can tell.

The next draft attempted a more lighthearted tone. Jokes about things we’re all afraid of; cops, gang members, etc. Then a study of the effects of Facebook on our society. The huge things going on in the world, and our apparent ignorance. A mention of tabloids, movies, and the internet as the natural flowering of a capitalists intention to make money. What sells are the things people want to buy. We apparently buy gossip, advertisements, and entertainment.

The third draft could probably be classified as a rant.

The fourth attempts to draw these together. The irrefutable proof that the Trayvon Martin case was pretty straight forward and our fickle, limited attention allowed it to become an issue of race. An example of the failure of the media to convey the true story despite the decreased attention they might garner, and a failure of the American people to research the issue and make an informed opinion independently. The grasp that money has on us, and our selfish approach to our lives. A big part about God as the solution. A plea, perhaps.

Here we come to the fifth and present draft. It is unfortunate that it is written in the shadow of this situation in Syria. I am at this moment listening to the President talk about his limited, narrow attack he wants to give Syria as a spanking for using chemical weapons.

Something bad is happening. Somehow, some foundational part of our existence on this tiny blue planet is shifting. The threads of this tapestry, a picture of all the history of our race of humanity, are coming together. Anyone who’s ever seen a loom knows what I mean. An odd mix of all sorts of thread, colors of all kind spanning the width, others twined down and through, and the more intricate the picture, the more chaotic it’s creation.

Here are some of the threads in action this very day. America-we know our shit. No need to really elaborate much there. Tremulous economy, increased individual isolation, poor education, corrupted faith, and a general weakness as a nation as a whole, etc. Mexico/South America are struggling with drug issues, cartels, wars, power struggles. The Middle East, is in an upheaval with revolutions, but always underlined with Islam. We have made enemies of them with our actions. and  Islam spreads rapidly, already claiming a great deal of Africa. Europe has different stuff in different places, countries bankrupted or struggling, The Vatican a travesty. China, a communist country, lhas ots of money, and the biggest army around, and we don’t know much about them. India, issues with Muslims, and surprisingly, issues with Buddhist monks. They’re fighting. I don’t know about Russia, but there’s something sketchy there too, mark my words.

That’s our whole world, except Canada and Australia, and really, they tend to be background players anyways.

To the point, then. There was a Muslim dude running Syria. The people didn’t like him, threw him out, put Assad in. Muslims loyal to the  previous government rebel against current government. The current government then proceeds to use (supposedly, there are a lot of questions about who used what, on whom, but the word on the street is) chemical weapons. . America starts a propaganda campaign, saying we know fo sho (even though the UN analysts hadn’t finished their investigation) Assad’s people did this, killed 1500 innocent-ish citizens and we gotta blow them up. It’s the American way.

At some point, we will push too far. We’ll piss off the wrong people. It’s inevitable. America has spent the last 50 years making enemies of Muslims. Maybe this is the straw that will break that camels back. Perhaps it will be China who we offend. Maybe Russia.

AOL has a top ten weird news slideshow, put out for the month of August. There are some odd stories, but one of the more tame ones is a his/hers line of Zombie perfumes. The tagline said, “We all know the Zombie Apocalypse is coming. But you don’t have to wait for civilization to collapse for an un-dead fragrance.”

 

— Bekkie

Related articles

• Is Bias Fixable? (blogs.hbr.org)
• Obama Will Advance Islam By Attacking Syria (test.vineoflifenews.com)
• ‘We Don’t Survive’: Glenn Beck Breaks Down Possible Ramifications of U.S. Entering War in Syria (theblaze.com)
• Iran commander: US strike on Syria will mean the ‘imminent destruction’ of Israel (jpost.com)