On a daily basis I like to jump into many news websites to read……… well.……..the news! I often go to msnbc.com, cnn.com, but most importantly, I go to northcountytimes.com. I find northcountytimes.com to be the most important news source I read because it is the area in which I live in. I live in Oceanside, CA, work in Carlsbad, CA, go to school in San Marcos, CA and I like to keep up with what goes on in this county. Lately, I’ve been noticing something disturbing from comments that people leave after reading any article. No matter the facts, no matter the situation, someone’s race always has to be an issue.
On northcountytimes.com, readers are allowed to post comments on any stories/articles they read. I’m an avid reader on this website and often am surprised to the amount of ignorance exposed by the comments of these readers. I never post any comments myself; however, the one time I did post, I was literally attacked. I had read an article of a man who was arrested for par
king in front of elementary schools for hours at a time and had been suspected as being a pedophile. I scrolled down the article and read comments from some of the readers. The article did not mention the race of the man and was just focusing on the grounds of his arrest. Immediately following the article were comments asking about his race. Several readers were guessing that the man is Hispanic and many other were complaining about how the Hispanic race commits all these crimes. I posted a brief paragraph asking the readers why the suspect’s race would matter. I stated that in the current situation the action, not the race, is what matters. The fact that these innocent children were being exposed to this repulsive pervert is what mattered. Not his race. Following my post, many readers felt that I should also care about the race of the suspect. After all, those are the people we are trying to avoid right? It’s nice to know that even with an African America president, and a widely diverse country, people let one criminal’s race define the rest of that population (notice my sarcasm here). It is just absolutely ridiculous! Who would want one person’s behavior to represent their entire race? No one! So why are these readers so quick to judge? Should we not trust Caucasian men from Texas because of the way George Bush ran his presidency? Dakota Fanning could have done a better job! I could have done a better job! And, if you have watched Fahrenheit 9/11, you would definitely side with me on this. If not, please go see it. Every single person living in America should go see it. You will be surprised and shocked by the truth behind this unnecessary war.
Ok I’ve seemed to have jumped off subject. Ok, back on now! Race alone does not defy the actions of any person. Let me give you a for instance: In this article: http://www.northcountytimes.com/articles/2009/01/05/news/coastal/vista/z4b865b40f9718b2d88257535005b578a.txt the news about a man stealing a dead woman’s purse after she was in a fatal car accident came out in order to catch the heartless thief. There this poor dead woman lies on the ground dead from her injuries and here comes a man to steal her purse. It’s a sad story already; however, the readers turn it into an argument about race. Was the dead woman legal? Was the thief white? Why are nice cities like this being invaded with people from the south? Etc, etc, etc! There’s even a picture of a Klansman representing the reader’s comments. It just goes on and on and on! So I ask myself: Why isn’t the news enough? What are you trying to dignify with such stupid
questions? Why not just post a prayer or send your condolences to the victim’s family? It is a bigot world unfortunately.
This blog may seem more of a rant than anything else and I do apologize if you happen to be offended. I have much more to say on this issue and hope to one day write a book based on my experience on racism. Trust me, I have the experience! I just hope and wish that people, like those readers on that website, would look beyond a stereotype and look beyond color. We all have the same functions and organs inside but are painted differently. The red crayon is no different than the blue crayon on the inside. They may be different colors, but they come from the same wax.
On northcountytimes.com, readers are allowed to post comments on any stories/articles they read. I’m an avid reader on this website and often am surprised to the amount of ignorance exposed by the comments of these readers. I never post any comments myself; however, the one time I did post, I was literally attacked. I had read an article of a man who was arrested for par
king in front of elementary schools for hours at a time and had been suspected as being a pedophile. I scrolled down the article and read comments from some of the readers. The article did not mention the race of the man and was just focusing on the grounds of his arrest. Immediately following the article were comments asking about his race. Several readers were guessing that the man is Hispanic and many other were complaining about how the Hispanic race commits all these crimes. I posted a brief paragraph asking the readers why the suspect’s race would matter. I stated that in the current situation the action, not the race, is what matters. The fact that these innocent children were being exposed to this repulsive pervert is what mattered. Not his race. Following my post, many readers felt that I should also care about the race of the suspect. After all, those are the people we are trying to avoid right? It’s nice to know that even with an African America president, and a widely diverse country, people let one criminal’s race define the rest of that population (notice my sarcasm here). It is just absolutely ridiculous! Who would want one person’s behavior to represent their entire race? No one! So why are these readers so quick to judge? Should we not trust Caucasian men from Texas because of the way George Bush ran his presidency? Dakota Fanning could have done a better job! I could have done a better job! And, if you have watched Fahrenheit 9/11, you would definitely side with me on this. If not, please go see it. Every single person living in America should go see it. You will be surprised and shocked by the truth behind this unnecessary war.Ok I’ve seemed to have jumped off subject. Ok, back on now! Race alone does not defy the actions of any person. Let me give you a for instance: In this article: http://www.northcountytimes.com/articles/2009/01/05/news/coastal/vista/z4b865b40f9718b2d88257535005b578a.txt the news about a man stealing a dead woman’s purse after she was in a fatal car accident came out in order to catch the heartless thief. There this poor dead woman lies on the ground dead from her injuries and here comes a man to steal her purse. It’s a sad story already; however, the readers turn it into an argument about race. Was the dead woman legal? Was the thief white? Why are nice cities like this being invaded with people from the south? Etc, etc, etc! There’s even a picture of a Klansman representing the reader’s comments. It just goes on and on and on! So I ask myself: Why isn’t the news enough? What are you trying to dignify with such stupid
questions? Why not just post a prayer or send your condolences to the victim’s family? It is a bigot world unfortunately.This blog may seem more of a rant than anything else and I do apologize if you happen to be offended. I have much more to say on this issue and hope to one day write a book based on my experience on racism. Trust me, I have the experience! I just hope and wish that people, like those readers on that website, would look beyond a stereotype and look beyond color. We all have the same functions and organs inside but are painted differently. The red crayon is no different than the blue crayon on the inside. They may be different colors, but they come from the same wax.
2 comments:
I agree with you completely!!!
You are an amazing writer!!
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