Interesting/Offensive Comments...

I've heard/read two comments in the past 24 hours that have either befuddled or angered me immensely.

Firstly, last night, a friend of mine and a major supporter of Hillary Clinton, said that he's shocked at how many females support Barack Obama, exaggerating in stating that 80% of Obama's supporters at the Caucus he attended two Saturday ago were college-age females. He followed this exaggeration by saying, "I think a lot of women are jealous of Hillary's success, as a woman, and that's why they're not voting for her."

What? Jealous? That was the first time I'd heard such a "reason". I've yet to see any kind of trend signifying that African-Americans aren't voting for Barack Obama because they're jealous of the accomplishments he's made or Mormons, who weren't voting for Mitt Romney, due to their jealousy of the devout Mormon candidate. I was speechless for a few minutes after hearing this comment. I still don't know how to genuinely response to such an asinine statement. Women fought for how long to obtain equal rights to men? They won't vote for a woman candidate for president, because they're "jealous"? I don't think so.

I read a comment today from an Obama supporter lamenting that Willie Nelso is a 9/11 truther, that anyone who is a 9/11 truther has the critical thinking skills of a 4th grader, and that no such individual is welcome to show support for the Illinois Senator. I contemplated replying, but decided there was no point, in the end.

Isn't Barack Obama's core message about unity? Democrats, Republicans, Independents, men, women, young adults, elders, middle-aged folk, rich, poor, middle-class individuals, black, white, Asian, Latino, Arab, Native, all uniting together for a similar cause? For change? I just found it very rude, ignorant, and hypocritical on this individual's part to lambast a group of people because of a belief(s) they share. I'm not a religious man, but am I going to exclude those who are? Those who are die-hard Christians, Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim, Jewish, etc.? No, of course not. Nowhere in this world will I find a person whom shares EXACTLY the same beliefs as I. Heck, there are times when I question if a clone of myself would agree with all of my opinions 100% of the time, because minds evolve and devolve and people's viewpoints alter because of it. If a person believes in UFOs or ghosts, are they not welcome, according to this person, to being a part of the campaign? Just because some people don't hold the same beliefs on a topic as this individual, that gives him/her no reason to reject them entirely from the campaign and no reason to dismiss them all as "loons" or as having the critical thinking skills of a 4th grader. Do some conspiracy theories seem a bit too far-fetched to even be remotely plausible? Of course. But, I find it to be just as ignorant, if not more so, to immediately believe the federal government's "official" story as I do in believing a conspiracy theory. JFK? Oklahoma City? 9/11? Are any of the conspiracies 100% true? I doubt it. But, is there a chance that portions of them could be true? Indeed.

A friend of mine's father used to work for the CIA. He's always been a conservative man, but one time, he asked my friend and I, "Do you know why conspiracy theories exist?" We both, curious in how he'd respond, replied with a, "No..." He resplied with, "Because some of them or portions of some of them are true. I can't tell you which ones or I'd have to...", you know the rest of that line.

I've been a firm supporter of Barack Obama's for quite some time now and one cause that compelled me to him was how he preached unity to the people. I think America is a very unique and diverse land and if unified, our potential is limitless...and I think this individual's weak insinuations on some people's beliefs that not all of the questions have been answered in regard to 9/11 may rank him as a 1st grader in regard to his critical thinking skills. He may want a cookie, some milk, and for the teacher to read "My Pet Goat" tomorrow. It may be as complex a read as he'll understand.