De-Friended

Well this happened surprisingly fast, but I'm not shocked at all that it did come to pass.

An old acquaintance and ex-employee from work who is very good at posting political links on facebook, but not so great at articulating his own thoughts beyond the Kool-aid drenched party line of the American left, has de-friended me, without so much as a word through e-mail or a phone call.

He's the one a few posts below who suggested to me that we shouldn't draw Mohammed because radical Muslims might blow something up if we do.

This has happened before, and it will happen again.

Eventually people realize with amazement that I am a person of conviction, who has ideas and principles outside of the narrow and decadent paradigm of liberal elites.

Even more incredulous to them, is that I don't go away and I don't back down. When this happens, things get personal really fast and they almost always take the cowards way out. First the cryptic chirping, then the personal insults, and then finally turning tail and running away like the babies they are.

Funny how I could care less when they bash the Iraq war (in my mind they are bashing the troops) or say Universal Health Care is a really great idea. I don't for one second get mad. My pulse rate doesn't quicken. I am bemused, and sometimes amused.


And this is simply because - I don't think my friends are idiots, or evil. I just think they're wrong.

In fact, I'm so confident in my views - I actually can get a good actual laugh when someone tells me that we need BIGGER government, MORE regulations, LESS military spending, ZERO tolerance of faith in the public sector unless it's Islamic. I think this idiocy is hilarious, and I'm not threatened by it at all - because I know I'm right.

If I were to get mad, throw insults, cut off discussion - I would be one of them.

I have literally been told on separate occasions by different friends, and even a relative- I'm endangering a friendship, I should just shut up, I should go away, I am an idiot, I am a racist and I am uneducated.

Not for one instant did it enter my mind that any of these labels applied to my accuser. Not for one instant did I consider insulting them, beyond a good natured barb of sarcasm or condescension (hey, I am human).

Anger and fear really do seem to only flow one way - out of the hearts and minds of those who disagree with me.

I'm used to it.

It is true, I routinely intellectually beat up on liberals like a red-headed step-child, and I guess it's pretty tough to stand up to to an overwhelming barrage of principle and common sense that doesn't involve smug self-loathing. My passion is driven by relentless patriotism and exhaustive experience in traveling the globe - it's gotta be tough for anyone who worships the State to process the truth when it comes out of my mouth .

Ah well, another one down.

Perspective

So this crazy asshole in Florida plans to burn the Quran on September 11th.

What a jerk.

It will probably incite hatred, possibly violence and maybe even put American soldiers lives at risk.

I don't agree with this guy - I think what he is doing is wrong.

But I believe he has every right to do it without interference from our government.

The first amendment does not take sides, the Constitution is (thank God) impartial.

And as crazy and as wrong as this so called man of the cloth is, he's no worse than the radical Imam who seeks to divide Americans and incite hatred and fear by building an indoctrination center for Sharia law at Ground Zero.

Nor is he worse than the New York Times when they publish military secrets that put our troops in harms way.

He's just a lone kook.

The Imam has real power and influence over a large group of followers who will hang on his every word, and possibly even react violently if the GZ mosque has to be relocated.

The New York Times has an audience of millions who still believe that they are objective - and that they do no harm by exposing military intelligence and emboldening the enemy.

That so much attention has been paid to this lone nut ball, with even our president imploring him to restrain himself, and liberal elites falling all over themselves with anguish at the prospect of a few books being burned - strikes me as pretty ridiculous.

I am very skeptical that the elite bloggers and media stooges are genuinely righteous about protecting the Quran - to me it seems more like they are afraid of a violent reaction, that is - they are playing right into the hands of the radical Islamists.

People burn American flags all the time. No one raises an eyebrow.

Christ is routinely blasphemed in movies and television shows. Meh. So what?

But one jerk-off in Florida wants to torch a couple of books and it's the end of the world? Give me a break.

Muslims, even radical ones, have to learn that there is a price for freedom. All religions in a free society are targets, even theirs.

I wish they could get on board, like the rest of us have to, and fucking deal with it.