So, bigots, if Islam is so horrible, why aren't you walking or biking to work?

[jobycom]

178. A lesbian, an atheist, and two Muslim women walked into a restaurant.

Actually, not a joke. A month ago I attended a wedding party for two Muslim friends--one basically a relative of mine. We sat at a table in Irving, Texas, in sight of the mosque where they were married. All of the wait staff were Muslim, and several of them joined the party from time to time.

So, the lesbian is the mother of the Muslim groom. The bride, wearing her hijab, is half Arab and half Venezuelan, and was raised in the UAE. She is working on her PhD in chemistry (UAE is footing the bill--wouldn't it be nice if the US was that civilized?). She has decided to call the lesbian mother "Mom," which makes it seem like her lesbianism isn't an issue. The bridesmaid, also in her hijab, is from Saudi Arabia, and is planning to go back when she and her husband both finish their PhD because they find the US too oppressive and parochial. One of the servers who kept interacting was a woman from Jordan working on her graduate degree, but she didn't say whether it was a Masters or PhD.

No one's life was threatened. No one killed a cartoonist. The opinion of the atheist (me) was sought and respected. The women, all wearing hijabi, were not stoned for talking to men. None of them were in danger in their countries for having US degrees.

The problem in this nation is that we are a bunch of bigots who believe we are best personified by the handful of great, beautiful people who were born here, whereas every other nation and culture is best personified by their most horrible actions and attitudes. Three women a day are murdered in the US in honor killings (that we clean up by calling domestic violence), yet we blame the entire religion of Islam for the handful of honor killings that happen in a few Muslim nations (even though most Muslims condemn them). Women are paid a fraction of what men are paid in this country for the same work men do. Our government is continually restricting the rights of women to equal medical care in this nation. Women in this country who run for president are called all sorts of vile and borderline sexist names even by their own party, whereas Muslim democracies have elected women as their leaders. Gay and transgender people are denied equal rights in this country, and are murdered at alarming numbers in this country. Someone in this country has introduced a ballot initiative in California calling for the execution of all gays and lesbians. Minorities in this country are put in prison at rates three times or more higher than white people even when evidence shows they are less likely to commit the crimes they are imprisoned for than white people. They are executed at even higher percentages, even though most people eligible for the death penalty are white.

And while I'm not so sure how many of our military's victims were cartoonists, I do know that over a thousand innocent bystanders have been killed by US drones trying to kill a handful of people we think might one day possibly become a threat to the US.

So until the US has some cred when it comes to gays, women, murdering people who don't deserve to die, or any other human rights issue, I'm going to avoid stereotyping billions of people around the world that I don't know based on what corporate owned media sources and politicians want me to believe while they are trying to convince me to pay for another war. (And I do know quite a few Muslims from around the world, and none of them fit the stereotypes we are always fed).