DEPRESSION-WOMAN-PHOTOGRAPH-DOROTHEA-LANGE (Photo credit: snowlepard)
Last night was a rough night at work. What I do is usually pretty fulfilling. I can, after all, say I am now a professional activist. It is nice to know that I am working to be part of the solution. Every once in a while though you have one of those days.
(1) Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution.
(2) this right may not be invoked in the case of prosecutions genuinely arising from non-political crimes or from acts contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.
I grew up in the ’80s, and if there is one thing you knew growing up in the ’80s in the good old United States of America, it is that we are the place everyone wanted to escape to. Your government got you down? Hey that’s OK, come here and we will protect you (results may vary according to skin color or need for natural resources from your homeland.) Seriously, though, we did a pretty good job on that count. Sure there were countries that we were far more likely to accept asylum seekers. Oh how we loved to wax romantic about Russian defectors coming over here.
In all honesty, why wouldn’t they? Sure we have our problems, and we should work tirelessly to fix them. Still, we have it a lot better here than in many places in the world. In many places, you can be killed, on the spot, for speaking out against the government, and not a single soul will speak up on your behalf, at least not in your own country.
I worry about the state of asylum in our country in the near future. With so many politicians willing to pander to those fighting the “culture war” (ie, fighting for their right to oppress others based on their religion) I see asylum seekers being turned away to appease them. I see gay people seeking to escape persecution in Uganda being denied asylum because certain bigoted members of our society will claim we are interfering with Uganda’s right to deal with “those” people how they see fit, and I see politicians caving into those claims. It is too bad, because if there is one thing we have had every right to be proud of the last 50 years or so, it is our willingness to shelter the frightened, sometimes even when they were afraid of our “allies.”
Other countries will pick up the slack. Many of them have pretty severe economic problems now, though, and it will be difficult. It’s kind of embarrassing to think that gay people seeking refuge from persecution would be better off in a country like Spain, steeped as it is in its Catholic traditions and all the difficulties that means for LGBTQ folk, than here.
I hope I am wrong. Not just because of the sad shift in our political culture that it signifies, but because the weak need as many shields from the bullies of the world as they can get. I know much of the rest of the world views the US as bullies, and in some ways, they are right. There are, however, whether you believe it or not, worse bullies out there. Bullies that, as bullies are wont to do, shrink in the presence of someone bigger and tougher than they are. I hope we keep them shrinking away, and giving their victims someone to run to.
Apparently there is a witch hunt going on in this country. I was concerned to find this out at first, because as self described atheist, tranny dyke, I’ve been on the receiving end of witch hunts. I’ve had, as mentioned before, Presidents suggest I am not a real American and right wing hate mongers suggest I was a pervert out to rape children. When you see the torches and pitchforks (usually metaphorical) heading your way it makes you really anxious. I would not want anyone to feel like that so I wanted to know who needed the support of someone who could empathize. As it turns out, it’s Christians.
Now this was all news to me. Two of my friends are ministers and have shepherded fairly decent sized flocks and they have never given me any inclination that was going on. I felt a little guilty. Was I so blinded by my atheist privilege that people I cared about were being targeted and oppressed right in front of me? What could I have done to let these friends know that they have an ally in me that they can lean on? Then it occurred to me, neither of these people (and I’ve known one of them almost a decade now) has ever given me reason to believe they would ever back down from a fight, especially with those seeking to harm those that put their trust in them.
Still, it is entirely possible that they were somehow spared the horror of this cruel attack. Maybe they lived in a nice safe bubble while all around Christians had people standing outside their churches with hateful signs, throwing rotten fruit at them and screaming that their children were abominations. I looked everywhere for signs that this might be going on. Then I saw it, actually, I saw several “it”s.
It started with a Wendy’s commercial. They were touting their fish sandwich. I had never seen them do that before. Sure they sell one, but they’ve never felt the need to go after that market before, as far as I can remember. The others were all in on it too. McDonald’s, Burger King, heck even Arby’s! Who were these people consuming all this fish, creating all this demand for fish sandwiches that these mighty competitors are desperate for their dollars? Apparently the answer, once again, is Christians.
We are in Lent right now, a season of personal sacrifice for these folks. Traditionally, they give up meat, of which I guess fish (and I know pesco vegetarians that feel the same) is not a member of the class. Traditions have changed some, still I have been informed many of them still practice it, enough that the restaurant business can turn a decent buck on it.
I wondered if these companies knew about the witch hunt. After all, aren’t they risking their well being by aiding these pariahs in their rituals, even if it is just to make a quick dollar? I looked elsewhere for signs of this witch hunt, not finding them in popular culture. A popular culture that still has fictional characters in all media usually still married in the Christian tradition. A popular culture that still tolerates (even among atheists) “In God We Trust” printed on our money. A popular culture that still, despite the “War on Christmas,” has almost 24/7 broadcasting of Christmas stories for the entire month of December on dozens of channels. I could find nothing.
The only thing even remotely not catering to Christianity at this point were the fact that public employees and officials were barred from leading people, especially children, in prayer on public time, and that apparently religious organizations cannot forbid employees of their secular institutions from receiving birth control as part of their health care coverage. Apparently the government has told them that they cannot tell private companies that they are not allowed to save money (and therefore keep their premiums down) by offering the cheaper solution of birth control to their employees. That couldn’t be it, could it?
After all, how could anyone who follows in the footsteps of a man who said “as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me,” or “render unto God what is God’s and render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s” or a favorite that I have quoted before, Matthew 6:6 “but thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly” could think that the above demands on them are somehow oppressing them. Surely those people would not suggest we not take care of the weak, or not keep our spiritual life separate from the temporal, or not keep our relationship with God private, would they? I mean after all, that sounds like they are the ones engaging in the witch hunt.
Then it occurred to me, they are. To them, anyone who disagrees with them, that calls them out for their mistreatment of others is picking on them. That is classic bully behavior and bullies are what this (much smaller than they realize) minority of Christians are. They shake down their fellow Americans, their fellow Christians for the coin of their integrity, denying us our personal dignity and right to make decisions for ourselves. They back us into a corner, because we let them, and then cry when we push our way out.
