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Ethnically Speaking, October 17

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Dear Larry: I am shocked that Rush Limbaugh has been rejected in his attempt to become an owner of a National Football League team. So-called black leaders and a few others told lies about Rush, and the NFL rejected him just because there was controversy. This is so unfair.

Larry, I would like your opinion. — El

Dear El: For years, I have seen people level charges of racism, sexism, homophobia, discrimination of the disabled, and religious bigotry against people without proof. I keep praying for the day when people will give a defendant a chance to rebut the charges and demand proof of the crime from the one making the charges.

In this age of political correctness, many innocent people are hurt and defamed by unscrupulous people. There are some so-called black leaders who make a living and have become rich pulling this scam.

What is sad is that everyone knows who these people are but the media keep them in power by continuing to give them ink. This practice will continue until the media stop going to them and giving them a voice.

This is just the beginning. The NFL doesn't realize it just opened a Pandora's box of political correctness for its sport. The next step for Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton will be to demand to have seats on the NFL board — for a fee, of course — and they will decide whether the next prospective owner passes the race test.

Dear Larry: You commented about the sadness you felt when students in a high-school class, both black and white, felt they were bound by the stereotypes that blacks listen to rap music, drink 40s and are uneducated.

They also said they did not even know any blacks who shared your ideas.

Well, I have one for you. Maybe you will be surprised about something that came up when I did a presentation on Judaism to a class of Advanced Placement students. One asked — and more chimed in — why I would live a moral life if I didn't believe in hell. They didn't know what kept me on the right path.

I did a similar presentation to a regular class and asked them what their religions were. I was shocked to find out very few knew.

Maybe these are just young people thinking about topics for the first time. In any case, I felt sad, too. This is so surprising because these topics are actually discussed on television and in magazine articles.

Maybe they just don't come across this information in their daily lives and we assume too much about what adolescents think about. — Barbara

Dear Barbara: It is obvious this country is becoming a more and more secular society. It will not be too long before we follow the standards of Europe. Our churches and temples will be nothing but monuments to a foregone era.

It is not too late to change this trend, but there is little time to waste. I believe we must start with our elected officials and demand they reflect the majority view.

To find out more about Larry G. Meeks and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.

COPYRIGHT 2009 CREATORS.COM


Comments

6 Comments | Post Comment
Europe is just America twenty years from now. It's always been like that. In 1989, Europe, socially speaking, was about where we are today.
Comment: #1
Posted by: Matt
Fri Oct 16, 2009 10:13 PM
Re: Matt

Is this good or bad?
Comment: #2
Posted by: BB
Sat Oct 17, 2009 6:34 AM
Re: BB. That depends on your perspective, I suppose. From mine, that's bad. I like America the way it is and have no wish to see it adopt any of Europe's cultural values. The people of that continent have spent decades looking down their noses at us, and now we want to be like them?
Comment: #3
Posted by: Matt
Sun Oct 18, 2009 1:37 AM
I think if the issue with becoming more like Europe is that Europeans look down on us, then we're already there. We regularly look down our noses at each other based on our differences, and Larry's Meeks's arrogant attitude toward people who aren't practicing some kind of religion was a prime example. A key point of religious freedom is everyone is allowed to decide for themselves whether or not they practice religion at all; not to force people to declare a religion among the available choices, like it's a college major. I found Larry's suggestion that elected officials should be expected to keep religion alive to be presumptuous, to say the least. Which religion would Larry like us all to practice?
Comment: #4
Posted by: Jon
Tue Oct 20, 2009 5:27 PM
I'd be content just to have a moratorium on these ceaseless attempts to purge all traces of "religion" from the public square. For example, the lawsuits by ACLU trying to take down some cross that's been in a cemetery for seventy years - that nonsense needs to stop if freedom of religion is to mean anything at all. The old "wall of separation" bit from the letter by Thomas Jefferson, was written over 200 years ago, yet it's only been in the last generation or two that anyone's found it necessary to take down crosses, object to nativity scenes, and yank out displays of the Ten Commandments.
Comment: #5
Posted by: Matt
Tue Oct 20, 2009 9:34 PM
Matt, on that front I think you and I are in agreement. I feel we can be inclusive of religions and holidays without feeling threatened by the acknowledgement of the ones that aren't our own, but it also shouldn't turn into a competition. The cross in the cemetery situation is one of those areas where I think we're going overboard. There's a really good editorial in the LA Times that points out while it's important to keep religion separate from government, we're veering closer to trying to separate it from culture, which may not be wise or even possible.
Comment: #6
Posted by: Jon
Thu Oct 22, 2009 4:43 PM
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