I have a friend in an “allied” country that I have been emailing regularly for the past two months. We exchanged views on various mystical topics. Also, to a lesser extent, we discuss other topics such as politics, society, economics and religion. My mentioned how people in his friendly country freely express their distaste for Americans. I personally experienced the attitude of your compatriots towards American citizens when I visited your country as a teenager. I made friends with a local resident my age. He took me to a bar where five of his friends were playing cards. My acquaintance introduced them to me. The largest member of the group said: “We think Americans are arrogant *** holes.” Of course, I wasn’t in a good position to argue with him, so I headed for the door.
As I said, my email friend reminded me of your country’s unfortunate attitude towards the people of the United States. I understand that most foreigners have never had the opportunity to travel in the United States (and neither have most Americans) and are unaware of how diverse our society is. I thought about my friend’s comment for a while and finally came to this conclusion:
According to the 2010 US Census, white Americans make up 72% of the US population. Hispanics and Latin Americans make up 15%. African Americans are the largest racial minority, making up as much as 13% of the population of this country. The rest of the American population comes from every country in the world. This number represents millions of US citizens. For example, the Chinese have a respectable presence in this country. We have several “China Towns” in our largest cities like Boston and New York.
In 2012, 76% of Americans identified as Christian. 25% of these Christians are Catholics. At least 51% comes from more than 30 different denominations. For the rest of the population, Judaism, Buddhism, Islam and Hinduism collectively account for 4% of adults in this country. Please understand that this is not a small number. Finally, 15% of the adult population has no religious affiliation. Another 5% have no interest in talking about religion. Considering that the total population of this country exceeds 306,861,871, these last two figures represent millions of Americans.
There are a large number of “accepted” or, in some cases, “tolerated” religions, such as Shinto and Taoism. It is also true that there are a considerable number of various alternative religious and quasi-religious groups operating in the United States. These “unconventional” religious and philosophical organizations include Scientologists, Christian Scientists, and the Unification Church. There are many more. I can only assume that there must be several million people who choose to associate with these groups.
On top of this, we know that there is an incredible disparity in the distribution of wealth in this country. The top 1% of Americans earn $717,000, compared to the rest of the population who have a median annual income of $51,000. This means that the bottom 1% is worth approximately $8,400,000, or 70 times more than the bottom class. Some figures indicate that the top 1% control 43% of the wealth in this nation, with the next 4% claiming a healthy 29%. This information tells us that most Americans are not obscenely rich as some outsiders have mistakenly led them to believe.
There are also various political groups vying for control of the government. There are two main political parties that compete with each other for the command of the United States government. They are the conservative Republican Party and the liberal Democratic Party. There are various groups that could be labeled as radical or extremist in their views. I’m not sure who makes these accusations. The two parties mentioned above are too busy fighting each other to care about these smaller political organizations.
Americans realize that there are vast cultural differences in the United States depending on where in the country or state a person resides. Citizens of Texas have different values than people of New York. This is also the case for residents of Massachusetts and Alabama. Cultural differences are also clearly visible within each state.
There are also a small number of dangerous groups whose goal is to instigate a war of ethnic cleansing. They go by various names, including Aryans, white supremacists, and skinheads. These organizations have been collectively designated as “hate groups.” They should not be taken as representative of the majority of Americans. Their unwelcoming “hate group” label says it all.
There are even subversive groups that oppose the government and would like to replace it with whatever political ideology drives them. For this reason, the training of militias and paramilitaries has been prohibited in most states. Some watchdog groups cite hate groups masquerading as militias as primarily responsible for this ban.
These two previous paragraphs are intended to reveal the fact that not all Americans agree with the conditions of this country. I want to make known, that as in other countries; America also has people who feel the need to make their views known in destructive ways.
So who is it, I ask, that our foreign friends hate? is it chinese? Or maybe Hispanics? I can tell that they are not aware of this hate, nor would they think twice about it. I’m thinking that foreigners hate the white celebrities they see on TV. There is a considerable amount of confusion here. Our sometimes reckless artists provide our foreign viewers with a negative image of American society. Those with celebrity status should not be compared to the character of the “average” American. It is a mistake to construe the antics of certain public figures with the beliefs and values of the “ordinary” man and woman living in this country. Notice that I put quotation marks around the word average and common when referring to Americans.
To end my discussion, I want to share my opinion on the Zimmerman case. I’m not going to talk about the trial or the verdict. I will just say that this incident was a tragedy for everyone involved, especially the Martin family.
This case has taken a serious racist turn. I do not deny that racism exists in this country. It exists at all levels and for all unjustifiable reasons. But let’s take a moment to look at racism through the eyes of a person who might be mistakenly identified as racist because of her pale color.
For several years, I worked in a social service capacity for a public defense unit in the suburbs of a large city. I came into contact with many decent minority citizens in the course of fulfilling my professional responsibilities. For those trying to twist my words, I am not saying that all the people I encountered were minorities.
I recently found myself lost in an unfamiliar part of the city that seemed to be largely occupied by African Americans. In fact, I found myself sitting in front of an NAACP building. Despite my positive work experience with diverse cultures, I began to wonder about my well-being. What if I, a middle-aged white man, asked someone in this neighborhood for directions? This may have been an unwarranted thought, but he was worried about taking that action. This story is not making any veiled or suggestive comments about the NAACP or any particular person in this neighborhood.
After the Zimmerman trial, I watched (on TV) the commotion caused by protesters in Los Angeles and many other large cities across the country. Some protesters randomly assaulted commuters, smashed shop windows, set fires, and threw bricks at police officers. All this destruction is said to be in protest of racial injustice and inequality. This type of behavior could cause fear in the very class of people who are labeled as racists. That is my personal feeling about this situation.
On the other hand, I had a very entertaining conversation with an African-American woman the same day the Zimmerman verdict was delivered. Zimmerman’s trial was never mentioned. Instead, we had a casual conversation about our pets. This positive experience reinforces my belief that the activities of a group of angry protesters do not reflect the attitude of an entire race. In fact, I don’t even like to refer to a class of people. It would be better if the human race could find a way to stop being divided along racial, economic, political and religious lines. The “us vs. them” mentality is the catalyst for the animosity we project toward every rival class in this country.
I am not asking anyone to tolerate oppression. I am suggesting that we all be aware of who we hate and think about why we hate them. It doesn’t hurt to be introspective. The flame’s hate cannot be extinguished by applying additional hate to it. Hate negatively affects all nations and races. It is inevitable that each of us will fall victim to blind hatred at least once in our lives.