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YOU are a Bigot!

This week, Brad Stine dives headfirst into the world of name-calling to answer one simple question: what is a bigot?

Do you believe bigotry is wrong? I only ask because everyone is a bigot! What are you bigoted about is the question. 

Ok, here’s the definition of bigotry from Merriam Webster who refuses to shut up!! YOU are a Bigot!

BIGOT: a person who is obstinately or intolerantly devoted to his own opinions and prejudices especially  : one who regards or treats the members of a group (ideological) with hatred and intolerance. 

But here’s where it gets tricky. Listen to the definition of convictions: 

A firmly held belief or opinion. 

Apparently one man’s bigotry could be another mans creed! 

So the odd truth is: perhaps you should be bigoted towards some stuff? For example, I believe that it is better to debate my enemies than it is to eat them! I admit it; I am bigoted towards those of you who choose cannibalism to persuade! How about people that drive on the wrong side of the road? I am bigoted in my beliefs towards those who claim the right to drive head long into me at 90 miles an hour because they are having a bad day and want to let everyone else in on it. 

We hear the word Nazi being bandied around a lot these days. So people who call other people Nazi’s are clearly bigoted towards Nazi-ism and completely intolerant…AND THEY SHOULD BE!!!  

What I’m trying to get you to see is the power of words and how they can be used for good or evil. To control others or to set them free! 

Because obviously the word bigot comes with a lot more baggage than the word convictions. One seems immoral, the other seems virtuous. 

Remember, whoever controls the words controls the culture. 

Whenever the word bigot is used nowadays, it often conjures up ideas of the 60’s and the civil rights movement of black Americans. Though they weren’t “black” back then. While reading statements and letters of Martin Luther King Jr, I realize the proper reference was “Negro”. King specifically referred to his cause as “a fight for equality of Negroes”. A word rarely used anymore. There may be some debate as to what moniker African Americans prefer to be called, but there is no debate that one of the most abused people that have ever entered into this great American experiment was the African, who was forcefully taken from his home and brought here to be utilized as a slave. It’s a sad stain on the history of our country and one even the founding fathers knew couldn’t last if this country’s ideals were ever going to be manifest completely. I admire black Americans for their incredible fortitude in the midst of unimaginable horror’s, and in spite of their unfair plight at the beginning of this country, they have gone on in a few hundred years to reach the ranks of secretary of state, CEO, and President of the United States. Under unprecedented handicaps, they have accomplished great things, which in the end, should inspire us all for those who choose to see clearly, proves that the American dream is real.  

Here’s a true story. I was once talking to friend of mine who is of a darker hue than I and I found it interesting how he changed his self reference three times within the course of the conversation. Within 20 minutes he referred to himself as BLACK, AFRICAN AMERICAN and even people of color. So I ask you have the PC word police so infiltrated our psyches that people are now being careful not to offend THEMSELVES? He then made a statement that got me thinking about the idea of bigotry in the form of racism. He told me that an African American couldn’t be a racist. When I asked for clarification he said you couldn’t be racist unless you belonged to the race that was in power. 

Uhh, no I don’t think that’s how it works? 

If you are human then you are flawed, no matter what color you come in. 

When we speak of racism, I think most people are talking about superiority. 

Here’s the problem, doesn’t it appear that some groups of humans do seem to excel in certain areas? And the bigger question why can’t we talk about it? If we see that black humans seems to excel at jumping for example over whites at the elite level then so be it. Sorry, I don’t see a lot of Chinese excelling at high hurdles. Whereas when it comes to world-class accordion players, whites dominate… In your face Michael Jordan! 

Comedy was supposed to be a way of helping us acknowledge our differences and more importantly find humor in them. Richard Pryor made an art form out of the way he compared how white people did things compared to blacks and in the end what we found in these “racist” stereotyping caricatures was not a division but common ground! Whites were able to see how we were seen by blacks and we laughed at ourselves. Where would black comics be if they weren’t able to mock how badly white guys dance? Who hasn’t heard this observation a million times and who hasn’t laughed? Baryshnikov and Nureyev, Fred Astaire and Bob Fosse prove the white’s can’t dance assumption wrong so why is this racist observation funny? Because it’s not racist! It’s cultures way of teaching us to laugh at our differences instead of fight about them, which can bring us closer together as Americans. The statement white guys can’t dance or jump clearly isn’t true in all cases but we find it funny because from an African American perspective, we just don’t dance like them. Not being threatened and offended by statements like these allows us to find humor in those places where we don’t really relate, where we are more different then the same, which allows us to be honest with each other, the essential starting point to finding common ground. 

So America, quit this oversensitive BS and lets get to laughing at differences again like what used to be considered adult behavior. I’ll even put my money where my mouth is and start. I will admit my ethnic inequalities. I can’t jump, can’t dance, can’t rap, can’t play jazz , can’t run fast, can’t keep time and I don’t clap on the downbeat. I’m just me, the way God made me and I love everybody and all their idiosyncrasies and superior achievements. 

But please, millennials, get over yourself and let comedians laugh and make fun of this stuff. Only freedom is funny!!! 

This is God’sComic Brad Stine and remember PCFree is Liberty join the movement!

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