As American as A--holes

At RSBS, we're critical of the things that go on around us.  We're critical of the things going on in baseball (especially Bud Selig's machinations and the continued but completely baffling employment of Kyle Farnsworth), we're critical of events in the world at large and we're critical of the turn our country has taken in the past couple years.  But make no mistake, just because we're critical doesn't mean we love our country any less.

I spend a lot of my time outside the US and each time I come back, I'm reminded of how great it is.  In fact, I don't think you can truly appreciate the US until you've spent some time outside.  One of the things that strikes me each time I return is how accepting we are.  I have never visited another country where people of all different religions, ethnicity, socio-economic class and so on and so forth live next to each other, work with each other and generally get along with each other. 

But recently I've begun to wonder what's going on.  For a country that accepts so many different people and allows these people to express themselves in so many different ways (even when it's tasteless and abominable), why have we all of a sudden decided to focus so much hatred on one group?  Take a look:



And it would be easy to say that this is just one isolated incident but it isn't.  As I've said before, the people who blow themselves up or go on some ridiculous rampage represent Islam about as much as Timothy McVeigh represents Christianity.  Which is to say that they don't.  I'm not a religious person myself but the Constitution, the document many of these people claim as their justification, codifies the right of any person to worship as they will.  You don't have to like that but you can be civil about it.  Civil doesn't mean picketing and ruining their events, for instance.  Do they show up and drink all your wine during mass or or run around naked during your Knights of Columbus dinner?

Anyway, I just wanted to make sure I put that out there.  The USA is a great country.  In my opinion, it's the greatest country in the history of the world.  It would be nice if these douchenozzles could stop attempting to prove otherwise.

-A

Note:  Apparently the video has been taken down due to a copyright claim by George Collins.  We'll keep looking for a new version so you can see it.  In the meantime, here's a brief background on what happens in the video.