When the unthinkable becomes the norm…

So I had to pause a bit after reading the article, Right-wing professor: Raping Arab women is ‘the only thing that deters suicide bombers’ By David Edwards in The Raw Story . Mordechai Kedar is the fool who believes this nonsense. Of course he qualified it by saying he’s not suggesting that anyone do this, just that it’s the reality they all live with every day. I know it’s awful over there, but nothing will ever change with attitudes expressed like this one. Comments like these are meant to inflame others. And as long as they qualify them, they hold no responsibility for the result.

We see this all the time in this country. Women are standing up against gun violence because our precious children are dying and then they are threatened and harassed for doing so. Since we live in an area where open carry is legal and many people have concealed weapons permits, we put up a No Firearms/Weapons Allowed sign so that people would stop bring weapons onto our property. Although we own weapons, we’re just not comfortable with others bringing them onsite without our permission to do so. You never know about people, so it makes sense to me to establish some boundaries in this not so safe world we now all live in. Nearly everyone in our area has No Trespassing signs, so it’s clear that other folks believe the same way. It wasn’t always this way where I live. It’s not that people didn’t have firearms, because most people did and do. It’s only that no one displayed them other than in the usual and customary manner, such as in the back window of your pick-up truck during hunting season. There was a feeling of mutual respect back then. Not now. Now it feels provocative and people seem to be taking liberties that they wouldn’t otherwise have taken in the past.

We’re lucky in this country to not face the same level of violence that other countries face. But this free for all attitude that exists now is at times frightening. Ranchers in standoffs with law enforcement, protesters stopping buses with immigrant children, the “militarization” of law enforcement, a Governor who wants the National Guard on the border protecting us from children seeking asylum…everything is so backwards and upside down. We used to favor decorum. We used to value education. Our brothers and sisters fought and died so that we could all have the right to vote and look what’s happening now. Voter suppression is at an all time high in many states. But the more control they exert, the harder the fall will be in the end.

Call it activism, call it being fed up, call it anything you want. There’s a movement afoot in this country and around the world. We want our children, our homes, our communities to be safe. We want our constitutional rights to be protected. We don’t want to have to wonder about the guy in the local big box store that’s wearing a pistol or carrying an assault weapon. I realize the last thing anyone wants is to get stuck in the checkout line at Walmart when you’re buying a bunch of frozen food, but do we really need weapons to complicate the issue? (pro-tip below) Just because it’s legal doesn’t mean you should do it. It freaks people out. For the love of all that is holy, how do people not understand this? What freedom is it exactly that’s being interfered with again? No one is suggesting repealing the second amendment or any part of it. Just have a little common sense when you’re around others in what’s supposed to be a non-violent place and realize that you might be scaring people. And now for the pro-tip: put your frozen stuff into the frozen food carriers you bring with you to the store while you’re still shopping. Then smile and say to the checker when he or she looks at you funny, I never know how long I’m going to be in line and I don’t want my blueberries to melt. Trust me on this. They understand completely. If left to my husband to explain, he’d say he didn’t want to get line-f*cked. But then he’s 60 and doesn’t like nonsense.

It’s hard sometimes to respect differing viewpoints, particularly when we feel so passionately about something. But it’s in those times in particular where respect is needed. The attack on women, however, is something else entirely. It’s abusive, nasty and oppressive. And it’s all too convenient. Rape Arab women to deter suicide bombers? What would men do if suddenly THEY became fair game? And when did they decide we were? When are they going to understand that we can accomplish anything if we have mutual respect for each other? Instead, we deal with such nastiness. Constantly.

If we lived before in a world where we could go to a movie, send our precious babies off to school, fly on an airplane, walk down the street, attend college, go to the grocery or local home improvement store and survive the experience intact, we can surely create that world again. We need to dial back the inflammatory rhetoric that has become so prevalent. Situations can escalate out of control and before you know it, someone gets hurt or worse. And do we really want that?