OK - here's the thing. I watch news stations quite a bit. Here in Canada we have a network - CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Company), that has news all day long on television, as well as the local stations (several) that broadcast their news shows a couple times a day.. Now, being a transplanted American, (I still have US citizenship), as well as being a Permanent Resident of Canada, you would think I would also watch one of the several American networks when their news telecasts come on. But, I don't need to watch the American news - it is all over our Canadian stations. You may think that I don't see very much news about the US, but you would be wrong. Believe me, our Canadian news casts have plenty of good 'ol American news stories. So much so that I sometimes get very upset about how the American press, as well as the American people react to things that shouldn't be an issue.
The hoopla with the Muslim Community Center (cause, that's what it is folks, NOT a mosque) being built not one, but at least two (2) blocks away from ground zero of the 9/11 terrorist (not religion) attacks can be attributed to the news media. The telling of Florida Pastor Jones' idea to burn several (or lots, there are conflicting numbers) of the Qu'ran on 9/11 should never have even be considered to be news worthy - All of this only inflames people; people who are facing severe job losses, severe economic problems, uncertain times in the country, wars that no one understands ( I support the troops, not the people who sent them there, nor the reasons for it) and need a scapegoat - so they use other people as their target. They use other people, religion, thoughts and lifestyles to hate or be in fear of - because they need to, because they are uncertain and have fear about how things are going. They need to vent, and they are venting in the wrong way.
I hear people screaming that the US is a Christian country, that Islam is evil, that "freedom of religion" means THEIR religion. The media only spreads this uncertainty and hatred and misunderstanding. We don't have quite that problem in Canada, but there is hatred, misunderstanding and uncertainty here as well. The last time I looked, the US had Christians living there, but there are lots of other religions there too. And lots of different lifestyles and ideas and ways of life. It seems to me that Americans have lost their ability to reach out, embrace diversity, or to even try to understand someone who is different from them.
I remember when John Kennedy was running for president - and the outrage of some people because he was a Catholic!! There it is again, using religion to hate someone.
At any rate, I seem to have gotten off my original track - see, this is what watching the news does to me - I get all garbled, my brain starts screaming - whether it be people in the States being stupid over religions they don't want to take the time out to understand or the wrong thinking of Canadians (especially the government) when it comes to Humans of the First Peoples. Aaagggrrrhh!
At any rate, watching the news is NOT good for me - it raises my blood pressure (which is too high anyway) and makes me go off on tirades and rants, which causes my Beloved to retreat! And, as shown here, garbles my brain and my thought processes among other things. Soooo.... I think maybe I should curb my news watching - as I said, that's all the news, folks - I'm not watching anymore.
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