[nabs-l] Blindness and other minorities

[Bridgit Pollpeter]

Chris,

I think you took a much to literal interpretation on my comment wich was
meant to be cynical. And I understand the difference between a republic
and a democracy, and realize that America has more of a republic form of
government than a democracy, but it's still taught as a democracy in
schools, and our form of government is officially listed as a democracy.
If you look The United States of America up, our form of government is
listed as a democracy even though we've never been a true democracy.

That out of the way, my comment wasn't meant to necessarily reflect our
government system, but to outline the irony of America acting like Big
Brother with other countries, sending troops in, forcing a specific
political system and demanding more equality when America itself is
still struggling to accept people as equals. This isn't meant to be
anti-American, but just a satirical comment on equality and how we view
it.

People with disabilities are still viewed as less capable leaving us out
of employment, having CPS investigate our lives when starting families,
assuming we can't do much independently and so forth and so on. Gays
still don't have ordinary rights afforded to heterosexuals, and since we
are suppose to have a separation of church and state, religious
arguments shouldn't be a factor in what rights gays have, which is the
primary reason we don't allow things like gay marriage. Racism is still
a huge issue whether you want to believe it or not. It may not be as
socially acceptable to be an out-loud-racist, but trust me, racist
mindsets are just as prevalent today as they once were. And yet we
expect other countries to adopt more tolerant attitudes towards
differing races and religions, to not follow dictatorships or corrupt
monarchies or corrupt political systems with alleged presidents or prime
ministers. The goal is to find tolerance and equality, yet we miss the
mark in our own country.

I was not saying inequality is solely due to a flawed government since
no government is without its flaws. And while on the subject, no
government has withstood the test of time. All countries have
experienced political upheaval through the centuries, but again, my
commentary wasn't focused on governments but the concept of equality,
and how our own country views equality.

I'm no political expert, nor am I anti-American, but I just find it
ironic that we have similar problems in this country but demand other
countries follow a higher standard. Again, I understand many of these
countries have governments way more corrupt than ours, and some practice
genocide and terrorism. I'm just simply commenting on the irony though,
and not trying to make America an exact reflection of countries such as
Bosnia, or Iraq, or Libya, or Rwanda, North Korea, or even Mexico.

I do respectively disagree that discrimination and inequality are not
caused, or at least supported, by political systems . Not only did the
majority of public opinion support racism in this country, but the Jim
Crowe laws, as established by our government in the late 1800's and
lasting until the 1960's, made certain behavior legal and placed rigid
definitions forming a legal precedence for "separate but equal." Our own
government passed legislation openly supporting segregation. We became
an official country at the signing of the Declaration of Independence in
1776, but black men, and any man not owning property, couldn't vote
until after the Civil War, which was after 1865. Women couldn't vote
until the 1920's.  Between the 1920's and early 1970's, it was legal to
sterilize poor blacks and whites as well as those with disabilities, and
it could be done against a person's will. Our government decided who
could and could not procreate based on discriminatory criteria
masquerading as an initiative  to eliminate those predisposed to
promiscuous behavior, poverty or carrying "unwanted" genes. Until 1971,
a blind person could be cited, and possibly arrested if walking around
without a sighted companion. Until 2011, gays couldn't openly serve in
our military; they still can't legally marry in most states or adopt
children as a couple. And I know this is off the topic, but those who
argue gay marriage will destroy the family unit as we know it, how do
heterosexual marriages, of which 50% end in divorce, support the
traditional family unit? Anyway, humans aren't perfect and inequality is
a sad part of reality, but when governments actively choose to pass
discriminatory  laws, it doesn't help and it makes this behavior legal
and acceptable. So please explain how this, regardless of the form of
government, doesn't cause, lead to and perpetuate inequality and
discrimination? People can engage in discriminatory behavior, but if the
law supports the behavior, there are no consequences; no one changes
their mind because a legal precedence exists allowing discrimination as
well as perpetuating it.

So, that's my long explanation of what was originally a very satirical
comment and then some.

Sincerely,
Bridgit Kuenning-Pollpeter
Read my blog at:
http://blogs.livewellnebraska.com/author/bpollpeter/
 
"History is not what happened; history is what was written down."
The Expected One- Kathleen McGowan

Message: 5
Date: Sat, 12 Nov 2011 15:41:36 -0500
From: Chris Nusbaum <dotkid.nusbaum at gmail.com>
To: National Association of Blind Students mailing
	list<nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Blindness and other minorities
Message-ID: <4ebeda21.a26e340a.476b.1283 at mx.google.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=EUC-KR; format=flowed

Hi Ashley and Bridgit,

Let me point out that although there is still discrimination and 
inequality in America, it's not, in my opinion, because our 
"democracy" is flawed; we don't have a democracy! We have a 
Republic for a system of government, which is different from a 
Democratic form of government.  The difference is that in a true 
democracy, the country is ruled by the people as a collective, 
all-powerful group.  In other words, it is what some would call 
"mob rule." This historically has caused riots and chaos, which 
usually leads to the end of whatever country tried it.  As a 
republic, we have representatives who are sent to represent the 
people in our government.  We then vote for who we think would be 
best to represent us.  So, the discrimination and inequality 
isn't because of our system of government, in my opinion.

Chris