Another potentially offensive (i.e. liberal) blog post- sorry

I picked up a free newspaper on my way to class this morning and settled down in the metro to read during my long commute to the north of Madrid. This edition was just chock full of bad news. The cover story was about the rise of prices and cost of living in Madrid. Ok, so that's bad news, but not exactly tragic. I continued flipping, and learned that 10 attempted suicide bombers were caught in Barcelona before they got the chance to blow up the public transport system. I don't remember if they were Islamists or members of the ETA (a terrorist organization based in Basque country), but it doesn't matter, because the good news that they were caught doesn't hide the bad news of what they intended to do in the first place. As I kept turning the pages, I saw that in the past 6 days, 5 people had been violently murdered in the province of Madrid, including a 20 year-old girl who was burned to death by her boyfriend in Alcala de Henares. I was so horrified by then about the apparent downfall of humanity, that I decided to hurriedly flip to the celebrity section and cheer myself up with the antics of crazy movie stars and royal people. And that's where lay the knife that plunged into my heart. As soon as I saw "Heath Ledger: dead at 28" I almost had an honest-to-God breakdown in the metro.

To be fair, and as my roommate pointed out later, I had chosen one of the more sensationalist free newspapers available (it's also the one with the most pictures). However, all the news was still true and recent. And I have remained devastated through the rest of the day. From 9:00 this morning to now, almost 4:00am, the fact that PEOPLE KILL and that PEOPLE DIE has hung over me like a big black rain cloud full of killer bees, dirty hypodermic needles, and dynamite, ready to do me in at any second. And so what do I do to feel better? I download a sad and sentimentally depressing movie to take my mind off things. Quite appropriately I think, I chose Brokeback Mountain (remember- the "gay cowboy" movie), which I had been wanting to see for awhile but hadn't yet had the chance. Heath Ledger received an Oscar nomination for his portrayal of Ennis Del Mar, one of the movie's two main protagonists of the same gender who fall in love one summer while herding sheep on a mountain in Wyoming. And I am not kidding when I say "Well done, Ang Lee" (he's the director, by the way). I really enjoyed this movie, and though it had a sad ending, it made me feel a little better about humanity. That is, until I logged onto the Internet Movie Database to read a bit more about the movie. And what I found was a message board full of lot of stupid people bashing each other's religions and lifestyles. So I felt inclined to leave my opinion on the message board as well. Here's what I wrote in response to a post entitled "I am a Muslim and I enjoyed this movie":

The true perpetrators of evil, violence, and hatred in this world are those who make blanket statements such as "Islam is evil" or "Christianity is evil," coupled with "My way is better." How can anyone with a human soul and half a brain possibly make such foolish and uneducated statements? You defend homosexuals as a group and condemn another entire group of people in the same sentence! Well, guess what. There are bad homosexuals, and there are bad heterosexuals. There are bad Muslims, and there are bad Christians. There are bad black people, and there are bad white people...I could continue for an hour.

When you say "Islam is evil," you condemn my college roommate, who is the sweetest and most gentle person I've ever met. Sure you are also condemning Osama bin Laden and a whole other platoon of bomb-strapped baddies, but along with them, you swoop up millions of other people who live their lives loving their families, helping in their communities, facing Mecca five times a day and just praying that Allah brings peace to their dangerous and scary corner of the world.

When you say "Christianity is evil," you condemn my mother, who has spent her entire life helping others and loves humanity with more love than should be possible for a mere human. Of course, you also get the Hitlers, the Crusaders, and the wackos who blow up abortion clinics with people still inside. However, you are also condemning every soup kitchen, every clothing drive, every house built for a homeless family, every charitable work that was supported by a Christian person or organization.

How foolish is all of that? Undoubtedly, there are bad people in the world. And believe me, you can find them in every little category that you put people into. So stop being a part of the problem, and start looking at people individually. Yes, our religions, cultures, sexual orientations, etcetera, form a part of who we are, but a human is so much more than his or her demographic information. Even if we don't agree with each other's ideas, I can still respect you as a human. Unless, of course, YOU YOURSELF try to blow me up. Then it's on.

An additional thought:
Brokeback Mountain was a really touching movie, superbly acted, well directed, and I enjoyed it a lot. I have also spent all of my 23 years as a member of a Southern Baptist Church. Go figure...

Strangely enough, I feel better now.