And America Continues to Show it's True Colors. . .

MuppetsRule

Well-Known Member
Joined
Dec 2, 2002
Messages
2,658
Reaction score
1,758
As my town prepares for 4th of July celebrations this year, I have decided that I will not be observing or celebrating the day this year, because this is no longer the United States of America, the America I was taught to love and respect as I was growing up, which is a land of freedom and justice, where people are free to be who they are and what they are; instead, it has become a divided nation filled with hate, bigotry, and prejudices - all of which are things that should not be celebrated, nor should a country that now chooses to embrace such.
The 4th of July isn't about celebrating hate, bigotry and prejudice. And the country doesn't embrace such feelings. It condemns them. Those qualities have always existed here, and every other part of the world. It's part of human nature to fear those that are different. But as a country, throughout our history, we have overcome those differences. It may not seem like it but we are still a united country. We are just going through a dark period. We've gone through seemingly divided periods before. But the thing that's great is that the country always finds a way to bounce back.

Does our Country have it's problems? Yes, it absolutely does. Is it
the Greatest Nation in the History of the World? Yes, I believe it
absolutely is. Is that arrogant? Maybe so. So be it. I'm not going to apologize for being American and proud of my country.

Instead of not celebrating the 4th, take the time to read the document that started this thing. Put yourself in the place of these men who drafted the Declaration of Independence and who effectively signed their death warrants with their signatures at the bottom.

Of all the under dog long shots in the history of the world, these
guys took the cake. They were a bunch of rag tag cast offs and
opportunity seekers who finally said they'd had enough. Enough that
they declared in writing the most serious step you can take against
a country. Not to mention the country happened to be the mightiest
nation in the world at that time.

Every time I think I'm doing something pretty gutsy, I'm reminded of
that sentence "That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to
be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all
Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection
between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be
totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they
have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances,
establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which
Independent States may of right do."

Addressing this document to the leader of the strongest military in
the world at that time and telling him that this little bunch of colonies
now declares they have the power to "levy War" against them is one
of the all time gutsy moves.

And throughout our country's history, we've seen brave and gutsy acts to defend our liberties and independence. From the patriots of the Revolutionary War, to the brave souls who fought in the Civil War, to those that fought in the World Wars, to those that fought in Korea and Vietnam and to those that continue that fight today so that we may enjoy our freedoms & liberties not only on the 4th but everyday. So no, I'm not going to be embarrassed about our country. I'll be celebrating all that which it stands for.

Happy 4th of July to you and yours and may God Bless America.
 

CensoredAlso

Well-Known Member
Joined
Sep 16, 2002
Messages
14,028
Reaction score
2,292
Is it the Greatest Nation in the History of the World? Yes, I believe it
absolutely is
I will agree it is...once the country stops being so divided and mean spirited (and yes, I mean both "sides"). And if we ever get our economy back on track. Right now, I'm just scared.

We've gone through seemingly divided periods before. But the thing that's great is that the country always finds a way to bounce back.
You are absolutely right that it's far from the first time we've been divided and things have gotten better. Thing is, I'm not sure the division has ever truly gone away. It's always waiting for the right climate in which to thrive. We've never truly dealt with it. Maybe we are now, I'm not sure. History will know better than me. But it's certainly not pleasant to live through.
 
Last edited:

CensoredAlso

Well-Known Member
Joined
Sep 16, 2002
Messages
14,028
Reaction score
2,292
Joy comes from within. Having peace in your heart will allow you to deal with things better, even if your whole world is caving in.
That's a very good point. I'm honestly not sure if I have that in myself. I think I have resilience. But joy? I don't think that's happened yet.
 

mr3urious

Well-Known Member
Joined
Apr 5, 2009
Messages
3,921
Reaction score
1,408
Well, since America is back to being an intolerant, unaccepting, and homophobic country, I guess there's going to be a boycott called for THE LOUD HOUSE now that it's been revealed one of the Loud girls is a lesbian.
It was revealed in the episode "L is for Love" where, at the very end,
Luna (the punk rock sibling) slipped a love letter in someone's locker addressed to "Sam". And it was a girl.
 

Pig'sSaysAdios

Well-Known Member
Joined
Aug 12, 2015
Messages
6,506
Reaction score
4,646
It was revealed in the episode "L is for Love" where, at the very end,
Luna (the punk rock sibling) slipped a love letter in someone's locker addressed to "Sam". And it was a girl.
I enjoyed that one. The whole episode was very well executed and i'm very glad they didn't make a huge fuss over Luna liking a girl. The Loud House is really turning into one of the most inclusive kid shows out there. With the huge variety of female characters, the fact that Lincoln's friend has two dads, and there was even a named character with down syndrome in one episode- something I haven't seen since Jason Kingsley appeared on Sesame Street over forty years ago!

Meanwhile, in Kenya, apparently they're banning kid shows that they deem "gay". Among the shows are Steven Universe, The Loud House, The Legend of Korra, Adventure Time, and Clarence. Okay, that generally makes sense. Kenya is famously not-that-gay-friendly, to put it mildly, and all the listed shows have featured queer characters. But, what I don't understand is, they've also banned Hey Arnold!. I don't remember any character on that show being gay. I mean, there was Mr. Simmons, but that was never actually stated in the show:
http://www.channel24.co.za/TV/News/kenya-wants-to-ban-6-pro-gay-cartoons-aired-on-dstv-20170619
 

D'Snowth

Well-Known Member
Joined
Aug 8, 2003
Messages
40,651
Reaction score
12,811
Yes, as I said, Grey Griffin (nee DeLisle) leaked the clip on Twitter a week or two ago.

While I've seen so far that fan reaction has been pretty much totally positive, I foresee the parental and moral groups calling for a full boycott of Nick for this: remember, back in the days of Bush's America, this is exactly what happened with PBS when they aired that "We Are Family" music video, and news of the infamous "Two Mommies" episode of POSTCARDS FROM BUSTER getting out - the religious groups urged people to stop supporting and funding PBS altogether for, "trying to brainwash our innocent children into this evil cult of tolerance," and I can tell you from experience that this did, indeed, put a dent in their funding: remember, I used to work at PBS all those years ago, and our pledges took a serious nose dive as a result - especially considering ours is an uber-red state. Don't forget to how J.K. Rowling came under attack and people started burning Harry Potter books because she revealed Dumbledore was gay.

And again, look at what started this thread: people losing their minds and calling for a boycott of all things Disney because LeFou in the BEAUTY AND THE BEAST remake was openly gay (and this after people theorized he was in the animated version).

Like I said: eight years of making the progress of turning America into a more compassionate, tolerant, accepting, and diverse nation went right out the window when Trump won the election, and his racist, sexist, homophobic, and xenophobic supporters crawled out of the woodwork. The BLM protests may have started prior to Trump winning the election, but not only do they continue to crop up because so many white cops continue to kill black people without provocation, and gay people and couples find more hate messages taped to their cars or front doors, Hispanics or Middle Eastern people are being attacked by white people in stores and other public areas . . . and the Trump supporters relieve themselves of their actions by claiming the victims are faking/staging their attacks, which is just stupid. Why would they even do that?
 

Muppet Master

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 14, 2014
Messages
2,742
Reaction score
1,560
So you guys know that I've been critical of Trump's roasting skills. "Lying" Ted, "Little" Marco were just lazy while "Crooked" Hillary was weak as well, but it was even worse when he called Tim Kaine, "Crooked" Kaine.

1) You're literally repeating your roast.
2) There was an obvious roast he could have used. "Candy" Kaine! It's right in front of him.

Regardless, "Crying" Chuck isn't half-bad. Maybe he's starting to find his footing.
 

D'Snowth

Well-Known Member
Joined
Aug 8, 2003
Messages
40,651
Reaction score
12,811
I want to take the time to share a testimony of mine and show that it's possible for people to change.

Now, this is something I'm not at all proud to admit, but once upon a time, when I was a lot younger, I too was actually something of a homophobe, and while I admit that part of it was due to my religious upbringing, a lot of it was just my own sheer ignorance. I may be young, but I'm old enough to remember that homosexuality, in general, was a very taboo subject: parents would speak of how evil gay people were; if a family-friendly property even remotely suggested tolerance or acceptance towards the LGBT community, they were accused of brainwashing children into a cult; if a celebrity or a public figure came out of the closet, they were accused of trying to shove their lifestyle down everybody else's throats; the military had its infamous "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, and if a soldier was found to be gay, that would mean the end of his or her military career. I confess that as an ignorant youngster, I knew I wanted to avoid gay people at all cost, because I didn't know how I would even handle it: the idea of guys being attracted to other guys in a way that most guys would be attracted to girls seemed to weird and crazy to me, not to mention there was a point in time where a number of people were feeling more comfortable with coming out of the closet, that yes, even I felt that the very existence of heterosexuals in the world was being threatened - I do admit that.

But again, I was living during a time where homophobia was a foundation of the American way of life, and as such, I was just completely ignorant to what a bunch of hogwash this all was. As the years went on, and I grew older and wiser, and actually opened my eyes beyond what I knew (or in this case didn't know), I came to realize just how wrong everybody was: LGBT people aren't evil at all; they aren't threatening the existence of heterosexuals; nor are they even trying to take over the world or even indoctronate people into their own lifestyle . . . what seems like them "shoving their lifestyle down everybody's throats" isn't that at all, they're just trying to send a loud and clear message: they're human beings, just like everyone else, and they want to be treated like human beings, just like everyone else; they're not evil people at all, nor do they want to take over the world - they just want to coexist peacefully among everyone else in the world as we all should. So they happen to be attracted to the same sex instead of the opposite sex, so what? Other than that fact, who are they even hurting? With all of the destruction and tragedies happening around our world today, where innocent people are losing their lives at the hands of other lunatics out there who actually do intend to harm people for their own selfish gain, a man loving another man or a woman loving another woman is what bothers you the most? Isn't love supposed to be one of the things that makes our world go 'round?

As I said, I was ignorant about these things until I actually saw that other than their interest in the same sex, LGBT people are otherwise no different than other people out there. Take Jamie for instance: he's an incredible artist - I always look forward to receiving a Christmas card from him every year, and I also appreciate how strong and opinionated he is in advocating equal rights not just for the LGBT community, but for people of all walks of life in general, whether they be conservative or liberal, religious or irreligious, black or white, red or brown, purple or yellow. Slackbot: she's bi, with a stronger preference to women than men, and she happens to be an absolutely fantastic puppet builder, I've even learned a few different tips from the WIPs she shares of whatever projects she's working on, be it original characters, or her Fraggle replicas - she's very much a hard worker. Heck, my mom even has a cousin who's a lesbian, and she had it all at one point: a husband, kids, and a military career to boot . . . but she knew she couldn't live the lie anymore, so she eventually resigned from the military, divorced her husband, and isolated herself from her family to avoid causing them any embarrassment or humiliation . . . now that's real sacrifice.

Now that homophobia is a big thing again, and I see how so many people out there are still just as ignorant as I once was, all I can do is shake my head, and roll my eyes. You would think that in our modern world, we would move beyond things like this, but seeing how quick America was the regress back to such close-mindedness and ignorance makes me feel sorry for everybody involved: I feel sorry for the LGBT community for having to deal with the influx of being treated like they're less than dirt all over again (though I applaud them for making it clear they don't intend to go regress back to letting themselves be treated this way when they worked hard to achieve equal rights for themselves these past several years), and I feel sorry for the homophobes, whose irrational fears are more than likely based in nothing my ignorance like mine once was.

We all have a purpose on this planet - why can't we all just get along and make nice not war?
 

D'Snowth

Well-Known Member
Joined
Aug 8, 2003
Messages
40,651
Reaction score
12,811
Sorry to double post again, but here a week or two ago, I tried my hand at a political cartoon that takes a swipe at both sides - with all of the complaints from people on both sides that the media is spreading "fake news," I got to thinking about how Gary Gnu's philosphy that, "No g'news is good g'news" not only stands the test of time, but is even truer today than it was over thiry years ago, so. . . .

I'm also thrilled to share that Jim Martin loved it and even shared it on THE GREAT SPACE COASTER's Facebook page - he recognizes that this doesn't take any sides, and humorously illustrates Gary's point.
 
Top