I posted this as a Facebook note and what is affective once may as well be reused...
This is in response to the uproar on campus in the last week due to the publishing of the word "kike" by one of the school's papers.
All that has really been accomplished is people are upset about this (including me), and rightfully so.
All of the craziness reminded me of another incident:
DISCLAIMER: I don't think it's right to compare the incident I'm describing with what happened at SBU, on most levels. Though I do think the way we should respond/what our responses could cause can be compared, and I think that the generalizations I make can be applied to countless situations.
When I was in eleventh grade, I had a Xanga. This was mostly because I thought it was the cool thing to do, and all of my friends had Xangas. It was really lame. I think my most exciting post was about the time I saw some kid steal a CD at the mall and get chased by a policeman (the kid won).
I never wrote anything about religion on my Xanga from what I can recall. In fact I didn't know anything about religion so I don't know what I could have possibly written. But it was a small town and I generally went to the Reform temple in town on Friday nights.
One day somebody named "Randy Hoffmeister" wrote a nasty comment on my blog. It had something to do with the fact that he thought all Jews can be hanged. I clicked on his blog because I had no clue who he was. The last three posts of his included
a) A picture of me he had apparently gotten off my Xanga (oops)
b) A nasty anti-semitic picture, usually from Nazi Germany, with a comment that I looked like the Jew in the picture and was probably [insert negative stereotypes here]
c) Pictures of morbidly obese naked women
When I saw Randy Hoffemeister's blog, formerly located at www.xanga.com/randyhoffmeister , I started crying. This was for two reasons. First of all, I was offended and hurt. Second of all the pictures of the naked women were really sick and I was traumatized. Who wants to see THAT?
Immediately about fifteen of my friends started attacking Randy Hoffemeister. They called him all sorts of nasty names and threatened him and all sorts of stuff. Then he would publish another article with my picture in it. And the would yell at him. And then it would happen again.
Finally I respectfully asked my friends to not comment on the next blog about me, no matter how bad it was. After a few days, he stopped.
I soon found out that Randy Hoffmeister was actually a kid at my school who I didn't even know . His name is NOT Randy, and to this day I don't think he knows that I know.
What did "Randy" want from all of this? He wanted to hurt my feelings. He wanted to piss me off. He wanted attention. So I pretended like I wasn't hurt or pissed off, and he was ignored. And he stopped.
I learned a few things from this whole Randy Hoffmeister experience.
-Due to freedom of the press, there is nothing I could do about what "Randy" was writing, although his Xanga did get shut down. Even though the article was mean, anybody that wants to can say that word in the paper or on a blog or even on TV and the most that can happen is they get fired.
- He wasn't accomplishing anything but hurting me, so once I started ignoring him, he realized he was wasting his time. These people want attention!
-The best thing you can do, as sad as it is, with these sort of things is ignore it. That's the last thing inflammatory writers want. I know this is easier said than done because although it is logical, how can we really ignore something like this?
-Don't publish pictures on the internet unless you want people to take them!
-There will always be anti-semitism, there will always be racism, there will always be white supremacists and black supremacists and Asian supremacists and everything else... if you think that is going away you are blind. All we can do is stick together, those of us who DON'T hate.
-On that same note, the majority of people are actually good (just quiet sometimes). Seeing all of my friends bashing this Randy dude also made me cry!
-People who publish under pseudonyms are probably embarrassed by what they have to say. This may be why Randy Hoffmeister never confronted me. By the way Sarah Marshall is my real name and I stick by everything I say.
-I don't know if these things come from hate. Surely anyone that writes these things is hateful, right? I honestly don't know. I think they are just bored or ignorant or insensitive or a combination. Either way I feel bad for them. Maybe Randy grew up in a house full of hate and never saw anything to change his mind. For those of us who have been bashed by ethnic slurs, stereotypes, all sorts of disgusting things... show them that they are wrong. "Randy" never met a Jew! People like Bernie Madoff are the only Jews he has heard of. Don't get me wrong, this kid was a loser and I'm not trying to excuse him. But people like him exist all over the world and always have and always will, and the biggest thing we can do to stop them is prove them wrong through actions.
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Why Americans Are All Unhappy
Loser.-->Here in New York we have groups that protest everything. Mostly they protest the government (in general), Israel (G-d forbid they fight back!) , the war (even in times of peace) , capitalism (where?), etc. Some of them have good points (well...not that I've seen but I trust that they exist), but most of them are skinny upper class white kids who have had a Lexus since they were fifteen and need something to complain about and occupy their time. They like to fight "the man," even if the man employs their daddy and pays their college tuition and will one day employ them. And "the man" is also the one that worked so hard to give them the right to sit outside with a sign and complain about anything and everything.
So any person who visited America would probably come to New York and thus see these protesters. Someone who lived in New York would see few days without these protestors. And they'd think "Wow, Americans sure are unhappy!"
Fortunately , they'd be wrong.
I lost my house in Hurricane Katrina and it sucked. When people here about this they say "Wow, you must really hate Bush!" Unlike some of these protestors, Mississippians do not generally think that President Bush was brilliant enough to create a Hurricane powerful enough to destroy a few thousand lives. Only G-d can do that and we don't know why it happened, but it did. The answer is to move on as best as we can, not blame President Bush.
My point with that is not that all Americans are miserable with the way things are going. Sure, we are in a recession. Sure, things aren't perfect. But we still have so many freedoms, so many opportunities.
My family is dirt poor. I mean...really poor. But here I am at school that costs me about $25,000 a year. I didn't get my scholarship because I'm poor or because I'm a minority or because my dad went to school here (my parents didn't go to college, actually). I got this scholarship because I worked really hard in high school. Anyone can do that. Correction. (Warning: inflammatory statement) If someone can't figure out how to get a scholarship, loan, or grant, then they probably don't deserve it and I don't want them operating on me.
We are still one of the richest countries in the world, and we are definitely the freest. In fact we are among only a few countries where if you don't like it here, you can take all your money and leave. Most places won't let you do that.
Our "skyrocketing" unemployment rate is still below that of most Western European countries. It's below most countries that aren't communist, actually, because we don't force people to take jobs that they don't want. Instead they can collect welfare, unemployment, food stamps, medicare/caid, live in subsidized housing..etc. Ew!
My point here is stop whining, people. It doesn't really accomplish anything If all you do is sit around and complain, I would be thrilled if you went through with your threats and moved to Canada. Better yet, move to France...or Cuba!
Yay America.
R-e-s-p-e-c-t.
Update: I am doing my best to respect President Obama despite...the obvious.
Old Article:
That’s President Fascist to You
About a year ago, I moved from the “Yes ma’am” capital of the world, Mississippi, here to Long Island. I wasn’t exactly expecting to see chivalry, but some things did surprise me. A lot of teachers here want us to call them by their first names. Seriously? I should call my teacher with two PhDs who has been doing research projects in my field since before I was born “Steve”? Nope. Can’t do it. Sorry. It’s hard enough for me to not call them “Yessir” but to call them by their first name will never happen.
The informality I found upon leaving home is not limited to professor-student relationships. People outside of my little hometown sure have an odd way of talking about politicians. I had a classmate at home who was about as Liberal as you can get. When insulting our President though, he wrote all over his website, “President Bush is a fascist!” This is obviously an offensive (and very untrue) statement, but this guy would never think of leaving about his formal title. I have gone from hearing insults directed at President Bush to insults directed at George. The first time it happened I was reading an article about Secretary of State Rice and heard her referred to as “Condi.” I realize this is an affectionate term, as some of President Bush’s biggest supporters call him “Dubya,” but it’s WEIRD.
I read all sorts of news articles these days and hear about people named “Obama” “McCain” and “Sarah.” My name is Sarah.
The Vice-Presidential hopeful is named Governor Palin. A kid on a high school basketball team can by his last name. The people who are hoping to run our country in a few months are not Obama and McCain. They are Senator Obama and Senator McCain.
Maybe using formal titles has become obsolete. I’m sure, though, general respect isn’t. It’s hard to believe that with the flyers that are shoved in my hands every time I walk through The City.
I am a big supporter of Senator McCain. I disagree with about 90% of Senator Obama’s plans. I don’t know what plans are in the other 10% because I can’t find anything that I do agree with, but I’m being optimistic and assuming there is SOMETHING. The polls have been, for the past month, hovering on the even mark. There is a decent chance that Senator Obama will win the election and come January be the President of the United States of America. At that point he would become President Obama. If that happens, I will be very sad. There is a good chance that I will even cry. A lot. I will criticize his policies and actions (or lack thereof). I will accuse him of being a younger, more attractive, more charismatic [Former President] Jimmy Carter. I will be right.
I will not start calling him Barack. I will not draw mean caricatures of him making fun of whatever physical characteristic of his I don’t like as people do now, with Senator McCain’s gland and Senator Obama’s ears. I will not say he cheated to win the election. I won’t say he is racist. None of these things are okay, even if you use formal titles.
In America we have the right to criticize the government in any way we want, but do yourself a favor and be respectful. When people make fun of politicians (anything less tasteful than the SNL Tina Fey skit crosses the line) they only make themselves and their parties look bad.
Old Article:
That’s President Fascist to You
About a year ago, I moved from the “Yes ma’am” capital of the world, Mississippi, here to Long Island. I wasn’t exactly expecting to see chivalry, but some things did surprise me. A lot of teachers here want us to call them by their first names. Seriously? I should call my teacher with two PhDs who has been doing research projects in my field since before I was born “Steve”? Nope. Can’t do it. Sorry. It’s hard enough for me to not call them “Yessir” but to call them by their first name will never happen.
The informality I found upon leaving home is not limited to professor-student relationships. People outside of my little hometown sure have an odd way of talking about politicians. I had a classmate at home who was about as Liberal as you can get. When insulting our President though, he wrote all over his website, “President Bush is a fascist!” This is obviously an offensive (and very untrue) statement, but this guy would never think of leaving about his formal title. I have gone from hearing insults directed at President Bush to insults directed at George. The first time it happened I was reading an article about Secretary of State Rice and heard her referred to as “Condi.” I realize this is an affectionate term, as some of President Bush’s biggest supporters call him “Dubya,” but it’s WEIRD.
I read all sorts of news articles these days and hear about people named “Obama” “McCain” and “Sarah.” My name is Sarah.
The Vice-Presidential hopeful is named Governor Palin. A kid on a high school basketball team can by his last name. The people who are hoping to run our country in a few months are not Obama and McCain. They are Senator Obama and Senator McCain.
Maybe using formal titles has become obsolete. I’m sure, though, general respect isn’t. It’s hard to believe that with the flyers that are shoved in my hands every time I walk through The City.
I am a big supporter of Senator McCain. I disagree with about 90% of Senator Obama’s plans. I don’t know what plans are in the other 10% because I can’t find anything that I do agree with, but I’m being optimistic and assuming there is SOMETHING. The polls have been, for the past month, hovering on the even mark. There is a decent chance that Senator Obama will win the election and come January be the President of the United States of America. At that point he would become President Obama. If that happens, I will be very sad. There is a good chance that I will even cry. A lot. I will criticize his policies and actions (or lack thereof). I will accuse him of being a younger, more attractive, more charismatic [Former President] Jimmy Carter. I will be right.
I will not start calling him Barack. I will not draw mean caricatures of him making fun of whatever physical characteristic of his I don’t like as people do now, with Senator McCain’s gland and Senator Obama’s ears. I will not say he cheated to win the election. I won’t say he is racist. None of these things are okay, even if you use formal titles.
In America we have the right to criticize the government in any way we want, but do yourself a favor and be respectful. When people make fun of politicians (anything less tasteful than the SNL Tina Fey skit crosses the line) they only make themselves and their parties look bad.
My Provocative Article
Apparently this pissed people off. This was published in The Patriot and got not only a response but accusation that I used a pseudonym.
If You Love Israel…
Sarah Marshall
In June I completed my second trip to Israel. Anybody with a drop of knowledge about politics knows how important Israel is to the US (and for that matter, how important the US is to Israel). Israel is our only reliable ally in the Middle East, and arguments that Saudi Arabia and Egypt are our buddies can be quickly shot down with a review of the last few decades. Suffering from Election ’08 fever myself, I asked every Israeli I encountered for their opinions on who should be leading the free world this time next year. The vote was anonymous. Most people couldn’t believe I would ASK such a question. A more official poll given by the Washington Times puts the Israeli vote for Senator McCain around 70%.
I’m not going to explain the importance of supporting Israel and voting for someone who supports Israel. From a secular standpoint, a vote for Israel is a vote for the future of America. Without any influence in a region as huge and important as the Middle East, we won’t last too much longer. Now let’s figure out which candidate would most help to ensure the continuing success of the only democracy in a region otherwise almost completely lacking in freedom.
Senator Obama, a man of clarity and a consistent policy in general, summed up his view just a few weeks ago on a visit to Jordan. "Let me be absolutely clear. Israel is a strong friend of Israel's. It will be a strong friend of Israel's under a McCain... administration. It will be a strong friend of Israel's under an Obama administration. So that policy is not going to change,” pledged Senator Obama.
Thank you for clarifying, Senator. Honestly, I can’t really find anything showing what Senator Obama really thinks about Israel. In his two and a half years as a Senator, his votes did indicate overall support for Israel. But from reading what he says and plans to do, it’s clear his opinion is the exactly equal to…whatever his audience wants to hear. In 2004 he voiced his opinion for the “wall” protecting the Israelis to come down. He has close personal and political ties with George Soros, one of his biggest donors, who says he wants to break America’s bonds with Israel and erode political support for Israel. Senator Obama has indicated that he wants to hire some of Carter’s foreign policy team for himself in ’09. I think we all know what Carter, who recently hugged a Hamas leader, did to the Middle East. To be fair, Senator Obama strongly condemned the meeting with Hamas, which he called a terrorist organization, even though they whole-heartedly endorsed him. Last week while in Israel Senator Obama met with Israeli newspaper Haaretz, which named him “candidate likely to be least supportive of Israel.” In this meeting he pledged support for continuing the strong positive relationship between America and Israel. Officially, according to his website, Senator Obama says the same things he said to Haaretz. So, to sum it up, I don’t really know what the Democratic nominee for President thinks about Israel, but I don’t think he’d do anything too radical, either way.
McCain has a clearer stance, one that hasn’t changed at all since he began his career working with the house over thirty years ago. Every statement and vote that he has made has been 100% Pro-Israel. In March on a visit to Israel he said that there was no point in negotiating with Hamas. Last summer he recognized the importance of Israel to America, asking “If we fail in Israel, where will we succeed?” When Senator McCain was asked why he is so concerned about Iran, he answered, “The United States of America has committed itself to never allowing another Holocaust.” Senator Joe Lieberman urged supporters of Israel to vote for Senator McCain, saying, “If you love Israel, you’ll love McCain.” In an effort to be completely fair, I looked all over for something indicating that Senator McCain isn’t ideal for Israel, but I couldn’t find much. The closest thing I saw was his consideration to have James Baker, White House Chief of Staff for Presidents Reagan and George H.W. Bush, be a sort of advisor on Israel. Baker, in a conversation with a friend about Israel, reportedly made a disgusting statement about Jews, noting, “They don’t vote for us anyway.” The only other thing I can find, after sifting through a few hundred articles, is comparisons between Senator McCain and President Bush, saying that the later is bad for Israel. I can’t find any logic behind that, though.
All I ask is that you consider what I’ve said, or rather, what the candidates have said, before you cast your vote in November. Until elected, we can’t be sure what either candidate will do, but, in the words of Senator Obama himself, no matter what, “Israel will be a friend of Israel’s.”
I'm not ashamed of my opinions, people--I'm a proud Republican.
(PS...I know this article means nothing now. The election is long. I'm just wondering what pissed people off so feel free to let me know.)
If You Love Israel…
Sarah Marshall
In June I completed my second trip to Israel. Anybody with a drop of knowledge about politics knows how important Israel is to the US (and for that matter, how important the US is to Israel). Israel is our only reliable ally in the Middle East, and arguments that Saudi Arabia and Egypt are our buddies can be quickly shot down with a review of the last few decades. Suffering from Election ’08 fever myself, I asked every Israeli I encountered for their opinions on who should be leading the free world this time next year. The vote was anonymous. Most people couldn’t believe I would ASK such a question. A more official poll given by the Washington Times puts the Israeli vote for Senator McCain around 70%.
I’m not going to explain the importance of supporting Israel and voting for someone who supports Israel. From a secular standpoint, a vote for Israel is a vote for the future of America. Without any influence in a region as huge and important as the Middle East, we won’t last too much longer. Now let’s figure out which candidate would most help to ensure the continuing success of the only democracy in a region otherwise almost completely lacking in freedom.
Senator Obama, a man of clarity and a consistent policy in general, summed up his view just a few weeks ago on a visit to Jordan. "Let me be absolutely clear. Israel is a strong friend of Israel's. It will be a strong friend of Israel's under a McCain... administration. It will be a strong friend of Israel's under an Obama administration. So that policy is not going to change,” pledged Senator Obama.
Thank you for clarifying, Senator. Honestly, I can’t really find anything showing what Senator Obama really thinks about Israel. In his two and a half years as a Senator, his votes did indicate overall support for Israel. But from reading what he says and plans to do, it’s clear his opinion is the exactly equal to…whatever his audience wants to hear. In 2004 he voiced his opinion for the “wall” protecting the Israelis to come down. He has close personal and political ties with George Soros, one of his biggest donors, who says he wants to break America’s bonds with Israel and erode political support for Israel. Senator Obama has indicated that he wants to hire some of Carter’s foreign policy team for himself in ’09. I think we all know what Carter, who recently hugged a Hamas leader, did to the Middle East. To be fair, Senator Obama strongly condemned the meeting with Hamas, which he called a terrorist organization, even though they whole-heartedly endorsed him. Last week while in Israel Senator Obama met with Israeli newspaper Haaretz, which named him “candidate likely to be least supportive of Israel.” In this meeting he pledged support for continuing the strong positive relationship between America and Israel. Officially, according to his website, Senator Obama says the same things he said to Haaretz. So, to sum it up, I don’t really know what the Democratic nominee for President thinks about Israel, but I don’t think he’d do anything too radical, either way.
McCain has a clearer stance, one that hasn’t changed at all since he began his career working with the house over thirty years ago. Every statement and vote that he has made has been 100% Pro-Israel. In March on a visit to Israel he said that there was no point in negotiating with Hamas. Last summer he recognized the importance of Israel to America, asking “If we fail in Israel, where will we succeed?” When Senator McCain was asked why he is so concerned about Iran, he answered, “The United States of America has committed itself to never allowing another Holocaust.” Senator Joe Lieberman urged supporters of Israel to vote for Senator McCain, saying, “If you love Israel, you’ll love McCain.” In an effort to be completely fair, I looked all over for something indicating that Senator McCain isn’t ideal for Israel, but I couldn’t find much. The closest thing I saw was his consideration to have James Baker, White House Chief of Staff for Presidents Reagan and George H.W. Bush, be a sort of advisor on Israel. Baker, in a conversation with a friend about Israel, reportedly made a disgusting statement about Jews, noting, “They don’t vote for us anyway.” The only other thing I can find, after sifting through a few hundred articles, is comparisons between Senator McCain and President Bush, saying that the later is bad for Israel. I can’t find any logic behind that, though.
All I ask is that you consider what I’ve said, or rather, what the candidates have said, before you cast your vote in November. Until elected, we can’t be sure what either candidate will do, but, in the words of Senator Obama himself, no matter what, “Israel will be a friend of Israel’s.”
Hello!
This is my second blog. The other one is just a joke; making fun of New York City the Great and why I can't live there (just why it isn't for me, that's all). It's funny. I like it. But it's not ...serious.
I'm the type of person that has an opinion on everything. This may or may not be a good thing. And for a long time I've wanted to start a blog but until today wasn't really inspired.
Firstly let me say that my real name is Sarah Marshall. I say that because I don't believe in pseudonyms. (Recently somebody accused my of using a pseudonym when publishing under the name Sarah Marshall. I guess it was the film? I don't know. But it's my real name!)
I stand strongly by all my opinions and have nothing to hide.
So I'm going to publish some of my older writings for now and study for my test...
But expect future articles.
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