You Say You want A Revolution
A Gay Opinion 12/01/01
by R. A. Melos
I'm getting tired of making references to the terrorist attacks of September
11th, but the world will be making references to it for the rest of my life,
so I'd better get use to it. What I refuse to get use to, what I won't accept,
is how easily the American people have been manipulated into giving the terrorists
what they want.
Oh yes! You may deny it, but if you've been willing to give up even one of your
rights, one single grain of hard won freedom, in exchange for feeling more secure,
you've given the terrorists exactly what they want.
In our race to protect the country and ourselves, people have been willing to
allow some basic human rights our ancestors fought to establish for us, to be
trampled.
Yes, the United States is currently at war, and in times of war the rights of
the individual usually do get trampled for the greater good of the whole, but
by now you would think the human race would've learned trampling on people to
get a point across, or to achieve a goal, no matter how righteous you may feel
about that goal, is not the way to achieve anything of lasting value.
President George W. Bush is being forced to defend his decision to establish
military tribunals for "war" criminals. In fact, he's been forced
to defend his decision quite a bit, and those who support his decision rally
to his defense, by pointing out how those who speak against the President shouldn't
be questioning his decisions at this time in our countries history. We should
all be towing the same mark, marching, if you will, to the same drum.
Well, diversity is what not only made America great, but also what made it such
a target to terrorists, and groups such as the Taliban. Every freedom the people
of America have, is every reason the Taliban, and terrorist like them, want
to destroy the American way of thinking.
We, for the most part, treat women as equal to men in the decision making process,
we are allowing homosexuals to enjoy a civil union, in one state, and allow
for a multi-religious culture. Everything the American people currently do,
goes against the grain of oppressors.
If we really want to deal a destructive blow to terrorists and groups like the
Taliban, instead of giving up personal freedoms for a feeling of security, we
should be granting more freedoms, creating more rights for groups, like homosexuals,
which the terrorists oppose.
Instead of simply arguing the merits of civil union v. preservation of marriage,
we should, as a nation, grant civil unions to be recognized nationwide. We should
be encouraging the homosexual community to prosper, by eliminating the need
for a don't ask, don't tell mind set, and start teaching acceptance of all lifestyles
as early as pre-kindergarten.
We should be raising a nation of freedom thinking youth, who understand how
precious freedom is, and who will fight to defend the human right to choose
without the choices being conformity or death.
Mistakes were made since September 11th, but they aren't irreversible. Let's
not allow some of the errors of trampling on individual's rights to become irreversible
mistakes. If the world is going to fight for freedom, make sure it's the freedom
to choose, not the freedom to oppress others.