The Most Heinous Fallacy

Three unrelated things occurred recently that affected me profoundly. The first was a video making its rounds. Momondo released a video called DNA Journey. This video shows how we are more alike than we think that our narrow ideas about ethnic purity and identity are not necessarily true. I have known I come from a very diverse gene pool. The heritages I know I belong to are English, Ulster Scots (Scots Irish), German, French, Dutch, Swede, Norwegian, Italian, Dane, Middle Eastern Jew, European Jew. Family legends claim Chiricahua Apache, Choctaw, Blackfoot, Cherokee, Chippewa. I no longer claim North American Indigenous heritages, because there is no corroborating proof. Plus through cousins, aunts, and uncles there is Korean, Japanese, Filipino, Mexican, Welsh, and Puerto Rican. Knowing my family history there could be Irish, Spanish, Mexican, African-American, Welsh, Eastern European, and who knows what else. The video showed an Iraqi who came out to have Jewish genetic markers. A “pure” Icelander discovered he had a more diverse genetic background.  We are so much more connected than we really think. The video includes two cousins that did not know they were related discovering each other in the room.

The second event was the sad sentencing of Brock Turner, a former swimmer for Stanford University. The judge, who sentenced Turner, was an alum of Stanford University. Many think he should have recused himself. This smells of White upper class privilege. Had Turner been non-Christian, non White, of lower economic means or anything other he would have received the maximum sentence. Once again the perpetrator was given more consideration than the victim, due to his superior social status. This stinks of two separate rules out there one for those of privilege and one for the rest of us. There has been a slate of sexual assault cases involving young white men of upper middle class or higher socioeconomic standing where there is more concern over the future of the perpetrators than that of their victims.

The third was the mass shooting in Orlando of a gay nightclub on June 12, 2016. Although many want to paint this incident as a religiously motivated incident, it appears to be one of self loathing. The Shooter based on some accounts was confused about his sexuality. He came from a culture that demonized homosexuality. No matter why it was still a hate crime. The reaction to the incident by the residents of Orlando was uplifting. Everyone came out to help, including holding a blood drive. Muslims, Christians, whites, straight, gay, and many others of all walks of life tried to help in this dark time.

There is a most heinous fallacy that pervades our society. That fallacy is we are more different than similar. Genetics like the DNA Journey proves otherwise. We have never been pure anything. We all are multiracial and multicultural even if we do not know it. Those who pull our cultural strings want us divided and fighting each other. We cannot allow there to be different rules based on race, faith, gender, economics, and so on. What message are we sending? As long as you are the right race, gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, religion and so on, you can do as you wish. That is serious male bovine defecation.

I come from a multiracial, multicultural, and multi-faith background as stated earlier. I do not see denying anyone a loving partner and the legal protections everyone else enjoys with regards to marriage as the right way of doing things. Extremists want us to fight; they win by controlling the narrative. ISIL/ISIS has attacked other Muslims, because they are heretics. I saw the same kind of extremism in evangelical Christianity as a young man. They decide who is true to their faith, based on their own biases. As long as nobody is hurting another we she just except them for who they are. Like the phrase goes, “United we stand, divided we fall.” The powers that be fear Unity and cling to division. We need to go to bat for are neighbors, even if we disagree in religion, politics, or way of life. People in glass houses should not be throwing stones. We are more the same than different. We want love, and to live to our best potential. To deny others the things we all need and desire because some notice difference is absurd. This has been My No So Humble Opinion.