Thursday, November 29, 2007

Am I the only one confused as hell?

Okay, I read that story about the British teacher that was found guilty of allowing Sudanese students to name a teddy bear Muhammed. She was convicted of insulting Islam and was sentenced to 15 days in prison and deportation back to Britain. Not bad considering she could have received 40 lashes and six months in prison in the case if found guilty of the more serious charge of inciting religious hatred and given the maximum penalty.

I'm not upset by either sentence because I have the upmost respect for all cultures, beliefs, and way of life. Most cultures are completely different than those of Western culture, but I truly belive that "When in Sudan, do as the Sudanese." My beef is with the comments from the United States. The White House spokeswoman, Dana Perino told reporters "Anyone looking at this at the face would conclude this is outrageous."

Am I missing something here?

First, who the fuck cares what our opinion is? Second, we have our own issues to deal with before throwing stones. In the U.S, we have certain communities that still do not have or just obtained clean running water in their homes. NO INDOOR PLUMBING IN THE 21ST CENTURY!
(www.nesc.wvu.edu/ndwc/articles/OT/WI05/self-help.pdf)
We have children that die of dental related complications because of problems with the Medicaid system. (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/27/AR2007022702116.html)
We live in a country where a person can get more time for selling crack to somone who wants to abuse the substance than a person that sexually abuses a child that doesn't understand what abuse is--even under the new federal sentencing guidelines. (http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/02/us/02crack.html)(http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21917798/)
On any given day a young man can do time for being 17 and having consensual sex with a 15 year old young lady. (reference any article on Genarlow Wilson)
Situations like Jena 6, FEMA ignoring my New Orleans family during the devastation, and the working poor are becoming status quo and she calls the sentencing of this British teacher "outrageous."

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