Ignorance

There is nothing in this world that annoys me more than ignorance.  Not generic ignorance, such as people not knowing a certain Algebraic formula; but, people ignorance.  People ignorance is when you categorize a group of people because of one or two of them you hear about on the news, or just know from school or work.  

One example of these bouts of ignorance comes from school; a short, fat, blond kid, who no one likes.  Now this kid comes from an uber Christian family, and has not discovered the freewill of "Thinking for myself".  He was debating with my teacher about having Barrack Obama for president, saying that he was Muslim and a Muslim should not be allowed in the presidential campaign.  I promptly told him that he was not, in fact, Islamic, a Christian, and had attended both Catholic and Islamic schools.  "Muslims kill people.", he stated, rather flustered.

Please note.  This kid is considered "gifted".  We're all sure he's socially retarded.

Now unfortunately, if I had heard that at the time, and was not told later by a friend, I would have bitten his rather large head off, and spit it out back on him.

This is the number one common ignorant statement I hear in my conservative, rural town.  Muslims are bad people, they kill people, they're heathens."

Now, I am an Atheist, but I was raised in a very conservative Christian household, and those types of comments would piss off both me, AND my family.  

Have any of these people ever heard of the Crusades, the Spanish Inquisition?
These were both instances where terrible things happened to people who were not Christians.  The Crusades, European Christians believed that the Holy Land belonged to them, and we must "cleanse" the Holy Land of these heathens.  We were killing people in the name of God.  The Spanish Inquisition, we tortured people and forced them to convert to Catholicism.  Heinous acts were done in the name of God, by the Christians.

Now, although those happened centuries ago, people still kill in the name of god, but not in major uprisings such as those two incidences.  He said, that Muslims kill people.  In fact, that is a very VERY small portion of Muslim people.  May I ask you something, though?  How would you feel if a country invaded your homeland, the holy land?

Now, it's not only about religion, it's about race ignorance.  We have recently had some Somalian refugees move to our town, to work at the beef processing plant.  You should have heard what some people have said.

In the school systems, a common insult now is, "Somalian".  People would complain about their driving, and how they treated women.  What they forgot, was that they are new to our culture.  I have seen so many people make fun of how they dress.  When that happens, my blood starts to boil, and they will usually end up emotionally scarred after I am finished with them.  

So we continue our conversation, he and I now moved to an Atheist president.

He-  "Atheists persecute and attack Christians."

Me- "Really, how so?"

He- "They go around attacking Christians and telling them God isn't real."

Me- "And Christians go around staking out dead soldiers' funerals and saying that God brought this upon America because we allow gay people"

He- "You mean the Phelps..."

Me- "You were stereotyping Atheists, so naturally, I shall stereotype Christians."

He-  "Oh."

Me- "So what would be so bad about having an Atheist president?"

He- "He'd make it so Christians couldn't worship."

Me- "Really?  I thought that would interfere with our first amendment, Freedom of Religion.  Didn't the Puritans come to America for freedom of religion.  And then why do we have the senate?"

He- "Oh......"

Sadly, though, this is really only his parents opinion, and shame on them for not teaching him more open minded, less ignorant things.