I Have a Dream

Not long ago, we celebrated Martin Luther King Day, in honor of Dr. King and his legacy of racial equality. In his famous speech, Dr. King dreamed of a day in which people "will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character."

You know, I think we've made a tremendous amount of progress in this country towards seeing the fulfillment of Dr. King's dream. It makes me glad that the rights of non-Caucasian citizens are respected, that people from all sorts of backgrounds can be and are successful, prosperous, and happy living here.

So, that's why I am disturbed and angry when I read things like this (please forgive the rude and vile language):

Why exactly does this large toothed educated female wog believe that she will be treated as white when God chose to make her yellow? Even her political allies see her as nothing more than a trained monkey coached into saying a few simple racial truths that would be politically damaging if put into the mouths of a white man? Her hatred for her fellow wogs comes from an inability to accept that God did not make her a European and that God chose to make her a woman. Please, beat her severely and set her to work in a brothel somewhere in Malaysia that services Islamic terrorists. King Leopold | Email | Homepage | 02.04.05 - 12:39 am | #

What I want to really know is whether Malkin has the ability to suck the chrome off of a trailer hitch. I mean, she's gotta have SOME kind of purposeful earthly use walking around on this planet, because she certainly doesn't have one that has anything to do with her intellect or her political views. Jeremiah Elias | Email | Homepage | 02.04.05 - 2:26 am | #

That's a small sample of what some commenters on Atrios have been saying about Michelle Malkin. It isn't the first time she's posted about this kind of thing, either. Apparently, she gets hate mail on a regular basis, and commenters on some of the left-wing blogs write disgusting and crude things about her. After her first post, I didn't say anything, but this time I felt like I had to. It makes me too angry to keep silent.

The few of you that read this blog might recall that I met Michelle Malkin at a book signing here in my home town. I talked with her for just a couple of minutes. I would have liked to talk with her longer, but I had my son with me, and I got kind of tongue-tied. She is probably the most famous person I've ever met face-to-face, and that made feel really embarrassed. I did mention that I wrote this blog, and she was kind enough to link to this blog in a post of hers. She impressed me as someone that is very intelligent, kind and personable, not at all haughty or self-important. You might think that's a lot to discern in just a few minutes, but in my experience, I can usually gather pretty accurate impressions of people fairly quickly. I don't know Michelle at all, beyond that one meeting, but I suspect those who do know her well would concur with my observations.

So, when I read this kind of hateful nonsense, I get pretty upset. The leftists that post on those sites are showing their true colors. Far from being protectors of people's rights, crusaders for Dr. King's dream of freedom, justice and equality for all people (as they claim to be), the leftist commenters on Atrios and other left-wing sites show themselves to be ugly, vicious racists. They need to be denounced, and loudly, and so I'm shouting here as loud as I can: Your hatred is vile and disgusting! You should be ashamed of the things you've said.

I know it won't be forthcoming, but they owe Michelle Malkin a serious, deeply felt apology. Their upbringing was apparently lacking; the way I was raised, insults of the kind used against Ms. Malkin are way beyond civil. No one with any respect for other people would say those kinds of things to another person.

You know, it's one thing to disagree with someone's views on something. I disagree with people all the time; it's completely normal.

It's another thing to hate someone based on their race, calling them vile, disgusting, racist names ("wog") or their gender (calling her a whore; asking if she can "suck the chrome off of a trailer hitch"). That is so far out of line that I can hardly believe someone would write such a thing on a public web site.

As an engineer, I've never understood racism, rejecting or hating people on the basis of their skin color or where they were born. It isn't logical! I work with an extremely diverse group of people: engineers from India, China, Somalia, various places in Europe, as well as other Americans. Their national origins and skin color are really irrelevant to me. I care about them as people, first of all. Second, I care about what skills they have. How does the fact that someone was born in Somalia have anything to do with his skills as an engineer? Does someone from India write software any differently than an American or European? No. So, if a person's national origin doesn't have anything to do with his or her engineering skills, why would nationality be fundamentally important in any other way? To me, it's irrelevant, except as an interesting aspect of someone's personality and background. I see it as something to celebrate and be proud of, but that's all.

So, why can't the leftists just argue against Ms. Malkins ideas and views, while respecting her as a person? Are they so afraid that she's right that the only thing they can do is call her names? What does that say about the thinking of those on the left?

It's completely unrealistic, I know, and so few people read this blog that I'm certain it will make no real difference, but I'm calling on everyone in the blogosphere (bloggers and commenters, alike) to raise the level of discourse. Political, religious or ideological differences can be debated without resorting to the kind of atrocious rhetoric spat at Michelle Malkin and others. Let's live Dr. King's dream.

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