America: The Land of Hypocrisy

You take great pleasure in having a neat and organized house, dear Aries. In your mind, cleanliness really is next to godliness. Today, you may find yourself dismayed by how run-down you have allowed your home to become. It's time for some clearing out, scouring and scrubbing! Do this yourself, rather than having hired help. You will be pleasantly surprised at how much it will help you to clear your head.

That was my horoscope for the day. I decided to listen to it and start by cleaning up myself. While in the shower, I had an epiphany.

My sister the other day noted that rapper 50 Cent went on the record and said that he doesn't like gay people, but loves lesbians. Hypocrite? Yeah. I responded to that saying that was nothing compared to the fact that America has an amendment protecting free speech and the FCC who is in charge of censoring shit.

While taking a shower, a thought related to the above came into my mind.

America is the biggest hypocrite of them all.

Where else but America can you legally fire someone because they are gay? You can! The armed service does it! Unfortunately, it is also legal in several other states in the country as well, including Tennessee. From the worst job like working a gas pump and flipping burgers to a white color job at the corporate headquarters of Dell, anyone can be fired because they are homosexual. Can gay people cry discrimination when this happens? No, they can't. When a black person or any other person of a different ethnic origin is fired due to the fact that, sadly, some people higher up do not like them for what they are instead of their work performance, they can claim racism. The race card works in this situation because of the whole fear factor that the government will come down on the big wigs charging them who-knows-how-much all because they did not give a person of different ethnic background the same opportunities as a white person. This cannot be done for a homosexual. What would they yell when they get fired? Sexuality discrimination? By the time they get the "sex" part out of their mouths, they are already out the door! This is only one of several examples as to how America doesn't have equal rights anymore. The biggest one, and probably the most current one involves the issue of gay marriages. Need I go on and press that big red button again?! Only in America can we protect people of different skin color under so-called "equal rights" and not those that happen to fancy the same sex.

Moving on now to the subject of the FCC. In a country founded on the concept of free speech and freedom of the press, we have "an independent United States government agency, directly responsible to Congress", that was made to "regulating interstate and international communications by radio, television, wire, satellite and cable. The FCC's jurisdiction covers the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and U.S. possessions." Yes, the very same government which gave us the freedom to say what we want made an organization to regulate what we say, see, and do in any media we choose. This is why Janet Jackson's boob got so much attention. This is why Politically Incorrect was pulled off the air after 9/11. This is why Howard Stern was pulled off several radio stations. In fact, according to Bill Maher, most of these shows and broadcasts are not even watched by the FCC! They could care less, in fact! The only reason they even do these things is when someone offends a lot of people, and those people, however many they may be, complain to the higher ups saying shit like "Think about the children!" Well, I thought about them, and I hate to tell you soccer moms and football dads this, but your children are seeing more sexual content than they saw during the Super Bowl, learning more fowl words than the Jerry Springer sensors can keep off the air waves, and watching (and enjoying) scenes of violence and gore that would probably make your head spin faster than the girl in The Exorcist. Is the FCC doing their job? No, and quite honestly, I don't want them to. So what if you children know more about sex at age 12 than you did? So what if they know how to clean out a gun faster than your grandfather did back "during the war" (whichever war that may be)? So what if they know how to blow up the school using nothing more but primacord and the battery to a car (Hey, I do! Learned that from my dad, too!)? I saw naked people when I just got the internet at age 10! In this day and age, the age of those sexually active is dropping to just after puberty! If you listen to some of the language of teenagers these days in a casual conversation, they are more than likely going to say a few "naught words" to express how they feel. And doesn't it surprise you that the most popular video game out there is one that lets you steal cars and run over people? That is, if you don't feel like doing a drive by. All these rating systems and attempts to clean up all the blood, sex, and potty mouths is just useless! The FCC is better off spying on international communications between high ranking government officials and known terrorists than they are with Jackson's boobs! The MPAA is better of being a member of the mysterious academy that gives out awards to actors that can lie on screen but can't in court. And the people that rate video games? Are they not aware that their system doesn't work and it never has? In the land where everyone is demanding free speech and freedom to be, act, and do as they please, we need to get rid of the one thing that is giving the country the biggest title of hypocrisy ever. Only in America can we say that we promise everyone the right to say as they want, as protected by the First Amendment, provided it passes the sensors.

I don't care if you call me an ex-patriot. I never was a patriot to begin with! The only reason I'm even an American, if even by title, is because I was born here. Unfortunately, I am not an American. I am of Asian decent, not Native American. I am gay, a sexuality that is currently not being treated as an equal by the masses. I believe in God but I do not go to church, a practice that is frowned upon here in the Bible belt where I live. I am an artist, a member of the most under appreciated social group in the world with the exception of, maybe, France. On top of all this, I do not know how to drive or have a job or live on my own, three things that, apparently, one needs to be "someone" in society.

I live in a land that says people can do and say as they please, but I also live in a land that says that people must do and say as the land pleases.

So what is there left for me to say to that I can get away with? "Fuck America?" Not my style.

What is there left for me to do that I can get away with that I haven't already tried? Create really offensive art pointing out everything that is wrong with this country? Maybe when I grow some balls.

In a land of so much opportunity, it is amazing how little choices we really have.

This is all just my opinion. You can either agree with it, or damn me to hell. Just don't shoot me over it.