The Danger of Ignorance

Whoever said ignorance is bliss was...ignorant. No, seriously. The other day I was reading a very sad and disgusting story about a white teenager who deliberately ran over a black man with his car, killing him. This is the story. I try to stay away from reading the comments sections when I read news stories because oftentimes I don't agree with what people say and it just wastes my time as I sit there in disbelief that people can be so obtuse. For some reason I decided to scroll down and read, and I think I found some of the deluded Americans who would vote for the Tea Party and cause a ruckus about Obama not being born in the US (see old entry addressing birthers aka idiots). Here is one example by 'Henridelagarrigue':

"Born in Hawaii?!?!?!? Paper can be generated to say anything you want it to. 2 days after the election, his own grandmother said he was born in Kenya. She was quickly whisked back to Kenya and mysteriously died 2 days later..."

What the freak. People in this forum were proudly pointing at themselves, stating they TRULY believed in this Obama not being born in the US bullshit.

Ok, but anyway, I digress. What I really couldn't believe was that so many of these people did not think this was a racially motivated hate crime, as indicated in this post by 'jason':

"Good thing your not on the jury. You already know this was meant to terrorize a community huh? Ok,who needs evaluation of such unimportant issues as the facts and evidence. Sickening. A 19 year old terrorist trying to terrorize an entire community through a fight in a parking lot,ummm ok. And that should be weighed into the charges? Wow, why even bother with a trial huh? But cause the dude was white and victim black he's already guilty huh? Amazing. And what community was this 19 year old attacking?I guess you fill that in for us. Reverse racism buddy."

Does he think the law was created to serve everyone equally? The legal system was born in an era where the social norm was to own slaves and count black people as 3/5 of a person. People who think the US has become a colorblind nation are living in in some sort of self-created utopia. Are we living in the same country?? How can you not understand that the black man was murdered because of his skin color? Some people take issue with race being mentioned in the crime. Why? Are they uncomfortable about having to face the cold, hard, ugly truth? Or are they genuinely blind to the deep legacy of racism that continues to exist in this country?

Wake up, people. We still live in a society where your worth and potential for success is largely determined by stereotypes and the color of your skin. Ignorance is going to be the downfall of this so-called "great nation." By the time Americans open their eyes, if they ever do, we will have realized the crumbling of our society was brought about by none other than ourselves.