Diversity, Liberty, Choice, Tolerance

Continuing my Theme from the last post - this issue about prejudice, and fear/paranoia towards others who are different. This is a great tool, a superlative wedge that the powerful and elite can exert upon us, the masses. Keeping us afraid of each other, distrustful, separated from each other, minimizing exposure or sensationalizing each other's life style are all very powerful tools of manipulation.
For example, a hetero who hates gays usually has little or no exposure to gay people and it's easy to condemn the gays if they don't know them. If a hetero has even a few gay acquaintances, it's my observation that it's much more difficult to see them as "other" and to wish ill upon them.
Same with brown people. It's easy for a lot of the people to hear words like "Muslim" or "middle-easterner" and feel fear and distrust and to wish harm upon them. It's easy to support an administration that seems hell bent on killing all the brown people in the world, either by direct assault or denying them aid or preventing them from getting medical help and food supplies. They are "different", they are "brown". But isn't it more likely that they (the masses) are being led down that path, because they are afraid of the unknown, and their leaders (spiritual, religious, political, and local) encourage these feelings of fear, distrust, hatred of that which is different.
I have had the blessing of having grown up in a diverse part of the country. I know lots of brownish, yellowish, reddish, and pink hued humans, I know lots of people who are gay, lots of people who are not Christians (I was raised a Christian before I formally renounced my affiliation with any organized religion). I've also been lucky enough to travel abroad, yes, gasp, that's right, outside of the borders of this nation, and actually, zoinks, met people who were not US American Citizens. So - I have learned one basic thing - just about everyone is pretty much - well we're all weird and all have our foibles, but for the most part, all of us have the same problems, the same aspirations, and most people I have met don't really want too much trouble.
Yeah, there's always a bunch of bad apples sprinkled in the mix, but really - having met a bunch of people from around the world, having been exposed to all different colors, creeds and lifestyles, I don't fear whole groups of people who are different from me, I'm not threatened when I see two guys making out in public,... Though, I do feel pretty much the same about all PDA (public displays of affection) which is - C'mon, a romantic kiss, even lingering, can be cute and endearing, but if you're going to be making out, swapping spit, I don't care if you're two guys, a girl and a guy (or even my favorite:), 2 women making out - please, be considerate of all the people around you that are getting weirded out by all your sloppy smacking and wet popping sounds. I'm not threatened by people worshipping their deity either, as long as they don't try to make me worship their deity or try to prevent me from living my life how I want it because their deity says it's not allowed.
Listen, if I can't be in your religion club because I don't agree to follow your rules, that's FINE! If these uber conservative congresspeople, elected officials, supreme court justices, whomever, said they wanted to legislate the fact that if you, oh, I don't know, use RU-486 (morning after pill), or get an abortion that you're not allowed to go to church or be a Christian, that's fine. If the rules of being a Christian are you can't take the morning after pill or get an abortion, then fine, that's fair. It's a club and they have rules. Same with gays, if some religion or another wants to say the gays can't join their club, got to their church, then fine, again, it's a club, it's got criteria for it's members.
Now - some may say, "Well, I have a club that says I have to kill other people, do I get to kill people because that's my club's motto?" and the answer is no. Why? Simple - your liberty only go so far as it DOES NOT infringe upon other people's liberty. Killing someone is probably against that person's will, and an infringement upon their liberty. So - you can't do it. Same with abortion, telling a woman she can't get one is infringing upon her liberty, a woman getting an abortion is changing her body, it's her liberty at stake. (don't get me started on the 3 or 4 month old fetus. IT HAS NO RIGHTS, it is NOT A PERSON! A cat or dog or mouse has more consciousness, intellectual capacity, and capacity to feel, either emotionally or viscerally, than a fetus that has only 3 or 4 months of development)
Let me be perfectly clear here, I don't' think anyone should ever be allowed to force another person to get an abortion. I don't want any of the religioids out there fearing that those of us who are not anti-choice (you know the opposite of pro-choice is anti-choice, I mean, heck, I'm very pro-life. I'm against the death penalty, and war, and for social medicine and housing for the poor, and caring for the environment, so clearly I'm pro life, but I'm also very pro-choice on the abortion issue). So anyway - if you're an anti-choice person and opposed to abortions, then I don't think anyone should ever FORCE you to get an abortion.
And hey, if you are a hetero guy then I don't think anyone should force you to take it up the butt. And if you're a hetero woman, then I would never endorse having you forced to much some carpet.
And if you believe in the judeo/Christian/Muslim god (same god, different branches of the Yahweh tree), then I don't want to impose my belief structure upon you. I don't want you to not attend church because I don't attend church. If that's what makes you happy, then go for it. Just stop with the trying to make everyone live your life.