Hurl 'em If You've Got 'em

Hello My Dear Friends! As you know, I've been lying low these days. There's just so much nonsense being tossed around that I just don't have the energy to battle it all. Today, however, after reading the lead story of our local paper, I just couldn't help myself. A little background...Wendy Long, a candidate for US Senate, tweeted out some questionable comments last week. Why it took an entire week for her comments to make front page news is a story for another day. Anyway, Long was on the city's Northside where a former Catholic church was converted into a mosque in 2014. Long tweeted: "Neighborhood where the mosque displaced the church. Crime, prostitution, money laundering. Nice Dem control of cities". That tweet was followed by: "Catholic Charities takes federal tax dollars to resettle refugees we can't screen. Leaves the Catholics to ISIS". As I said, questionable comments. But that is not what ticked me off. It was the response. Our illustrious Mayor said "I think it's (Long's comments) exactly what has become the Republican Party. It's xenophobic racism". "She has no objective evidence. She has nothing but a blatant appeal to racism and bigotry". Our self-aggrandizing US Rep added, "She obviously doesn't understand the Northside. I've been to a lot of those minority communities over there - the Bhutanese and everybody else - and I'm telling you right now those people are hard working people".  Okay. That's the background. Now, here's my problem. In this world, where we are soooo quick to slap labels of intolerance on everyone, there comes a point when those who label should actually learn the meaning of the labels they use!  Let me begin with the Mayor. "Xenophobic racism" isn't even a thing. Combining 'red flag' words for impact is juvenile. Long implied that crime followed the opening of a mosque. One would then infer that her issue is with Muslims. Since Muslim is not a race or a national origin, neither xenophobia or racism would apply. If anything, it would be Theophobia or the new and ever popular "Islamophobia". However, since she never implied that she was afraid of Muslims, there is no 'phobia' at all. What you have here is a simple case of prejudice. Here's a funny twist. Your repeated use of the word 'racist' implies that you believe that all Muslims are people of color. Your use of xenophobic implies that you also believe that all Muslims are foreign. Hummm. Someone's got issues. Here's a little more food for thought. Your opinion that Long's comments were "exactly what has become the Republican Party" is, by definition, BIGOTRY. Look it up. As for the Congressman; in the future it may be helpful to remember that referring to a minority group as "those people" is, in fact, racist. So, let's be clear. A "racist" is one who believes that one race is superior to another and the belief that race alone accounts for differences in character and ability. That's why referring to a minority group as "those people", as opposed to all people, is racist. "Xenophobia" is the fear of that which is foreign. Religion is hardly a foreign concept. Bigotry is the intolerance of any belief or opinion that differs from one's own. So, hurling labels at people you disagree with makes you the bigot. So, feel free to continue blindly labeling people, let's just try to use the correct labels moving forward. Thank You!
Po