Today I stumbled across a hit list published by protesters in anticipation of the Grand Jury decision anticipated to be handed down on Friday in the town of Ferguson. It had nearly 70 targets with the cryptic warning that they would likely be hit, and there would surely be violence, if the protesters are unhappy with the decision about indicting officer Darren Wilson in the death of Michael Brown. (See the original article here) Unlike the hit lists we see in the movies, this list didn’t consist of any one person. Rather, it consisted of groups of people- meaning the list wasn’t meant to be 70 people the people intended to hurt, but almost 70 groups of people.
These groups of people were listed by the names of the businesses they work for: such as Boeing and Anheuser Busch. Some of the names were listed by the politician; targeting their entire offices and staff. Some were judges and their staff members. Some were police departments and their officers.
These groups of people were listed by the names of the businesses they work for: such as Boeing and Anheuser Busch. Some of the names were listed by the politician; targeting their entire offices and staff. Some were judges and their staff members. Some were police departments and their officers.
And then, there were the hospitals- one of them a children’s hospital.
After reading the list, I wasn’t surprised to find that I was livid. Who targets hospitals? You want to know who targets hospitals?
Terrorists target hospitals, that’s who.
And then a cold thought threw water all over my burning anger:
Every post I had seen about this hit list complained about one thing- and ONLY one thing. Anheuser Busch. At least seven different posts from seven different men threatened certain violence on anyone who might dare to threaten their beloved beer company. Not one single post in several dozen had even mentioned the hospitals.
Who the heck puts precedence on BEER over a children’s hospital?
I was actually shocked that my first thought was “We do, that’s who.” But the truth is, every post I’d seen complaining about the possibility of Anheuser being hit had come from people in my personal circle. It made me sick to my stomach. A group of terrorists threaten violence on several groups of people and, rather than immediately come to the aid of the children’s hospital on the list, we freak out over the threat to our favorite beer.
Disgusting.
The riots that are being threatened on Ferguson by their resident terrorists are despicable enough. Nothing says “Don’t be racist, y’all” like committing violence against your fellow innocent men, women and children who live within your community. That seems like an excellent way to fix whatever the perceived problem is. Right?
Right?
You know what else seems like an equally excellent horrible idea? Getting our panties in a twist and threatening to return violence over beer, while ignoring the innocent bystanders.
That is where the general population has gone wrong, and where we have contributed to the thug mentality in Ferguson. By getting fifty kinds of crazy over beer and Boeing and completely ignoring the very innocence that sits in predominantly minority Ferguson, our society has opened itself up to one giant cry of “racist! or “heartless idiot!”
Never mind the political nature of the situation in Ferguson. Forget the Brown case and the grand jury going on right now. Leave your preconceived notions about what should happen in Ferguson alone for a moment, and really consider what we’ve done here- on all sides of the fence.
A group of people threatened violence on some businesses, law enforcement, politicians, sickly civilians and children and society’s very best response was “Oh god, not the beer!” We’ve effectively just shown the world that our children, our elected officials, our public servants, and our sick and dying hold no place of importance to us. We’ve just left AA and bellied up to the bar for another round, while our children sit by the side hungry and tired, watching us drink away their existence.
What a horrible thing for us to do.
We’ve done this to ourselves. Black. White. Native American. Hispanic. We did this to ourselves. We put the order of importance on things and we made ourselves become these despicable creatures.
So- today, when you’re reading articles about how awful the mugging and looting and rioting and violence is going to be in Ferguson, remember this:
Things are never more important than people. No matter the color of your skin, or the side of the fence you find yourself on. And for goodness sake… save the children, not the beer..
note: after the writing of this, the group responsible for the list removed the hospitals.
After reading the list, I wasn’t surprised to find that I was livid. Who targets hospitals? You want to know who targets hospitals?
Terrorists target hospitals, that’s who.
And then a cold thought threw water all over my burning anger:
Every post I had seen about this hit list complained about one thing- and ONLY one thing. Anheuser Busch. At least seven different posts from seven different men threatened certain violence on anyone who might dare to threaten their beloved beer company. Not one single post in several dozen had even mentioned the hospitals.
Who the heck puts precedence on BEER over a children’s hospital?
I was actually shocked that my first thought was “We do, that’s who.” But the truth is, every post I’d seen complaining about the possibility of Anheuser being hit had come from people in my personal circle. It made me sick to my stomach. A group of terrorists threaten violence on several groups of people and, rather than immediately come to the aid of the children’s hospital on the list, we freak out over the threat to our favorite beer.
Disgusting.
The riots that are being threatened on Ferguson by their resident terrorists are despicable enough. Nothing says “Don’t be racist, y’all” like committing violence against your fellow innocent men, women and children who live within your community. That seems like an excellent way to fix whatever the perceived problem is. Right?
Right?
You know what else seems like an equally excellent horrible idea? Getting our panties in a twist and threatening to return violence over beer, while ignoring the innocent bystanders.
That is where the general population has gone wrong, and where we have contributed to the thug mentality in Ferguson. By getting fifty kinds of crazy over beer and Boeing and completely ignoring the very innocence that sits in predominantly minority Ferguson, our society has opened itself up to one giant cry of “racist! or “heartless idiot!”
Never mind the political nature of the situation in Ferguson. Forget the Brown case and the grand jury going on right now. Leave your preconceived notions about what should happen in Ferguson alone for a moment, and really consider what we’ve done here- on all sides of the fence.
A group of people threatened violence on some businesses, law enforcement, politicians, sickly civilians and children and society’s very best response was “Oh god, not the beer!” We’ve effectively just shown the world that our children, our elected officials, our public servants, and our sick and dying hold no place of importance to us. We’ve just left AA and bellied up to the bar for another round, while our children sit by the side hungry and tired, watching us drink away their existence.
What a horrible thing for us to do.
We’ve done this to ourselves. Black. White. Native American. Hispanic. We did this to ourselves. We put the order of importance on things and we made ourselves become these despicable creatures.
So- today, when you’re reading articles about how awful the mugging and looting and rioting and violence is going to be in Ferguson, remember this:
Things are never more important than people. No matter the color of your skin, or the side of the fence you find yourself on. And for goodness sake… save the children, not the beer..
note: after the writing of this, the group responsible for the list removed the hospitals.
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