Happy Texas Independence Day!

Today is Texas Independence Day and I wanted to wish all of yall a happy one.

I know that many people will roll their eyes and talk about how this is another example of Texas trying to differentiate itself from the rest of the country, but the fact is that this is indeed an important day in US history. Many people, unfortunatly, have some sort of a view of Texas that is based off some sort of preconceived notion, and that is an unfortunate situation. Many people think they know something before actually seeing it with their own eyes.

I think that speaks to a larger issue, one of assumptions, preconceived ideas, and prejudice. I was at school last week and someone was looking for an internship to apply to. She saw one in Austin rolled her eyes and said, "Texas, oh God." I asked her, whats wrong with Texas and she said she did not want to go there. I asked her if she had ever been there before and she said she hadnt. So i asked her again, if you have never been there, how do you know you will not like it? She was unable to answer my question.

What is sad about this situation is that people say Diversity and multiculturalism is an important idea in today's age. There is a multicourse sequence that is devoted to the ideas of multiculuralism and diversity in school. This girl I referred to earlier took the courses in multiculturalism and diversity and she was still prejudiced against Texas, though she had never been there. To me, thats an example of not really applying the lessons in a real way. You can learn about diversity of religion, ethnic group, and sexual orientation but there is so much more out there than that. Culture is another and that can be defined in so many ways. I really feel sorry for that girl, becuase I think she really missed the boat on that one.

And that is what is unfortunate, in my mind. People talk big about certain things but then don't know how to apply it in a real world situation. People talk about how important it is to respect other people's cultures and then they deign on someone else's. While I am not P.C. I think respect for culture is important.

PC people get all bent out of shape when I don't refer to a black person as "African American". They say that it is important to not think of people in terms of their skin color. I say, it is YOU PC PEOPLE that make horrendous assumptions. For example, look at the term African American and look at the assumptions therein.

1. You are assuming the person is American. Do you know for sure the person is American? Is Lennox Lewis American? Nope. Why would you assume that just becuase you see a Black person in America, they are American?!

2. You are assuming that the person is African by heritage. So by that defintion, all black people come from Africa?! Wow. sounds pretty derogatory when you say it doesn't it? In fact there are black people from the carribean, South America, parts of India, Australia, and many other regions across the world.

I know this commentary was supposed to be about Texas Independence, and it started that way, but on this day it just made me realize that people really do no understand certain ideas. What really has amazed me most are the people that talk the loudest about diversity/multicultural importance are the biggest hypocrites and the people that really don't get it at all.