The following image was sent to me by a good friend by the name of Tyler, a young man who I am privileged to know, and who knows of my fondness for the original and best, Superman. (Either that or he’s making a jab at my age, but I digress!) The image follows:
The image comes from 1949 and was originally black and white, but is, from what I gather, an authentic image and was distributed to bring up a very good point, especially at that time; genuine discrimination is a blight on humanity, whatever the reason claimed for it.
The poster is very much a product of the times; a reminder of the difference that separates the USA from groups like the Axis or the Japanese, whom we had just finished fighting in WW 2, or the Communists of the time – the fact that America was a melting pot and people did have the ability to come here and worship and live as they pleased, but that in the end, we were all American. Were we perfect? Good Lord, no. Were we still a damned sight better than what people in other countries faced if they didn’t follow the accepted laws/rules? Yeah, I’d say so.
(Want a really entertaining exercise? Look this poster up on the net and see all the ‘intellectuals’ truly missing the forest for the trees by dissecting the poster and turning into either a current events or world history argument. ‘Where are the black kids?’ ‘Oh, the Oriental kid is smaller – obviously that’s a way of showing that they were seen as inferior.’ It’s enough to make you either cry or shake your head, laughing. I alternate between both, personally.)
Many have jumped on this as an example of a “diversity” poster. I disagree. “Diversity” has, in my experience, become a blanket term, perverted from its original meaning to mean “anything anyone does, says or believes is OK and if you say differently, you’re an intolerant bigot, no matter if you treat them differently or not. You’re a bigot JUST because you don’t agree with them.”
It’s a good reminder to all of us that respect for the beliefs and ideas of others is an American principle and virtue – but it is also a two way street. No one group is more or less deserving of respect than another. If you don’t bash Muslims, you don’t bash Christians, Jews or anyone else. If it’s not o.k. for whites to storm platforms and shout down speakers, then it’s not o.k. for blacks, Hispanics or anyone else to do it. If the LGBT movement wants others to be accepting of their beliefs, they need to be accepting of the beliefs of others as well, even if that belief is not accepting of their practices.
As a side note: an inherent part of the poster’s message deals with genuine actions that are discriminatory, i.e., treating others differently because of who they are or what they believe. Disagreeing with them and yet treating them the same as everyone else is not the same thing and never will be.
It means no group gets the right to demonize others just because they don’t believe as you do.
It’s a two way street. Un-American comments and sentiments are Un-American comments and sentiments, no matter who uses them or why.
Respect is a two-way street.
Thanks for reminding us of that, Superman.
Tyler, thanks for sending this to me, my friend!
God bless today!
The Belgian Takedown 