Why Being in the Middle Is WRONG

Picture this. You’re on the playground, and there’s a smaller kid from your class trying to play on the swings. He was always timid, shy, and just wanted to keep to himself. Well, you’re next to him on the swing set, but you’re much bigger. The kids in class would never do anything to bully you. They come over and they push the kid next to you off his swing, and start calling him names like weakling and scrawny and these kids really start laying into him.

You’re busy though. I mean, you have your own life to worry about, right? You don’t have the time to get up and easily knock those kids off the poor victim who is now bleeding into the sand. You know it’s wrong, but hey, you also know that this kid provoked them too by taking the swing set they claimed as theirs. You absolve yourself by saying that this kid knew those big kids always came out to play on that swing set, and you weren’t the one who started punching him violently in the head.

This kid ends up hospitalized from the beating he took on the playground. He has severe brain trauma and is now in a coma, because the only person who did stand up was another kid who knew he wouldn't have enough muscle to stand up to the big bullies.

So, that kid went and grabbed a teachers attention, but by the time the teacher got to the situation, the small child was already severely hurt requiring medical assistance. If you'd just stood up and even said something to the bullies, that kids life wouldn't be in danger right now.

I hate to break it to you centrists, but you’re doing this right now. This kid up there is you. Bouncing blame back and forth like there is no such thing as right and wrong. I understand that there are a lot of places where compromise is needed, but being a racist isn’t one of them. We tried that before, remember? World War II was a disaster that was left to fester until it almost consumed the entire world. People fought against this, literally our entire country on a huge war!

Now, our own country is being divided on right and wrong again, but there’s still people in the middle talking about how the Nazis have free speech. Sure. They have free speech, and I’m not going to argue against that.

I will, however, argue that they get to deal with the consequences for hate speech. I will, however, argue that when the things they say affect how other people’s lives turn out, how other people are treated, entire races of people, that society shouldn’t just sit back and say, “Well, I see your point. You have a point. Good on you!”

Fuck NO!

They get to deal with what you have to say after that. They get to deal with discriminatory laws that have been put in place to protect everyone. They get to be socially ostracized. And yes, they get to lose their jobs, because what if this was your hiring manager and they thought those terrible things about people who were different from them? What if you got fired for what race or religion you were? Wouldn’t be too happy then, would you?

I've watched people in workplaces being discriminated against, and I've been the voice for people too afraid to stand up for themselves, fearing retaliation. I've had to stand up for myself against wrong doing and judgments for disabilities.

A lot of people have and refuse to acknowledge that it happened to them too. I'll never stop fighting for justice, and I'm trying to tell you right now to start fighting too. Please. Be on the right side of history with us.