It's Thursday, not my normal blogging day.
But, since I can live on the edge and blog today? I will.
And since this is my website and my blog? I can say pretty much what I want to say, and so I will.
I've been enjoying Jen Hatmaker's hilarious OBSESSION (on Facebook) with watching the Olympics. She is funny and engaging and has a mindset of "bless them all, but we're the best". Which is fine and patriotic and yet she's willing and able to cheer everyone else on.
She's witty and self-deprecating and nobody gets slammed for their ethnicity or last place finish.
One woman send a photo of her Olympic achievement, which was "loading the dishwasher".
Skip over to another humourist, and not so much.
I won't name him, but I'm disgusted with his actions and words. He made a joke about an Asian athlete named So Wong.
"I find myself cheering a lot for the Chinese Olympic team. Is that so wong?
No, really. Is that So Wong? She’s great."
Most of the comments were about how funny this joke was. The few people who called him out on racist or prejudicial behaviour got shot down for being PC, unappreciative of a good joke, and one even alluded to "emotional infancy".
It saddens and sickens me that the majority of commenters thought this was acceptable behaviour.
Am I PC? Ha! Hardly!! I cannot stand the whole "I need a safe place to not hear harsh words" thing.
The world is a hard place, people need to be tough.
But to insult someone's ethnicity, culture and mock their name? Whether or not anyone named So Wong exists, that kind of mockery is disgusting.
Anyone can be an idiot. Anyone in any culture can be a jerk. I am sure there's an even balance of knuckle dragging morons in every people group on the planet.
BUT, and this is my point, not once, never, did Jesus mock anyone based on their name, skin colour, or their nationality.
Good grief, how is it acceptable to openly engage in the mockery of one person, and then turn around and tell another person that Jesus loves them?
Oh yeah, THAT is really gonna work well.
I am sad and disgusted at this person for allowing the ugly to seep to the surface. I doubt I'll ever hear his very funny words the same again.
I hope and pray he sees the power he wields and understands that he's hurt people.
Those who see the negative in his words and got brave enough to point it out may be in the minority, but the words themselves are what is negative and hopefully some people learn from this experience and try to make a difference for good.
So, our lesson for today?
To paraphrase Micah 6:8 : Act justly, love mercy, speak kindly, walk humbly with your God.
*photo by www.leetracy.com