[Groop]OT-Nigeria

[Gary Grossmann]

I'm sure it was money, Larry.  It's almost always money.  The pageant
committee didn't just wake up one day and decide to hold the thing in
Nigeria.  Some business person or group in Nigeria bid for or paid for or in
some other way enticed the pageant to come to Nigeria.

Intolerance of other ideas, religions, people, whatever has been used as an
excuse to kill people for 1000's of years with unfortunately no end in
sight.  And religious intolerance is the most insidious because it allows
people to claim they have no choice because they are doing God's will.
That's why secular republics have the best chance of keeping intolerance
under control or at least ultimately effecting some change.

But it's no guarentee.  It's been less than 50 years in this country since
it was perfectly acceptable in some parts of the country to kill black
people who "didn't know their place" and racisim is still pervasive
throughout the country in various forms.  It's been only a few more years
since the whole world turned the other way while Hitler exterminated half
the Jews on the planet.  (World War II was not fought to save the Jews.
That was an unintended by product.) And don't think for a minute that Jerry
Falwell and Pat Robertson wouldn't lock up every gay person in the country
if they were in charge. And now there's a slice of the population that
thinks they have an excuse to hate all arabs and/or Moslems.

So while the combination of stupidity and intolerance that lead to 200
deaths in Nigeria was horrible and should be condemned, Americans need to
spend more energy doing everything they can to keep their own house in order
and not let our own intolerance, misunderstanding, and fear lead us to doing
things as a nation that our children and grand children will be ashamed of.
Uncharacteristically yours, -Gary G.



----- Original Message -----
From: "Larry Steller" <mrgrooism@yahoo.com>
To: "Groop" <groop@groo.com>
Sent: Sunday, November 24, 2002 8:22 PM
Subject: RE: [Groop]OT-Nigeria


> At least "the show must go on" policy has been
> reversed, and the pageant is moving to London. What
> were they thinking when they initially vowed to
> continue the show in Nigeria after the riots? The
> latest reports say the rioting claimed over 200 lives.
> 200 human lives, gone, all because of gross
> intolerance on both sides!
>
> =====
> -------------------------------
> -Larry "Mr. Grooism" Steller
>
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