Why I Don't Read the News

Being in China is wonderful for several reasons. Among those is that I don't have to listen to political garbage plastered all over the TV or in newspapers.

I used to use Google Chrome as my browser and for some reason it stopped working. Now, I use Internet Explorer and MSN is set as the homepage. I could change that, and I'm going to, because I just hate the news. Not all of it, but most of it. It's usually the same old Who-Got-Shot-Doing-What or "Guess What Lindsay Lohan Did Now!" A large majority of the time, the news is about things that I simply don't care about.

I had heard random tidbits about this movie made in America that ticked off people in the Muslim world, which is clearly not difficult to do. So today I read a story about how a Pakistani official offered a $100,000 bounty on the head of the filmmaker. I like to rant. Just ask my sister. So here is my rant on how this article made me feel.

I'd like to point out that people do or say things every single day that I don't like. They also do or say things that I completely disagree with. In my mind, it is completely and utterly ridiculous that this official is calling for someone's life because he doesn't agree with them. This filmmaker didn't kill anyone, to my knowledge. Is he an ignorant asshole? Probably. But guess what? The world is full of people like that and all you can do is ignore them. It's like a child throwing a tantrum. I think the Middle East is a little too old to still be in the terrible two's stage.

It's interesting to me that every other religion takes flack about their beliefs without putting bounties on people's heads. But it seems like people will do anything to avoid stepping on the toes of Islam. The rest of the world could get along with the Middle East much better if they put on their big girl panties and stopped trying to turn grains of sand into mountains.

People won't always agree with you, and they don't have to! Should you make it a point to bash people's beliefs? I don't think so, but people have the right to do that in America. Saying you don't agree with someone is one thing, calling for their death is another. What's wrong with having some humility? I'm glad that people in America can excercise their right to free speech without fear of being killed. It would be terrible to live in a country where it's acceptable to kill people over such petty things. I'm thankful to be living in the greatest county of this world, more so now than ever before.