"We the Bigots" - PCR #1

Hello my lovely people!  Today I am starting a segment that I am calling "Political Cartoon Rants" (PCR).  It (the segment) is where I discuss my opinion on political cartoons that I feel are powerful or have a good message (or are stupid beyond help).  I hope you enjoy it.  If you would like me to discuss any other kind of topics in the future feel free to let me know by commenting or emailing me.

#1)  This is a prime example of what the hypocrisy of the GOP looks like.  Each one of the GOP members (Jindal, Rubio, Bush, Carson, and Cruz) have all said that they do not support discrimination, however each wants to either put in laws that allow discrimination against LGBT members or to deny equal rights against them.  I do not think they could be more hypocritical than if they tried to be.  On a final part of this cartoon, even though I do know how "men that lie together" is translated from a biblical view, however I love the pun the artist used.  

#2)  This political cartoon is my personal favorite of these three, as well as one of my current all time favorites.  I feel as this expresses how so many Christians believe.  I have personally debated many people who identify themselves as Christian who will play the victim card and say that I (and my "type") try to oppress their religious freedom to discriminate by explaining that we are a secular state, and not a theocracy.  Religious freedom is not the right to discriminate.  Religious freedom is the right to believe in whatever faith of your choosing.  It does not mean you can force your religious views on other people.  The more we expose these types of "Christians", the quicker we can gain acceptance as a whole.

#3)  This one is very similar to #2, however the main point I would like to make is the pink triangle.  I personally did not know that the LGBT community is trying to "take back" that symbol.  I put take back in quotations because the LGBT never actually "owned" that symbol.  Instead, it is being redefined to mean a symbol of equality.  I looked up the original meaning and found that a right-side up pink triangle was the symbol that Hitler and Nazi-Germany used to identify gays.  I do like how we are taking a negative and attempting to turn it into a positive, however, I feel like it should be seen as a caution sign as well.  If we use a symbol that used to mean hate and brought pain, suffering, and death we are giving bigots a symbol to "reanimate" from the dead.  It may mean something positive to our community, but it may be used as a weapon against us later.


I hope you enjoyed this post, if so, let me know!  If not, let me know as well, I seek advice from you all!

Until next time,
The Secular Panda

References:  Picture link #1 HERE

Picture link #2 HERE

Picture link #3 HERE

Death by Art - Freedom of Speech Drawn Together

Hello my lovely people!  On May 3rd, two radical Islamic men (Elton Simpson and Nadir Sooti) shot at a group that was holding a drawing contest on who could draw the best characterization of the prophet Muhammad.  This group is called "American Freedom Defense Initiative" (AFDI) and is led by Pamela Geller, a well known anti-Islamic activist.  Luckily Simpson and Sooti were bad shots and only hit a security guard in the ankle (he was released from the hospital that day).  Simpson and Sooti were not so lucky however, and were killed by a different officer.

Where the debate lies is there are groups (on both the conservative side as well as the liberal side) that are victim blaming the AFDI for "spurring an attack".  Nobody is "asking" to be physically harmed when they practice the 1st Amendment.  Even though most people (rational people) disagree with what the AFDI stand for and believe, that does not mean we as a people should attempt to censor or silence their freedom of speech.  

These two religious zealots attempted to murder people for drawing a picture.  Instead of focusing on how to stop these kind of attacks from happening at the core (the religious implications), we have people who are saying that people should give up their freedom of speech for safety.  Does that not imply to give into the demands of a bully?  My main question to you is if the Westboro Baptist church members were massacred for their bigoted, hateful speech, would you defend them?  Even though they (Westboro) are a hate group, do they not deserve their freedom of speech?

Until next time,
The Secular Panda

References: YouTube link HERE

Picture link HERE

Article Reference #1 HERE

Article Reference #2 HERE

'Kill The Faggot' - Fun for All.

Hello my lovely people!  This post is about very disturbed bigots.  I was surfing the internet when I cam across this story by Huffington Post.  If you would like to see the original article, click HERE.

An indie game designer by the name of Randall Herman made this game and successfully uploaded it to Steam (a video game site).  It lasted two hours before being taken down.  I'm happy that the game was taken down so fast, however, the main issue that I saw was that it was posted in the first place.

The way Steam works on uploading games to their server is that it (the game) has to go through a process called "Greenlight."  The way a game get's "greenlite" is by posting pictures, videos, and describing the game to the public.  The public then "likes" the project or not.  If enough people show interest in the game, it will get the "green light" and be published on their (Steam's) server for people to purchase and play.  

That is where the main problem lies for me.  Not the fact that the game was allowed, but that the community voted for it enough to be published.  It shows that we as a society still has a long way to go when it comes to LGBT rights.  This game was nothing more than a show case of hate speech and bigotry.  This is 2015 and people voted on playing a game that promotes killing homosexuals and being "rewarded" for it.

This game is by no means "satire" as some has tried to defend.  The definition of satire is: "the use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people's stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues."  How is a game that is all about murdering a specific group of people in any ways "humorous"?  

America as a whole is moving in the right directions when it comes to LGBT issues.  This June, we may be finally getting marriage equality for the LGBT community.  However, this game should be a warning of sorts.  That on the internet, people do not have to hide his/her true feelings and can support what they truly feel anonymously, such as a game fully of hate and bigotry.

Until next time!

The Secular Panda

References:  All photos can be found HERE

Ten Things That "Girls" Want - Labels for All

Hello my lovely people.  I was lurking the internet (mostly Facebook) today when I came across a picture.  This picture to be exact:

This picture bothered me.  The first thought that came into my head was, "why is it ten things that 'girls' want?"  Why not men/boys?  My second thought was why did I have to include men as a separate entity?

Labels.  They seem to effect us all.  We see men as men and women as women instead of a human being with their own thoughts and feelings.  That list should be "10 things that a person wants" (or to be precise "10 things that I want" because each individual has his/her own likes/dislikes) .  Your sex should not matter.  A man as well as a women can like good morning/night texts.  Both sexes should always tell how much he/she loves his/her significant other.  To quote Mike Miller, "labels belong on a can, not a man."

Just because you have different body parts, does not mean you have any right to treat others differently.  This goes for both sexes.  This also goes beyond just sexism.  The issues with labels are why we have racism as well as why the LGBT community struggles with discrimination today.  I will leave you with a quote from Morgan Freeman that can be used for any kind of label;

"How do we stop racism?  Stop talking about it.  I'm going to stop calling you a white man, and I'm going to ask you to stop calling me a black man."

Until next time,

The Secular Panda

Reference:  Original Picture Located HERE 

A work in progress

Hey guys, my name's Andrew and I'm the Secular Panda.  This blog is where I will right stories on political issues.  However, this is a work in progress, so updates are going to be slow at first, then they will start to appear more frequently.  If you want to follow me, you can through this blog, Facebook (The Secular Panda), or twitter (@thesecularpanda).  I am always looking for advice on how to get better and I am going to be looking for stories.  So if you ever find something you would like me to write about (or vlog about, which will be coming at a later date), feel free to ask in the posts or email me at thesecularpanda@gmail.com.  I am always open to suggestions.

To a secular future,

The Secular Panda.