Here’s a recent letter I wrote The Learning Channel regarding the subject of bullying and their own, upcoming contribution to it:
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Hello,
I am a blogger (TwiceBlessedLife.com) and a Unificationist.
I’ve heard that you will soon be airing a program titled: “Married to the Moonies”. I’m sure you’ve realized by now that the word “Moonies” is just as pejorative as “Kike” is for Jews (I’m also Jewish, by the way), the “N” word is for People of Color, “Slant Eyes” is for Asians, and the list could go on and on.
I would like to ask you to reconsider the choice of program title and choose one that is less offensive.
I understand that “Married to the Unificationists” is not as attention-grabbing but surely a network of your caliber can maintain integrity while also ‘entertaining’.
Growing up Jewish in NJ, I cannot begin to tell you of the misery I experienced as the victim of daily physical and verbal bullying that I received for being a “Kike”.
I do not want my own children to go through that hell.
Please let the word “Moonie” quietly fade into disuse.
When a young child (yes, all this really happened to me as a child) has been spat upon, been pelted with rotted fruit, had their clothing and property destroyed, been forcefully slammed into lockers, been physically assaulted, been called all manner of vile things – all because of their (or their parents’) religious beliefs, you have to wonder, why do people turn a blind eye to this?
Please do the right thing and cease contributing to the environment that justifies this bullying, ‘because it’s only “Moonies”, and no one cares about them’.
Thank you,
Lara N.
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It doesn’t matter if someone is a Unificationist, a Jew, gay or a grandmother acting as monitor on a schoolbus. Once you become identified as one of the disrespected in society, you become a potential target for bullying.
Funny how no-one spoke up for that grandmother on the schoolbus who was being bullied, until the video (filmed and uploaded by one of the bullies – how sick is that?) was roundly condemned publicly. Why didn’t other kids stand up and say “Lay off, it’s not cool to disrespect the elderly!
If you’re passively watching others bully someone – Guess what? – you’re a bully too.
We all need to stand up for each other. No more of this “None of my business” nonsense, or “Well, they deserved it because they’re (one of the disrespected)”.
How many times have we thought that in the privacy of our own thoughts?
Welcome to the bully mindset – you might not have realized just how pervasive it was, and how saturated our lives are by it.
“In Germany they first came for the Communists,
and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Communist.
Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew.
Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Catholics,
and I didn’t speak up because I was a Protestant.
Then they came for me -
and by that time no one was left to speak up.”
–Martin Niemöller
It’s not necessary to agree with someone, or to condone their lifestyle/beliefs/whatever, to recognize that they are also human and deserving of the same rights and respect that we ourselves would like to have.
