Assimilation is the gateway to bestiality!

First of all, Ctrl-A and Ctrl-S are too close together. While trying to delete the template of the message, I accidentally posted it. One can only imagine the confusion that would result from an empty message with the subject "Assimilation is the gateway to bestiality!" Moving on.

A few days ago I found a curious group on Facebook. Don't worry if you can't access the group because you don't have a Facebook account or whatever. Here's the short of it:

JEWISH BOYS LOOKING FOR HOTTIE JEWISH GIRLS!!

How many single jews are there?? We need to hook all yall up with other HOTTIE JEWSSS>>>>Can we all join together and rid the world of ASSIMILATION!!! If your jewish and are single (even if your not but have jewish single friends) join the group and make sure that all your jewish friends do as well.

Looking past the grammar and spelling mistakes and the fact that this might be satire (lets hope so), we come to the central message of the club: "Can we all join together and rid the world of ASSIMILATION!!!"

Taty had a curious response to this club. At first, I shared that viewpoint. However, I now realize that there is nothing strange or unique in this. This club simply strives to keep the gene pool small, to contain the members within a particular society and discourage inter-mixing with other societies. What's so peculiar about that? Time and time again we have seen behavior repeat itself in the world around us: the poor marry poor, the rich marry rich, whites marry whites, blacks marry blacks, Chinese marry Chinese, Catholics marry Catholics. This is the way the majority of the world behaves, sticking with what they know, so to speak. The world may be getting smaller, but where close personal ties are concerned there are still oceans between us.

Is this a subconscious act or do people actively decide "must be from my village, must like Wagner, must have same shoe size"? For most people, a person of similar background is the only logical choice for a mate. Their parents did it, everyone else is doing it and it simply seems inevitable. I speak of "most people". Realize that the majority of the humans that have ever lived have stayed most of their lives in their small communities. In today's world you may take it for granted that people are able to come together across great distances, from across a state, a country, a continent or from a completely different hemisphere. If you can do this, you are lucky. It is this lack of options that gives us the first explanation for anti-assimilation.

Second, people tend to stick to familiar things. It's easy, it's safe. Then, on a related note, people fear change. On a certain level, it's easier to stick with someone from one's own culture than to venture and discover something different. Why bother having to adjust to a new set of customs and traditions when the old come so naturally. Then, there is a certain stigma associated with cross-societal interaction. Regardless of the fact that it's already the 21st century, there are still cultural barriers restricting such things as inter-racial relationships. This can be both a subconscious act of choosing the tried-and-true path or the conscious decision weighed against the perceived "risks".

Third, and this does not fall under either the conscious or the subconscious, there is simple incompatibility between societies and their members. This is separate from the stigma I mentioned previously. While the respective societies may be accepting of a member's choice, it's possible that the differences could be too large to withstand the pressures of a relationship. For example, a clash of religions has been known to drive people apart. This is how Michael explained to me the exact meaning of 2 Corinthians 6:14: a person of faith needs religious support from their mate, so while the Bible does not state that a religious person isn't allowed atheistic friends (for example), it does mean that a religious person should be sought after in marriage. Michael's words, paraphrased. Of course there are other incompatibilities: a steak-lover would find it hard to live with a vegetarian, as a crude but sufficient example.

To attempt to explain the title of this post, take point two (familiarity, fear of change, social stigma) and extend it to an illogical conclusion: first, whites start dating blacks, then men marry men, then Christians and Atheists stay at a bed and breakfast together*, then bestiality!


*Thanks to Rachel for the bit about bed and breakfast. Apparently there is a B&B owner in England who is simply flabbergasted about a potential law requiring equality for homosexual couples. This man is a good Christian (or whatever) and will not have sinful practices on his property. Go ahead and play a little game where you come up with helpful suggestions on avoid "sinful practices" on the owner's property. Here's a list to get you started:

• Make sure that no two people of the same sex stay in one room
• Make sure that the guests present a marriage certificate, so as to avoid the "sinful practice" of premarital sex
• Check the guest's luggage for condoms, in case the owner's religion forbids contraceptives
• Make sure the woman is not on the pill or has a surgically implanted birth-control method, for the same reason
• Make sure nothing sinful happens during the guests' stay. This includes those evil things sexual acts some people do in the privacy of their homes. Might have to resort to night-vision cameras in every room.

In a somewhat related case, a Florida woman went to the police after being raped. She was given one of a regiment of morning-after birth control pills and then arrested. Seems there's a four-year-old charge against her. She was held in jail for two days during the course of which the woman was not allowed to continue the morning-after regiment. Why? The officer in charge of the jail declined to give woman the pills as it was against her (officer's) religion. Argh!