in my country

I had planned to just check my email and sign the petition to CBS about it's censorship of the Moveon.org ad. I didn't even like the ad as much as some of the others, especially after reading an editorial about it on the Slate. But, you know... one link leads to another. I read about the background on ad selection/censorship in broadcast television in an article on Salon.com (note that this is a subscriber site, but that you can get a free day pass if you watch/click-through a short ad), which led to a site which is keeping track of the hate mail that Margaret Cho has received since appearing at the Moveon.org "Bush in 30 seconds" Awards Ceremony. And reading it scared me. That people can really be like that.

But also... that people could really be like that... about me!

And recognizing that kind of took me for a loop, too. I try to dismiss the idea that people will judge me by the way I look. I know it happens. [Vague memories of school...mates? making slanty-eyes with their fingers... kids being kids. Just playing, I think. I played along too. Weird.] But around here I don't think there's any malice or overt bigotry. Hate. Contempt. But there it is in black and white. (Ugh, a poor choice of phrase) Electrons and phosphors. I realize that there are differences of opinion, but I forget that there's real hate out there.

Except that it's not out there.

It's here, in my own country.