THEQuagraine

I need to explain something. After traveling around the world for 10 years now, and after meeting a lot of people,and learning to understand the local customs and culture, I have realised, that unfortunately most people need to wake up and see the big picture. Patriotism is fine, being proud of your home country, culture, people, whatever it is, is fine, but only as long as it doesn’t turn into “either you are with us, or against us”, or “we are number one, and no one else matters”. Every country, every culture, has good and bad sides, some more good and some more bad. But if you break it down, a culture is built up of people, and people are all the same on the inside. We are all human.

As a visitor, some of the things I witness, that are so so important to the locals, or if not important, then accepted, “this is how it has always been”, seem completely nuts to me. I feel: “How can these people not see how unimportant this is?”. Or “How can these people not see what is really going on?”. So I often make fun of these things. And inevitably people think I am an asshole. How dare I have an opposing opinion! What an asshole I am!

I do this because it’s funny to me, but also in the hopes that some people would wake up and think a little. Going through life without even once considering the values and reasoning we use, is dangerous. If you are brought up in a racist family, maybe it would be a good idea to think for yourself if being a racist in 2014 makes any sense. If you are brought up in a religious family, maybe you should think for yourself and decide if it is your thing.

MY POINT IS: If there is someone out there that thinks that I am an asshole because I hate religious people, or Americans, or fat people, or people with no sense of humour, or people who like semi automatic weapons, or assholes, you couldn’t be further from the truth. I am a lover not a hater. We can disagree on almost everything, and still be friends. I will give you a lot of shit for it, but we can be friends, I can take a lot of shit too! Maybe you can wake me up, there’s a thought!

None of my opinions exclude other people. I never say F that opinion, kill them, that opinion shouldn’t exist, as long as we remain within general moral principles. I respect people who are true to themselves and make up their own minds, even if we do not share the same beliefs. I believe that the people who get offended are the ones who need to be offended. They are the ones whose opinions exclude other people. They believe what other people and society tell them to believe, and they need to be challenged to figure out their own true opinions. After all, if you are intelligent, and have reached your beliefs through critical thinking, how can you even be offended by someone else’s?

I believe that the people who get offended are the ones who need to be offended.

However, if you think I am an asshole for some other reason, you are probably right! So why the hell are you reading this?