"THE MAJORITY IS USUALLY WRONG!" (With Due Credit to Robert A. Heinlein, his book Stranger in a Strange Land His Estate, and/or the Publishers; Written on or about 22 June 2000; Updated on 5 May 2004) By S. Wolf Britain I have been waiting for inspiration before I sought to address these very important matters; but now, today, on Thursday, June 22nd, 2000, another financially poor person, of a racial minority in the United States, Gary Graham, was assassinated in Texas by State-sponsored, government-sanctioned murder, inflicted by the death penalty; and that travesty has provided me the inspiration I needed, as follows: The majority of "Americans" may be in favor of the death penalty at this time; but the majority of so-called Americans are also racists; so we cannot trust the majority of "Americans", including police, the courts, judges, lawyers, or jurors, to determine who lives and who dies. Two wrongs do not make one right. Murder for murder is totally barbaric, and unconscionable in a society which is supposedly much wiser, and much less barbaric, than societies of past-history. If today's society is really so much more enlightened, advanced and reasonable than societies of the past, than government-sponsored murder is that much more inexcusable. In reality, today's society is NOT advanced or much-improved over past-society, but in truth is MUCH WORSE because of how much more shamelessly we condone and excuse evil for evil. There are NO EXCUSES for evil whatsoever; and there are especially no excuses for evil in return for evil, especially in the so-called "much more advanced" society that we are supposedly a part of. We keep hearing the proponents of the death penalty say over and over again that we as a people should all be saddened by the deaths of the Gary Graham's at the hands of the State(s); but they who say such things are liars, for they aren't truly saddened by such alleged murderers' deaths; they are more pleased, relieved and grateful for their deaths, because their part(s) in bringing about, and/or supporting and condoning, such deaths aids them in fitting into, and/or pandering to, and getting along with and being accepted by, the majority. Just as sad as the sadness for the death of anyone, is the sadness that most people don't want to be true individuals and think for themselves; they want to go the lazy route of echoing the majority; and they wrongly assume that if the majority of people think one way on a subject, the majority must be right. But, it's really true, "The majority is usually WRONG"! (Robert A. Heinlein in Stranger In A Strange Land.) It supposedly takes too much "work" for people to take a minority "stand"; and we've been wrongly "programmed" since we were children to "fit in", and conform and bow to the majority; but all of us are called, making it everyone's DUTY, to stand up ONLY for what's truly and completely right, to think completely for ourselves, and be completely true individuals, even if doing so means "standing alone", being unpopular, and being persecuted for it. Remember, as Mariah Carey sings, "A Hero Lies In You"! Now, getting into the Bible, the Word(s) of God, is unavoidable at any point, because it is the original, proven, historical law book, and as such has direct, inescapable, and fully accurate bearing on the subject(s) being addressed here, the death penalty and bigotry. But the Bible is not only the first law book, it always has been, still is, and always will be, THE ONLY law book that has transcendent and preeminent authority over all other law, particularly man's law(s) and the laws of nature. It is the legal transcript of the law of God's very character, the embodiment of God Himself, and the foundation of all existence. As a result, it is required of all mankind to listen to it, apply it to all aspects of their lives, emulate it's example, and to obey it. The death penalty is another violent, hateful, shameful act on top of one or more other violent, hateful, shameful acts. The Sixth Commandment says, "You will not kill", period! (Exodus 20:13; Mark 10:19; Luke 18:20; etc.) It does NOT say, '...except under certain circumstances', 'except in the case of death as "punishment" for murder', or 'except when defending "freedom" or our country'. High school students have it right in the name of their organization, Students Against Violence Everywhere (SAVE). We The People must try to end ALL violence EVERYWHERE, and violence of ANY and EVERY kind, including but not limited to the death penalty! We cannot acceptably tell our children that violence is not at all an acceptable way to solve problems, and then contradict ourselves by promoting the death penalty! This ultimate in hypocrisy is completely and totally unacceptable in any way! By the same token, bigotry, racism and racial prejudice, are the ultimate in ignorance! Two monumental discoveries proving this were made recently; first, that the genetic makeup (DNA) of black people is ninety-eight percent (98%) the same as that of white people; and, second, a highly religious group of black South Africans who migrated to South Africa long ago, and have believed for thousands of years that they are descendants of the Jewish priesthood, the Levites, and who were of course not believed because the Jewish race has long been believed to be all "white", mostly "white" or of "brown" skin at the most, have had their claims proven correct, also by genetic testing. But, in addition to the genetic proof, it should be obvious that all of the people on this Earth are members of the very same race, the human race! We are all equal; we all bleed basically the same blood; and we are all "brothers and sisters", or, if you'd rather, "cousins"! We are NOT distant cousins either; we are closer cousins than we are different or separate; and we have another duty as members of the human race, to discover our similarities, break down the barriers between us, join together, and work together to stand up against all prejudice, racism, bigotry, and injustice of any and all kinds. Bigotry includes many things, not only racism, and not least of which are unequal rights, discrimination of any kind, and miscarriages of true justice of all kinds. It is rightly and correctly said that 'God loves the sinner, but hates the sin'; therefore, all of us of the Homo sapiens race have the highest responsibility to love all of our fellow -men and -women regardless of their race, lifestyle(s), beliefs, disability(ies), level, or "standing" in society, monetarily or otherwise, their shortcomings, law breaking, harm of others', sexual preference(s), etc. "Let he (or she) who is without (evil in their own lives), first cast a stone (at those you believe have committed evil)"! (John 8:7.) In other words, because we are all guilty of wrongdoing, no man or woman has the right to condemn any other person for their wrongdoing! To do so is not only the ultimate in hypocrisy, it is the ultimate in bigotry to make ourselves out to be better than ANYBODY else, when in reality we are no better than ANYONE else, for no person is better than, or superior to, ANY other person IN ANY WAY, no matter how "good" or "responsible" or "educated" or "successful" they supposedly are! As perhaps our greatest "founding father", Thomas Jefferson, said in the powerfully-inspired Declaration of Independence, "...ALL men are created EQUAL, and endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness..."! (Emphasis added.) In addition to the correct interpretation(s) of, and obedience to, The Word(s) of God, this is the foundation that our country, and every person within it's borders, is supposed to stand for fully and completely, without exception, and the incontrovertible truth, and highest duty, that We The People are also required to obey in order to be true Americans, and more importantly, true human beings! If all professed-Americans, and all citizens of planet Earth, do not without exception treat all humankind as equals to and with themselves, and if they treat any person or group of people in any way less than equal to themselves, they not only fail to be true Americans, and/or true citizens of Earth, they violate all that our Maker stands for, make themselves much more evil than the average person, and separate themselves from all true Redemptive Power unless they, with the help and power of God, turn themselves around and without exception treat all people as equals! Wherefore, I call all men and women everywhere, if they do not do so already, to stand for nothing but true and complete equality for all humankind, and to treat all people as nothing but the equals that they are! [Copyright (c) 2000-2004 in the U.S.A. and Internationally by S. Wolf Britain. All rights are reserved.]