A Gross Generalization Come Undone

Okay, readers, today I wrote a comment on Facebook about my annoyance to the fact that my "white" friends here in LA are so devoid of culture. It spawned a nasty mix of humor (which I appreciated) and some dank religiously overt assertions. Interestingly enough it was those with religion that seemed to try to turn it into some sort of religious overture. I made no mention about religion, I spoke of race... in fact the actual status update said this "I am having racial angst today. Why are white people sooo devoid of culture." Well, that might have been worded better than the orginal but the same words are there. I got some laughs, then some down with the white man commentary, then these PERSONAL professions of religious diversity. Now, while I appreciated the candor that these were delivered in, they seemed unnecessarily defensive about MY own person opinion of the moment. I had not attacked any one in particular, and though I might admit that I should have said WHITE AMERICANS or my WHITE PEEPS IN LA, I think even Noam Chomsky would have understood my meaning. Secondly, ethnicity and race has nothing to do with religion. Many whites are of varying religions, as are Black, Asian, Middle Eastern, and even Jewish have different sects. So again, I wonder how my update brought in religion. When I did comment, I explained that I was talking about how last night while performing at my Bellydance show in an Egyptian cafe, that there was not a single white face in the crowd, except mine and the perverted old man who frequents the place. What I found interesting was the fact that these comments seemed aimed at convincing me that they were not deserving of such generalization as if I had personally attacked them. I had done no such thing. So while I am baffled as to the reason for such concentrated personal expository, it was interesting to see such a variance in point of view by my Facebook friends. While I have studied most of the world's religions in a moderate amount of depth, none has yet moved me to follow with such a devotion. I personally could care less about religion and have my own complicated system of belief. This of which I shall not, and probably never will share with anyone. I leave the reader of this rant with this quote by Georgia Harkness, "The tendency to turn human judgments into divine commands makes religion one of the most dangerous forces in the world."