Today. I am Offended.

Today, many things offend me, five of them are listed on the sign.

Today, and for the last two weeks what offends me most is that my home state has been the top story in the news.  It offends me that parts of St. Louis, St. Louis and Jefferson counties as well parts of the entire state of Missouri still have the attitudes towards race that reflect the attitudes of the deep south 100 years ago.

I'm deeply offended by the actions of some Law Enforcement officers and their respective Police departments.  Their chosen tactics used against peaceful protesters and journalists alike are reminiscent of the tactics used by those governments that I chose to serve with the U.S. Navy to defend this country against. 

I'm offended, that in this, the 21st century people still use the word nigger.  I'm offended by people with the "He's black he must be a thug and therefore he deserved what he got" mentality.

I'm equally offended by a criminal element that has decided that peaceful protests are a good excuse for rioting and looting.

I'm offended that 50 years after The Civil Rights Act of 1964 we still have primitive, Dark Ages philosophy such as recently expressed by Kevin Sorbo;
     "Ferguson riots have very little to do with the shooting of the young man, It is an excuse to be the losers these animals truly are. It is a tipping point to frustration built up over years of not trying, but blaming everyone else, The Man, for their failures. It's always someone else's fault when you give up. Hopefully this is a reminder to the African Americans ( I always thought we [are] just Americans. Oh, well.) that their President the voted in has only made things worse for them, not better."  

Note those last two sentences, "I thought we [are] just Americans" and "  ...their president."

Many things do offend me, this are just the ones that offend me most today...