As Botan[YYH] would say (in the dub, anyhoo)...
 
BINGO! This "afrimerican" and several others have been trying to say the same thing! Including Bill Cosby.
 
I hate racism. America's been trying to rid itself of it for several decades.
 
My advice to the NAACP: Go to Japan and teach them the right way to draw "black folks." IOW, follow the Sunrise model. Because when the "black" Green Lantern, whose VA also voices a Japanese samurai, is one of the main hoggers of JL airtime, we're near the point of "We Have Overcome...Don't Screw It Up!"
 
Furthermore, to those that sniff their noses at pop culture references, "baldilocks" is pop-cult FREE!
 
The creator of The X Bridge[CNX: Toonami Revolution and other names...]...is black.
 
I...am black.
 
I can't speak for Nemalki(Nelson Mandela, Malcolm Little(X), and the Good Doctor(please scroll down); but I speak for me: I don't hate Dubyatron. [president George W. Bush] In fact, I think he did the best job he could do.
 
But if you want real racism, LIVE in Japan. I guarantee that there will be no National Association for the Advancement of ANYTHING, because the Japanese would be laughing at you. Trust me, they're still bitter about WW2, and people in Asia Proper can hold grudges for centuries. [it's the ancestor thing.]
 
[which, incidentally, is my guess as to why China isn't doing much about North Korea, and South Korea is too busy trying to use its Care Bear Stare on Kim Jong Il. Rape of Nanking, assorted atrocities are all too fresh, and who knows what other regional conflicts were there since before the birth of Christ!?
 
Having said that about Japan, I'd rather deal with the current Asian democracy who is also trying to shake off the xenophobe syndrome than the Asian country who just realized that their population is top-heavy with males.
 
(Heck, I'm an anime fan and I know this. People decry Disney for being racist. I still like Disney cartoons, especially the TV classics from 1987-1996. [keep in mind that I'm not yet twenty-eight.])
 
= = =
 
Back on the Gay Circuit.
 
As a Christian: Our "Junior Woodchuck's Guidebook" says it's wrong.
 
As a person: I DON'T CARE whether you are gay/lesbian. I read yaoi without judgment unless the writing is just plain BAD. In fact, I employ "don't ask" of the "DA/DT" policy as a matter of tact; it's something that most peeps would call the "common sense: MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS" policy.
 
Because if I assume a man is gay--and I'm wrong--that man will most likely be offended and wonder what's wrong with me. [don't tell me that I may have contradicted myself with my biases; I know this. They're my biases, and I believe in this matter that I have a right to hold them; I won't reject them automatically simply because they might offend someone.]
 
I didn't need to know that Brent Spiner was gay. What does it have to do with his job as an actor!? Zilch. Likewise with Ellen DeGeneres, Rosie O'Donnell, or Harvey Fierstein.
 
The only reason I know these people are gay/lesbian is because...they tell people. And that's fine. But the fact is, they and other homosexuals will receive backlash from people too stupid to leave them be.
 
I don't go telling people "I'm straight." In fact, most people don't discuss their sexual lives in public discourse at all! Only amongst friends and family. Heck, what little sexual activity I ever experienced I simply don't discuss with anyone...it's not their business to know my private affairs.
 
[this is the reason I'm annoyed with censorship of sexual relationships in anime. twofold: it only makes the situation worse(mickey and haruka are cousin-lesbians...wonderful! zoey had a sex change to please North American audiences, yet he/she forgot to have the breasts drawn in...joy!), their sexual orientation is immaterial to the plot of the anime. discussions from dub-flamers on this issue irritate me needlessly, especially when I note in my mind that the Japanese are actually even more reticent about homosexuality--certain anime notwithsthanding.]
 
At any rate, you shouldn't need God to do your basic thinking for you. [if we did, Steven den Beste would be a loon.] God won't tell you what to do. You have the free will to do as you please. You aren't pre-programmed as far as major thought processes. God will not control your mind!
 
Likewise, God cannot make you "gay". I don't need the Bible to tell me this; biology did a good job already. Consider the basic concept of biogenesis[life from life, kind from kind], combined with the two methods of reproduction: sexual and asexual.
 
[of course, I will be blasted for this honest opinion. all I can say: if you "feel gay", and you must act on these feelings, do so. I don't think you'll be happy, but my thoughts can only have the weight in your mind that you allow it. please afford me the same courtesy.]
 
Sexual: Goku(boy) meets Chichi(girl); they mate and have two sons named Gohan and Goten.
 
Asexual: Piccolo Daimaoh Sr. spits eggs, producing various children: Drum, Cymbal, Tambourine, and Piccolo D. Junior.
 
IRL:
 
(sexual)
Xx + Xy = xx or xy
Meiosis, where specialized cells halve their chromosomes before joining into one cell with complete chromosomes; the fused cell then begins mitosis.
 
Usual for humans, tigers, dogs, chickens, dinosaurs....
 
(asexual)
 
Mitosis, doubling chromosomes, then splitting into billions of cells, bypassing meiosis.
 
Normal for sponges, bacteria, and most microscopic life.
 
Onto the marriage part. Man + Woman has been the marital definition. If you, as a gay/lesbian person[or to be precise, a man or woman attracted to members of the same sex/gender] want it expanded in the US Constitution to include your monogamous partnerships, you have to use your congressional rep to convince our legislature that it's in American society's best interest to do so.
 
=  =  =
 
Feelings....
 
Sounds like Words and Numbers are at war again. Sooner or later, I'll have to write my Phantom Tollbooth piece.
 
Reason and Emotion are supposed to work together. Emotion keeps your brain from shutting down in an effort to process pure rationale; Reason keeps me from being offended by every insult and annoyance that exists in the world.
 
Humans are grossly, fatally flawed; we're neither good nor evil. We're fallible, and prone to error. In order to benefit ourselves, most of us try to do good, and that is how civilization still exists. (and also why capitalism works.)
 
You can't legislate or enforce good deeds; it has to be something you want to do from your heart; and something you decide in your mind is in your best interest. And while I could quote from Joshua 24:15 to some choice bits from the NT-KJV, I'll stick with the paraphrase below.
 
=  =  =
 
To end this, Kung Fu-tse says that you should do right not because God or anyone else says so, but because it's...right.
 
However stupid Asian culture is regarding women or other races, it somehow gave birth to a truly wise man.
 
The Christian in me says: My God-senses are tingling! :D Mr. den Beste and Mr. Tatara(who is white, not Japanese) would disagree with each other, let alone me. But we can agree to disagree.
 
[besides, we all like anime! and the DBZ is most nifty. anyone making Cell jokes about my effort at explaining biology[which will probably get blasted by the materialist engineer if he even bothers to read this blog] will be gently pinched.]