WhatCHOOgonnadoaboutit Stephen??

http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/news/us-hate-groups-top-1000

Read this link, Stephen, and weep.  That's what I've been doing most of the morning so far.  Yeah, I don't just get up and have coffee, read the paper and get surrounded by happy cartoon forest animals and birds flying around me, living a peaceful and carefree life.  I actually read important stories like this, and feel my activist bones in my body get all riled up like they are now, no caffeine necessary.

I know, I'm weird. What can I say?  I wholeheartedly agree with you.  Why the hell should I care about this shit, if nobody else does??  How can I lead by example, when nobody's even paying attention??

Since the mid-90's, I've been watching the numbers of hate groups increase every year in this country, and frankly I am FED UP.  Hate groups----and in your wonderful state of California, my friend, there are 68 of them---SIXTY EIGHT HATE GROUPS that consist of 100, 200 or more people EACH----and they should ALL be OUTLAWED.  Furthermore, the members of hate groups should all be forced by law to attend rehabilitation meetings at the Southern Poverty Law Center, AND anyone even attempting to commit a hate crime for ANY reason, should immediately be sent to death row---do not pass "Go," do not collect $200----GAME OVER.  If I were President, this would be my #1 priority.

This is absolutely disgusting, and unacceptable.  Why don't people stand up, shout, protest, scream, yell, and DO something about it??  Are we ALL that complacent and lazy that we just don't CARE anymore?

If that's the case, Stephen, then this is a world I just don't want to live in.

I deserve better.  We all deserve better.

What happened to the hippies of the 60's who protested such things?  (That would be YOUR generation, Sir).  I'd really like to know why those hippies just gave up, got fat and lazy, and complacent, when those are the EXACT same things they used to HATE about older people!!  How can ANYONE with a CONSCIENCE allow these hate groups to thrive, and grow, every single year?  In the year 2000, there were 602 hate groups.  Now, only TEN YEARS LATER, there are 1,002 hate groups in this country. That's 400 MORE in less than a decade.  It's alarming, it's disgusting, it's scary, and it's unacceptable.

So....my challenge to you, Mr. Rich-Former-Singer-of-Journey, is to try and DO something about it. Get off your sexy ass, stop wallowing in lazy luxury, and get out that fat check book of yours.  Donate some of that hard-earned rock-n-roll money to the SPLC, help them increase their educational programs, and reach out to people to help reduce these hate group numbers.

Will you rise to this challenge, Mr. Perry?  How hard is it to click on a web site, write a number in the donation box, and click the mouse to send it immediately?  Or, if you'd rather, how hard is it to write a check, address an envelope, put a stamp on it, and mail it??  Surely you have a BUTLER who could do that FOR you...(rolling my eyeballs).

Now, you know I love you....and yes, I know you probably donate to other charities, and for that I applaud you.  But, this one is of vital importance to everybody who lives in this country---because soon, those hate groups will OUTNUMBER the peaceful, law-abiding and tolerant citizens in every state.  Think about it: We have only 52 states, but over 1,000 hate groups.  Do the math, I'm not going to spoon-feed it to you.  Figure it out for yourself.  Maybe THEN people---and those former hippy-hypocrites of days gone by---will start paying more attention and doing something about it.

You have the power, the ability, and the RESPONSIBILITY with all that wealth you've earned all your life, to make the world a better place.  I'm not a huge fan of altruism, by any stretch of the imagination, (Ayn Rand is one of my favorite philosophers), and I agree, you've earned that money through heartache, blood, sweat, tears, sacrifice and hard work for 30 years of your life, for YOU and your family, fair and square, and nobody has a right to take one single DIME from you.  But, at the same time, millions of Journey fans, and I, look up to you---I think of you as someone I admire, someone I care very much about, relate to, feel a kinship to, and someone I hope will continue to live a good, long, and happy life, doing the right things.

This is the right thing to do, Stephen.  Rise to this challenge.  Help change this.

I don't even have a JOB, but I send the SPLC money whenever I can.  I joined as a member too.

What can we all do about these growing hate groups?  Is everybody so IGNORANT that they feel they have to join such a group in order to feel that they 'belong'?  What is the media's role in these hate groups being formed and maintained for so long?  If you see something taking place in front of you, right in front of your eyes, and do nothing, aren't you just signing your name on the hate groups member list too?

To be a bystander in the face of adversity, is just as bad as being a perpetrator.

I feel like calling up the local city hall, and arranging a protest march in the name of SPLC, to eradicate the hate groups.  I feel like going to Washington DC and organizing a huge rally against them, I feel like inviting all members of hate groups to take a tour through the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in DC with ME, as a personal tour guide, to UNLEARN those awful and evil teachings of hate groups.

People in the 60's were peace-loving "Hare Krishna's," and fans of the Dalai Lama, they passed out brochures and pamphlets about LOVE, and they even CREATED the "Peace Sign," for Christ's sake.  What the hell HAPPENED??? Where did those people GO??  Why doesn't anybody CARE anymore??

I have to go.  My mother-in-law needs to buy herself some "dungarees," and I'm the friggin' chauffeur. But, I'm feeling a bit agitated right now, as you can probably tell.  Buying dungarees is the LAST thing on my priority list.  I guess I'm just another complacent, consumerist, oblivious dungaree-buying schlub in the face of hate.

SIGH.

Love, Rebecca