Ethnic Hypersensitivity Is Destroying Our Security And Sense Of Humor

Many of the e-mails I get forwarded are politically incorrect but, nevertheless, quite hilarious. The latest one was sent by an Hispanic friend who knew that I'd get a kick out of it even though it might be considered offensive to supersensitive blacks and Hispanics. I did find it very funny and recalled growing up in Spanish Harlem and hearing Puerto Rican jokes such as: "What does a Puerto Rican bride wear on her wedding day? Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue, something orange, something red...."

But apparently we're no longer allowed to laugh at anything remotely unflattering to ourselves or certain minorities, and that's not only a shame, it's downright dangerous.

Joan Rivers used to tell jokes about Italians; Don Rickles insulted everybody, and Jackie Mason still tells jokes about Jews. Now it seems as if some Hispanics are now being encouraged to be as testy over slights as are certain Muslims over perceived disses of the prophet Mohammed.

In Live Oaks High School in California, four students wore red, white and blue T-shirts - some with American flags - on May 5th aka Cinco de Mayo. Principal Nick Boden and assistant Miguel Rodriguez asked the students to change their clothing or turn the T-shirts inside out. The administrators feared there would be a confrontation with Mexican students on their holiday. The T-shirt students refused, were threatened with suspension, and sent home with an unexcused absence.

The only reasonable way to look at this totally ridiculous situation is to imagine that at the Sorbonne in Paris, French students wearing T-shirts with their national flag on the 4th of July are told to change their clothes so as not to offend the American exchange students.

Multicultural political correctness is reaching an absurd level and has already become dangerous to our national security, particularly when it involves Islam and Muslims. It was this P.C. attitude that made army officials overlook the potentially jihadist mentality of Major Nidal Malik Hasan, He shouted "Allahu Akbar!" ("God is great!") in Arabic before opening fire and killing 14 people (one unborn) at the Ft. Hood military base in Texas.

Was it political correctness behind the systematic removal of certain names from the terrorist watch list last year? According to many conservative watch-dog groups, the Obama administration began shutting down Bush-era terrorist investigations last year including the investigation of Faisal Shahzad, the failed Times Square bomber.

What is it about our government that makes it go totally blind and dumb when it comes to profiling potential terrorists who might be Muslim? Shahzad paid for his one-way ticket to Dubai in cash. Ding, ding, ding. Didn't bells go off when he did, or have we learned nothing from the September 11th hijackers?

How was this man ever allowed to become a citizen or don't we have any security criteria anymore? Didn't anybody check to see why his name had been on a watch list to begin with? Who's giving out visas to those coming from countries with terrorist ties? Who's watching our backs and why don't I feel safe anymore?

I was born and raised in New York City and I've always known that we were the number one target of our enemies. As a child I would watch the sky at night from the fire escape outside my window and see the searchlights scan it for enemy aircraft.

Apparently our megalomaniac mayor from Massachusetts seems to think that our biggest threat might come from a home grown protester rather than from professed haters such as Shahzad.

In a CBS interview with Katie Couric before Shahzad was identified, he said he believed that the bomber probably acted alone and added, "If I had to guess, twenty five cents, this would be exactly that. Homegrown maybe a mentally deranged person or someone with a political agenda that doesn't like the health care bill or something. It could be anything." Oh, like a Tea Party protester?

He must have been as disappointed as MSNBC's Contessa Brewer who admitted that she was frustrated that the Times Square bomber was a Pakistani American. On the Stephanie Miller radio show she added, "There was part of me that was hoping this was not going to be anybody with ties to any kind of Islamic country. There are a lot of people who want to use terrorist intent to justify writing off people who believe in a certain way or come from certain countries or whose skin color is a certain way. I mean they use it as justification for really outdated bigotry."

We're supposed to ignore the fact that there are people from a particular fanatical religious group that are hell bent on killing us so that we don't offend anyone. Is that even sane?

Perhaps the overriding rationale behind this kind of insanity and the absurdity of those California school officials is fear and cowardice. Comedians are loathe to ridicule Islamists because they don't want to end up like Theo Van Gogh who was slaughtered in the Netherlands for a film he directed that was critical of Islam.

Journalist Lawrence O'Donnell admitted to columnist Hugh Hewitt that "I would like to criticize Islam much more than I do publicly, but I'm afraid for my life if I do." Comedy Central censored South Park's Mohammed-in-a-bear suit episode but is now planning a half-hour show satirizing Jesus Christ.

Now that same multicultural hypersensitivity is spreading to include Hispanics. Those California officials were afraid that the 40% of the students at Live Oaks High School who are Mexican would start a riot over the American flag-wearing students. Is this how it will all start? Don't wear the wrong T-shirts. Don't draw offensive cartoons. Don't make jokes at our expense or what? We'll riot? What an insult to our essential character. All Hispanics should feel insulted that this is how we're viewed: like common thugs ready to riot over something so petty.

I don't care what the motives of those flag-wearing students were but the very idea that the American flag might possibly offend anyone celebrating their own ethnic holiday is beyond the pale.

This is the United States of America and our flag represents our hard fought fight for freedom and should be proudly displayed wherever and whenever, 365 days a year. If that constitutes disrespect in the eyes of some group then perhaps they should rethink living here ... and don't let the door hit you on the way out.

Alicia Colon resides in New York City and can be reached at aliciav.colon@gmail.com and at www.aliciacolon.com