Eminem is a product of an insolent society

Editor,

I have to respond to Jeremy Reynald's column on Friday about Eminem. He is a product of our society. We created him, and religious fundamentalists share a large part of the blame for it.

Where does Eminem get his homophobia? It is pervasive in our society, and many of our religious leaders constantly denigrate homosexuals. Some lunatics, in the name of God, tied Mathew Shepherd to a fence and tortured him to death because he was gay. Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson and other so-called "men of God" repeatedly show their hatred for gays, albeit much more covertly than Eminem.

Eminem's cavalier attitude toward rape comes from a society where, if some maggot rapes a woman, he is the victim because of a bad childhood, broken home or some other such nonsense. The woman, no doubt, brought it upon herself by dressing comfortably or being sexually active.

We have to make rapists responsible for their actions, regardless of their upbringing, and separate them from their sex organs after the first offense. That will make Eminem and others like him less likely to glorify or commit these insidious acts.

If you want to hear hatred on the air, turn on Rush Limbaugh. He is no less hateful than Eminem, just much more disingenuous about it. If you want to hear a homophobe, listen to Dr. Laura. She is the epitome of homophobia in a public celebrity.

Religious leaders have created a God who is angry, envious, jealous and vindictive, and if we don't like Him, they have created a devil for us to serve.

We won't change this society until we show more respect for our environment, our children, our homeless and poor, our elderly, our fellow creatures and everyone who is different because of their race, religion or sexual orientation.

We won't change society until we teach our kids that God is not vindictive, never gets angry or jealous and doesn't judge us. We won't change society until we tell the truth about Satan. He is no more real than the tooth fairly or Easter bunny. We need to tell our kids there is no such thing as hell (which the pope recently said -bless his heart).

I am not an atheist by any stretch of the imagination. I can feel God when it rains. I can sense Her when I smell the flowers, I can feel Him touching me on a windy day, and I can see Her soul whenever I look into the eyes of an animal. My God would never turn someone to salt, destroy cities or flood a planet whenever he got a hair up his ass.

That is not someone I want to look up to. And no, I have never listened to Eminem and I probably never will. I kind of lean toward Gene Autry.

Richard Fagerlund, B.C.E.

Environmental Services