One of the saddest things in the news now (and believe me it’s hard to pick with all the chaos going on in this Babylon) would have to be the ripple affect of the Danish ignorance in publishing offense Islamic cartoons. Now, I like Spongebob as much as the next kid but this is getting to be too much.

Recently, while listening to NPR, I heard some UC Irvine New Republican Group members defending their decision to republish the offensive Islamic cartoons by saying “we need to talk about the issue and have discourse about it.” Hold up, homey. What is with this desire in America for us to have “discourse” over everything? One time, when I was home alone as a latch key kid, I was curious and put my tongue in the freezer to see what would happen. You probably know the rest of the story—that shit hurt and I was so happy I was alone so that I could spend the rest of my embarrassed day watching “Green Acres” nursing a sore tongue without some “you dummy” comments from anyone other than myself. Yes, I was the fool in “A Christmas Story” who accepts the double dog dare and puts my tongue on a freezing surface. Had I read a book about the affects of tongues on freezing cold surfaces, I wouldn’t have done it. Somewhere, there existed evidence that I didn’t need to accept my own double dog dare and be in pain for a few days. Do the Danish have Google? Is there a Masjid there? How about a Quran?

Now, I’m not sure how many Muslims they have in that country that published the cartoon, but I can guarantee you as a Muslim-friendly girl, even I KNOW that there are certain things I can do to respect the religion without basically sticking my tongue to a freezer. Do newspapers research anymore (quiet the Jayson Blair comments, Peanut Gallery)? One of the Muslims from UC Irvine had a great point while arguing some Apple Pie Debater (You are not Pro-American if you try to shut other cultures down; you are the opposite–most conservatives are not really American, believe that). The kid’s point was (I’m paraphrasing because I couldn’t get my photographic ear together while dodging crazy LA traffic): “I believe in freedom of speech too! That means I could start flinging racial slurs if I wanted to. But knowing how painful that is, why would I?”

With publishing comes a certain level of responsibility. If you want to put something offensive on paper, do you, son/daughter. But don’t get heated and wonder why people are dying when long standing religious texts could tell you that a certain group of people don’t go for the portrayal of their religious figures in jest. You like doing Jesus or Abraham satire, talking about some “how’s business”? Cool. Are you Christian or Jewish and cool with a jokey joke about parting the Red Sea? Perfect. Guess what? There are certain folks who aren’t down for that. And that doesn’t seem to off key for me. Because American Representatives (not necessarily American to the core, but like to wear the uniform and spout the disconnected rhetoric) tend to spread some really ridiculous PR internationally. We don’t give a shit about other cultures, these AR folks seem to say. “This is how we roll over here, homey. Naw, I don’t speak your language. Now gimme a large pork fried French fries up in this piece,” they say.

I’ve been overseas. I know we all got our issues. But I have to say, if you’re one of those people that believes whatever Fox News tells you, you might be getting a really jarring awakening when you die and get the power to see all (my heaven is inclusive of all beliefs—I’m not sure who you’re going to see or if you see anybody but I pretty much think some sort of cold shower comes with dying).

My theory is that us real Americans—the ones who’s ancestors got brought here by force, or by desire to actually survive and eat, or the ones who aren’t afraid to go against the grain and know that respect, truth and intellect are the best political ideologies since the beginning of time—we should start getting off of our couches and turn off Spongebob (even for a second—you know they’re going to run it again!) and take out our ARs. They are messing up the country. They are mispronouncing people’s names. They are saying there are too many Mexicans flooding the border (um, at the core, we are all some type of illegal alien). They even believe that there should be no separation of church and state! Newsflash: People think we’re idiots, insensitive, uneducated, ill-informed, greedy and self centered.

Now, you can say f-them if you want to but you know, just like you know how you felt the last time you did something dumb you didn’t want to admit to, you know that you care about what people think of you. Everyone does. Your AR is letting the rest of the world know that you can be bullied into thinking certain things are right when they are not. We have people who are pro-war. Say that over and over in your mind. Not pro-peace but pro-war. Soldiers seek peace. Political leaders seek war. When I see a politician leading a brigade like King Arthur in the trenches, I might revisit my theory but I don’t see Bush in a tanker with your brother, sister, cousin, wife, husband, father or mother. You cannot continue to let a small group of people go on organizing, creating art, fighting and shouting against injustice while you read or listen to it. I’m talking to myself too, by the way. The dumber and more lazy we get, the heavier the web of ill-will and deceit that blanket our country will get.

All this to say the world is bigger than our 9 to 5. I know that sounds overwhelming but even my homegirl (in the mind—she doesn’t know me), gospel artist Yolanda Adams, sings about getting to the root of your pain. We need to get to the root of our pain and stop putting our tongues in the freezer just to have discourse.

t. tara turk is a writer who lives in l.a. read more of her words here.