...on being intolerant

The idea of political correctness has been around for a while now, but it doesn't pack the devastating punch that it did when it was freshly coined. It's no longer damning enough to be politically incorrect; the stigma isn't powerful enough to get you banned from society at large. In fact, political incorrectness is becoming somewhat trendy. Being politically incorrect is edgy and marks one as a free-thinking independent. Not bad, which is exactly why the PC activists have moved on to new words like "intolerant" and "discriminate". Words whose connotation is almost universally negative and whose stigma is a social scarlet letter.

In today's America, unless you're willing to tolerate anything, you're intolerant. And I'm simply not willing to tolerate anything. And I do discriminate and vote for discriminatory laws. I'm intolerant, for example, of theft. I think it's wrong and won't put up with it. And I'll vote to pass laws that will discriminate against anybody who steels (BTW, show me a non-discriminatory law--no such thing).

Now, that sounds reasonable, until one of my ideas or opinions runs counter to the idea or opinion of an activist with a cause and a chip on his shoulder. That's the tipping point, if you will. It's at that point that I become intolerant, which, in a connotative sense at least, is only a hop skip and a jump from bigoted, racist and hateful.

Building on my previous example of theft, I believe that illegal immigration is a form of theft--that people who enter a place illegally and steel another person's identification for personal gain are thieves. That's not the sum total of all they are, but it's something they're doing and I won't tolerate it. I'll vote to pass laws and measures that discriminate against people who come here illegally and steel other people's identifications.

Is this not a reasonable position to take? To the open borders activist, it is not. He or she can no doubt explain why they disagree with my point of view. But instead of debating the issues, or leaving the outcome up to voters, many activists resort to name calling.

It's been said that the best way to win a fist fight is with a gun. Likewise, modern activists excel at using labels and charged rhetoric to trump mutual discourse. As I've stated before, the beauty of labels lies not only in their egregiously negative connotations but in their ease of use. Like a big stick, labels pack a punch and their use requires no training or skill. No facts, figures, logic or arguments are necessary to use a label like "intolerant." In fact, the lack of a substantive argument is the best possible time to use labels. It immediately puts your opponent on the defensive and changes the debate from issues to whether or not your opponent is, for example, an intolerant, bigoted hatemonger.

The recent passage of California Proposition 8 is an excellent example. Both sides had legitimate arguments to make, but the gay rights activists--especially after they lost--chose to hurl labels and engage in name calling. They singled out the Mormon church and quickly labeled Utah a "hate state." This, despite the fact that California Mormons made up just over 2% of the Prop 8 votes, and Utah citizens--Mormon or otherwise--can't and didn't vote in California.

Interestingly, the activists chose not to attack and demean California's African-American community, 70% of whose voters favored Prop 8. But attacking them would have backfired and earned the activists a label of their own: Racist. Instead, they went after a small, historically unpopular religion. Easy target, easy label, easy bypass of any arguments that might be mistaken as legitimate.

The irony here, of course, is that the gay rights activists are demanding tolerance from the Mormons (and others), but are completely unwilling to tolerate the Mormons (or anybody else) who disagree with them. The message seems to be, "Anybody who disagrees with us is a hater...and we hate haters!!!" You just can't make this stuff up.

The bottom line, as always, is that activists apply labels when it suits them. That is, when somebody else disagrees with them. If you agree with them, you're off the hook. Ridiculous? Yes. Juvenile? Yes. A complete double standard? Yes. But it's also effective. The activists will likely continue to use labels until we stop buying into their hypocrisy.

...on being mentally enslaved

This Christmas season, Washington Governor Christine Gregoire (phone: 360-902-4111) has allowed the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) to display in the capital rotunda a sign that reads:

"At this season of the Winter Solstice may reason prevail.
There are no gods, no angels, no heaven or hell. There is only our natural world.
Religion is but myth and superstition that hardens hearts and enslaves minds."

I don't know what the good governor believes, but she's not a stupid politician. She knows Washington, one of the most secular states in the union populated by a largely non-religious, progressive electorate. She also knows that it will be four years before that electorate gets another shot at her. And she's betting that even those voters disturbed by state sponsorship of anti-religious rhetoric will probably forget all about it in four years time.

I will not. I disagree with the Governor's decision and contend that, besides being in horrifically poor taste, the whole thing is illogical, undemocratic, and embarrassingly ironic in both its attempted promotion of equality and its call for reason. Allow me to offer five specific points in defense of this assertion.

First, regardless of what you believe about religion, Christmas celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ. It's in the name: CHRIST-mas. You may not believe that Jesus is the divine Son of God, or even that there is a God. You may not even believe that Jesus of Nazareth was an actual historic figure. The fact remains that Christmas is a celebration of His birthday. What's more, the United States government has made Christmas a federal holiday.

Defending the FFRF anti-religion display, co-founder Dan Barker claimed that, "Our members want equal time...to have a place at the table." But I would ask, what table? There is no table. This is not a debate. It's Jesus's birthday party, and if you're concerned about equal time for your bigoted views then pick one of the other 364 days of the year and throw your own party.

Second, the other displays in the capital rotunda are symbols, not written statements. The Christians have displayed the nativity, the Jews the Menorah. Even the secular "holiday tree" is symbolic of a season of good will and giving, regardless of belief or religious affiliation. Contrast this with the atheist group's verbose diatribe, which is a statement with an agenda rather than a seasonal symbol. It's clear to see, as we all learned from Sesame Street, one of these things is not like the others. And yet all displays are being treated as equals by Governor Gregoire. Maybe she didn't watch Sesame Street as a child.

Third, while the other displays are positive, seasonal professions of belief, the FFRF sign is a pointed and purposely negative attack. The other displays celebrate; the anti-religion display denigrates. When interviewed, Dan Barker admitted that their sign in the capital, "is an attack on religion." I can see the government wanting to be politically correct and fair, but allowing an attack ad parity with Christmas displays is not promoting equality. Ironically, it's just the opposite. Again, one of these things is not like the others.

Fourth, a display attacking religion is not the democratic way to separate church and state at Christmas time. Christmas is a federal holiday by popular consent of the citizenry of a representative democracy. If you don't like Christmas and don't want the U.S. government to give it federal holiday status, then sponsor legislation to have Christmas removed from the list of federal holidays. Get such legislation passed by elected representatives of the people and signed into law and your winter solstice worries are over. But if you can't get such legislation passed (and let's be honest, you can't) then you need to respect the will of the people. That's democracy.

Fifth and finally, the atheist's anti-religion display is, by its own verbiage and logic, ironic and a red-faced embarrassment to reason. How can one call for the prevalence of reason, then summarily rule out possibilities that have, at the very least, not been disproven? How can a reasonable person put forth "our natural world" as the sum total of all that is, when we know so very little about our natural world and the universe in which it resides? And when we are making theory-bending, knowledge-expanding discoveries about the nature of nature every day? How can any reasonable person decry religion as "superstition" today when not too many yesterdays ago things like the spherical shape of the earth, atoms, germs and much more were also decried as superstition? How indeed can any reasonable person lay mental enslavement at the door step of religion, then, with a straight face, put up a sign dictating what his fellow man should and should not believe? It is both high irony and base hypocrisy.

Carl Segan famously declared that, "absence of evidence is not evidence of absence." But even if it were, that's no excuse for bad manners at Christmas time. As I contemplate the anti-religion display in my state's capital rotunda this Christmas, I can only hope that it backfires; that others will see through the intolerance and opportunistic sniping of Dan Barker and his atheist activists; that they will see that Governor Gregoire's spineless attempt at equality has produced just the opposite and cast a negative light on both the state and the season; that they will be reminded of what Christmas really is and be ever more determined to keep Christ at the center of the holiday that commemorates his birth and bears his name.

And to Dan Barker, wherever you are, merry Christmas to you.