The week began with an evil lunatic killing innocent people in hopes of starting a race war. Instead, he got a referendum on the racist flag that he supported. Thanks in part to his actions, the Confederate flag can no longer be purchased at major retailers like Walmart and Amazon, and it’s looking like it will soon be removed from the South Carolina capitol and elsewhere.
The flag of Mississippi may even get a long overdue redesign.
Not exactly what that coward was hoping for when he decided to murder those innocent people.
A few days later the Supreme Court declared same sex marriage legal in this country, sending bigots into fits of rage. I was on the treadmill when the Supreme Court decision was announced, so I immediately changed the channel to Fox News, because schadenfreude is one of my favorite pastimes. Two white, blond women and three old, white men were clearly losing their minds as they read and reread the dissenting opinions while ignoring Justice Kennedy’s majority opinion.
Also, by turning to Fox News, I increased the average age of the Fox viewer by at least ten years. According to the latest Nielsen ratings, the average Fox News viewer is a ripe old 68 years old.
Also, less than one percent of Fox News viewers are black.
Add to this the Supreme Court’s upholding of Obamacare by a surprising 6-3 margin, and it turned out to be great week for progressively minded people.
But regardless of your politics, it should be remembered that this was not a bad day for conservatives. I have some lovely conservative friends who celebrated the Supreme Court decision on same sex marriage. .
It was only a bad day for the bigots who happen to be conservative.
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I read your blog every day and admire your writing style. I do not agree, however, that I am a bigot because I don’t believe in gay marriage. I have gay family member who are married’in loving relationships. I love them, but I don’t believe it is right. Am I not allowed my beliefs without being called a bigot? Tolerance used to mean we could have our respectful differences and still get along. Now tolerance means we are supposed to accept whatever anyone else believes is right, or we are labeled a bigot. Just my thoughts.
I understand what you’re saying, Stacey, but I don’t think we are required to accept all beliefs under the guise of tolerance.
If a person is opposed to interracial marriage, for example, I would characterize that person as a bigot or a racist, and I think most people would do the same. I don’t think that many people would expect me to be tolerant of such a position.
I see little difference between interracial marriage and same sex marriage. In both cases, a person is seeking to marry a person whom he or she loves. To deny that person this basic right simply based upon the color of the loved one’s skin or the sex of the loved one strikes me as unfair, discriminatory, and bigoted.
I’ll admit that "bigot" is a strong word, and it’s not a very nice one, but I suspect that racists were making the same tolerance arguments during the days of Jim Crow. We didn’t tolerate their belief in the separation of the races and didn’t hesitate to refer to "separate but equal" as a racist and bigoted position.
I suspect that in time, we will view opposition to same sex marriage similarly.