A little something in our pockets

I was watching the Today show this morning, getting ready for work. Matt Lauer was interviewing this video blogger person that I missed the details of. The premise of the story was people were upset that a candidate for the prize of Miss USA answered a decidedly loaded question in a way that was offensive.

She was asked by Perez Hilton if she supported gay marriage.

To the politically correct hypocritists, there really is only one correct answer to this question. The art of this answer is how you get to "let everyone be".

Just let it be known for the record that I will probably never tell anyone what my opinion of gay marriage is. This post isn't about the answer. It's about the response to it. What she said wrong was she had an opinion that the Establishment has deemed incorrect. She has offended people that believe differently then her, so by offending someone has performed act considered deviant.

So, why is this hypocritical? Isn't marginalizing her opinion the same thing they are complaining about? The interviewee on the Today show said something that surprised me in it's blatant hypocrisy. He complained that she talked of her Christian values and was all "Jesus this and Jesus that". Why was he complaining? Because that was offensive to the Jews and the Muslims of the world.

WTF?

Why is the expression of one religion bad when the expression of the other religions good? Herein lies the problem with political correctness. Political correctness dictates that no group should be marginalized by another group. The only way that it is possible to enforce this is to marginalize someone and thus hypocrisy.

In British Columbia, Canada, an employee of McDonald's decided to sue the company because their hand washing policy violated her human right not to wash her hands. That's a link. You can read about it in great detail there.

Yes, it's more important that this one woman feel good about herself then it is for you to eat at McDonald's and not come down with whatever that was Bevis and Butthead were scratching. Who's hungry?

I found an article from a writer at the Campbell River Mirror, Sean Smith, called Everybody should have pocket copy of the Charter. He calls to action us common sense folks to do something extraordinary. Now, he's Canadian, they have a Charter, I'm sure that's more similar to our Constitution then it is to my Whiskey Club's rules, let's hope, but we could apply this to our Constitution and Bill of Rights as well. He suggests we carry a copy with us, a pocket version, and when someone complains about their rights being violated, whip that thing out and ask "Which one?"

Deafening silence.

I don't like hypocrisy. It's ugly. It's uglier then anything I can think of. Am I guilty of it? Sure. Is it impossible to avoid, maybe. Should we legislate it? How about we try not to. The funny thing about all of this is I really don't care about what her opinion of gay marriage is. She has one, she expressed it. Some people didn't like, others did.

We've come full circle in this nation. It once institutionalized bigotry and hatred. That was a horrible thing. Let's remember what Martin Luther King, Jr. said August 28, 1963, 

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I wonder if people really understand what that means. It seems to me, that today, we're only exchanging the 'color of the skin' concept and inserted other superficial traits. The content of the character is what's truly important. Not judging people by anything other. Alas, today, we judge people for all kinds of things, character is rarely one of them.

I'm guilty of being a male of nothern European decent. I'm also Irish and a geek and I paid my own way through college. I also speak a foreign language and I have a $5 bill in my pocket. I think woman are pretty. I don't like vegetables. I eat meat. I drink pop and beer and ethanol distillates. I break wind in public places. I'm sure I offended everyone by now. I represent all the evil in the world. Get rid of me and all will be better. You see, I'm neither a Democrat nor a Republican. I'm most definitely not the status quo.

Perez Hilton asking that question is almost a vetting process in itself. It helps to discriminate against people based on their moral and religious beliefs. A candidate for Miss USA must accept certain moral and religious beliefs or at least tow the party line in order to win the crown. There was only one right answer to the people responding to her answer, but she stood by her beliefs.

Where do we want this nation to go? In British Columbia, McDonald's can no longer force an employee to wash their hands. It's offensive. What about the people who find dirty hands handling food offensive, who do we sue? My right to a life without food poisoning is being infringed.

I want to live my life in peace. Please respect that. Suck it up, turn the other cheek and move on.

Thanks to NapWarden at NapWarden Designs for the custom soap box graphics! You're awesome!