The intolerant demand tolerance
During the Miss Universe pageant, judge Perez Hilton asked Miss California, Carrie Prejean, if all states should legalize same sex marriage. She responded that people should have the right to live as they choose but she personally believes marriage should be between a man and a woman. She lost the crown, followed by a degrading, childish personal attack from Hilton.
What do we do when the intolerant demand tolerance? What do we do when the hateful demand understanding? This is exactly the behavior I was discussing last week; the people so vocally demanding tolerance are the people who are the most intolerant, the people so vocally demanding understanding are the people who are most prejudiced.
Miss California’s only failure, daring to politely and honestly give her personal opinion which was contrary to the one Hilton obviously demanded. She showed grace in a difficult situation while Hilton showed hateful, prejudiced behavior.
Gay marriage is one of the most polarizing issues in society today, employing tactics similar to those used by abortion supporters. Disagreement, no matter how polite, no matter how valid, is no longer tolerated. You either agree with gay marriage and abortion or face school yard bullying with taunts and name calling.
The politically correct would have us believe that any reasonable and intelligent person obviously agrees with abortion and gay marriage. So, if you disagree with either you are intolerant, hateful, sexist, discriminatory, homophobic, bigoted, and the like.
Supporting Hilton, The Huffington Post offered this definition of bigoted: “a person intolerantly devoted to his or her own opinions and prejudices who regards or treats the members of a group with hatred and intolerance.” The site concludes that anyone who disagrees with gay marriage is obviously hateful, intolerant, and bigoted.
Wait a minute. Doesn’t this definition of bigoted better describe Hilton’s treatment of Miss California? Isn’t he the one who showed intolerance, prejudice, and hatred? Isn’t he the bigot? Perhaps we need a new word in our vocabulary – ‘heterophobic.’
Sadly, even one of California’s pageant officials agreed with Hilton. Shanna Moakler said Miss California failed “to convey compassion for all the people that Miss USA would represent.”
When did displaying compassion also demand agreement and support? Can’t you show compassion to someone with whom you disagree? Moakler’s claim is not only absurd, it also shows Moakler guilty of exactly what she accuses Miss California of doing. Moakler showed a significant lack of compassion for the undeserved treatment Miss California received. Only one opinion is allowed, only one view is acceptable. Agree or else.
The progressive, enlightened people favoring abortion and gay marriage constantly move the line between right and wrong; methodically moving it just a tiny bit at a time so they can claim that any disagreement is intolerance, prejudice, hateful, bigoted, and lacking compassion. Excellent ‘poor me’ tactics, even if untrue.
Those of us sitting on the sidelines should be ashamed as we silently watch Miss California show grace and dignity in the face of a massive character assault.
It is time to stand up and say, “Enough.” Enough of the hateful charges, enough of intolerance, enough of ‘heterophobia.’ It is time to demand tolerance and understanding from the intolerant and bigoted supporters of abortion and gay marriage.
We have a right to our values and our opinions. We can vocally disagree with abortion and gay marriage, refusing to accept the hateful labels thrown at us.
We do not have to continue to endure the intolerance of the enlightened progressives.
Thank you Miss California. Thank you for showing us how to politely offer a dissenting opinion. Thank you for showing us grace under fire. Thank you for showing us how to hold on to our values no matter the cost.
And to her bullies, “Enough is enough.”