Cheap Seats 2017
Freedom of One-Way Speech - 06/28
By Rich Trzupek
There is a disturbingly increasing trend among many, but certainly not all, American liberals: they preach tolerance of alternative points-of-view and they are perfectly willing to consider alternative points-of-view, so long as those alternatives are in perfect agreement with their own opinions.
The modern liberal has no interest in having discussions about practically any subject you can think of. To have a discussion requires entertaining the possibility that there is a possibility that an alternative view might be the correct one, in part or in the entire.
Appointing oneself the sole-arbiter to truth is a particular effective tactic in modern America, where the vast majority of educators and journalists believe that sort of tactic is entirely justified – nay, required – if justice will be done!
I could, and have had, robust discussions with folks who sincerely believes that human activity is having a profound effect on the earth’s climate. I could and have shared information about that issue that, if it didn’t change the mind of the person I was talking to, at least gave them pause about certain aspects of the issue. And the same has been true in the reverse: some “climate change” advocates have shared information with me that gave me pause. That’s the way discussions should work.
But, of course, discussions are not allowed in public discourse if those discussions involve anything the left holds dear. If you disagree with the climate change party-line, you are labeled a denier in the pocket of evil energy companies and not worthy of anyone’s attention.
That dangerous cancer has spread among the body politic on the left, into places one would have never have imagined possible. Saturday’s LGBT pride parade in Chicago provided a text book, and alarming, example of just how intolerant many on the left have become.
Organizers refer to the parade as the “Dyke March”. According to their mission statement the Dyke March is “…an anti-racist, anti-violent, volunteer-led, grassroots effort with a goal to bridge together communities across race, ethnicity, socio-economic status, age, size, gender identity, gender expression, sexuality, culture, immigrant status, spirituality, and ability.”
Turns out that, in addition to being anti-racist and anti-violent, the leaders of the Dyke March are also anti-Semitic. Marchers who showed up with rainbow flags that included a representation of the Star of David in white were asked to leave. Apparently the Star of David was making some people feel uncomfortable, which of course is far more important than making people honoring the Star of David and Israel uncomfortable. To paraphrase Orwell, some LGBTs are more equal than others.
Iliana Figueroa, a Dyke March Collective member, explained the groups decision to promote inclusion through exclusion thus: “Yesterday during the rally we saw three individuals carrying Israeli flags super imposed on rainbow flags. Some folks say they are Jewish Pride flags. But as a Collective we are very much pro-Palestine, and when we see these flags we know a lot of folks who are under attack by Israel see the visuals of the flag as a threat, so we don’t want anything in the [Dyke March] space that can inadvertently or advertently express Zionism,” she said. “So we asked the folks to please leave. We told them people in the space were feeling threatened.”
The irony of someone supporting lesbian and gay right thumbing her nose at a nation and culture that recognizes and embraces such rights in favor of a theocracy whose members considers throwing gay men off of roofs suitable punishment for failing to follow its moral code should be blindly obvious, but people like Ms. Figueroa are apparently as blind as one can be.
The decision to exclude Jews who didn’t toe the party line was worth than shameful. For though they may not yet realize it, that sort of thinking is ultimately self-destructive.
E-mail: rich@examinerpublications.com
www.threedonia.com
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