Diversity of ideas will not be tolerated by the
'Diversity and Tolerance Brigade©.'
'Diversity and Tolerance Brigade©.'
- SoRo
By The Editors of National Review
In
2008, Barack Obama and Brendan Eich both were against gay marriage.
Senator Obama averred his support for the one-man/one-woman view of
marriage, while Mr. Eich, a cofounder of the Mozilla web-browser
company, donated $1,000 to support Proposition 8 — a California ballot
initiative that had the effect of making Senator Obama’s avowed marriage
policy the law in California, at least until a federal court overturned
it on the theory that California’s constitution is unconstitutional.
Barack Obama inexplicably remains, as of this writing, president of the
United States of America, but Mr. Eich has just been forced out as CEO
of Mozilla because of his political views.
The various tendencies that operate under the general heading of “gay rights” have had an extraordinary run of it in the past several years, in both the political and the cultural theaters. We now have a constitutional right to commit homosexual acts (Lawrence v. Texas), while Facebook offers at last count 56 different gender options to its users (trans with or without asterisk, genderqueer, neutrois, and two-spirit among them). Having won the battle in California, the sore winners are roaming the battlefield with bayonets and taking no prisoners. Mr. Eich’s donation had been a matter of public record for some years, but Eros is a jealous god, and he will have blood from time to time. Mr. Eich’s elevation to the chief executive’s position provided occasion for critics within his firm and without to make an example of him.
This is, of course, pure poison. This is not a matter of law but one of culture, and not a question of means but of ends. Mozilla, to say nothing of its partners and customers, is free under the law to hire and fire executives for almost any reason it sees fit (with exceptions; it surely would have faced civil-rights litigation if it had fired him for advocating gay marriage), and OKCupid, which boycotted Mozilla in protest of Mr. Eich’s views, is perfectly within its rights to do so, as were the protesting employees.
Or are they? The courts have held that bakers and photographers cannot withhold their services from gay nuptials, and California law forbids both discrimination and the creation of a hostile work environment on religious or political grounds. But, no, that way madness lies, and we are positive that the American legal imagination will come up with a rationale under which an evangelical’s declining to do business with a homosexual is illegal but the reverse is perfectly legal, if not mandatory.
Again, it is in this case a matter of culture. The nation’s full-time gay-rights professionals simply will not rest until a homogeneous and stultifying monoculture is settled upon the land, and if that means deploying a ridiculous lynch mob to pronounce anathema upon a California technology executive for private views acted on in his private life, then so be it. The gay agenda of the moment is, ironically enough, to force nonconformists into the metaphorical closet. If through the miracle of modern medicine you end up with five sets of mixed genitals, you’ll get your own section in the California civil-rights statutes; cling to nearly universal views about marriage for a few months after it’s become unfashionable, and you’re an untouchable.
Unless, that is, you’re the anti-gay-marriage candidate that all the pro-gay-marriage people voted for in 2008, in which case you get a pass, apparently on the theory that everybody assumed you were being willfully dishonest for political reasons. (That assumption provides a relatively rare point of agreement between homosexual activists and the editors of this magazine.) There simply is to be no disagreement, no dissent, and no tolerance for other points of view.
Vindictive fanaticism is not the mark of a healthy civil society — but it is not entirely a question of that. Civil-rights laws are being deployed to coerce members of religious minorities into falling in line with the demands of those who hold political power. Arrangements that allow anonymous donations to political groups are under constant attack, so that nonconforming donors can be subjected to the treatment handed down to Mr. Eich. In other countries, there are speech codes policing what may be said and written about the subject, and there are those among us who wish to emulate them.
Mr. Eich has been denounced as a bigot. It is worth noting, for those who make this charge, that so far as the public record is concerned, he has never registered an opinion on the morality of homosexuality per se, and his firm is as welcoming of gay employees as any in its industry. All he did was write a $1,000 check to an organization dedicated to the previously unremarkable proposition that marriage is the union of a man and a woman, a position that was endorsed by the voters of California and is held today by many people of good will, including some who are gay themselves. Even the gay nonconformists are being hunted down, as Brandon Ambrosino of Vox discovered when critics demanded that he be dismissed for holding unapproved views regarding same-sex marriage.
The spectacle should be an embarrassing one, especially for those gay Americans who take a more liberal view of political disagreement than their self-appointed leadership does. It is one of history’s little ironies that some of our current batch of prim-faced, puritanical, intolerant, and miserable thought police call themselves, of all things, “gay,” something they manifestly are not. The treatment handed out to Mr. Eich by them and their non-gay supporters is contemptible. It is also, unhappily, likely to be a precedent.
The various tendencies that operate under the general heading of “gay rights” have had an extraordinary run of it in the past several years, in both the political and the cultural theaters. We now have a constitutional right to commit homosexual acts (Lawrence v. Texas), while Facebook offers at last count 56 different gender options to its users (trans with or without asterisk, genderqueer, neutrois, and two-spirit among them). Having won the battle in California, the sore winners are roaming the battlefield with bayonets and taking no prisoners. Mr. Eich’s donation had been a matter of public record for some years, but Eros is a jealous god, and he will have blood from time to time. Mr. Eich’s elevation to the chief executive’s position provided occasion for critics within his firm and without to make an example of him.
This is, of course, pure poison. This is not a matter of law but one of culture, and not a question of means but of ends. Mozilla, to say nothing of its partners and customers, is free under the law to hire and fire executives for almost any reason it sees fit (with exceptions; it surely would have faced civil-rights litigation if it had fired him for advocating gay marriage), and OKCupid, which boycotted Mozilla in protest of Mr. Eich’s views, is perfectly within its rights to do so, as were the protesting employees.
Or are they? The courts have held that bakers and photographers cannot withhold their services from gay nuptials, and California law forbids both discrimination and the creation of a hostile work environment on religious or political grounds. But, no, that way madness lies, and we are positive that the American legal imagination will come up with a rationale under which an evangelical’s declining to do business with a homosexual is illegal but the reverse is perfectly legal, if not mandatory.
Again, it is in this case a matter of culture. The nation’s full-time gay-rights professionals simply will not rest until a homogeneous and stultifying monoculture is settled upon the land, and if that means deploying a ridiculous lynch mob to pronounce anathema upon a California technology executive for private views acted on in his private life, then so be it. The gay agenda of the moment is, ironically enough, to force nonconformists into the metaphorical closet. If through the miracle of modern medicine you end up with five sets of mixed genitals, you’ll get your own section in the California civil-rights statutes; cling to nearly universal views about marriage for a few months after it’s become unfashionable, and you’re an untouchable.
Unless, that is, you’re the anti-gay-marriage candidate that all the pro-gay-marriage people voted for in 2008, in which case you get a pass, apparently on the theory that everybody assumed you were being willfully dishonest for political reasons. (That assumption provides a relatively rare point of agreement between homosexual activists and the editors of this magazine.) There simply is to be no disagreement, no dissent, and no tolerance for other points of view.
Vindictive fanaticism is not the mark of a healthy civil society — but it is not entirely a question of that. Civil-rights laws are being deployed to coerce members of religious minorities into falling in line with the demands of those who hold political power. Arrangements that allow anonymous donations to political groups are under constant attack, so that nonconforming donors can be subjected to the treatment handed down to Mr. Eich. In other countries, there are speech codes policing what may be said and written about the subject, and there are those among us who wish to emulate them.
Mr. Eich has been denounced as a bigot. It is worth noting, for those who make this charge, that so far as the public record is concerned, he has never registered an opinion on the morality of homosexuality per se, and his firm is as welcoming of gay employees as any in its industry. All he did was write a $1,000 check to an organization dedicated to the previously unremarkable proposition that marriage is the union of a man and a woman, a position that was endorsed by the voters of California and is held today by many people of good will, including some who are gay themselves. Even the gay nonconformists are being hunted down, as Brandon Ambrosino of Vox discovered when critics demanded that he be dismissed for holding unapproved views regarding same-sex marriage.
The spectacle should be an embarrassing one, especially for those gay Americans who take a more liberal view of political disagreement than their self-appointed leadership does. It is one of history’s little ironies that some of our current batch of prim-faced, puritanical, intolerant, and miserable thought police call themselves, of all things, “gay,” something they manifestly are not. The treatment handed out to Mr. Eich by them and their non-gay supporters is contemptible. It is also, unhappily, likely to be a precedent.
SoRo: Amen.
This is what I told Mozilla this morning...
This is what I told Mozilla this morning...
I will not give my money to anyone or anything connected with the Diversity and Tolerance Brigade©, which has absolutely nothing to do with tolerance. It's conform or die (socially, economically, etc). You guys aren't far off from sounding like militant Islamists: Convert or die.
* Remember when that slogan and others like it prevailed during the 1960s? Obviously, they only meant it until the sex, drugs, and rock-n-roller Boomers grew up and began ruling the world.
Speak truth to power? No, just sit down and shut the fuck up.
And...
Diversity of ideas will not be tolerated by the 'Diversity and Tolerance Brigade©' a/k/a The Fred Phelps of the Left.
Thanks for taking a stand. Now, I know who you are and why I will work to harm your bottomline. Mozilla is not a place of enlightenment, diversity, and tolerance. It is everything it claims to hate. Fortunately, Mozilla will not be lonely in its new life because far too many corporations think exactly like them. But even more fortunately, my wallet talks along with my user preferences.
Recall the brouhaha over the remarks made by Phil Robertson of Duck Dynasty, a show which I have never seen? A&E and Cracker Barrel dropped them…only to realise that not all of their customers agreed. Both were back on the Duck bandwagon soon enough. Phil appeared during their 24-hour Christmas marathon. Cracker Barrel seemed to think that the ‘kool kidz’ would let them sit at the clique table some times. Lolz. As if the La Grenouille crowd would ever want to rub haute couture shoulders with people that make their living off by selling fried chicken, fried catfish, fried okra, fried chicken livers, fried potatoes, fried apples, and fried pies - to be washed down with The Big Barrel - a 64 oz. gulper of 'sugary drink' goodness - which comes with free and unlimited refills. 'Y'all come back now and make sure you pick up a few bags of our fried pork rinds and fried chitlins on your way out!"
Note to the uneducated: You can no more be a little pregnant than a little bit in the 'Diversity and Tolerance Brigade©.' It isn't enough to agree with the D&TB crowd some of the time. You must toe the party line all of the time...verbatim. I am a libertarian, who supports SSM and happens to be an atheist, but to them, I'm Jerry Falwell because I'm not 'all in and down with the struggle' on every cause. Brendan Eich is learning the hard way that he must be 100% in agreement with the brown-shirted, jack-booted Rainbow Mafia...or else. You see, this is how it works: Even if you love and tolerate homosexuals equally with heterosexuals, you are a H8, H8, H8ers and homophobe if you support traditional marriage.
Remember how the Diversity and Tolerance Brigade© was going to put the so-called ‘stupid-racist-sexist-homophobic-Islamophobic-xenophobic-home-schooled-dirt-eating-snake-handling-brother-marrying-deer-shooting-squirrel-eating-hick-n-hustering-trailer-park-living-moonshine-running-meth-cooking-one-tooth-brushing-single-hair-comb-overing-blue-plate-’n-light-special-luvin’-stand-at-attention-WalMart-shopping-ignorant-untravelled-flag-waving-cry-in-my-beers-with-Lee-Greenwood-Teabag-waving-guns-n-Bibles-bitter-clinging Neanderthalic Chick-fil-A out of business?’ How’d that work out for the D&TB?
The Diversity and Tolerance Brigade© may be loud and proud, but they and their hardcore militancy aren’t the positions held by a majority of Americans. ‘Tis true that a majority now support SSM, but they do not support stifling dissent or shutting down free speech, thought, and a society that permits diversity of ideas, as well. The more extreme that the D&TB become in their demands may very well result in a loss of their very hard-won victories. Rather than more ‘evolution,’ they might just cause a great recoil. which would be a pity for many gay couples that only wish to love and live and not use their relationship as a cause.
Diversity of ideas will not be tolerated by the ‘Diversity and Tolerance Brigade©’ a/k/a The Fred Phelps of the Left.
Note: ***I*** am not calling anyone ‘racist…dirt-eating-snake-handling-brother-marrying…WalMart-shopping-ignorant-untravelled-flag-waving-cry-in-my-beers-with-Lee-Greenwood-Teabag-waving-guns-n-Bibles-bitter-clinging.’ I am merely reciting some of the litany of epithets about the Right that I’ve seen spewed by the ‘Diversity and Tolerance Brigade©.’
I say this to my gay friends out of love…and to those that I do not know:
Don’t make me give up my diversity. (I support SSM and the barrier of the state built to keep it out of the church…and I’m an atheist.)
Don’t make me submit to the Cult of Conformity.
Don’t make me become an intolerant, hateful, spiteful, deranged Fascist.
Don’t even think about asking me to engage in McCarthyism with you.
Don’t make me choose.
Because, my loves, you will lose because I refuse to associate with any and all H8, H8, H8ers, including those in the LGBTQQIAAP (or LGBTTIQQ2SA, if you prefer) community.
Sorry, but I just won't help scratch your Totalitarian Itch and yield to la tentation totalitaire that will, ultimately, lead to utter despair for you and the world. Before the Rainbow Mafia's paramilitary wing drags me off to some FABULOUS, DAHLING! reeducation camp, please keep in mind that you are 2-3% (or, if you want to believe 10%, we'll roll with it) of the American population and not a larger part of the population in any Western country. In fact, in the scheme of things, you are really nothing more than a few grains of sand in an ocean teeming with creatures, great and small, that wouldn't hesitate for one second to torture, castrate, and execute you in a public square. And, let's face it, there are a lot of them and they aren't isolated to Africa, the Middle East, Asia, etc. Like you, I was outraged when some Russian politician said that gays should be burned alive in ovens, but criminalising and even executing homosexuals aren't just the beliefs of a few cranks. No, no, no, my dear. It's even moved into Western Europe...
I love this story not because I support any of it, but because it demonstrates the childlike naïveté of the ‘Diversity and Tolerance Brigade©’, who will sacrifice its own beliefs at times...on the altar of multiculturalism. From my piece Norway: A Tolerant, Inclusive, Diverse, Multicultural Society For Everyone...Except Jews:
Sorry, but I just won't help scratch your Totalitarian Itch and yield to la tentation totalitaire that will, ultimately, lead to utter despair for you and the world. Before the Rainbow Mafia's paramilitary wing drags me off to some FABULOUS, DAHLING! reeducation camp, please keep in mind that you are 2-3% (or, if you want to believe 10%, we'll roll with it) of the American population and not a larger part of the population in any Western country. In fact, in the scheme of things, you are really nothing more than a few grains of sand in an ocean teeming with creatures, great and small, that wouldn't hesitate for one second to torture, castrate, and execute you in a public square. And, let's face it, there are a lot of them and they aren't isolated to Africa, the Middle East, Asia, etc. Like you, I was outraged when some Russian politician said that gays should be burned alive in ovens, but criminalising and even executing homosexuals aren't just the beliefs of a few cranks. No, no, no, my dear. It's even moved into Western Europe...
I love this story not because I support any of it, but because it demonstrates the childlike naïveté of the ‘Diversity and Tolerance Brigade©’, who will sacrifice its own beliefs at times...on the altar of multiculturalism. From my piece Norway: A Tolerant, Inclusive, Diverse, Multicultural Society For Everyone...Except Jews:
A word of advice to my friends on the Left, the enemy of your enemy is not your friend. You might believe that making common cause with Islamists now will lead to your victory in the overthrow of capitalism and your installation of a Socialist welfare state and you may be right, but in the end, you will lose. There are more Islamists than there are of you. The Islamists are more vicious than you. They are also much worse than anything you imagine of the Right and about capitalism. Let’s just take one simple issue: Homosexuality.The leftist Norwegian Labour government’s Ministry of Children, Equality, and Social Inclusion named Mahdi Hassan, a noted homophobe, as the 2009 Role Model of the Year. He looks like a very nice chap. Of course, Mein Kampf probably looked like a good book in Germany in the 1920s judging by the cover.
Mahdi
Hassan with Norwegian politician and a leader in the Labour Party,
Anniken Huitfeldt, who has been Minister of Labour and Social Inclusion
since 21 September 2012
Hassan told the newspaper Arbeidets Rett that he wants a ban on homosexuality, based on the Qur'an. Does he support the death penalty for gays? That's "up to each individual country to decide, but, in general, yes."Was he condemned? Needless to say, the homosexual community wasn’t thrilled, but other than that he was cheered with the Socialists applauding loudly.
'There is freedom of speech in Norway
and in the Tynset Socialist Left Party we consider it unproblematic
that Mahdi is opposed in principle to homosexuality. It is in
accordance with his religion.'
- Stein Petter Løkken, leader of the
Socialist Left Party in Hassan's home kommune of Tynset.
Stein, Stalin had a name for you, 'Useful Idiot.' You wear the dunce cap well.
In November 2007 during an Oslo debate, at which the deputy chairman of Norway’s Islamic Council, Asghar Ali, was asked if he would refuse to reject the death penalty for gays. He refused. The head of the Islamic Council, which represents 80,000 Muslims), Senaid Kobilica was asked where he stood on the question, he responded that he couldn’t possibly give a definitive answer “until he got a ruling from the European Fatwa Council, but that homosexuality was against the teachings of the Qur’an and execution is the proscribed punishment.” If it makes you feel any better, Kobilica did say that he was “100 per cent certain that the Council will not come out in favour of something which conflicts with European law.” By which he means, that while the death penalty for homosexuals is, indeed, an orthodox Islamic position — one about which the Fatwa Council’s head, Yusuf al-Qaradawi, has himself written sympathetically — Western Muslim leaders, in accordance with the Koran, prefer in such controversial cases not to challenge infidel law…for now.
'It
isn’t possible to live homosexually and at the same time say that one
practices Islam. These are two incompatible things… Homosexuality goes
against what Islam stands for, and therefore it can’t be combined.'
- Senaid Kobilica
After the brouhaha in 2007, it emerged that Asghar Ali not only was deputy chairman of the Islamic Council, but was also on the board of the Oslo Arbeidersamfunn, the largest and most influential association within Norway’s ruling Labour Party. As Bruce Bawer reported, when asked about Ali’s views, the head of the Oslo Arbeidersamfunn, Anne Cathrine Berger, lamented that some people “can’t see the difference between a board member’s views and the organisation’s views.” Despite scattered calls for his dismissal, Ali remained on the board.Recently, a gay couple was attacked for holding hands; they were told that gays were not welcome because the area in which they were walking in was "Muslim territory." On another occasion, a gay couple was ejected from a kebab restaurant because they were kissing. These as well as other incidents led to a debate in the major newspapers about the existence of morality police, who strove to obtain social control based on Islamic values in multi-ethnic communities.Kaltham Lie, who was tortured for his sexual orientation by Saddam Hussein and fled Iraq for Norway in 1992, says that it was too difficult to go to the mosque. As Norway’s first openly gay Muslim, he now stays away from the Muslim community, especially in Oslo. "It's very important for me to be open and not to try to hide. Somebody must stand up for the world to advance. "Oslo can be difficult, but we he also a lot of positive things, even in Grønland."He attends a Christian church with his new husband, Knut Asprusten. “[H]e was with me in church. Even if we have different religions, we both believe in an open God. It doesn't cause us any problems,” said Asprusten.In a country of 5 million people, where only 3% of the population is Muslim, there is only one openly Muslim lesbian: Sara Azmeh Rasmussen.
Considering the views of homosexuality held by billions globally, it would probably be a fairly wise if you became a little more diverse and tolerant yourself instead of driving away people like Brendan Eich and me. Eich doesn't hate you and would protect you. Some of your multi-kulti sadiqis/sadiqatis might be a little less accommodating...
Do not become all that you've hated. Don't seek to oppress those that once oppressed you. Don't harass those that once harassed you. Don't harm those that once harmed you. Don't consign to a figurative closet those that may have actually - knowingly or unknowingly - forced you to 'live in the closet'.
It may give you fleeting, momentarily satisfaction, but it won't make your life happier and it will, promise, come back to haunt you in ways that you cannot even imagine at present.
Finally, a word from Andrew Sullivan...
By Andrew Kirell
After learning that Mozilla CEO Brendan Eich would resign over his anti-gay marriage views, Andrew Sullivan lamented that perhaps the LGBT movement has become a bit too much like the religious right.
“The guy who had the gall to express his First Amendment rights and favor Prop 8 in California by donating $1,000 has just been scalped by some gay activists,” Sullivan wrote of Eich’s resignation.
Eich’s donation in support of California’s anti-gay marriage amendment has long been the source of controversy. Upon being announced as the browser company’s new chief, LGBT groups began calling for boycotts. Popular dating site OkCupid changed their homepage for Mozilla users to feature a message discouraging members from using the company’s Firefox browser.
“Will he now be forced to walk through the streets in shame? Why not the stocks?” Sullivan snarked. “The whole episode disgusts me – as it should disgust anyone interested in a tolerant and diverse society.”
Sullivan has long been a strong defender of LGBT causes, but as indicated in the blog post, he’s not sure the movement has progressed with this development.
“If this is the gay rights movement today – hounding our opponents with a fanaticism more like the religious right than anyone else – then count me out,” he concluded. “If we are about intimidating the free speech of others, we are no better than the anti-gay bullies who came before us.”
Sullivan is certainly onto something here.
For one, Eich’s views are wrong, but they are completely irrelevant to how he’d run the browser company. It’s not as though Firefox would suddenly veer into anti-gay territory, complete with a “Prop 8 Toolbar” or something. It would be bad for business for Eich to have done anything but continue providing a service that many use without political controversy.
While I find most boycotts silly and unnecessary, they are always the preferable route (over government force) to changing the marketplace. But claiming the scalp of an executive whose views have almost nothing to do with his business is a bit excessive and the result of misplaced targeting.
UPDATE: Sullivan had even more thoughts on the matter here.
Related Reading:
Gay—or Left?
Hitler's Ghost Haunts Europe
Norway: A Tolerant, Inclusive, Diverse, Multicultural Society For Everyone...Except Jews
If Only The Christian Street Preacher Had Said "D'Ya Think I'm Sexy?" To The Gay PCSO
Gay Help Wanted
A Clash of Rights: Freedom of Religion Versus Marriage Equality
The Radical Left’s High-Stakes Gamble on Intolerance: Americans Don’t Love Bullies
Refusing to Photograph a Gay Wedding Isn’t Hateful
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