“Remember we’re treating people who hold sincerely held religious beliefs differently than other Americans either. This isn’t one side or another. What we’re talking is tolerance on both sides. And it is not tolerant to force people to violate their religious beliefs. A veto of the bill will serve us not very well in terms of tolerance in the United States.” Michele Bachmann to CNN Wolf Blitzer on Arizona anti gay bill 1062
Why is Michele Bachmann quitting? There are three possibilities.
She has been picked up by some Right-wing Lobby for big money.
She knows she is in enough ethical and legal trouble in the House that she cannot win her next election.
Or…
She is going to run for President full time! Oh please God. Please o please o please… And The Donald! And Ben Carson! And Ted Cruz! I have to stop I wet my pants…
Michele says we need to show “tolerance for the community of people who hold sincerely held religious beliefs.” There is no better place for this blast from the past of mine than right here.
Those Intolerant of Intolerance are More Intolerant Than Those They Accuse of Being Intolerant!
The above convoluted semantic argument is often used to berate liberals for accusing conservatives of various forms of prejudice, bigotry, sexism, homophobia and racism. Though so absurd it seems unworthy of comment, it is still a debate they are winning through every area of the media, for this is the central theme regarding the issue of political correctness. Years before political correctness had a name, Kurt Vonnegut Jr. arrived at a way of expressing the absurdity of all this. I paraphrase from I don’t remember which of his books…
Intolerance was an important issue of debate between my parents. Father was of course, a good fascist, and was intolerant of just about everything, except of course, Nazi’s. Mother would ask that he not bring any of the uniformed, swastika laden soldiers into her home. My father would then accuse her of gross intolerance. My mother, rather than play the semantic game, would get out pencil and paper and begin her list.
Things Mother is intolerant of:
Nazis
Things Father is Intolerant of:
Jews
Communists
Queers
Buddhists
Lesbians
Chinamen
Negroes
Hindus
Japs
Muslims
Unionists
Pollocks
Environmentalists
Arabs
Catholics
Mexicans
Muslims
Liberals
Socialists
Feminists
Albanians
Russians
Then Mother would search around for more paper. Mother always made a big thing out of searching around for more paper.