No, Chris Matthews, you are a bigot!
While I have always been a fan of Chris Matthews, he is really starting to get on my nerves these days. Here is a clip of him taking on the notion that those who support marriage inequality in this country are not, in fact, bigots. Matthews concedes that not allowing gay people to marry is, by definition, discrimination. Well how then, if you support this discrimination can you not be a bigot? I know that word carries heavy connotations but to discriminate against a group based on sexual orientation is bigotry. Period. And to say you support civil unions, which in every way but name is the same as gay marriage but you do not actually support gay marriage is bigoted. I am okay with giving you all of the rights and benefits of a marriage like mine, but because you are a gay couple, I simply cannot see your relationship on equal footing in name to mine.
Chris goes on to say that "we cannot call everything in the past bigotry." I'm sorry Chris, but we can't? So slavery based on race was not bigotry? Not allowing women or African Americans to vote was not bigotry? Miscegenation laws that prevented marriages between consenting adults of varying races was not bigotry? Chris, I've been a fan for a long time but I have to part ways with you when you make completely ridiculous statements like that. You are wrong my friend. Opposing marriage equality based on sexual orientation by banning gay marriage is legal discrimination and bigotry. Allowing civil unions instead of marriage is on equal footing with separate but equal. I agree that in time, these notions will change and we have continuously moved towards more and more equality for all Americans, but that does not mean we should refuse to label the years of discrimination for what they were. You might not be a bigot in five years, but you are one today.
posted by Carrie Broadshoulders at Wednesday, June 06, 2007
1 Comments:
So then, by refusing to accept that people can defend traditional marriage and not be bigots, I can call you narrow minded. How 'bout that?
Just because we have come to define the term "discrimination" in this country by the treatment of blacks (RE: slavery) doesn't mean that one who discriminates is a bigot by definition.
The word "discrimination" isn't a bad one. It's just been hijacked for political causes. Bigotry, on the other hand, is a calculated decision to hate and exclude.
We discriminate every day by not allowing men into the women's bathroom. Would you say that is bigoted? Of course not. Society has established norms that are beneficial to its existence. We have every right to defend those standards and not have to worry about being called a bigot. It seems that by using that word, people exempt themselves from having to make a rational argument for their case. "You're a bigot." Once that's laid on the table, it's an offensive/defensive argument, and reason has been offered a backseat and intellectual conversation becomes impossible.
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