Am I the only one seeing a disconnect here?

[theoldwolf]

During the Miss USA telecast, Miss California Carrie Prejean raised hackles when she responded to a question from judge Perez Hilton, an openly gay gossip blogger, as to whether she believed in gay marriage. She chose to respond with her beliefs.

Keith Lewis, who runs the Miss California competition, told FOXNews that he was "saddened" by Prejean's statement.

"As co-director of the Miss California USA, I am personally saddened and hurt that Miss California believes marriage rights belong only to a man and a woman," said Lewis in a statement. "I believe all religions should be able to ordain what unions they see fit. I do not believe our government should be able to discriminate against anyone and religious beliefs have no politics in the Miss California family."

But social beliefs do, it seems. If religious beliefs have no politics in the Miss California Family, why would one allow a gay activist to ask such an obviously politically-charged question, one that would only be acceptable if you were guaranteed the politically-correct answer? The fact that people were surprised by Miss Prejean's response indicates that it is tacitly assumed all candidates for the Miss California must have certain political views.

I happen to believe in a world that works for everyone. Just yesterday, I happened to do a search for a dear friend of mine who took his life 9 years ago. In my circles, no one ever really knew what happened, or if they did, they didn't talk about it. However, when I found his name and obituary on the Suicide Memorial site of Affirmation, an organization for Mormons of alternate sexual orientation, all became tragically clear. I was heartbroken to think that my friend felt so trapped by societal and ecclesiastical expectations that he felt death was the only way out. And, he's only one of countless who have felt pushed into the same corner.

But what I see happening in today's world is equally disturbing. A video put out by the Capitol Resource Institute highlights the poignant irony when those who support a Day of Silence against bullying and harassment turn and treat those who support other values with exactly the same levels of hatred, vitriol and inhumanity, and somehow think that's acceptable. Listening to the rabid marcher shout into the news camera that "you Christians and you Mormons" were not welcome in "his" neighborhood chilled me to the very bone... the echoes of "Juden raus!" are still too loud, even for someone who was born 6 years after the liberation of Auschwitz.

Human nature being what it is, a certain amount of pendular swing in societal forces should not be surprising. It took people of color hundreds of years to get to the point of the civil rights marches of the 60's, and yet the memory of centuries of injustice lasts even today when an African-American heads our country. We still do not live in an egalitarian society, and there is much anger yet simmering below the surface. That notwithstanding, in a world that works for everyone, hatred of one kind is no better than hatred of another - and I posit that enforced political correctness is no more than a form of societally-subsidized hatred.

John Howard Griffin was a white man raised in a white society, and his perceptions were indelibly filtered by his white experiences in the first half of the 20th Century. Yet despite his limitations, he saw much clearly. The closing paragraphs of Black Like Me echo much of what I see happening relative to the issue of gender equality.

     "The most distressing repercussion of this lack of communication has been the rise in racism among Negroes, justified to some extent, but a grave symptom nevertheless. It only widens the gap that men of good will are trying desperately to bridge with understanding and compassion. It only strengthens the white racist's cause. The Negro who turns now, in the moment of near-realization of his liberties, and bares his fangs at a man's whiteness, makes die same tragic error the white racist has made.
     And it is happening on a wider scale. Too many of the more militant leaders are preaching Negro superiority. I pray that the Negro will not miss his chance to rise to greatness, to build from the strength gained through his past suffering and, above all, to rise beyond vengeance.
     If some spark does set the keg afire, it will be a senseless tragedy of ignorant against ignorant, injustice answering injustice - a holocaust that will drag down the innocent and right-thinking masses of human beings.
     Then we will all pay for not having cried for justice long ago."

By expressing surprise or sadness at the right of a free human being to express her beliefs, Keith Lewis succeeded only in showcasing his own intolerance, furthering divisiveness, and extending farther into the future the day when all of us can live in a society where no one has to suffer indignities, denigration, discrimination, despair or death just because of who they are or what they believe.

I can only hope and pray that we "get it" sooner than later.

[EDIT:] It appears that I'm not the only one who has similar thoughts.

Comments

[deckardcanine.livejournal.com]

I'd've been ashamed of the pageant just for letting Perez Hilton in.

Okay, basically I have no respect for beauty pageants in the first place.

But yeah, this is a huge challenge to resolve, because they see themselves as intolerant of intolerance. The worst part was how unnecessary it was for this to become an issue in context.