In the light of the marriage equality Supreme Court decision today, I thought I'd peruse rightwing reactions...
This is the worst.
What is the compassionate and wise thing to do my more aware nature tells me. But that doesn't happen before a feeling of revulsion comes over me, followed quickly by a recognition that these people are every bit as repellent to society by their behavior as... well... let's just say the 1990s are coming to mind, and - like another misguided initiative at the time... there was a lot of tone policing regarding marginalized groups.
Follow below for more... Note: I haven't gotten to what I actually read yet specifically...but just wait...
First of all, here's the Free Republic link in question:
http://www.freerepublic.com/...
It's an obscenity of racism, homophobia, conspiracy theorizing, and minimization of any culpability for "conservatives" playing footsie with the KKK.
I think the basic story is true - I hope it is - that Barack Obama is going to treat the KKK the way they deserve to be treated: as badly as the Communists were in the witch hunts, because the KKK IS what the Communists were propped up to be as a threat. (Not that there wasn't espionage and imperialism carried out by a few Communists. There certainly was. But the KKK is a much greater threat - especially today - than the Communists ever were. So in this case it wouldn't be so much of a witch hunt as a perps hunt.
So therefore, should I be tone-policing the racists and bigots of the Free Republic?
You bet your butt I should be.
But...
These people are angry, which means on some level, they're suffering.
They're marginalized...they've been conditioned to be marginalized.
A famous Zen master wrote that "truly words can't open another's mind."
On the other hand, if one could attend to their suffering, they'd be less angry.
But we should not, in the course of our days, remain silent with the kind of words that come from those people. Because a lot of other people are suffering worse right now than they are. And a lot more will suffer even worse if we remain silent.