Intolerance.
"Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, perhaps despised by many southern lawyers, because he shook up our social structure, and demanded simply that black citizens be treated the same as white citizens, Wasn't greeted with aprobation and accolades by the Georgia Bar Association or the Alabama Bar Association; he was greeted with Horror. Still once that change
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You know I completely agree with you on the issue at hand--I just disagree about the best way to arrive at our common end. I think we only draw out the battle against ignorance by reacting with kneejerk condemnation. If you attack someone for their beliefs (however mistaken!), they will put up their defenses, shut down to you, and you will never bring them around. You cannot show someone the light if they refuse to listen to you, and you cannot get someone to listen to you by telling them what horrible people they are. Nobody's interested in hearing that.
You'll probably argue that if someone's too intolerant to listen to you, then you don't care, because you won't have anything to do with that person. But you don't have a choice. Those people are still a part of our world. And you can ignore them all you want--ignore them right up until the day they brutalize a friend of yours because nobody ever found a way through to them. Who knows?--that one basher could have been someone you interacted with and then chose to ignore because they wouldn't be bullied into enlightenment, rather than take the time to find out where they're coming from and address their real fears or misconceptions.
It isn't enough to change a law. If we don't change people's understanding, then the intolerance, the hate, the gay bashing will continue. And frankly, I think those things are a lot more important than gay marriage. Once we foster enough understanding to end hate crimes, we'll have enough understanding to change a stupid and unjust law.
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And Hero Idolateration is different than Emulation, yes?
I understand your difference of opinion on the way to go about things. I don't claim mine to be perfect. I just don't see where pacifism has actually gotten us.
While not saying that all those ignorant are beyond hope - how many have you met that are willing to say "I used to vocally hate gay people before I was brought around by the kind words of someone else"?
If you've met even one, I'd love to meet them, because I haven't met any.
"You'll probably argue that if someone's too intolerant to listen to you, then you don't care..."
I will not argue that, because I miss Rene every day.
But I will refer to my point above.
And seriously, some people are un-changeable in their beliefs. Surely you know that by now. Even I am content to fall into that category - I honestly don't believe I'll ever hear an argument that will at all sway me from my belief in supreme equality of human beings (um, and animals, but that's for another post, and we are NOT getting into it here).
The law is where we're at right now.
It certainly helped in the past (racism), and I'm pretty sure it will help again.
I am NOT arguing that it is the only way forward, or that it will fix everything.
I am certainly arguing that it is our biggest roadblock.
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Isn't that what tolerance actually is? "Tolerance" that demands homogeneity of opinion is just another form of tyranny. Real tolerance is about actions, not opinions.
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