Dear Social Conservatives: Just stop the hate
Originally published at Quantum Matrix Scribe. Please leave any comments there.
Sometimes, I read something, and I don’t really write about it for days or even weeks afterwards. In this case, I’m still not sure what to say about this piece from Stephen Crowder at FoxNews.com, but I’m going to try and say it anyway:
Can all of the real men in this country please stand up? You there, not so fast. Anyone who’s read my op-eds here on FoxNews.com knows just how much I hate the systematic destruction of man in modern America. No, I’m not just talking about the hyper-metrosexualization of young men, I’m talking about the role of man in modern society as a whole. For real men everywhere, these are some dark times.
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Now I get that Carlos is an extreme example of a screw-up being used by some high-up network executives as a desperate grab for ratings. The problem is that this kind of behavior is becoming increasingly indicative of men in the 21st century.
Today’s left-leaning, pseudo-feminist society has bred men to believe that they are not intrinsically different and/or valuable in comparison to their female counterparts (and vice versa).
I remember in kindergarten, my teacher (who will not remain nameless) told the entire class, “Kids, men can do anything that women can do and women can do anything that men can do!”
I raised my hand.
“Yes, Crowder.”
“But Mrs. Henderson, what about being a dad?”
“Many women do that everyday!”
Sadly, many of those on the left actually believe this. To the left, men and women are interchangeable. How else could you support same-sex marriage?
The only difference between someone like our friend Carlos Short and I, is that he’s bought into the lie. Why shouldn’t he have ten “baby-mammas”? Those women, sorry, persons, don’t need a man or a husband. Who needs a nuclear family with a strong male figurehead when you’ve got politically correct, warm fuzzies on which to fall back?
Also, suggesting that a mother needs a husband and that a child needs a father… well that’s getting dangerously close to the line of “judging.” To many on the left, that already has you walking on paper-thin ice.
Stop. Just stop.
I am absolutely sick to high heaven of people going around and lecturing one others on how they should live their lives. Most of the time, the ones doing the lecturing are not symbols that should be raised up. And even if they are, where do they get the idea that they can write screeds denouncing other people’s personal lives?
I’m not saying that the TV show Stephen is blasting is one that I would like, or that it’s some model to hold high to the rest of the world. It probably isn’t. But by the same token, neither is the same kind of backwards, barbaric, and utterly brain-dead misanthropy that leads him to turn this into an anti-gay marriage barb.
And for the record, Steve, support for gay marriage has nothing to do with “men and women are interchangeable” beliefs. It has everything to do with treating people as individuals, and protecting their individual rights-you know, what conservatives harp about constantly? Guess you don’t practice what you preach.
There are many families that follow the model that Stephen here would want them to-and yet they still turn out horribly dysfunctional. And there are many people who might not fit his views of gender roles-and they turn out to be just fine, wonderful people.
Just stop hating people. Just stop judging people. I am utterly sick and tired of conservative folk, especially the evangelical and fundamentalist Christians, going around and doing nothing but judging others. Wasn’t there a major message in the Bible that said “don’t judge?”
“Do not judge so that you will not be judged. “For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you. “Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? “Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ and behold, the log is in your own eye? “You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye. (Matthew 7:1-5)
People need to stop moralizing about others and go back and fix their own lives. Stop criticizing other people because they follow a life that’s different from yours. One of the first colonies in America was Rhode Island, a refuge for Jews, atheists, homosexuals, and a whole bunch of other people who didn’t fit in anywhere else. If having different lifestyles like that isn’t American, then nothing is-and certainly not your Puritanistic moralizing nagging that nobody buys today.
Aannnnddd….I’m out. I don’t know if I have any more to say on this topic. Just that I find this crap very aggravating and I wish it would stop.
UPDATE: My friend linked to this on Facebook, and a commentator there had a really good point:
[I]t is not social conservatives, but prescriptive social conservatives. People can be socially conservative all day, if it primarily involves their own behavior. Under these terms, I would consider myself a social conservative.
The problem is when people decide that they know what’s best for others and they will force you at the point of a gun, if need be, to shape your behavior in a way they approve.
Yes, this is the real problem. Those who are personally “socially conservative” but don’t bother other people are harmless and perfectly okay. I do think, though, that a lot of unnecessary crap in this country comes from moralizing, and people of all stripes-liberals, conservatives, even libertarians-need to just stop. Just shut up. Nobody wants to be lectured on how to live their lives, period. So knock it off.