Thursday, June 11, 2009

The Lost Lenore

I really wanted to write a post on Gran Torino but I didn't have time to watch it again last night so I'll have to delay.

I was going to hold up Carrie Prejean as an example of people/topics that will never be covered by this blog, but there is one detail that bears mentioning.

Okay, in a nut shell, Miss Prejean supposedly lost the Miss USA title because, when questioned about her stance on gay marriage during the Miss USA Pageant, she replied as follows:


You know what, in my country, in my family, I do believe that marriage should be between a man and a woman, no offense to anybody out there. But that’s how I was raised and I believe that it should be between a man and a woman.

Needless to say, the quote has caused quite a stir. The whole controversy has now been seemingly laid to rest with Miss Prejean being 'fired' from her post as Miss California USA yesterday for allegedly 'breaching contract'.

(That's the stuff I don't get into. Honestly, I don't care what Donald Trump said or who did what. Carrie didn't know anything about it, but her lawyer says she did? What!?! Seriously...? For information of this nature I advise pinkisthenewblog.com.)

Moving on. I need some feedback on this next bit here. This is not the time for my own views on gay marriage, but I do need to air a frustration of mine.

It really disappoints me that so many people have come down on Miss Prejean for her remarks. I can't stand it when people of opinion (left/right, up/down, I don't care), get up in another person's face for having an opinion on something.

The logical flaw looks something like this:

  • A: I believe in tolerance and free speech. I think people should be able to say whatever they think.

  • B: I think this about topic X.

  • A: OH… MY… GOSH!! Did you HEAR... what B said? What a bigot/commie/ignoramus. That idiot should keep his mouth shut before that kind of crap escapes again.

I can't stand that. This is especially true when the person making the comment has no intention of being inflammatory or of offending another person. Miss Prejean spoke her mind. She knew that what she said would not be popular but said it because she held it to be true. That is to be commended.

But quoth the raven: "Nevermore..."

5 comments:

  1. Test comment. It had to start somehow.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I totally agree with you. Very good point! And well spoken.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Brian, I totally agree with you that people who advocate tolerance and free speech should not be attacking Miss Prejean. However, I don't believe that we should tolerate bad ideas. Tolerance is only a virtue when it is extended to people, not ideas. The realm of ideas is a realm where only the strong should survive. When people tolerate bad ideas, they do a disservice to the truth.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Point taken.
    I agree with you that the toleration of bad ideas is a "disservice to the truth". However I strongly value (along with the Thomas Aquinas) the truth that abides in love.
    Sometimes the defense of the truth does far more damage to another person than would silent patience.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I have come to hate the term "tolerance" because it has become so subjective in nature. Liberals say conservatives aren't tolerant of homosexuality and conservatives state that liberals aren't tolerant of religion, and so on and so on. In my opinion tolerance is an all or nothing affair. I agree with you Brian about defense of the truth but like I was saying in today's modern society where everything is subjective we're led to believe that there is no "objective truth." I've learned from studying rhetoric that you cannot argue from a subjective nature, so while our society falls more into "what works for me" tolerance becomes much more a transparent term.

    ReplyDelete