Discrimination can be done by anyone - Granite Grok

Discrimination can be done by anyone

"They that live by the sword will die by the sword." Or, should I use "Those that live in glass houses…"?  This report from Boston.com kinda says it all.

PROVINCETOWN — Town leaders here are holding a public meeting today to air concerns about slurs and bigoted behavior. And this time, they say, it’s gay people who are displaying intolerance.

For those that do not live in New England (the Northeastern states in the USA), P-Town (as it is called) has been a gathering place for homosexuals for decades.  Sounds like some got a bit snippy, as the following points out:

Police say they logged numerous complaints of straight people being called “breeders" by gays over the July Fourth holiday weekend. Jamaican workers reported being the target of racial slurs. And a woman was verbally accosted after signing a petition that opposed same-sex marriage, they said.

The town, which prizes its reputation for openness and tolerance, is taking the concerns seriously, though police say they do not consider the incidents hate crimes.

 Do I detect a certain double-standard?  Breeders?  Intolerance for another viewpoint?  Hate crimes.  Sorry folks, if the shoe was on the other foot, you bet the phrase "hate crime" would be flying and no one would argue with it.

By the way, I’m not real big on this hate crime deal…..seems too Orwellian (re: think of the book 1984 and Big Brother) and smacks of the Thought Police running amok when they get cranky.  It seems to be far too easy nowadays to label things at hate crimes – after all, we all have to think nice thoughts about each other and not offend, right?  Sorry, I am not going to be told what I have to be tolerant of and what I have to be accepting of – but this is the subject of a "rant in the future"…I digress.

Yes, emotions are high in MA over same-sex marriage ever since their Supreme Court ruled that their Constitution did not exclude it.  And they have also ruled (I believe) that a ballot petition for the body politic is also permissible (which, I am in favor of – let the people vote and decide how their society should be run.  Convince people on the merit of your ideas and not just in the court system).

Name calling, no matter what your position or stance is, never wins the discussion – it only shuts it down.  You may win that particular round, but you forestall the "convincing part" of that argument and may find that you’ve lost in the long term.

Generally, when you get people mad at you, they are less likely to agree with you.

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