And worst of all, we enshrine intolerance as a civic virtue. In my new hometown of Santa Monica, California, for example, there was recently a controversy over the fact that the city council would not permit an AIDS charity to advertise on buses. How could a “progressive” council refuse to support such a good cause? The city attorney patiently explained that if they let one non-profit group advertise, they would have to let all such groups do so.
As a hypothetical, she said, imagine that a Christian group opposed to gay marriage wanted to advertise on the city’s buses. Many people would be offended. Therefore, it was better simply to ban any such messages. This is a milder version of the “heckler’s veto,” which we saw in a Ninth Circuit ruling this week that upheld a California school’s decision to prohibit students from wearing the American flag on the Mexican holiday of Cinco de Mayo.
Because we permit minorities to be intolerant, we weaken freedom for everyone. The irony is that the more that minority groups assimilate, the more intolerance by minorities grows, acting out our insecurities about who we really are. So gay intolerance of Christians only spikes once gays want to be married, too. Fear of evangelicals is more common among Reform than Orthodox Jews. And Spike Lee explodes as Harlem becomes less isolated.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member