How Did I Ever Miss This?
In what should be a non-story, the Concerned Women of America (or is it for America) have some problems with the above image, an advertisement for the upcoming Folsom Street Fair this weekend. A number of blogs have picked up on this including the prolific Andrew Sullivan, Towleroad, Joe My God and postmodernbarney. Sullivan is brief, calling it an unnecessary provocation and “easy, cheap blasphemy”. I can understand the “unnecessary provocation” comment even if I don’t agree with it, but the blasphemy crack seems to touch a nerve or two of his.
What bothers me most is that Sullivan went on some time ago about not having the right to not be offended. (I attempted to search his archives for the entry, but there are way too many to look through. If I find it in the near future, I’ll update this.) It’s one of the few points we both agree on. Is Sullivan saying that this alleged blasphemy is the exception to this rule? I certainly hope not as this would compromise both free speech and freedom of religion.
Towleroad’s slightly longer entry is more of a news announcement with a slightly smarmy, buy well deserved, attitude toward CWA. Joe My God’s entry is similar, but states an opinion of the ad. He likes it! The more interesting parts of both these articles are the voluminous comments each have generated. It’s worth a read.
Postmodernbarney has the most well written and intelligently reasoned “so what” I’ve ever read. (I’ve followed the site for awhile and the man has talent.) OK, I don’t think Sullivan is that right-wing, but that’s just my opinion. He’s the only one to actually come out and say “be ourselves”, “stop changing your behavior for the sake others”, etc….
I would take this a little further. We need to condemn CWA’s call to political leaders. Asking them to condemn blasphemy represents a serious threat to everyone’s freedoms. Our constitution states the congress can make no law respecting the establishment of religion or prohibit its free exercise. The call by CWA is their attempt to elevate Christianity above other religions. If this were out of sense of fairness they would have asked members of congress to condemn religious right leaders who committed blasphemy by calling Islam satanic and Muhammad a pedophile. These are they people who call gay rights special rights, but want to put Christianity beyond anyone’s criticism. Talk about hypocritical.
I like the poster. It’s a clever and slick image. If you have a problem with it don’t look at it. You don’t have the right to eliminate the things that offend you but you do have the right to walk away from it. For everyone else, enjoy it!
Update: Check the comment below for a story in Time Magazine about Andrew Sullivan and his argument that you are not protected from offense. My thanks to the reader for his diligent research.
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The Sullivan quote you’re looking for may be from Your Taboo, Not Mine, a Time article from last year. I believe the money quote was “Freedom means learning to deal with being offended”.
You have my humble appreciation for pointing that out! And you have an awesome user name!