Wednesday, August 1, 2012

“The Only Two Things I’m Prejudiced Against...”

Okay, are we done with this whole Chick-fil-A thing? Have we all gotten it out of our system yet? Basking in the afterglow of a successful campaign to promote or put an end to hatred? Feeling pretty proud about yourself and the moral stance you took over this whole stupid thing?

Great. Good on you. Because now that it’s all said and done, I have something to say.

Quite a few of you people are hypocritical imbeciles.

Take a careful lookat what’s been written so far just in the few paragraphs above. No side has been taken and no one has been singled out. Because there are offenders on both sides of this argument.

Between all the chest-thumping, grandstanding and moralizing about either thinking gay marriage is a crime against nature or doing the same while preaching tolerance and understanding for all, I’ve seen some pretty dumb and ignorant statements on both sides of the argument.

Politicians turning an innocuous statement about personal beliefs into a political rallying cry? Stay out of this. This is none of your business, quite frankly, so there’s no need to incite a cultural battle.

And you? The idiot who called in a bomb threat just to get this place to stop selling chicken? I hope jail provides you with an opportunity to reflect how dumb you are in threatening lives while promoting “tolerance”.

Seriously, people don’t realize that they’re doing this all wrong. On one hand, there are those taking the “moral high ground” while speaking out against a group of people that have made a personal choice to be happy with their lifestyle. There are also those who preach “peace and tolerance” who have attacked a group of people by simply lumping them in with a religion. All of them, no matter their stance, have betrayed their beliefs of “morality” and “peace” with their actions and words.

You can support Chick-fil-A or not. You can be for or against gay marriage. That’s your choice and you have the right to be heard. What you don’t have the right to do is be a jackass about how you think and feel. What you don’t have the right to do is treat others like dirt and call for torches and pitchforks to be brought to their front door because they don’t believe the same way you do. What you don’t have the right to do is attack someone simply for their belief system when they’ve never raised a harsh word or hand against you. And that’s what I’ve seen a lot of.

This issue, to me, is no longer about promoting hate or beliefs. This isn’t about human rights or the First Amendment of the Constitution. This is about not being a dick to your fellow man and having the sense and real tolerance to sit and have a civil discussion about beliefs, why you feel the way you do, and how we can overcome those differences to all live and work together.

If you read that and said you can’t? Then you’re part of the problem. Feel free to get the hell off my planet. I’m only prejudiced against two types of people: morons and assholes. And I hate to say it, but this whole situation has proven that there are more of those two than African-Americans, Gays, Indians, Muslims, Middle-Easterns, Asians, and WASPs combined.

If you read that above and agree? Good. Stop talking and thinking about it and do it. I’d love to see some more examples of debates rather than stupidity and hatred. And that goes for whether you’re a “moral” or a “tolerant” person.

As for me? Did I go to Chick-fil-A on August 1 and support them, or did order a “Mc-Fil-A” from McDonalds to show solidarity for that side?

Honestly? I went to Zaxby’s. Because their Buffalo Tenders are pretty damn good. And because, after all the ignorance and hate I’ve seen on both sides of the fence, I honestly didn’t feel like supporting either side of the argument.

I supported a third argument, instead - and that argument is that, as human beings, we’ve shown that we could all use some work.

2 comments:

Craig Melchor said...

I agree with your post. However, I did take a stand. I do not believe Chick fil a deserved to be attacked the way they were. I went in, had a chicken sandwich, and good conversations. A very civil crowd who normally wouldn't care until such a fuss was made about one person's belief. If it doesn't pick my pocket or break my bones it shouldn't matter much right?
No one has the right to impose their beliefs on me. They can state their position and make their case, but when they start using their position to force their beliefs on others...it's time to eat a rchicken sandwich.

Michael Melchor said...

And that's totally fair. Nothing wrong with civil conversations and even demonstrations. No one should have to keep their mouth shut, no matter what they believe in. Opinions are like--well, we all know that one.

But it becomes a fine line when people wage war to the point of betraying the ideas of "peace" and "tolerance" they claim to stand for. Then, it just becomes hypocrisy.