We live in bewildering times. As the Jefferson Airplane sang, logic and proportion have fallen sloppy dead.
I first became politically aware as the Civil Rights movement took center stage on the national scene. The forces of reaction took shelter behind a lot of arguments, but I can’t recall that any of them had the nerve to complain that proposed civil rights laws constituted discrimination against people who sincerely believed in the inferiority of black people.
But we’ve made great semantic progress since then. As John Lennon (channeling Harry Nillson) said, “everything is the opposite of what it is, isn’t it?” and this is nowhere more true than in the culture of victimhood embraced by the right wing. Latest case in point:
A Republican legislator in Illinois levied charges of discrimination against a measure to permit same-sex marriage that was approved Thursday by the state Senate.
Illinois state Sen. Kyle McCarter ® took to his Facebook page to argue that the bill passed by the Democratic-controlled chamber was an injustice against “those who hold the sincerely held religious belief” that marriage should only be between a man and a woman.
(via TPM LiveWire)
Yet another of those right wing pronouncements that leave you awestruck. One is tempted to rebut it, and then one must pause. Anyone who needs an explanation for why this is absurd is too far lost to reason already.
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