Not My Kind of Liberal

A group of folk calling themselves 'liberal' took to the streets in San Francisco recently to protest the local hiring of a conservative talk-show host who opposes homosexuality in some way or another (or all ways, for all I know - hell I never listen to her). They wanted the immediate termination of her services, saying she's 'not right' for the area.

Really. San Francisco. Liberals say this. But I thought I was a liberal. I must be mistaken.

Okay, folks, we're gonna have to figure this out. We can't have it one way and the other. I like respect and I like love and I like to give and I prefer a sensitivity toward the human condition, but on the other hand I am not prepared to wad it all up in a ball and shove it down anyone's throat, any more than I would any other religion or philosophy. From my vantage I can sympathize with the protesters in the sense that this is one of a very few regions in America in which homosexuals can feel comfortable, a refuge from constant 'straight' programming and thinly veiled hostility. But this is also why I cannot support them in their attempts to suppress free speech.

Gays are in the advance here, and most of the straights in the area are indifferent about sexual orientation. What are you afraid of? One lone voice spouting the socially-bred ignorance which was a hallmark of her generation? If you don't like her, don't listen to her (plenty else to listen to). If you think she is ignorant, expose her. And most importantly, if you feel her ideas are dangerous to yourself and others like you, quote her often to these others, so they don't forget what is arrayed against them.

The danger with suppression has always been that it doesn't work - or rather, how it doesn't work. It is silly to think that one stops thinking a certain way because one's speech is suppressed, yet it is easy to see why there is increased loyalty to suppressed ideas, and increased chance of the 'martyr effect'. At the same time, the ideas become subterranean and mean. And then, liberal protesters, since you've succeeded in shutting the mouths of your oppressors, who will believe you when you say that you're oppressed?

Let Dr. Laura speak, and laugh at her ignorance. Use her as a joke, and a real-life caricature of the strangely insecure group of people who would like to say what others should and should not do. Do not commit the sins of your fathers, or the atrocities of your enemy, especially with so little at stake.

May 9, 2000