I recently came across a social media thread that started out with someone yelling about how they hate Minecraft, superhero movies and Beyonce, only to be told to focus on what they like, rather than what they hate. When the person says they like Donald Trump, however, the person saying not to hate, well, we’ve seen what happens when someone says they like Trump, right?
So, in a wider sense, here is my question. Why is it “wrong” for one group to “hate” something, simply by not agreeing with or praising those who do, while the other side is “just standing up for equality” when they go completely off the deep end and all but murder people for “intolerance” or “hate?”
I’ve asked this in several ways in several different places, and only get hate and worse back, but the question is still valid. How does my personal belief system, my being a Christian, “deny rights” to anyone? I am not (nor ever will be) an elected official (I like my hair and health.) I hope to never again be in a position to hire/fire, and thus, I’m not responsible or involved in any way in who works for the company I work for. When I was in management, however, my primary foci were appearance (clothing and grooming) and ability. If you adhered to dress code (if there was one, if not, if you dressed appropriately for the job) and could do the job, that’s all I cared about. Oddly enough, the only two people I’ve ever fired, were white males.
Sadly, every time I’ve asked this question, even being as specific as to say “my person belief, not a manager, not a politician, just me specifically,” all I get in return is hate, and barely coherent rambling hate at that. I’m told loudly that “Christians are holding back equality,” am shouted down about how “Christians want to force women into back alley abortions only,” and when I “dare” try to interrupt (meaning I try to speak in reply to a comment when they pause) I’m simply shouted down.
I’m sorry folks, equality is a good thing in many respects, but not achievable in all. In hiring, it’s great, let qualifications decide who is hired. In other respects, you can’t have a right to free speech and silence others, that’s not equal, that’s simply giving total control to the loudest complainers. While funny in a “we’re going to hell in a handcart” way, the student screaming obscenities at the speaker then chanting “keep your hate speech off our campus,” who has now been dubbed Trigglypuff, is a sign of the times. These people firmly believe that by just calling something “hate speech” they are fully capable of forcing you to leave. This doesn’t just apply to racism or sexism discussions, you could suggest that by lowering income tax, and thus putting more money in the bank accounts of citizens, you’d actually see more money going to government through luxury taxes and the like, and they’ll happily call you names, then when you protest, it’s “hate speech” and “trying to censor their free speech.”
So, the final question here, how, if at all possible, do we turn this around from people who are so convinced that simply calling anything they don’t like or agree with “hate speech” doing anything they want, to what we were only 30 years ago, a country where freedoms were actually what they were laid out as?