Johnny Bench made a “joke” about Jews being cheap. Arizona Congressman Eli Crane referred to African Americans as “colored”. Rosie O’Donnell recently denied the Holocaust but said it would be a good thing that should happen. The first two said they misspoke or were sorry – oops, I let my bigotry come out in public; I’ll try to do better. They aren’t alone in their ignorance; people say racist, sexist, and antisemitic things in public all the time. The vast majority, however, aren’t close enough to a microphone or video camera to have it preserved for perpetuity. And when people get caught being bigots, they often cry out against “political correctness”, which is a politically correct way of saying, “I am sad that I can’t be a bigot in your presence.”
We have all grown up with this kind of thing, and it often goes unchallenged. Jokes about people’s gender or sex or skin color or religion that are meant to cause pain, not laughter. Words that were once used regularly are now too often tossed out there like they don’t really matter, yet are full of history and hatred. “Why can’t I say the N-word?” “Why do they keep changing what they want to be called?” “They use it – why can’t I?” Those words aren’t meant to be descriptive; they are meant to be hurtful. And stop telling me that they are old and won’t change their ways – Congressman Crane is 43. Bigotry has no age limits or racial boundaries or gender restrictions. Bigotry is something we learn and, if we choose, can lose or keep. Johnny, Eli, and Rosie are among the vast numbers of people who have chosen to keep their bigotry close at hand.
Freedom of speech is protected by the Constitution, and I would never want it to be curtailed. We also have the freedom to not support bigots. Fire them – don’t buy their products – tell others about how warped they are. Bigotry is a mental illness that can be cured, but it takes a willing patient to make that happen. We can do something about this; we can loudly proclaim that bigots are sick. We can teach children about bigotry in school; or at least, we can try. A lot of people are trying to stop that process all over this country. We can tell our bigoted family and friends that they have to behave around us, or we won’t hang out with them. Just like bigots have freedom of speech, I have the freedom to not listen to their poison.
Keep your hate speech to yourself please; I don’t want it to infect my world. Keep your negative opinions about people’s dress or sexual orientation or gender or race to yourself too, those are just more ways to express bigotry. Stop cloaking your bigotry in laughter and innuendo and “just kidding” moments – we aren’t fooled by who you really are. I hope Johnny and Eli and Rosie and all the other bigots see the error of their ways and change; that would make the world a better place. But until that happens, please – bigots – just stop talking. At least around me.
Today’s prayer – God, we all have our bad moments. We all say things we know we shouldn’t. We beg of You – be our conscience and help us to keep our lesser angels to ourselves. Amen.