WELL, IF THAT DOESN’T TAKE THE CAKE
by Neville Raymond
There’s nothing like the big picture for showing up how small-minded people can be.
Look at the baker who wouldn’t bake a wedding cake for a same-sex couple.
In America we made a federal case out of it!
Have we lost all sense of perspective?
It’s not that such an idea lacks legs or that it won’t take us far. There are no limits to what we can accomplish by refusing to put our skillset to work for people or causes that offend our moral, political, and yes, religious sensibilities.
But we do have to pick and choose our battles.
In America we made a federal case out of it!
Have we lost all sense of perspective?
It’s not that such an idea lacks legs or that it won’t take us far. There are no limits to what we can accomplish by refusing to put our skillset to work for people or causes that offend our moral, political, and yes, religious sensibilities.
But we do have to pick and choose our battles.
In the scale of things, many things ought to strike us as abominations on an epic, if not a biblical scale.
It would be understandable if we refused to lay our creative gifts at the feet of those who poison our air, pollute our ground water and exhaust the earth’s ability to renew itself.
Now that would make a whole heap of sense.
Imagine if groups of tens or hundreds or thousands of people withheld the fruits of their industry and ingenuity from those who jeopardize our collective health, darken our children’s future and imperil our planet's very existence.
That might just mark a sea change.
It would be understandable if we refused to lay our creative gifts at the feet of those who poison our air, pollute our ground water and exhaust the earth’s ability to renew itself.
Now that would make a whole heap of sense.
Imagine if groups of tens or hundreds or thousands of people withheld the fruits of their industry and ingenuity from those who jeopardize our collective health, darken our children’s future and imperil our planet's very existence.
That might just mark a sea change.
It would be understandable if we refused to place our services at the disposal of those with blood on their hands.
Now that would make a whole heap of sense.
Imagine if we forged a group consensus to withhold our labor and craftsmanship from those who routinely offend our core belief in the sanctity of human life.
Imagine if jewelers refused to make wedding rings, florists refused to make wedding bouquets, caterers refused to cater wedding receptions, photographers refused to visually document the occasion, and priests refused to officiate over wedding ceremonies on behalf of those who choose to send solders to maim and kill brown-skinned people in faraway lands or to militarize cops to shoot unarmed black teenagers like mad dogs on the streets.
Now that would make a whole heap of sense.
Imagine if we forged a group consensus to withhold our labor and craftsmanship from those who routinely offend our core belief in the sanctity of human life.
Imagine if jewelers refused to make wedding rings, florists refused to make wedding bouquets, caterers refused to cater wedding receptions, photographers refused to visually document the occasion, and priests refused to officiate over wedding ceremonies on behalf of those who choose to send solders to maim and kill brown-skinned people in faraway lands or to militarize cops to shoot unarmed black teenagers like mad dogs on the streets.
It would be understandable if we refused to serve at the beck and call of those who use their monopoly of money to swindle and enslave the rest of the world.
Now that would make a whole heap of sense.
Imagine if we formed a grassroots movement to withhold our time and energy from those violate our core belief in the preciousness of every human life.
Imagine if we refused to make our clerical help or administrative support or managerial know-how available to those who use their control of the banking system to trap an entire class of people in dead-end jobs, bankrupt entire countries with odious debts, or impose drastic austerity budgets that drive people from Buenos Aires to Bangladesh to destitution or suicide by making it impossible for them to feed, clothe and house their families.
Now that would make a whole heap of sense.
Imagine if we formed a grassroots movement to withhold our time and energy from those violate our core belief in the preciousness of every human life.
Imagine if we refused to make our clerical help or administrative support or managerial know-how available to those who use their control of the banking system to trap an entire class of people in dead-end jobs, bankrupt entire countries with odious debts, or impose drastic austerity budgets that drive people from Buenos Aires to Bangladesh to destitution or suicide by making it impossible for them to feed, clothe and house their families.
But to play the boycott card with gay sex?
That is what we see fit to target with our outrage?
Not those who batter or rape their partners but those who consensually sleep with partners of the same sex?
Just think of it.
Here we could refuse to perform a vast array of vital services for those who use their monopoly power over money, oil and pharmaceuticals to plunder and exploit, prey on and poison our fellow man.
We could refuse to pick their food, wait on their tables, pilot and chauffeur them hither and thither, answer their phones and emails, clean their mansions, mow their lawns and trim their hair.
We could refuse to act as their security guards, fight their legal battles, keep their computer systems running, advise them on strategies to get away with murder, and circulate any number of falsehoods and slanders in the mass media to befuddle the majority of people and turn them against their own best interests.
That is what we see fit to target with our outrage?
Not those who batter or rape their partners but those who consensually sleep with partners of the same sex?
Just think of it.
Here we could refuse to perform a vast array of vital services for those who use their monopoly power over money, oil and pharmaceuticals to plunder and exploit, prey on and poison our fellow man.
We could refuse to pick their food, wait on their tables, pilot and chauffeur them hither and thither, answer their phones and emails, clean their mansions, mow their lawns and trim their hair.
We could refuse to act as their security guards, fight their legal battles, keep their computer systems running, advise them on strategies to get away with murder, and circulate any number of falsehoods and slanders in the mass media to befuddle the majority of people and turn them against their own best interests.
But heaven forbid!
All that doesn’t offend our deepest moral sensibilities and cherished spiritual values!
It doesn’t violate our freedom of expression and trample on our constitutional right to liberty and equality.
For when it comes right down to it, the one thing that really goads us into making a political stand is two men having sex!
It doesn’t violate our freedom of expression and trample on our constitutional right to liberty and equality.
For when it comes right down to it, the one thing that really goads us into making a political stand is two men having sex!
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