The US Supreme Court has been busy making Leftists cry lately. In addition to their recent decision regarding Affirmative Action (my coverage available here), they also ruled in a 6-3 decision in favor of a Colorado businesswoman who wanted to do wedding websites, but didn’t want to them for same-sex weddings. Seems it would violate her religious beliefs, so she challenged Colorado’s law and eventually won.
Which royally pissed off the Left!
While Leftists started in on their “expand the Supreme Court” and “extremist right wing Court” recycled rhetoric, others cheered the decision as a “victory for free speech.” So, why were Leftists (who proclaim themselves as free speech champions) upset?
I’m glad you…errr I asked.
303 Creative LLC v. Elenis
What the Left thinks it means – a Supreme Court decision that makes it legal to discriminate against people
What it really means – the mask slipping on the Left’s commitment to free speech
Our good friends at Twitchy give us a nice breakdown of the case and the stipulations the businesswoman was willing to make to comply with Colorado’s anti-discrimination laws. The Reader’s Digest Condensed Version is she was willing to work with anyone, but not to make websites that would go against her faith.
Wait. I seem to remember a similar situation with a baker in Colorado and the Left’s response being “Bake the cake, bigot.”
Both the baker and the businesswoman were subject to what might best be called coerced free speech. I take that back. The best term for this is bullshit, but you get the idea. The idea behind free speech is to allow everyone a chance to speak their minds up to the point it inspires violence (i.e. “fighting words“). Where the Left takes the, well, left turn off the freeway of free expression is when others say things they don’t like. Then, they will stop at nothing to prevent those evil mean nasty Nazi ideas from getting traction, including collaborating with Big Tech to silence them. Of course, they’ll use any excuse they can to justify it and if you disagree, you’re just dag nasty evil.
Or in the case of COVID-19 hysteria, most likely telling the truth.
This brings us back to the “bake the cake” mentality of the Left. There are segments of the Left (namely the LGBTQA+ABCDEFGOHWEOHWEOHGIRLIWANNAKNOWYOUKNOWYOU crowd) who will use the judicial system to force certain groups (namely Christians) to do what they want in some weird flex of their protected status. And until fairly recently, the courts have let them get away with it, stating a protected class’ “right” to services trumps the Christian’s right to religion.
When you’re coerced to speak under threat of judicial or regulatory reprisal, free speech is compromised to the point of being ineffectual. This is why the “bake the cake” argument is so fucked up in the first place. Although business do have the right to refuse service, it’s limited to situations where it’s not considered discriminatory. And thanks to the aforementioned Alphabet Soup Group, anything short of total subservience to their cause is discriminatory.
Not surprisingly, though, this runs smack-dab in the face of their attitudes about Twitter banning conservative users. Back then, it was okay to silence conservatives because “Twitter is a private business and can make decisions to deny someone a platform.”
Soooooo…I have a question. Why is it okay to silence conservatives because of Twitter’s status as a private business, but also okay to force private businesses to give Leftists a platform for their ideas? The short answer is it’s not because it’s hypocritical and counterintuitive to the idea of free speech. Regardless of how tasty the medium may be, you cannot force compliance one way without forcing it the other way and still be intellectually consistent.
And now, you can’t do it while being legally consistent.
Look, I get the idea behind Colorado’s anti-discrimination law. It’s how it’s being implemented that’s the issue. If you’re using it as a cudgel to attack people who don’t agree with you, it’s being used incorrectly. Laws like the anti-discrimination laws are meant to be more of a legal shield and a method to provide legal recourse should the laws be broken. Using it the way Colorado Leftists have, though, turns a law with good intentions into one with bad application, which puts it in proximity of “fighting words” in my semi-learned opinion.
Where the majority opinion in 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis diverted expectations is that it was ruled on as a free speech rather than a freedom of religion issue. But the true brilliance comes when you consider the Left’s opinion of religion in general (save for Climate Change Cultists). In arguing against religion in the public square, the Left has taken one of two approaches: demanding an all-or-none approach (except when it comes to Muslims), or demanding freedom from religion. After all, you have to account for those who don’t want religion shoved down their throats, right?
Wellllll…let’s apply this to another idea, freedom of association. As this link shows, the Supreme Court has already ruled there is a freedom from association as well as a freedom of association. In other words, the High Court has already laid the groundwork for future challenges to Colorado’s law if some plucky attorney with time to kill and a client willing to test the law would put it in motion.
Not that I’m hinting someone should do that, mind you…
Nevertheless, the 6-3 ruling (with guess who making up the minority) is going to stand for now, and the Left can’t handle it. Not only can’t they force people to do their bidding because reasons, but the arguments put forth in opposition to the ruling are…how can I put this delicately…fucking stupid. But remember, Leftists are smarter than us. Just ask them.
In this case (and, to be fair, in most cases for that matter), the Left got this one wrong, and instead of figuring out how they went wrong, they blamed the “right wing Supreme Court.” You know, like mature adults do? Yet, something tells me they aren’t going to understand the implications of their insistence people have to be forced to platform their ideas. I mean, if their ideas were so popular, wouldn’t people want to give them platforms?
303 Creative LLC v. Elenis is a victory for actual free speech and a blow to the coerced speech the Left want to make the norm. No matter how the Left tries to spin it or muddy the waters with absurd claims, this is an L for them, which is a given.
After all, you can’t spell “Leftist” without an L.
Tag: same sex marriage
Leftist Lexicon Word of the Week
If there’s one thing I’ve learned from Leftists over the years, it’s how tuned in they are to what America really needs. This week, House Democrats focused on an issue that has been on all of our minds lately.
Marriage equality.
In the aftermath of Roe v Wade being sent back to the states, Leftists are looking to codify as much as they can before they presumably lose power in January 2023. And same sex marriage is getting its turn in the spotlight (at least for now), and a way the Left has packaged it recently has been to frame it in terms of equality. Surely, no one would be against equality, right?
Time for me to be a “but-head.”
marriage equality
What the Left thinks it means – treating same sex marriage the same way legally as straight marriage
What it really means – a way to package same sex marriage in a way as to not freak out the normies
One of the major stumbling blocks in getting society to accept same sex marriages are as legit as straight marriages is the fact there is no single agreed-upon definition. To traditionalists and the religious, marriage is between a man and a woman, including making a covenant with God as the latter group believes. Society sees marriage as more of an informal arrangement (oddly enough made in formal wear) where love may or may not be involved. Legally, marriage is a contract between two parties that can be enforced and/or broken through the judicial process and with spending a ton of money in the process.
Same sex marriage falls somewhere between the social and legal perspectives, which pisses off the traditionalists and religious because of how it takes the existing framework and spins it in a new direction. To be fair, same sex marriage proponents have done a great job in framing the issue in terms of the legal and social elements because it addresses the heart and the mind simultaneously. They argue same sex marriage is no different legally than straight marriage (a valid point) while also bringing up how there are many gays and lesbians who are in long-time committed relationships (also a valid point).
But not all marriages are created equal, especially these days. Whether it’s celebrities bouncing from marriage to marriage like they’re trying to beat Larry King’s numbers or our fellow plebs who find ways to fall in love and marry people who aren’t stable enough for either, we don’t look at marriage in the same way we did even 20 years ago when things like “throuples” were limited to bad online erotica or the seedier corners of cyberspace. Now, open marriages are as common as getting hand jobs from homeless crack whores.
Not that I know anything about that, mind you.
And gays and lesbians want their marriages to be on the same plane as these folks?
Seriously, though, marriage isn’t something to be entered into lightly regardless if it’s Adam and Eve, Adam and Steve, or Adama and Stephanie. It’s a lot of work, communication, and compromise. And that’s just trying to agree on where to go out to dinner. Imagine having to do something really important!
When you throw human emotions into the mix, marriage can be like a perpetual minefield where the smallest mistake can blow up into something worse. Any couple, gay or straight, that can weather the worst of storms together and come out the other end with the relationship intact, if not stronger than before the storms, is admirable and shows what it takes to succeed. If not, there will be emotional scars that will take many years to heal and the relationship will never be the same.
It’s the gravity of this situation that I think is missing in the discussion of marriage equality. Proponents treat marriage in general as a legal framework, which takes out the human element altogether and makes it easier to argue for equality. But by taking out the human element, you cheapen the institution and make it merely a transactional relationship. Granted, a lot of straight marriages have accomplished this for decades, but that’s not the point here.
When arguing the societal element, though, marriage equality advocates appeal to our emotions with slogans like “Love Is Love.” This is designed to create a sense of the universal since humans need love like they need food, warmth, and a decent WiFi connection. And with us being humans, this appeals to us, making it easier for people to jump on the marriage equality train.
So far, the way the Left has been able to achieve even a foothold in creating an even playing field for straight and same sex marriages is through their favorite tactic in the world, judicial fiat. By getting judges to look at the legal side of marriage and ruling in favor of equality, Leftists have circumvented the entire process of making arguments to get people to agree with them and gone straight to “This is the way it will be, and if you complain, you’re a bigot.” As they found out with Roe recently, that approach will only be effective for so long before the pendulum swings the opposite way like the wrecking ball in the Miley Cyrus music video. You know, the one for “Party in the USA”?
Thus, we’re seeing Leftists pushing to codify same sex marriage, which they should have tried to do before now if they actually gave a fuck about the issue in the first place. Spoiler Alert: they don’t. As long as the issue is on the table in any way, Leftists will keep stringing voters along and asking for donations along the way. And we’re no closer to actual marriage equality.
If the issue goes back to the states to determine, it may seem like a step backward, but it’s the right way to go about it. Instead of relying on men and women in judicial robes to make these decisions on our behalf, we would actually have to talk about it and make our opinions known though the ballot box. Yes, this will not get the universal approval the judicial fiat route gives us, but it will take everyone’s thoughts and feelings into account, not just the ones that agree with our viewpoints.
And the Left can’t stand that.
The Left maintains a lot of political power by stoking the fires of division and pitting Americans against one another. The Right does this, too, just not to the same level and effectiveness. The minute people start working together and getting to know each other, the minute Leftists lose their ability to influence opinions through division. And a little thing the kids like to call “respect” starts growing. Even as divided as this country is right now, most people get along in spite of their differences because we have at least a basic level of respect (or at least a desire not to pry too much into the lives of others). It’s this approach that will ultimately bring us to actual marriage equality, not just the glib soundbite the Left has made it.
Before we get there, though, I need to set some ground rules.
1. Respect is a two-way street, not a one-way cul de sac.
2. If it ain’t your marriage, it ain’t your concern.
3. When in doubt, see rule 2.
I know this is going to ruffle a few feathers (like, say, a million chicken coops’ worth), but it had to be said. As much as both sides of the marriage equality issue are dug in, we have to deal with the world as it is. There are some amazing gays and lesbians, just like there are shitty straights, and vice versa. If we continue to focus solely on the negative on both sides of the equation, we will continue to stay dug in. If we recognize the good ones (which, I’ll argue, represents the bulk of people in between the two sides of this issue), we can build bridges instead of trenches.
And that will piss off Leftists, which is always a good time.