Permissible Bigotry
Welcome to the era of permissible bigotry, where there is still one group that is fair game for bashing from all sides even in this era of ever-increasing political correctness.
That group is of course Born-Again Christians, and they are considered even more of a target after President Bush's reelection earlier this November. The host of "Prairie Home Companion", Garrison Keillor gave a speech the day after the election and he took his shots, some of which he repeated on his weekly broadcast the following Saturday.
"I am now the chairman of a national campaign to pass a constitutional amendment to take the right to vote away from born-again Christians. My feeling is that born-again people are citizens of heaven, that is where there citizenship is, is in heaven, it's not here among us in America."
He also said, "If born-again Christians are allowed to vote in this country, then why not Canadians?"
Now while he may have meant these comments with his tongue in cheek, all in good humor, they are completely inappropriate and that inappropriateness is simple to illustrate. Re-read those quotes again, but substitute the words born-again Christians with Hispanics, change heaven to Mexico and Canadians to Mexicans. All of a sudden, those funny little jibes just don't seem so funny, do they?
Keillor's ability to make people laugh is well-known and he need not stoop to this kind of vile garbage slinging in order to elicit chuckles from an audience, either in person or on-air. That he is a very liberal Democrat who is unhappy with the results of the election is obvious. But does it give him the right to take cheap shots like these? Particularly on National Public Radio? I guarantee you that if he had made these same comments directed toward any group other than born-again Christians, there would have been a loud, long protest heard all over this land. For some reason, that protesting doesn't go on when liberals attack conservatives. This is definitely permissible bigotry and it needs to be exposed for its true ugliness.
That group is of course Born-Again Christians, and they are considered even more of a target after President Bush's reelection earlier this November. The host of "Prairie Home Companion", Garrison Keillor gave a speech the day after the election and he took his shots, some of which he repeated on his weekly broadcast the following Saturday.
"I am now the chairman of a national campaign to pass a constitutional amendment to take the right to vote away from born-again Christians. My feeling is that born-again people are citizens of heaven, that is where there citizenship is, is in heaven, it's not here among us in America."
He also said, "If born-again Christians are allowed to vote in this country, then why not Canadians?"
Now while he may have meant these comments with his tongue in cheek, all in good humor, they are completely inappropriate and that inappropriateness is simple to illustrate. Re-read those quotes again, but substitute the words born-again Christians with Hispanics, change heaven to Mexico and Canadians to Mexicans. All of a sudden, those funny little jibes just don't seem so funny, do they?
Keillor's ability to make people laugh is well-known and he need not stoop to this kind of vile garbage slinging in order to elicit chuckles from an audience, either in person or on-air. That he is a very liberal Democrat who is unhappy with the results of the election is obvious. But does it give him the right to take cheap shots like these? Particularly on National Public Radio? I guarantee you that if he had made these same comments directed toward any group other than born-again Christians, there would have been a loud, long protest heard all over this land. For some reason, that protesting doesn't go on when liberals attack conservatives. This is definitely permissible bigotry and it needs to be exposed for its true ugliness.
posted by me at 9:37 PM
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