Conceit of the American Left
Normally I try very hard to not 'bash' those with whom I disagree.
Most especially when it comes to politics because politics are about
opinions and everyone is entitled to their own. I think the fact that
we disagree and that we can disagree and even have discussions about how
and where we disagree is no small part of what makes our nation great.
Its another rant entirely to go on about the growing lack of respect in
everyday conversation, let alone political ones, so I'll leave that for
another time.
This rant is not about politics per se, but more about the entitlement attitude and the conceit that is both indicative of it as well as a vital ingredient to it. This is about the conceit of the American left, as evidenced by the treatment of one state by cities in other states, specifically Boston.
All this week as I was driving to and from work, I was hearing about how Boston staged a protest of the Diamondbacks or Razorbacks or whatever the baseball team is from Arizona. I am not a sports fan, nor do I pretend to understand it, but I do know a couple things that apparently the so-called fine citizens of Boston do not: the players of a baseball team do not have any affect on the politics of the state they play in, and its frankly none of their business what laws Arizona passes. The team isn't about to call their local representatives and raise a furor about having to walk through a protest. They're athletes, private citizens and I'd be willing to wager most of them neither vote nor pay any attention to the news. That's not a statement about the athletes, that's the reality of most US citizens.
What bothers me about this is that the people of Boston involved in these protests actually think they have a right to tell another state thousands of miles away what laws they should be passing. If they didn't, they wouldn't be having these protests. What right do they have to impose their own political opinions on others? These are the same people who will complain about me if I even have the temerity to mention religion or morality, claiming that I'm pushing my religion on them.
You can't have it both ways. If you want me to not mention my religious background, which forms the basis of much of my political opinions, then you can't tell another state how they should run themselves. How things work here in the northeast is not how they work in the southwest. It is the height of arrogance and conceit to believe you 'know better' than the people who live there and want to impose your will upon them. I am not saying that the bill was right or wrong, if you want to know what I think about it head over to the Electric Speakeasy and ask, what I am saying is that the bill was passed in Arizona by the duly elected representatives of the citizens of that state. If they do not like it, they will vote them out and vote in people who will repeal the law. That is to be determined by those who will live under its yoke. The folks in Boston and LA need to keep their opinions to opinion columns and stop trying to interfere with another state's right to pass their own laws.
Waving signs and interrupting people who are just trying to do their job is frankly an embarrassment. Everyone who cares knows how the people of Boston and LA feel about the law. Boston has staged a boycott of Arizona, attempting to impose their will on the citizens of that state by attacking their livelihoods. That's a low blow when the economy is in the condition it is. LA is taking it a step further; they've not only imposed a boycott, but are not boycotting the electricity they import from Arizona. When one of the electric companies said they'd stop sending them electricity, they attempted to take the moral high ground and "not respond to threats".
Because apparently telling someone else what they can and cannot do is a threat.
Like boycotting another state because they're doing something you don't like.
To make this work on a perspective we can all deal with, imagine painting your house blue then having your neighbor and the neighbor twelve houses away send you letters telling you that you cannot paint your house blue. When you refuse to paint it white, they then refuse to have anything to do with you: they won't say hi; if you go to a restaurant they leave; they start bad-mouthing you to everyone they know.
Because a blue house cannot be tolerated. You painted it blue because the old white paint job was cracked and bubbling. It may or may not have been damaging your siding, but how dare you paint it blue!
If you think the law is wrong, then fine; have your say. Make a public statement to ensure everyone know just how upset you are. Then let them get on with their lives and you get on with yours. Because doing things like this is actually an attempt to impose your will on someone else. I could go on forever on how wrong this is and how much the left likes to do it, but I've got to go to work while I still have a job.
- J
