Cause-ist Labeling - AKA Stop Proving My Point About Double Standards

 This isn’t going to be one of those comfortable, witty, “how to stock your dungeon and make soup” rants.    This is going to be one of those gritty, uncomfortable, I-keep-looking-over-my-shoulder-while-reading-this rants.    So feel free to close it now.   Or to save it for a later time.   Won’t offend me a’tall, my darlings.  

If you’re reading this, then you’re already familiar with my rants.   Because, really, why in God’s name would you read something I wrote otherwise?      So I’ll spare most of the apologies aside from this:   You’re not gonna like parts of this.   This Rant is a bit like going off to war – some of you ain’t gonna make it to the end, and we won’t be speaking again.  

There is a bat.   A club.   A large, crude, oaken and vile thing that hangs in the closets of many “modern” Americans.   It is the “cause”-ist bat.   The labeling bat.   The baseball bat used by the masses to marginalize, dismiss and silence anyone who dares speak against their views.     And by and large, the bat is wielded by the same people who sprout “love and equality” while beating others about the head and shoulders with The Bat.  

Why do I care though, right?  

See, here’s the thing.  I am apparently a sexist, misogynist, religious zealot of a dinosaur.   I smoke without guilt.  I drink whiskey without it being a “problem”.  I prefer an all-male office in my field.  I vote conservative.   I go to a Roman Catholic Church and give at collection.   I curse in front of women but not in front of a lady, and I’ll argue when I think they’re wrong.   I hold doors and pull out chairs.  I don’t like wide swaths of modern culture.    I prefer the company of people who are like me.   I’m unapologetic about my beliefs, and I don’t accept censoring well.   I respect the views of the opposition, but I don’t accept them…and I won’t be shamed into it either. 

(By the way, if you really believe in equal rights and equal treatment, you will have read the entire paragraph two sets above without a single twinge.   And I’m gonna bet few of you did.   Some of you probably reached for The Bat.   )

In Politics, in Church, in Governance, and in Lifestyle – I have the right to think and speak and feel how I please.   You don’t have to like it.   Some of what I believe and feel is going to make you uncomfortable.  

Well, here’s a news flash – a lot of what you think and feel makes me uncomfortable.   It’s called Tolerance, not Acceptance.    It’s called Respect, not Love.  

If you don’t like what I have to say, you can discuss it like a human being, or you can ignore it.  Ignore me.   If you say something I disagree with, I discuss it or I tune you out.   The problem comes when I say something you disagree with and you smack me in the face with The Bat, marginalize me and silence me.    Society is rapidly coming to the point where expressing the wrong viewpoint ends your career, your life, your family, or worse.  

I have the same right you do to think and believe what I will.   And I should be able to believe it without you using the societal beating stick of “cause”-ist labeling.   (Genderist, Racist, Misogynist, Gynist, Sexist, Religious Zealot, Dangerous Gun Nut, Transphobe, Oppressive Conservative, Disempowering Elitist, etc.)    And yet, the label bat is swinging, and the new belief-police are smacking round anyone who expresses things they don’t agree with on a daily basis.  

For example.

When a conservative argues his view point that someone or something is wrong, he’s oppressive and intolerant.   He’s a racist for disliking urban culture, a sexist for preferring to work with his own gender, a genderist for preferring sex to match gender, a bigot for sticking to his beliefs,  a cissie or trans-phobe for being uncomfortable around transpeople, or a religious zealot for attending church.    If he disagrees with gay marriage, he’s homophobic.   If he smokes in public, he’s an addict.   If he owns guns, he’s a violent psychopath.      If he argues with his girlfriend, he’s an abuser.   Das “wrong” behaviors are VERBOTEN!   ALLES IST IN ORDENUNG!  

When someone of the “correct” view point speaks out, they are rewarded.   Cast as the brave hero going against society (how far against them is a society whose media makes them the hero, exactly?), these staunch rebels for “human rights” stand strong against an oppressive majority.    They’re being free-minded and liberating.  It’s a double standard, and if you disagree…you need to revisit the definition of double standard.  

Are there those among conservatives who demonize others?   Absolutely.   I don’t agree with them either.   But for the most part, they aren’t out to hang me or silence me.  If anything, they want to get into a deeper (albeit loud) discussion so they can convert me.   I have never had someone to the far right of me say “you can’t say that because its…”.    But nearly every left leaning friend I have leads off conversations, and falls back on, the old truism of “you can’t say that because it’s (cause)-ist.”  

Now some will make the argument that when a conservative makes his view point, he has Power – therefore, he’s automatically being oppressive.   That reminds me of the argument that food cooked in a microwave isn’t healthy – it’s so widely believed with so little evidence that it makes me doubt Darwin. 

My reply is that conservatives don’t have the power that popular “belief” holds.   If they did, wouldn’t you see a HELL of a lot more conservative values still in play?    Certain people who are conservative have power.   They tend to represent conservative interests, having been elected by conservatives.   Certain people who are liberal do the same, by the way.   And they represent liberal interests.    That’s the way the system is supposed to work. 

Now, speaking of the 1^st amendment, do people have the right to use The Bat that way?    Sure.  They even have the right to gang up and shout people down for their beliefs.   But in my experience, that practice is hypocritical, arrogant, and it’s the sign of a weak fucking mind and a weak fucking cause.  

When you silence the “conservatives” and “regressives” with shaming, cause-ist labeling, and parables about how evil and uncaring we are?   You’re not practicing a newer liberated American Way, you’re just clothing your old fashioned oppression in fluffy NorthFace hoodies and trendy Itsy-ugly sweaters.    Ironic oppression has apparently become the new hip thing.  

And when you demonize my beliefs in the name of a “newer, liberated America”, you aren’t helping.   You’re just underlining my point.  You are also practicing intolerance.   Which is kind of funny, if you think about it – given that you’re probably using Tolerance as a banner word while demonizing them. 

Just remember – if your “equal rights” protestors really believed in equal right to free speech – they’d be demonstrating to protect Fred Phelps and his church’s right to free expression, to support the KKK’s ability to meet openly, and to include the World Church of the Creator as a legitimate religion.  

A few comments to end on:  

“You can’t talk about race, that’s racist”.

Yes, I can talk about race.   I have a mouth, a brain, two eyes and two ears, and a wealth of experience to draw on in the discussion.   If you want to talk, rather than silence me with your labeling-club, then you’ll learn that I can in fact discuss race intelligently.

“You can’t feel that way about gender, that’s transphobic”.

No, having a paralytic fear which interferes with my ability to function or causes me to harm myself or others while with someone who has identified themselves (or who I have identified) as trans – that is “transphobic”.    Being uncomfortable around someone who’s gender identity I don’t yet have the experience to understand?   That’s human.

“You can’t talk about discrimination, you’re a hetero cis white male.”

That’s….wow.   That’s eliminating my right to speak based on my race, sexual preference and both gender AND sex.   That sentence drips with irony, like grease from a cheap steak.  And it’s wrong, by the by – I’m native, not white.   (Everthing else is true, though.)    Thank you.  

“You can’t say that about (topic), you’re being (cause)ist.”

No.   I’m expressing my dislike, or my feelings, about a topic that you disagree (or society disagrees) with me on.   That does not make me lesser than you, worse than you, or somehow automatically wrong.  

“You can’t post this, you’ll make people uncomfortable.”

…

Watch me.

-30