How A Chicken Sandwich Made Me Flip My Lid Finally: Or Lets Call A Spade A Spade
“George Orwell’s contention was that it is a sure sign of trouble when things can no longer be called by their right names and described in plain, forthright speech.”
-Christopher Lasch
(*Note: These photos are from my trip to San Francisco a couple of weeks ago, although I mention Long Island in the post. Also, I want to thank my awesome friend Tammy for being the world’s bestest tour guide and showing me every inch of San Francisco in two days. Tammy, you are absolutely amazing. Thanks for being such a wonderful friend.)
This past week was a pretty big week for me. I learned some stuff. I learned you should always unplug the alarm clock in your hotel room. I learned that Long Island is wicked humid in the summer time. And I learned that flat beer is still drinkable if you’re really thirsty.
But the most important thing I learned is that I need to be more open minded. Yup. Apparently, I’m not open minded enough. You heard it here first, ladies and gentlemen.
You see, I learned that other people have the right to think and say really rotten things about me, whether they know me or not (I get that, and return the sentiment in spades). And they have the right to think that I’m not equal to them (I get this too, even though I’m pretty sure they’re wrong). And apparently they have the right to organize themselves, spend a lot of money, and get our government to deny me some pretty basic human rights (WTF?).
But here’s the part I didn’t know. If I think that they are douche canoes and want to unfriend them on Facebook, well, I’m not being open minded enough. After all, they’re the victims here, and I should remember that.
My bad.
Here’s my question for you, because I can’t figure this out on my own (that whole being bound by logic thing, I guess). Why should I willingly sit quietly and nod politely while another person explains to me why I am sub-human? Why exactly should I agree that its ok for someone to actively fight against me achieving legal equality to them in our country (buying a chicken sandwich counts)?
Why can someone make a political stand by buying a chicken sandwich (you know, donating money to organizations that will work to deny my rights), but if I make a political stand by telling them I don’t want them in my life anymore, how in the hell does that make me the one who’s not open minded?
I gotta say, I’m fairly confident that any American who would tell another American that they don’t deserve equal rights is probably not the better person in the conversation. Just a guess.
To all those people with your talk about how you respect my talent and intelligence or whatever but you just don’t agree that I deserve to be equal to you in the eyes of the law, how about you respect mine and every other American’s right to not be bound by your chosen religious beliefs through our civil laws (you know, like everyone else does for you). How about not cherry picking passages out of your version of the bible to support your bigotry while simultaneously judging everyone and violating plenty of commandments yourself. Because honestly, if your god is instructing you to treat others the way you’ve been treating gay people, I just don’t believe in your god (which is an American right, btw). He sounds like a jerk.
And if I can’t have equal rights, I want a firkin’ tax break, dammit.
If you enjoyed this post, you may enjoy these other posts:
Real Americans Support Gay Marriage
And I also recommend reading this post from Owldolatrous Productions:
The Chick Fellatio: stuck in the craw
