mandatory rainbows violate right to form opinions
I consider your mandatory rainbows a total violation of my right to form my own opinions. (Insanitybytes)
For those of you who haven’t noticed, WordPress has decorated the top bar of our Reader page with a colourful rainbow display. It’s not optional, but has been cruelly imposed upon us as users of this free blog hosting facility.
This action is causing me some concern, as it is interfering with my right to form my own opinions. I had previously formed the opinion that gay marriage is wrong.
My opinion was based on six dubiously translated passages from a book written several thousand years ago. The men who wrote this book in times of ignorance were under the impression that promiscuous gay sex was frowned upon by the obscure god they worshipped.
That seemed like a good enough reason to come to the conclusion that in the year 2015 any two consenting adults who are in love and wish to commit to spending their lives together should be denied the right to marry in the traditional manner, unless their genitalia is deemed the correct match. I concluded that if homosexuals can’t learn to love and live like me and my heterosexual friends, they will suffer in torment for all eternity.
However, as I was saying, since this rainbow header has appeared on my free WordPress Reader page, and my right to form my own opinions has been violated, I now find I’m leaning towards another point of view. It now seems perfectly sensible and logical to extend the right to marry, and all the legal protection this entails, to homosexual couples.
I appeal to WordPress to remove this multi-coloured eyesore, so that I can recover my right to form my own opinions, and once more hold people from traditionally oppressed minorities in loving contempt.
Ah, but those obscure passages were countermanded by last week’s U. S. Supreme Court decision! Romans 13:1 makes that clear: “Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God” – proof positive that the Bible’s god approves of same-sex marriage, therefore the rainbow must be a sign of his covenant – he set his bow in the clouds, to remind himself not to bring any more hurricanes because of Gay Pride parades.
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So he changed his mind – sue him already —
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Nice! I like that. You should pop your thinking over on Insanity’s post.
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You pop it – everything I’ve ever tried posting there goes straight to moderation.
It may be asked who, in the US, will most benefit from the SCOTUS decision. Most would answer, “gays” – I say lawyers – in one decision, their potential client base has expanded dramatically.
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You think that’s bad? I’m not even allowed to like comments over there.
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Pink, that is the one site I promise myself to not read. The few times I did, I thought she was raving mad
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I stopped going there too. The degree of crazy is beyond help.
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I’ve been banned! Insanity had enough of me proving her wrong. This was the last comment, which she has not allowed:
Whose comparing you to ISIS? LOL. Certainly not me.
Sharpen your pencil, get a fresh, clean sheet of foolscap, and follow me on this, Insanity 😉
You see, you seem to think “opinions” deserve respect, and I have demonstrated to you that no, they don’t.
So, once again, do you respect the “opinions” of ISIS? I’m guessing, no. Do you respect the “opinions” of the KKK? Again, I’m guessing, no. Do you respect the “opinions” of Gary North, the Tea Party Economist who wants to see children stoned to death in American public squares according to the laws of the Old Testament? Yes, or no?
See how this works? See how it functions? See how neither I, nor WP, nor anyone for that matter, is required to respect your “opinion.”
Now, you’re free to hold any opinion you like. You can hate your gay parents as much as you want and project that hatred onto every gay person in the world for all of history if that satisfies your emotional needs, but no one (as I have demonstrated) has to respect that.
So, if you don’t like the rainbow banner (which is celebrating the end of legalised discrimination) and feel strongly enough about it then you’re free to protest and cancel your WP account. No one is stopping you, Insanity. You’re free to express your opinion, just as WP is free to express theirs, and you’re free to protest. Do understand, though, that your opinion (and your protest, should you choose to protest) runs contrary to both your countries Constitution, and the clearly expressed wishes of your founding fathers. To quote Jefferson, as written on his monument wall:
“I am not an advocate for frequent changes in laws and constitutions, but laws and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind. As that becomes more developed, more enlightened, as new discoveries are made, new truths discovered and manners and opinions change, with the change of circumstances, institutions must advance also to keep pace with the times. We might as well require a man to wear still the coat which fitted him when a boy as civilized society to remain ever under the regimen of their barbarous ancestors.” (Jefferson)
So, side with your “barbarous ancestors” if you so choose, but just don’t expect anyone to “respect” your “opinion.”
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Great comment! What a shame she decided to pretend she’d had enough of you at just that point …
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What I find surprising – OK, nobody throw over-ripe fruit – is that other than her religious delusions, I find I/B to be a very intelligent woman – nobody’s perfect —
(except me)
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I think I’ll throw the fruit. You have to be joking.
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Why it’s Little Mz Sunshine!
Good morning to you, too —
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Good evening, from a not very sunny person today 😦
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Btw – I meant to get you a card for your birthday, until I learned they cost money – please accept this, belatedly —
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That’s really sweet. Trouble is me and animals today, ain’t the best of topics 😦 …
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Not surprising, I always suspected you munched on kittens for breakfast —
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I love you to bits, you are the Good Twin, after all, but not today. Can’t be arsed to say, but click on my name. Otherwise sweet dreams.
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Not in the mood for verbal Mortal Kombat today? Got it – sweet dreams —
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“I find I/B to be a very intelligent woman”
At last we agree on something! She’s a sharp cookie, it’s just an odd recipe.
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“At last we agree on something!” – When have we ever not –?!!
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That is what I thought too. There would be occasion for divorce lawyers to make money
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LOL! She deserves every hot drip of this sarcastic larva.
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Larva? I wouldn’t have noticed, but I have a movie on in the background called, “Bug.”
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Aw, don’t be nasty to my best blogging buddy. She’s misguided. But I thought that was a cracker of a silly sentence she crafted.
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Priceless, agreed. Must admit, I had to do a double-take, then just put it down to furry. Did you see the comment towards the bottom by the woman who’s husband was so upset when he got home that he and she decided to stop blogging for a while? Poor things!
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Oh indeed, nice spot! The world is going to hell and hand basket. Oh lordy! Checkout what SOM just replied to me. DRRRRRUNK.
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Me too! This might be fun 🙂
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Rum? Don’t start comparing your finely crafted organs on Insanity’s rainbow post.
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Was that comment meant for me, or SOM?
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You! Are you not drunk and excited about SOM’s penis?
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Oooh, I read that and pissed myself. The guy is a poet 🙂
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“Violet,
God gave me a great and wonderfully made penis with which to express my love.
But he also commanded that I shower it with the grace of the sacrament of marriage before I unleash its glory upon my spouse.”
I’m going to put it here in case Insanity finally twigs and deletes him.
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If you get the chance, show Insanity this quote from Jefferson. It’s on the wall of his memorial:
“I am not an advocate for frequent changes in laws and constitutions, but laws and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind. As that becomes more developed, more enlightened, as new discoveries are made, new truths discovered and manners and opinions change, with the change of circumstances, institutions must advance also to keep pace with the times. We might as well require a man to wear still the coat which fitted him when a boy as civilized society to remain ever under the regimen of their barbarous ancestors.” (Jefferson)
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LMAO — I am reminded of Robert Hicks’s book,The Masculine Journey, who is clearly obsessed with penises. On page 24, he writes, “To be male is to be a phallic kind of guy, and as men we should never apologize for it, or allow it to be denigrated by women (or crass men either)”.
On page 51 he states, “We are called to worship God as phallic kinds of guys, not as some sort of androgynous, neutered nonmales, or the feminized males so popular in many feminist-enlightened churches. The phallus has always been the symbol of religious devotion and dedication”, noting examples like the Vatican obelisk.
Hicks also writes: “I believe until the church sees men for what they are, phallic males with all their inherent spiritual tensions, it will not begin to reach men where they are living” (p. 55). In fact, he contends that men’s sexual problems (including “sexual addictions,” pornography, and adultery) “reveal how desperate we are to express, in some form, the deep compulsion to worship with our phallus.” (p. 56)
I’d say this “godly” guy really, really wants to fuck Jesus.
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The imagery that creates is just amazing. My imagination has gone into orbit on the unleashed glory part 😀
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Hahahhahahhah
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You so do not want to know where my mind has wandered off to on this one. I think you should introduce him to the professor 😉
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I suspect SOM could teach the Professor a thing or two about BDSM.
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LOL, sorry Violet, I thought Silence’s comment was rather poetic, somewhat charming, and it made me laugh.
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I’m so pleased! I’d hate to see an end to your conversations. 😀
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John, did you hear about the Texas pastor who said that he would set himself on fire if marriage equality passed? Today, he’s apparently had a change of heart. lol Rick Scarborough had already made headlines with a full-page newspaper ad announcing that he had at least 44,500 followers who pledged to go to jail to defend so-called traditional marriage. Why aren’t these bigots threatening to set themselves on fire because of the high divorce rate among Christians?
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I did! And I saw his recanting. Classic stuff! These idiots really are gems.
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Before any of them decides to set themselves on fire, ask them to send me their savings. I have use for money
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Well, Noel. I’ll just do that. You’ll be filthy rich as Christians seem to have forgotten that Jesus said that in order to follow him they must sell everything and give it to the poor.
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I am waiting for their money. I should start booking a trip to the Bahamas
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May I join you? With all that money, we’d have one hell of a time. Americans, alone, give approximately 82.5 billion dollars to organized religion annually.
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Of course. You and A guy without boxers are permanent members of the pope’s non existent committee
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“Why aren’t these bigots threatening to set themselves on fire because of the high divorce rate among Christians?”
Again, again, say it again! Why not indeed!! I’m considering setting myself on fire in protest that all these Christians are eating pigs.
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Superb. Just superb.
But did you catch the conspiracy theory in the comments section? You have to go back and see because it’s really something special. I’ll give you a hint: whose pages do they think the rainbow was appearing on…?
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I saw that and responded. WTF?!? I’ve never written a comment on IB’s blog, but that was too much. Yes, WordPress sought out all the blogs that oppose gay marriage and put a big fat rainbow banner on there just to annoy the hell out of them. Smh…
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They must have some pretty great software to do that! With a program like that they could probably single-handedly stop child pornography and terrorism.
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Where do you think the NSA got their nifty spy software?
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I saw that! I mean, seriously, are these people honestly that susceptible to silly thoughts?
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Do you need an answer to that?
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I know, I know…
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You know, while I think that line is way over the top and a banner in no way inhibits anyone’s ability to form their own opinion I do think it would have been better if WP had given it as an option, like a theme, rather than just plaster it on everyone’s reader. I agree with the decision and love the banner, but I also realize people have the right to disagree. People have the right to be wrong if they want to.
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Sure, but the impression they were giving was the banner was plastered on individual blogs. Not true. Just on the free wordpress reader page. Everyday google puts some different design on their search page, if we use google we’re all forced to see it. What if I hated capital G’s in the colour blue?
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Sure, in their conspiracy theory in the comment section that’s what they were postulating. I didn’t get that from IB’s OP. If you didn’t like capital G;s in the colour blue I’d suggest using Yahoo! 😉 Or write a blog post blasting Google for using the colour blue and capital letters. Or write a letter to the good folks at Google. I’m sure they’d be as interested as WordPress is in the dissenting voices on a few blogs.
My point is simply that, whether we like it or not, whether it “ought” to be this way or not, the symbolism is controversial and the decision is controversial and that people are entitled to their opinion about it.
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She’s welcomed to hate it, but it all falls back to what can only be called psycho-social narcissism.
The universe doesn’t orbit around any of us. I have the humility to understand I don’t get to set policy for google. Or for wordpress.
They seem to think something’s gone terribly wrong if the world doesn’t all cater to their ideology. Anything other than that causes great offence.
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Good lord, they can’t even accept when someone is agreeing with their right to disagree simply because I disagree with their conclusions. It gets weirder by the minute. Is there a stronger word for self-absorbed and self-centered than narcissism? If there is they definitely fit the bill.
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@Ruth
When you are in the throes of a persecuted majority complex, everything outside your bubble is a threat. Going ‘all in’ is standard operating procedure.
Just like SOM refusing to answer a question in a reasonable way and always introducing red herrings and obfuscations about some sort of etherial ‘atheist thought’ which means he never has to answer to anything.
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Thor forbid anything that an atheist might say that makes sense.
I think SOM and CS might be the same person. SOM is CS’s pervvy personality.
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No, no, no. CS is several sandwiches short of any kind of intellectual picnic. SOM is playing a long-term multi-faceted role to perfection. Tedious to begin with but with flashes of genius that are worth sticking round for. Or he’s just frequently drunk.
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“Good lord, they can’t even accept when someone is agreeing with their right to disagree simply because I disagree with their conclusions.”
I must say, I rather enjoyed that part of the conversation. You stepping in there understanding their concerns and getting some Christian vitriol for your efforts. 😀
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I had heard that never happens on Christian blogs. I’m sure I’ve misinterpreted something.
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I very nearly told IB I only shriek with pleasure but thought that might get moderated out. But I figure if SOM can talk about his glorious man meat I might be able to get away with that. 😉
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I saw the rainbow on my stats page, and was delighted, but wondered, why not for the Eire referendum? Why just for the most backward 16 states in the US?
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Probably just a matter of size. The entire Irish population is about half the population of NYC
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Because only America matters Clare. Come on, you know that by now.
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Well, maybe they’re going to start a Google type thing and this is the inaugural event. The fact that it’s a bit random has been swallowed up by the fun reactions.
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This is all some kind of elaborate practical joke, isn’t it?
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Sadly, no.
Go to Insanity’s blog and see for yourself.
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Keith, my sentiments exactly, when I read through Violet’s blog post. But alas, no… Oh, my.
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Ah, no. I believe you are mistaken. The whole SOM persona is satire. Come on, do you really think that anyone refers to penis showers – and metaphorical penis showers at that – with a straight face? Brilliant.
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Keith, I don’t think SOM has the brains for satire.
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“The whole SOM persona is satire.”
Ahem [blushing], you might recall Keith that I did a post accusing two people of being trolls some time back. SOM and [mumbling incoherently] …
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By a show of hands, I want to know who protests whenever there is a rainbow in the skies. Violet, do the counting please.
WP can do whatever they want and if IB isn’t happy, she can blog on blogspot or do self hosting
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Insanity did a post in praise of biblical rainbows shortly after. They’re very different to the one that was malevolently glowing at her on her Reader page, perhaps enticing them all to life of SIN.
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To keep my little sanity, I don’t visit insanity
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I just went over there. The ‘through the looking glass’ level of weird is quite unsettling. It is interesting how it is nearly impossible to get a straight answer out of them. They seem to be quite cognizant of how close they are to expressing outright discriminatory opinions, but don’t want to own up to it.
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Interesting you chose the ‘through the looking glass’ metaphor. Insanity uses Alice to express how she feels about the world on a regular basis.
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@VW
I imagine it must feel like that for her.
Having to constantly square circles to make your belief system even mildly ethically palatable is hard work.
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Just posted a couple of comments on I/B’s page, and just as predicted, they went straight to moderation. I’ve discovered that one who is on moderation-watch, is not allowed to “LIKE” anything, the “LIKE” button is disabled for us.
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I have to say I am extremely disappointed she sinks to that level. She’s smart enough to take anyone on and has no need to block things. I’ve never even considered blocking a single comment on my blog, I find that whole approach utterly bizarre.
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CS’ blog and I/B’s are the only two in which I am immediately shuttled to moderation, and you know how close those two are.
Speaking of CS, Tricia is an absolutely adorable little Christian girl who has a blog promoting empowerment and openmindedness, and I’m always welcome on her site, yet for reasons entirely beyond my comprehension, she believes CS – in her words – to be more intelligent that she and I combined! How could he pull the wool over the eyes of such a bright, intelligent little girl? He hasn’t the brains nature gave a goose, with apologies to the goose —
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I must confess I enjoy ColoUrStorm on some level, but clearly fluff between the ears.
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Haha 😀
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What I thought was funny, was the interchange between SOM and Zande, when SOM said the courts had no right to redefine marriage. John then insisted SOM sell him his daughter for a couple of cows, else he would rape her, pay the required sheckles, and thus make her his wife.
SOM ridiculed the idea that John should bring up a 3000-year old biblical law, yet where does the law come from that defines homosexuality as an “abomination” – how do they live with their own contradictions? “It’s OK to use 3000-year old biblical law to prove my point, but not to prove yours!” Do they not see them at all, or do they see them and just don’t care how ridiculous they sound?
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There were too many hilarious conversations on that post to count! You’re right though, John’s point is excellent. Only problem being the rape laws didn’t get pulled through explicitly to the NT.
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When I served in the Finnish army, I was issued a pair of underpants that had a swastica stamped on them. It was the Finnish army symbol when Finland engaged in the operation “Barbarossa”, but it was more or less abandoned after the WWII. As were most of the ideals of the Christian right connected to the symbol. Good riddens.The symbol of hate in my underpants did not inhibit me from thinking, forming my own opinions, or from anything to be honest. It was more like funny and reminiscent of the ideals of other people and of history.
Our flag has the cross in it. It is certainly an in your face religious statement, but to me it is more like part of our cultural history. It does not offend me in any way. Some political statements and opinions do not deserve to be “respected” and people do respect different opinions. When there was a civil war in Finland there were more than one flag, and no public office would ever let fly the red rebel flag, even though it is not forbidden by any laws.
A provider of a free service can stand for any opinion at heir own expense. The homeless person depending on the Salvation Army to give him food can do little to oppose the religious symbols, though in my opinion the society should provide for him, so that he would not be in need of this sort of help.
Freedom of speech is also important, but it has not been impeded in any way by WP celebrating human rights. The question is why would anyone be against human rights?
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“Our flag has the cross in it. It is certainly an in your face religious statement, but to me it is more like part of our cultural history.” – Which takes us back to Tim Minchin’s comment, “Oh, I see you worship the lower-case letter ‘t’ —“
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