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TechnographColumn:The politics of beligerence
By John Bambenek
Posted: 3/15/06 Section: Opinions
It's not Tom Monaghan that's creating an orthodox Catholic town in Florida. That fact, by far, provides the most amusement in all the irrational hysterics denigrating the Ave Maria town project.
Last week's column, "Osama bin Domino's Pizza," on the subject, did nothing more than emphasize the puerile asshattery that makes up the opposition to conservative Christian values being lived out anywhere. Of all the objections that could have been made, and I can come up with 20 better ones off the top of my head, only two were picked: that the town would not have pornography and there wouldn't be contraception.
Yes, apparently pornography is now a basic human right. The idea that mankind does not have to go through life one-handed stirs horrific cries of indignation from those who can't seem to figure out their brain cells are in their heads and not their pants.
Instead of trying to mandate a way of life for the entire nation, Monaghan is building his own town to reflect religious values. One might have a point about constitutional issues if he took over Chicago and mandated values from on high. As it stands, if you don't want to live in a town that has these values, you don't have to move there once it's finally built.
The objections are that people won't have a right to choose contraception and that this kind of setup is a form of control. In order to ensure this "choice" be available, laws have cropped up nationwide taking away the ability of private hospitals and pharmacies to choose how and where they provide services. The question is, who is controlling whom exactly?
Hate speech is universally decried, however, the standard is unequally applied. Cartoons depicting Muslims as terrorists prompt protests all over campus as hate speech. Columns declaring conservative Christians as terrorists are generally ignored as free speech. While the few Muslims groups I have talked to indicated they thought the column was out of line, the other groups involved with the protests were strangely silent.
Last week's column, "Osama bin Domino's Pizza," on the subject, did nothing more than emphasize the puerile asshattery that makes up the opposition to conservative Christian values being lived out anywhere. Of all the objections that could have been made, and I can come up with 20 better ones off the top of my head, only two were picked: that the town would not have pornography and there wouldn't be contraception.
Yes, apparently pornography is now a basic human right. The idea that mankind does not have to go through life one-handed stirs horrific cries of indignation from those who can't seem to figure out their brain cells are in their heads and not their pants.
Instead of trying to mandate a way of life for the entire nation, Monaghan is building his own town to reflect religious values. One might have a point about constitutional issues if he took over Chicago and mandated values from on high. As it stands, if you don't want to live in a town that has these values, you don't have to move there once it's finally built.
The objections are that people won't have a right to choose contraception and that this kind of setup is a form of control. In order to ensure this "choice" be available, laws have cropped up nationwide taking away the ability of private hospitals and pharmacies to choose how and where they provide services. The question is, who is controlling whom exactly?
Hate speech is universally decried, however, the standard is unequally applied. Cartoons depicting Muslims as terrorists prompt protests all over campus as hate speech. Columns declaring conservative Christians as terrorists are generally ignored as free speech. While the few Muslims groups I have talked to indicated they thought the column was out of line, the other groups involved with the protests were strangely silent.
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