Bare-Arsed
When she's not comparing gays to child molesters, and insisting on a definition of Romance Fiction that reads like she pasted it together from torn up shreds of the senate's failed Defense of Marriage Amendment, Jan Butler seems like a pretty nice person.
She likes baseball, and Mary Higgens Clark. I can respect that. Well, I can respect baseball...except for the steroids.
I felt kind of sad that I was so mad at her. I get the feeling that if I met her in line at the supermarket, we'd probably have a lively conversation about Life&Style's latest ridiculous expose of superskinny celebs while we waited for the old lady in front of us to pay for twenty-three cans of Ensure with Susan B. Anthony dollars, Canadian nickels and expired air freshener coupons. We'd never discuss homosexuality, or religion, and I'd probably walk away thinking, "What a nice lady."
But this isn't the supermarket, this is the net. The only thing I know about her besides the Mary Higgens Clark/Baseball thing is that she believes in slippery slopes, and doesn't want to be in the same association as people who think gay is OK. And she's been stinking up the web accusing people who don't agree with her of "persecuting" her and infringing on her First Amendment Rights. Apparently, anyone who uses their First Amendment rights to disagree with the stupid things she has used her First amendment rights to say, is robbing her of said rights. Huh?
Her foam-flecked rant reminded me of this Pulitzer Prize winning photo. Sometimes people are so rabid to defend their own irrational opinions that they are willing to sully and shame the very ideals and institutions they claim to be protecting.
Some may argue that Butler was just shooting off her mouth, but on the web, those who click "Publish" in haste will not have the opportunity to repent at their leisure - as I'm sure Ms. Butler has since discovered.
I left a comment on her blog comments, but despite her ranting about freedom of speech, I doubt she'll print anything by folks from the "left side of the creek" like me. So I've reprinted here:
Please note how I remained calm, polite, and 99% obscenity-free. On occasion, I am capable of such feats.Ms. Butler,
You accuse your detractors of persecuting you, yet you feel free to lump homosexuals in with child molesters - to accuse them of criminal sexual deviancy when they have broken no laws and hurt no one.
Your detractors have not accused you of breaking the law. They have not lumped you in with extremist fundamentalist terrorists or other illegal groups who espouse conservative beliefs - though, were they to follow the lead you have set, such inferences would surely be fair.
What your detractors have done is call you stupid and bigoted. Both actions are well within their first amendment rights. Your continued insistence that, in airing their opinions, they have somehow robbed you of the right to express yours only proves their assertions that you are as ignorant of the law you claim to respect as you are intolerant of the freedom you claim to protect.
Our society will always need people who are willing to shout, "The Emperor has no clothes!" Unfortunately, Ms. Butler, the person standing bare-arsed in this crowd is you.
