In its bigotry, North Carolina makes Jesse Helms proud—again / Hal Crowther

[Mira]

We're having a bigot's revival and a bully's carnival in North Carolina, and the infection may be spreading



Illustration by Nathan Golub

Hal Crowther is an all time favorite columnist and writer
I'm always glad when he chimes in. See if you don't agree...



For all of us who still read newspapers, May 9 was a morning for banner headlines in North Carolina. The good news was that Raleigh's own Josh Hamilton—the tattooed, star-crossed, substance-tormented Texas Rangers superstar—had hit four home runs in a night game against Baltimore.
Hamilton is the fourth player to hit four in a game in this century, and only the 16th in the history of Major League Baseball. It's a feat even more rare than pitching a perfect game: In the first 100 years of the American League, it happened only three times. He added a double to set the league record of 18 total bases. When he's healthy, sober and properly aligned, Hamilton is the closest thing we'll ever see to an incarnation of Roy Hobbs, "The Natural" of Bernard Malamud's novel and the Robert Redford movie—truly the best ballplayer on earth. Like the fictional Hobbs and the late Babe Ruth, who never hit four home runs in a game, Hamilton first came to the big league scouts' attention as an unhittable high school pitcher.

Against all odds Josh Hamilton, at 31, has become a great source of local pride in North Carolina. He provided all the pride that was still available May 9. The other banner headline confirmed that Tar Heel voters had passed the Republican "Marriage Amendment" to the state's constitution by a generous margin, 61 to 39 percent. We had joined 30 other states in codifying a belief that God Almighty Himself delivered the guidebook for human mating to a desert tribe in the Middle East a few millennia ago, and that He has no plans to update that guidebook, certainly not to indulge the domestic aspirations of homosexuals. (If you'd like to laugh out loud at those who would compel us to live our lives according to the Scriptures, please read the obsessive-compulsive Book of Leviticus.) North Carolina, which had edged toward political respectability since the death of Jesse Helms and its blue-state vote for Barack Obama in 2008, was once again a bad joke and the laughingstock of the moment for the national media.

The Marriage Amendment is a prime example of the cruel mischief, the legislative vandalism that belligerent reactionaries have been committing all over the map since their unfortunate resurgence in the 2010 elections. They love to interpret ancient texts like the Bible or the Koran (and the U.S. Constitution?) to justify contemporary prejudices and pathologies. Remember that the Bible was also quoted to legitimize segregation and misogyny, and not so long ago slavery. If some remote corner of your mind still harbors the notion that God is a straight white man, friend, I can guarantee you that no wisdom will ever come your way.
"If you don't like change, you're going to like irrelevance even less" is a quote attributed to former Army Chief of Staff Gen. Eric Shinseki. It merits consideration by the Republican Party and the Christian fundamentalists, and in this particular case by me, as well. Even Our Lord might benefit from thinking about it. (Blasphemy doesn't scare us old Unitarians.) No perceptive observer will deny that in 10 years' time, marriage, however it's defined, will be available to anyone who wants it. This knowledge requires a certain change of perspective, even for people like me who take the tolerant side of the argument. I applaud Barack Obama's conversion, but there are different ways of changing your mind about marriage. Is it a bit of a surprise to see modern marriage held in such universally high esteem, both by bigots who defend it like a fortress and by their victims who pursue it like a prize?
You bet it is. A few years ago, when a radio interviewer asked me if I supported marriage for gay people, I replied semi-facetiously that I supported it only for gay people. Some comedian, asked the same question, answered "Sure, why should they escape?"

for the rest go to the source:


http://www.indyweek.com/indyweek/in-its-bigotry-north-carolina-makes-jesse-helms-proudandmdashagain/Content?oid=3076253

[LiberalAndProud]

1. Excellent! This is so good all the way through.

In the middle of it all, there is this.

If Bolton had been sitting at Hillary Clinton's desk, with some insecure cipher like Romney to set him loose, there's little doubt that Tehran would be in ashes and a world war under way.

I just added Hal to my list of favorites and must-reads.

[Mira]

2. I'm glad you recognize his Genius

I have read him (whenever possible) since he taught me the phrase: "no discernible learning curve" when he talked about Jesse Helms when he was still alive.

His wife is the novelist Lee Smith
http://www.leesmith.com/

[dixiegrrrrl]

3. Oh, Mira, this guy is a hoot!!!!

Thank you for sharing him with us. I shall add him to my "must reads".
he reminds me a bit of Juanita Jean.( dot com).....
I had dispared since Molly Ivins passed of ever having a stitch in my side while reading good old fashioned political invective, but now I can relax, if Crowther's other stuff is this good.

[Dread Pirate Roberts]

4. I laughed, I cried

This time the rest of the country didn't laugh or sneer at us. It stared in amazement, in horror. This was just one bigot, one idiot, but members of his congregation were whooping and laughing and murmuring "Amen." The Rev. Worley also called President Obama "a baby killer and a homosexual lover." Something is bringing the vermin out of the woodwork; someone's encouraging the worst among us to speak out and step forward. That someone appears to be a crop of new "leaders" who call themselves Republicans and, most ironically, Christians. What they've unleashed feels more like a pogrom than a culture war. We're having a bigot's revival and a bully's carnival in North Carolina, and the infection may be spreading. A lot of us are terribly ashamed, and a whole lot more should be.

Its funny and its horrifying at the same time!

[dixiegrrrrl]

5. "Rush Limbaugh, whose next failed marriage will be his fourth,"

[Jim Lane]

6. He's too optimistic about 2022.

From the linked article: "No perceptive observer will deny that in 10 years' time, marriage, however it's defined, will be available to anyone who wants it."

I don't claim to be particularly perceptive, but I deny this. I'd say 10 years is a good guess for when the majority of Americans will live in jurisdictions that recognize same-sex marriage, and those who are in such marriages can receive the appropriate federal benefits (Social Security, etc.). There will still be holdouts, though. How, in 10 years, could marriage equality come to places like Utah? I can't see the right-wingers in the deep red states overcoming their bigotry in only 10 years. I also can't see it being imposed on them from outside, i.e., a federal reverse DOMA.

Recognition of interracial marriages came state by state, and then, after decades of the civil rights movement, nationally through a Supreme Court decision. Something similar will probably happen with same-sex marriage.