The Bullying Tactics of the Tolerance Police

I ran across three stories this week that illustrate how the left doesn’t want tolerance from those who disagree with them on gay marriage and the LGBT agenda.  They want compliance, they want agreement, and if they can’t get it they’ll ostracize you, boycott you, or have you fired.

Brendan Eich donated $1000 in support of the Proposition 8 campaign six years ago.  In 2008, 52% of Californians voted for a Constitutional Amendment defining marriage as a union between one man and one woman.  It was later struck down in Federal district court by a homosexual judge and then last summer the Supreme Court punted on the case so the ruling stands.

Eich was the CEO of Mozilla the developer of Mozilla Firefox, a web browser that some of our readers may use, but forcibly resigned yesterday after his donation came to light.  Mitchell Baker, the executive chairwoman of Mozilla, wrote on the company’s blog:

Mozilla prides itself on being held to a different standard and, this past week, we didn’t live up to it. We know why people are hurt and angry, and they are right: it’s because we haven’t stayed true to ourselves.

We didn’t act like you’d expect Mozilla to act. We didn’t move fast enough to engage with people once the controversy started. We’re sorry. We must do better.

Brendan Eich has chosen to step down from his role as CEO. He’s made this decision for Mozilla and our community.

Mozilla believes both in equality and freedom of speech. Equality is necessary for meaningful speech. And you need free speech to fight for equality. Figuring out how to stand for both at the same time can be hard.

Our organizational culture reflects diversity and inclusiveness. We welcome contributions from everyone regardless of age, culture, ethnicity, gender, gender-identity, language, race, sexual orientation, geographical location and religious views. Mozilla supports equality for all.

We have employees with a wide diversity of views. Our culture of openness extends to encouraging staff and community to share their beliefs and opinions in public. This is meant to distinguish Mozilla from most organizations and hold us to a higher standard. But this time we failed to listen, to engage, and to be guided by our community.

While painful, the events of the last week show exactly why we need the web. So all of us can engage freely in the tough conversations we need to make the world better.

So they support free speech, but not really.  Because a “culture of openness” evidently does not include those who believe in the traditional view of marriage.  Did Eich say anything inflammatory?  Did he actively discriminate against employees?  No, he gave $1000 of his own money to a cause he believed in (at the time anyway, I’m not sure where he currently stands).  He even took to his blog to make these commitments:

• Active commitment to equality in everything we do, from employment to events to community-building.
• Working with LGBT communities and allies, to listen and learn what does and doesn’t make Mozilla supportive and welcoming.
• My ongoing commitment to our Community Participation Guidelines, our inclusive health benefits, our anti-discrimination policies, and the spirit that underlies all of these.
• My personal commitment to work on new initiatives to reach out to those who feel excluded or who have been marginalized in ways that makes their contributing to Mozilla and to open source difficult.

Was that enough, no their needed to be a blood-letting, he was supposed to agree with gay marriage and somehow go back in time and not donate to Proposition 8.

Welcome to the police state of the new tolerance.

In my home state of Iowa, at the Governor’s Conference for LGBTQ Youth, Matt Sinovic, the executive director of the liberal advocacy group Progress Iowa, introduce a comic he introduced called Mighty Moxy where the villain “Bull Von Ploots” is patterned after Bob Vander Plaats, the executive director of The FAMiLY Leader.

Dar Danielson at Radio Iowa reports:

“We created Mighty Moxy to show that anyone can be a superhero by standing up to bullying, whether it exists in the classroom or outside the classroom. Unfortunately, many on the extreme right — Bob Vander Plaats is a prime example of this — but many on the extreme right use hateful rhetoric to do what we consider political bullying,” Sinovic said.

Sinovic unveiled the comic book at the annual Governors Conference on LGBTQ youth Tuesday. He said those who use “political bullying” do so to ostracize those they don’t agree with.

“So this comic, and using Bob Vander Plaats as the basis for our villain Bull Von Ploots, was designed to specifically help people stand up to that rhetoric,” Sinovic said.

Here is a page from the comic:

The FAMiLY Leader responded in an email to supporters:

As much as we are disappointed in the villainous portrayal of Bob Vander Plaats (as “Bull Von Ploots”) in a  28-page comic book, we are more concerned about the message it sends to students across Iowa.  Will they now be concerned about being ostracized and demonized (bullied) when they express values and beliefs different from those promoted by Progress Iowa?

Bullying anyone, for any reason, is never acceptable.  We at The FAMiLY LEADER would like to see bullying come to an end.  However, our fear is when intentionally destructive messaging is given a platform at such a conference, it propels the dangerous patterns of bullying.  Rather than fostering civility and understanding over our disagreements, these immature tactics fuel division, destructive behavior, and victimization.

Our Founding Fathers have it right. To have safe and strong schools staging an optimum learning environment, students need to be taught morals.  This is why, until 1963, the Bible was taught in public schools as a resource for moral instruction.  Until we restore moral teachings and bring the timeless lessons from scripture back into the lives of our children, we are going to continue to see unsafe schools that fail to perform.  We believe the Golden Rule, based on Luke 6 verse 31, “Treat others the way you want to be treated,” is a good place for all of us to start.

The team at The FAMiLY LEADER, is declining any encouragement to respond in like-manner to Progress Iowa’s intentional, demeaning attack on our President, Bob Vander Plaats, and all of those who share our embrace of God’s design for marriage, family, and sexuality.

A classy response to a juvenile attempt at ostracizing those with whom you disagree.  A bully tactic at a conference that discourages bullying!

Chauncy Childs plans to open her new store, the Moreland Farmer’s Pantry in the Portland, OR area.  Local NBC affiliate KGW Channel 8 reported:

The Moreland Farmer’s Pantry will offer fresh produce, raw milk and foods that are free of genetic engineering.

Westmoreland resident Sean O’Riordan was looking forward to the store opening. But his neighbors started expressing concern to him.

“People were then starting to say, ‘Did you see the owner’s Facebook page?” O’Riordan said.

O’Riordan didn’t like the store owner’s posts regarding gay people and same sex marriage. For him it’s very personal. He lost his gay brother to AIDS.

“He was loyal to a fault and would do anything for you,” O’Riordan said. “He was persecuted because he was gay, and it’s not a right. It’s not a right.”

O’Riorden made a YouTube video highlighting the business owner’s posts, including an article headlined “Yes, of course a business owner should have the right to refuse service to gay people.”

Here is the video he made:

Childs believes stores can refuse service, I agree.  They should be able to – freedom of association.  She said she wouldn’t actually practice that however.  Neither would I.  Selling say – milk – to a homosexual wouldn’t make me violate my conscience, catering a reception for a same-sex wedding would however.

Those who do exercise a refusal of service understand the free market, and that may mean boycotts.  I chose to boycott Starbucks for instance (and have for the most part kept up with it except for a couple of instances outside of my control) because of the company donating money to support same-sex marriage.  I support companies like this one.  Had the Starbucks CEO did it with his own personal money and kept the company out of it though I probably would still be enjoying Starbucks.  However, this owner expressed her beliefs about what her rights actually are.  She isn’t even open yet.

She said she will donate to a gay suicide prevention group.  I’m sure that won’t be enough however.

You will be forced to change your personal beliefs even if it means driving you out of business.  You will be force to adapt to the new definition of tolerance.

Remember the good old days when tolerance used to mean we actually had a disagreement and you were not cowed into submission?