Live and let live -or- I won't tolerate intolerance

Two things happened to catch my eye simulaneously this evening.. I was re-reading the newspaper while I had the TV on in the background. Just as I was scanning through an article about recent legislation signed by the governor of South Dakota that limits/prohibits protesting at funerals (the radical "Christian" God Hates Fags Church has been protesting at local servicemen's funerals because those servicemen died for America, which has the ungodly gall to allow homosexuals to live and, dare I say it, be treated almost like equals), I caught a moment of that stellar reality series "Wife Swap" where the two mismatched/swapped couples were experiencing their own levels of intolerance. One redneck husband was offended that his newly swapped wife asked him to take down the confederate flag in his yard, while his swapped wife was telling her equally mismatched new husband that the rule was that an American flag had to be put up in his yard. These two swapped couples, both from the South, were truly two ends of the spectrum: liberal, free-spirited, PETA vegetarians vs. flag-waving, gun-toting man-of-the-house conservatives.

What do these two seemingly unrelated things have in common? Tolerance, or, perhaps, the lack thereof. What happened to the semi-golden rule of LIVE and LET LIVE? Why has this contry become so incredibly polarized on every issue? (I thought 'king W., Our Leader, was a "uniter, not a divider"!?!) While I'm not a fan of the "Wife Swap" show, at least it requires the participants to walk 10 days in someone else's shoes. And, in the end, both families learned a little something and made a few changes. Imagine that an experience outside of one's own little world would open the mind!

That's maybe why I went back to reading the article about protests at funerals, shaking my head a little. I've recently read somewhere that the right to free speech essentially boils down to the right to offend. If we have strong opinions on something (government, god/God, abortion, same-sex marriage, stem cell research, red vs. blue, the earth is round) and we talk about them, we will, no doubt, offend someone. I have to agree that freedom of speech is essentially freedom to offend. And it does offend me that someone would picket a funeral with a sign that reads "God Hates Fags" and chant about how the deceased is going to go to hell for defending a country that allows "fags". And even though I have to grit my teeth and bear their opionions because I believe in free speech, it still riles me that this would happen at a serviceman's funeral or at a funeral for someone who may have been homosexual. What purpose does it serve but to bring more pain to the family that is already grieving? Funerals are not political hotbeds.

We all need to constantly learn and re-learn to live and let live, be tolerant and be tolerated. That's why America has been great. Tying it into one more current event, I worry about the riots by Muslims in Denmark over the publication of cartoons that depict their holy prophet Muhammed--apparently any representation of their prophet makes even moderate Muslims go ga-ga!--and the reaction of the Danish press and the media of most other Western counties backing off. This is where the freedom of the press begins to erode. What next, will the media back away from the tough questions for our president when it comes to his Christian background? Oh, wait, they already have backed off of the tough questions on every issue.

It's come down to the age-old battle of fundamentalism vs. freedom; unquestioned dogma vs. free-thinking inquirey; "God said" vs. what science shows us; theocracy vs. democracy. I hope we don't go back to the Dark Ages where everything was stifled because those in power would not allow dissent (blashphemy). How far are we away from reinstating the Spanish Inquisition?

Two final thoughts: 1) Watch more South Park - they offend EVERYBODY EQUALLY! 2) I hope that each and every one of those religious fundamentalists have to face a situation where a daugter comes to them pregnant and unmarried and/or a son reveals he's gay and/or one of their children has died fighting for this country. It may help them open their minds and wipe those scales from their eyes... Sigh...