So the media frenzy as
of late is shrouded around Dan Cathy, the president & COO of
Chick-Fil-A. Now with any story that
makes headlines all over the country, it also sparks all of the mouth-breathers
on facebook and twitter to sound off with their views on the subject, with all
of their infinite wisdom and intellect.
Before I get into
making some of my points, let’s first take a look at exactly what Mr. Cathy
said. In an interview with the Baptist
Press, Cathy is quoted as saying, “We are
very much supportive of the family -- the biblical definition of the family
unit. We are a family-owned business, a family-led business, and we are married
to our first wives. We give God thanks for that...we know that it might not be
popular with everyone, but thank the Lord, we live in a country where we can
share our values and operate on biblical principles”. He further reiterated his stance when he did
an interview on “The Ken Coleman Show”, where he remarked, “I think we are inviting God's judgment on
our nation when we shake our fist at Him and say, 'We know better than you as
to what constitutes a marriage,' and I pray God's mercy on our generation that
has such a prideful, arrogant attitude to think that we have the audacity to
try to redefine what marriage is about”.
He has also donated millions of dollars to anti-gay groups and
organizations.
These things that Mr.
Cathy said are well within his rights to do so.
That’s one of the perks of living in America…you can say whatever you
want (even if it’s completely void of merit and morality, or promotes
hatred). However, even though you are
legally allowed to say what you want, there are still consequences…some good,
some bad. In Dan Cathy’s case, it’s
both. As they say, there’s no such thing
as bad press. With the backlash of
Cathy’s comments, Chick-Fil-A is at the forefront of newspapers, blogs, radio,
and television. While the gay/lesbian community
is outraged, others have flocked to buy chicken sandwiches to show support. This week, Chick-Fil-A has shown record high
sales. Dan Cathy: religious bigot or
marketing genius? Makes you wonder.
As with any big story
making headlines, invariably my facebook and twitter feeds are exploding with
people sounding off with their opinions.
I’m always interested to read these opinions, because it gives me a
pretty good stranglehold on how the typical American thinks. And as usual, I’m left disappointed on how
far we haven’t come.
Here’s my take on this
whole thing. First let me start by
giving my views on homosexuality and gay marriage. I accept it. I don’t understand it, but I accept it. I don’t understand how a dude can be
attracted to another dude. That’s
unfathomable to me. If I see two guys
being affectionate to one another, I throw up in my mouth a little bit. Now girls on the other hand…I get it. Three hot women pillow fighting. One thing leads to another. They start caressing each other and kissing,
while slowly slipping off their lingerie to the floor. Mmmmm. Whoa…sorry about that. I just wondered into an alternate universe
and into the writings of the book series, “Fifty Shades of Gay”. What was I talking about, now? Oh yeah. Like I said, I will never understand
homosexuality, but I accept it. They’re
people like you and me. And citizens of
the United States of America all have the same rights, regardless of gender, race,
religion, or sexual orientation (well at least we are supposed to, anyway).
However, in simple-minded America, there are too many people who have this
mindset: “If you have different beliefs or opinions as me, or like different
things than I like, you’re not allowed to be around anymore”. And, unfortunately, many of the people with
this mindset are in our government, doing their best to ensure that certain
Americans aren’t given equal
rights.
Now, the basis behind
Mr. Cathy’s quotes comes from religion.
He is a Christian, and uses the bible as the foundation of his beliefs.
Trust me folks, if you look to the bible for morality and principles, you are
barking up the wrong tree. If you have
read my past blog posts, you know that I am an atheist. Nothing can lead a person to atheism faster
than reading the bible. When you go to
church on Sundays, you will no doubt hear your preacher/pastor/priest/whatever
read many passages from the bible that will make you feel all warm and fuzzy
inside. As well he should…it’s called
selling your product. Here’s what you
might not know about the bible: it
condones and promotes murder and slavery.
Are you shocked and appalled that you just read that? Don’t worry, I wouldn’t say that without
giving you examples. Just in case you
think I’m making this stuff up, stop what you’re doing and go get your bible,
so that way you can read along.
Kill People Who Don't Listen to
Priests
Anyone arrogant enough to reject the
verdict of the judge or of the priest who represents the LORD your God must be
put to death. Such evil must be purged from Israel. (Deuteronomy 17:12)
Kill Homosexuals
If a man lies with a male as with a women, both of them shall be put to
death for their abominable deed; they have forfeited their lives. (Leviticus 20:13)
Death for Adultery
If a man commits adultery with
another man's wife, both the man and the woman must be put to death. (Leviticus 20:10)
Death for Fornication
A priest's daughter who loses her
honor by committing fornication and thereby dishonors her father also, shall be
burned to death. (Leviticus 21:9)
Kill Nonbelievers
They entered into a covenant to seek
the Lord, the God of their fathers, with all their heart and soul; and everyone
who would not seek the Lord, the God of Israel, was to be put to death, whether
small or great, whether man or woman.
(2 Chronicles 15:12-13)
Kill Women
Who Are Not Virgins On Their Wedding Night
But if this charge is true, and
evidence of the girls virginity is not found, they shall bring the girl to the
entrance of her fathers house and there her townsman shall stone her to death,
because she committed a crime against Israel by her unchasteness in her
father's house. Thus shall you purge the evil from your midst. (Deuteronomy 22:20-21)
Kill Men, Women, and Children
"Then I heard the LORD say to
the other men, "Follow him through the city and kill everyone whose
forehead is not marked. Show no mercy; have no pity! Kill them all – old and
young, girls and women and little children. But do not touch anyone with the
mark. Begin your task right here at the Temple." So they began by killing
the seventy leaders. "Defile the Temple!" the LORD commanded.
"Fill its courtyards with the bodies of those you kill! Go!" So they
went throughout the city and did as they were told." (Ezekiel 9:5-7)
God Kills all the First Born of
Egypt
And at midnight the LORD killed all
the firstborn sons in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn son of Pharaoh, who
sat on the throne, to the firstborn son of the captive in the dungeon. Even the
firstborn of their livestock were killed. Pharaoh and his officials and all the
people of Egypt woke up during the night, and loud wailing was heard throughout
the land of Egypt. There was not a single house where someone had not died. (Exodus 12:29-30)
Slaves,
anyone?
If you buy a Hebrew slave, he is to serve for only six years. Set
him free in the seventh year, and he will owe you nothing for his freedom. If
he was single when he became your slave and then married afterward, only he
will go free in the seventh year. But if he was married before he became a
slave, then his wife will be freed with him. If his master gave him a wife
while he was a slave, and they had sons or daughters, then the man will be free
in the seventh year, but his wife and children will still belong to his master.
But the slave may plainly declare, 'I love my master, my wife, and my children.
I would rather not go free.' If he does this, his master must present him
before God. Then his master must take him to the door and publicly pierce his
ear with an awl. After that, the slave will belong to his master forever.
(Exodus 21:2-6)
Selling Your daughter into
Slavery
When a man sells his daughter as a slave, she will not be freed at
the end of six years as the men are. If she does not please the man who bought
her, he may allow her to be bought back again. But he is not allowed to sell
her to foreigners, since he is the one who broke the contract with her. And if
the slave girl's owner arranges for her to marry his son, he may no longer
treat her as a slave girl, but he must treat her as his daughter. If he himself
marries her and then takes another wife, he may not reduce her food or clothing
or fail to sleep with her as his wife. If he fails in any of these three ways,
she may leave as a free woman without making any payment. (Exodus 21:7-11)
I think you get the idea. Like I said, if you’re looking to the bible
for morality and principle, look elsewhere.
That book is one contradiction after another. Having said all of that, I still don’t care
if you want to be religious or not.
That’s yet another one of our freedoms…freedom of religion. You can
believe what you want to believe. The
problem, however, is when those beliefs affect the lives of others in a
negative way. That’s why religion has no
business in government. We end up with
legislation that negates equality for everyone across the board.
Now I know what else you’re thinking:
“But Marcus, what about the ‘traditional marriage’??” This is another term that I see getting
thrown around by you good folks on facebook and twitter. What exactly does “traditional marriage”
mean? Sure, I know what you think it means: marriage between a man
and a woman. Well let’s examine some
statistics about this sanctity of marriage that you all are fighting so hard to
protect:
· Almost 49 percent of the marriages end up in
divorces
· 60
percent of all divorces are related to individuals aged 25 to 39
· Over a 40 year period, 67 percent of first
marriages terminate in a divorce and 50 percent of these divorces take place
within the first 7 years
· Every year more than 1 million children are
affected by divorce
· The possibility that teenaged girls from single
parent homes would give birth to an out-of-wedlock child or would drop out of
high school is two times as compared to girls living with both parents
· The children who are brought up in single parent
homes display a lesser possibility to marry and more possibility to divorce
· 50 percent of the children in the country are a
witness to the breakup of their parent’s marriage. Almost half of these 50
percent are a witness to the second divorce of a parent
So roughly half of
marriages end up in divorce. Most of these divorces involve children (who are
privileged enough to witness fighting and verbal abuse on a regular
basis). Then they are dragged through an
exhausting and ugly custody battle in court.
Yeah, “traditional marriage” is a beautiful thing, isn’t it? You’d hate
for the gays to ruin such a perfect thing, right? When you say that you are against gay
marriage, I present this question to you: So you think it’s perfectly fine for
a man and a woman who fight constantly, cheat on each other, and would rather
be at the bar than home with their spouse and children have every right to get
married….but a gay couple who genuinely love each other and have built a healthy
relationship based on mutual respect and trust have no right to be
married? If you answered “yes” to that
question, then congratulations…you’re mentality is what’s wrong with the world.
Now we come back full circle to freedom of speech. Many of you on the social networks are
boasting the term ”freedom of speech” with such American pride. Here’s the funny thing about freedom of
speech: people only support it when they agree with the speech. When you disagree
with it, you’re telling that ignorant person to shut the fuck up. For those of you that don’t know…that’s
called hypocrisy. Let me present a
couple of scenarios to you. The president
of Burger King goes public with his view that black people and white people
should not be allowed to get married because it’s not “traditional”. He has also donated millions to white
supremacy groups. Do you defend him with
your freedom of speech routine? Or how
about this: the president of Taco Bell goes public with his view that women
should only cook and clean and be their husband’s servant…because that’s their
“traditional” role. Will there be a
mile-long line of people waiting to buy tacos to show their support? When it comes down to it, this whole
Chick-Fil-A fiasco is no different than those two examples. It’s a group of people who are blatantly
discriminating against another group of people.
Look folks, when it comes to homosexuality, I’m not saying
you have to like it or even agree with it.
But whether you like it or not, you’re going to have to accept it. It’s been around since the dawn of mankind,
and it always will be. So they make you
uncomfortable? Well, honestly, in some
instances they make me uncomfortable too.
But for every gay person that makes me uncomfortable, there are ten
straight people who make me so angry I could strangle them to fucking
death. It’s this giant bouillabaisse we
call America. We are all different
people, with different backgrounds, different lifestyles, different interests,
different goals, and different opinions.
If we could all just accept each other’s differences without constantly
fighting about them, we could start getting on the right track to making this
world a better place for everybody. Even
more so, you should spend your efforts tending your own little lot in life,
rather than telling others how they should be living theirs.
Each and every one of us have one thing in common: we want ourselves
and our loved ones to lead a happy life.
But discrimination, bigotry, hatred, and fear of those unlike yourself
are constantly preventing many people the opportunity for true happiness. When is it ever going to end?