In light of Google’s self-parodying firing of a worker who criticized the tech company for not allowing alternative thoughts, please forgive me for sharing some of the things I believe despite the counter-ethos of the cowardly, vengeful Left.
I believe human gender is determined at birth (except in the extremely rare case of a hermaphrodite born alive), and that Chiffon Margarine was right that “it’s not nice to fool Mother Nature.” But I don’t care one bit about how somebody acts sexually in private, as long as they “don’t do it in the streets and frighten the horses.” I further believe, however, that God might care how we behave – but that’s an issue between the person involved and God, and therefore none of my business.
My only responsibility is to treat everybody with dignity and respect unless they treat me or others without those courtesies.
I believe it is incontrovertible that, on average, there are innate differences between men and women, even apart from their bodies. On average, men are stronger. On average, women’s fine-motor coordination skills are better. On average, women’s minds tend to activate neuro-pathways from many brain regions on just about any subject, while men’s brains tend to keep each subject at immediate issue “more tightly coordinated within local brain regions.”
And the list of differences goes on. This doesn’t mean that every male is stronger than every female, or every female can do calligraphy better than every male. Each person should be judged on individual characteristics, not on their gender. But to pretend that gender differences in the aggregate don’t exist is to put ideology over reality.
I believe in free speech, and in a community’s right to ostracize anyone who flagrantly, rudely abuses that freedom. I believe we all should strive to be polite and considerate of others’ opinions, but that if we unknowingly, unintentionally offend another, nobody should make a federal case of it. I believe the term “micro-aggression” is one of the silliest words yet invented, and that if you can’t bear what you call micro-aggressions then you aren’t an emotionally-balanced adult.
I believe a society which is blasé about public vulgarity but has conniption fits over unintentional slights is a society whose values are upside down and backwards.
The only diversity I care about is what one friend wisely called “cognitive diversity.” I believe in official color-blindness under the law; and both in public life and private, I don’t care how many blacks or Asians or women or vertically-challenged people are in any group or any organization. Instead, I just want people to bring differing skills, opinions, and intellectual proclivities to the table. (I draw the line at Martians, however. We should build a wall to exclude all aliens until they have been thoroughly vetted.)
I believe all rules should apply equally, as rules, to all adults, except that the rules themselves, as part and parcel of being rules, should make distinctions for those who are handicapped. If people following the same rules achieve different results, so be it. And if the rules in the past weren’t fair, the first answer to that unfairness lies in making sure the rules are equal now – and that the second solution is to encourage private, voluntary action to help those who are struggling.
I believe the Judeo-Christian tradition is more conducive to effective charity and kindness than all other traditions. I believe the Judeo-Christian tradition is more conducive to reasonable, equal rule-making – to ordered liberty under clear but relatively unburdensome laws – than any other. And I believe that while the United States clearly must protect religious liberty and faith-based rights for all people, it is historically mendacious to claim our nation was not founded in the Judeo-Christian tradition, or that our Constitution is hostile to faith in the public square.
I believe that Muslims are treated much better, by an astronomical degree, in the United States and Western Europe (and in Israel for that matter) than Christians and Jews are treated in many Islamic nations.
As an American citizen, I know I have a right to say all of this and more, or to question in some ways the radical consensus on “global warming,” or to insist that concerns about widespread voter fraud are legitimate, or to wish the Googles of the world would atrophy and be replaced by companies less insane.
And if a Swahili-Hispanic lesbian with a club foot wants to join with me in pushing these values, she will be welcomed to my team with friendly, open arms. And if not, well, I’ll still love her for being human.
Quin Hillyer (@QuinHillyer) is a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog. He is a former associate editorial page editor for the Washington Examiner.
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