Chris Bord February 20, 2016 Bits

Supreme Idiocy

Ding, dong, Scalia’s dead. I’m happy about it, and I’m not going to apologize – frankly, I’m puzzled by Internet pleas of “Why can’t we all just get along?” Fr. James Martin, SJ (a writer I respect), posted a widely-shared remembrance by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg, Scalia’s close friend. Martin was dismayed at the negative comments about Scalia, saying if Scalia’s ideological opposite could post fond remembrances, surely we might all learn something from that?

When I posted my immediate reaction to news of Scalia’s death last week, somebody commented, “How does it feel to be filled with so much hate?” That person cited Scalia’s wonderful wife, and his nine children. Ah, yes. The marriage and abundant family Scalia not only went out of his way to ensure others couldn’t have, but so often wrote so colorfully about WHY THEY WERE WRONG to even want such an unnatural thing to begin with. Lawyer friends have said that Scalia influenced their understanding and practice of the law. Which is great, but as a non-lawyer, I’ll crassly say that Scalia’s “originalist” interpretation of the Constitution was pretty convenient for a homophobe. (Not only did the Founding Fathers not explicitly allow same sex couples to marry, they clearly also didn’t intend for women or blacks to have an equal say in government, which must have been a daily irritant for Antonin Scalia.)

If I marry or befriend an asshole, my friendship doesn’t absolve the asshole of his assholery. Also, it’s not out of order for a right-thinking person to question my allegiance – what is my responsibility to ensure my asshole friend doesn’t make others’ lives miserable? Scalia used his position to maintain a world order he thought was right – an order that corresponded not only with his Constitutional interpretation, but with his faith and his preferred traditions (in the 1960’s, Scalia travelled to find Roman Catholic churches that rejected Vatican II changes to the liturgy.)

My family and friends includes several homosexuals, same-sex couples, as well as children of those unions. My extended family includes people who have called Justice Scalia a “patriot,” and several who plan to vote for one of the Presidential candidates who have pledged to roll back same-sex marriage. What. The. Fuck. By all means, let’s be nice to each other, while we stab our family members in the back – and who gives a shit about the kids? (Because family values are what we say they are, damnit.) It’s all just ideas, why can’t we be nice to each other?

Nice is fine when you’ve already got it good. (Family members: I’m voting for people who aren’t promising to dissolve our family. You should be voting for the same people, because we’ve all got plenty of money. And by the way – Chick-fil-A was giving money to groups that were advocating to forcibly remove children from same-sex households. That remains unforgivable in my book. UN-FUCKING-FORGIVABLE, please tell your pastors.)

Sigh. I write that as preface to this… Today, people are talking about what a “disgrace” it is that President Obama isn’t honoring Justice Scalia by attending his funeral Mass. What honor, exactly, does the President owe a deceased Supreme Court Justice? (There’s precedent, but nothing consistent.) Although President Obama attended a memorial service for Scalia at the Supreme Court, that’s not enough for some, including some in my family. Nevermind that Scalia’s family and associates said it wasn’t appropriate for President Obama to attend the burial Mass… WE NEED TO SCORE POINTS FOR OUR SIDE (which we’re forgetting/ignoring also wants to disenfranchise our friends and family members.)

So, yeah. Scalia was a patriot, a hero. “The little man fending off the bulldozer” of leftism. A true hero of the Faith. He was a guy who used his intellect and position to defend and perpetuate societal attitudes from the 1700s. It still amazes me how politically conservative Christians seem comfortable ignoring Scripture passages that command mercy (if Jesus preached today, it seems unlikely he’d vote Republican.) If we’re “nice” to Scalia (who is dead), we betray those Scalia worked so hard to keep down. Maybe those aren’t your people, but they’re mine.

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Paul on February 20, 2016 at 8:19 pm
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When I’m getting ready for work, I often toggle the TV between ESPN’s Mike & Mike and MS-NBC’s Joe Scarborough. I like JS, as I would characterize him as Center-Right. And as someone who’s a mostly-Lefty, I enjoy having my positions challenged… and JS pulls off be a Conservative without being totally bat-shit crazy.

With the recent LGBT sea changes, there are also intense feelings that accompany then. On both sides of the political aisle. But JS made a point that still resonates: Until 2012, even President Obama was publicly against these changes. I don’t keep track of these things, but I’ll bet there were very few national level mainstream politicians who could claim to have been on the leading edge of this issue(s).

George Carlin had routine that was a linguistic analysis of the words “fag” and “queer”. This was in the mid-1970s. He performed it on the Tonight Show. The ‘bit’ ended with the climatic line “The difference between a fag and a queer is that… a fag is someone who won’t go downtown to beat up queers.” It brought down the house. Just wow. One cannot imagine even GC would ever do schtick about lynchings.

You and I share a Sunday morning rubric. One that is presumably as meaningful for you as for me. But we also both know the destruction that can emanate from so-called houses of worship. Case in point: My favorite Town Clerk.

So… what’s my point here, in terms of tying it all into the death of our beloved Antonin? I’m not really sure. But as a culture, I think we’re still in the middle of this paradigm shift. As one of my favorite authors used to say, “And so it goes.”

Good to see you being prolific again. After what one assumes was a difficult January.
- 2
  
  Chris Bord on February 21, 2016 at 9:04 am
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  Scalia was probably not batshit crazy, although he came close when he justified stopping the FL recount in the Presidential election by saying if the recount produced a different result, people would lose confidence in the electoral process; football is our national religion, after all, and we’re pretty comfortable challenging calls using the replay.
  
  And sure, there were plenty of politicians, like many in society, who used to be against LGBT equality, and came around. But I distinguish between those who “do no harm” (they don’t agree with homosexuality, but they aren’t going to stop others from doing it) and those who actively discriminate.
  
  This example jumps to mind – I might, as a critic, write a negative piece about your actor sons. You could probably accept that, even if you didn’t like it. But if I then used my influence to ensure they wouldn’t be hired anymore, you’d rightly think I went too far. Maybe people would even tell you to “be nice” to me, because everyone is entitled to their opinions, after all, and can’t we all just get along? You might say, “Chris is entitled to his opinions, but he isn’t entitled to exercise control over my sons’ lives because of those opinions.”
  
  Scalia was fine allowing people like him to live as he did, but he drew the line when people who weren’t like him wanted the same privileges. That’s discrimination, and Scalia had a rhetorical fit when the majority of his colleagues decided to allow marriage equality. (He didn’t think gays were qualified to lead Boy Scouts, either. Somehow, he was OK with women doing it.)
  
  There’s a video of Marco Rubio speaking with two men, a married couple, in New Hampshire. Rubio says (to these married guys) that he believes marriage should be between a man and a woman, and if they wanted to be married they should petition their legislature to change the law. Of course, that’s what happened in New Hampshire – same sex marriage has been legal there since 2010. Turns out, Rubio isn’t as much a fan of the rule of law as he proclaims (his ignorance of New Hampshire’s laws notwithstanding.) He’s promised, if elected, to roll back marriage equality nationwide. I have no doubt that Scalia, had he lived, would also keep pushing for that outcome. Not because of his respect for the laws and processes of our country, but because he believed homosexuality was wrong, and was willing to use his position to enforce his opinion.
  
  Back during the Chick-fil-A kerfuffle, I got into a heated discussion with a family member who pointed out all the wonderful things Chick-fil-A did. I countered that they gave money to a group that had published ads encouraging people to kidnap children of same-sex couples – and the fact that such an ad might directly impact people related to us trumped “everyone is entitled to their opinion.” Chick-fil-A’s owners had an opinion they wanted to see carried out, against others they disapproved of. That’s the kind of stuff that makes my blood boil.
  
  My brother says he’s a fiscsal conservative, but social liberal. He justifies supporting asshats like Rubio by saying, “He won’t be able to actually roll back marriage equality, he’s just saying that to get elected.” To which I reply, it’s more subtle than that. Leaders and preachers keep saying “Marriage should be between one man and one woman,” and that constant message eventually does actual harm to actual people. It justifies those who might discriminate. It encourages bullies. Etc.
  
  Thanks for the comment, Paul. January was much tougher than I’d expected it would be.

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