I am just about the most strongly pro-Israeli, anti-Palestinian person you would ever find in the world, outside of Bibi Netanyahu’s inner circles. So this is a genuine case of Nixon going to China.
What happened to us? When did we become so weak? When did “freedom from personal offense” become a Constitutionally guaranteed right of Americans?
When did our job security become dependent on holding and expressing socially sanctioned views (ostensibly) shared by everyone else in society? (Pluralistic ignorance, anyone?) Why can’t different people hold different opinions? Isn’t that the true diversity? Why does diversity matter for everything except for opinions? Why can’t we tolerate others who hold different views from us? Why does everybody have to believe the same things?
What happened to our God-given and Constitutionally guaranteed right to be wrong and stupid? Why can’t we say wrong and stupid things without losing our jobs? (And it’s not always the wrong things. Both Lawrence H. Summers and James D. Watson lost their jobs for making scientifically accurate but politically incorrect statements in public.) What happened to the right of every American to be a bitch or an asshole? When did we lose it? When did being a bitch or an asshole cease to be a personality trait and become a felony?
Jews are a tough people (according to Kyle Broflovki). Why do they need to be protected from the words of a diminutive and frail 89-year-old woman, who has absolutely no political power, and, incidentally, not much journalistic influence either? Why does any of us have to be protected from the opinions and words of anyone, let alone Helen Thomas? When did words become sticks and stones? What exactly are we afraid of?
Why does everybody have to be politically correct? Why can’t some people just be wrong and stupid? And offensive?
We used to be the greatest and strongest nation on earth, proud of our rugged individualism. When did we become a nation of cookie-cutter pussies?
