Connect with us

Dancing With Bristol Palin’s Perversion Of Tolerance

Published

on

When people feel the need to state explicitly how “tolerant” they are, it’s usually a sign that something is amiss. Such is the case with Bristol Palin’s recent blog post, where she declares that she would have no problem with a gay dance partner, but laments that others are unwilling to extend the same tolerance to certain Christian beliefs:

In their simplistic minds, the fact that I’m a Christian, that I believe in God’s plan for marriage, means that I must hate gays and must hate to even be in their presence. Well, they were right about one thing: there was hate in that media room, but the hate was theirs, not mine. …

Look, my responsibility is pretty darn clear: to treat people as I would like to be treated, to be gracious, and – yes – to uphold and advance my Christian principles in all that I do. Would I want a gay dancer to refuse to dance with me because of my beliefs? Why would I refuse to dance with a gay man because of his?

To the Left, “tolerance” means agreeing with them on, well, everything. To me, tolerance means learning to live and work with each other when we don’t agree – and won’t ever agree.

At first glance, this seems like a pretty straightforward example of tolerance: I accept you, can’t you accept me? The problem is that, in this case, the ideal of tolerance is being used to call for inaction in the face of intolerance. Palin implicitly parallels two instances of tolerance – the first is simply tolerating the existence and presence of gay people; the second is tolerating the belief that the defining feature of gay people, as embodied in their relationships, is immoral and should be legally treated as unequal.

These are clearly quite different things. Under a meaningful understanding of what tolerance is, there are indeed some beliefs that are simply unacceptable – indeed, they are intolerable. Think about it: Is there any belief that you would consider so unreasonable and inhumane that passively tolerating it, and remaining silent in the face of it, would be more unacceptable to you than speaking out and letting it be known that you’re not okay with that? For instance, do you see no difference between women voting and those who would act to prevent them from voting, or gay people holding a parade and those who would seek to suppress them by violence, or women wearing the clothes of their choice and those who demand they be cloaked in veils, or gay people merely existing and others who want to execute them? At what point do you recognize that such things are not just two sides of one coin, not just an innocuous difference of opinion, and plainly not the same?

If you can acknowledge that it is possible for certain beliefs to be so troubling that you cannot accept them, then you can understand that this is only a matter of where we draw that line. And many of us draw the line at the belief that gay people’s love is immoral and should be legally unrecognized. If our commitment to tolerance has any teeth to it, then advocating tolerance of gay people necessarily precludes being okay with such anti-gay beliefs. After all, if someone claimed to tolerate your own beliefs, how much would that really mean to you if they never spoke out in protest when others called for such homophobic Christian speech to be criminalized? Such an obligation to object should at least be familiar on a conceptual level to Christians, who have often claimed that “loving” someone demands that we tell them the unvarnished “truth” about the supposed sinfulness of their sexuality.

Calling for tolerance, at the most basic level and regardless of the specifics of what we believe ought to be tolerated, means advocating one approach to beliefs and expressions over another. A kind of universal “tolerance” that says literally anything is okay negates that, and as a result, it’s barely even coherent or distinct as a position. At most, it has all the force of “I think this might be a good idea, but, you know… whatever.” If you think that tolerance of you or your beliefs is at all important, then realize that tolerance needs to be more compelling than that. Tolerance doesn’t mean agreeing with “the Left” – it means, at a minimum, agreeing that tolerance should actually stand for something. And if you expect to be admired for your tolerance, then espousing a position that amounts to “I’m so tolerant, I’ll never let anyone know I disapprove of prejudice against minorities!” isn’t the best way to make that happen.

Image, top: Bristol Palin and Mark Ballas, Dancing With The Stars, 2010

 

Zinnia Jones is an atheist activist, writer, and video blogger focusing on LGBTQ rights and religious belief. Originally from Chicago, she’s currently living in Florida with her partner Heather and their two children.

There's a reason 10,000 people subscribe to NCRM. You can get the news before it breaks just by subscribing, plus you can learn something new every day.

Related Topics:
Continue Reading
Click to comment
 
 

Enjoy this piece?

… then let us make a small request. The New Civil Rights Movement depends on readers like you to meet our ongoing expenses and continue producing quality progressive journalism. Three Silicon Valley giants consume 70 percent of all online advertising dollars, so we need your help to continue doing what we do.

NCRM is independent. You won’t find mainstream media bias here. From unflinching coverage of religious extremism, to spotlighting efforts to roll back our rights, NCRM continues to speak truth to power. America needs independent voices like NCRM to be sure no one is forgotten.

Every reader contribution, whatever the amount, makes a tremendous difference. Help ensure NCRM remains independent long into the future. Support progressive journalism with a one-time contribution to NCRM, or click here to become a subscriber. Thank you. Click here to donate by check.

News

‘Impossible to Lose’: Trump Pitches Strategy to Cement One-Party Rule

Published

1 hour ago

on

November 7, 2025

By

President Donald Trump renewed his demand that Republican senators eliminate the 60-vote filibuster, which he sees as one of the biggest roadblocks to achieving his far-reaching agenda. Now, he said he wants to eliminate the filibuster as a way to ensure permanent Republican control of the government.

The president has been calling for senators to act, despite Senate Majority Leader John Thune’s strong opposition to invoking the “nuclear option.”

In a lengthy Truth Social post last week, Trump expressed his agenda.

“It is now time for the Republicans to play their ‘TRUMP CARD,’ and go for what is called the Nuclear Option — Get rid of the Filibuster, and get rid of it, NOW!” he declared.

READ MORE: Trump Admin Starts Setting Stage for Recession — and Shifting the Blame

He warned that Democrats want to “substantially expand (PACK!) the United States Supreme Court, make Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico States (Thereby automatically picking up 4 Senate seats, many House seats, and at least 8 Electoral Votes!), and many other highly destructive things.”

“Well, now WE are in power, and if we did what we should be doing, it would IMMEDIATELY end this ridiculous, Country destroying ‘SHUT DOWN.'”

Trump then admitted: “I want to do it in order to take advantage of the Democrats….”

Trump has repeated his call to end the filibuster several times since then, most recently on Friday afternoon.

“The Democrats will do this,” he said of killing the filibuster, “so if the Democrats are gonna do it, I’m saying Republicans should do it before they get a chance.”

“It’s very simple,” Trump explained.

READ MORE: Democratic Rep. Interrupts Speaker Johnson — Accuses Him of ‘Lies’

“And if we do it, we will never lose the midterms, and we will never lose the general election, because we will have produced so many different things for our people — for the people, for the country — that it would be impossible to lose an election.”

Critics quickly weighed in with warnings.

“I thought the vice president Vance statement about ignoring judges would be it for today,” wrote The Steady State, a group of over 350 former national security and intelligence officials, referring to JD Vance’s apparent suggestion to ignore a federal judge’s order to release about $6 billion in SNAP funds.

“President Trump went a little farther in terms of crossing yet another red line,” the group continued, “explaining why he wants [the] filibuster gone he is very clear. One party rule. Elections that he and his never lose —— that is autocracy.”

READ MORE: ‘Make Lots of Trump Babies’: Dr. Oz Highlights Midterm Goals

 

Image via Reuters

Continue Reading

News

‘Unique Action’: Trump Admin Spins Flight Cancellations as Fix for Traveling Frustration

Published

4 hours ago

on

November 7, 2025

By

U.S. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy sought Friday to cast a positive light on the Federal Aviation Administration’s order requiring airlines to cut ten percent of flights at 40 major airports — a move prompted by overworked air traffic controllers who have gone weeks without pay as the government shutdown stretches into its 38th day with no immediate end in sight.

More than 800 flights nationwide were canceled on Friday, leaving some travelers “scrambling to figure out backup plans,” the Associated Press reported.

But According to Secretary Duffy, he has come up with a “unique action” that reduces a major frustration of air travel: flight delays.

READ MORE: Trump Admin Starts Setting Stage for Recession — and Shifting the Blame

“I asked the head of the air traffic controller union to reach out to his controllers, to ask them to show up. It is their jobs,” Duffy said on Friday.

“If they start coming to work, we may have the same experience we had in Newark: We had delays and cancellations in Newark in the early summer. We reduced the capacity, and then the flights were on time. Right?”

“It was the most on-time months we had in Newark ever,” he added. “So that could be an outcome of what we’re doing, and we’ll see probably more people on less flights, which means less pressure on controllers.”

READ MORE: ‘Make Lots of Trump Babies’: Dr. Oz Highlights Midterm Goals

Secretary Duffy also said, “There’s a very easy solution to the problem that they put directly on my lap, which is open the damn government. Vote to open the government, so those who snipe at me for having to take really unique action — they put that on my plate.”

Critics blasted Duffy.

Republican former U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger wrote: “Cutting flights because of the govt shutdown is a stunt, plain and simple.”

He also remarked, “We’re cutting flights and food because of the govt shutdown but ICE is out [in] full force!”

READ MORE: Democratic Rep. Interrupts Speaker Johnson — Accuses Him of ‘Lies’

Continue Reading

News

Trump Admin Starts Setting Stage for Recession — and Shifting the Blame

Published

7 hours ago

on

November 7, 2025

By

The Trump administration has begun quietly preparing Americans for the possibility that the economy may be nearing a recession — a broad and painful downturn that officials appear increasingly concerned may be on the horizon.

Economist Kevin Hassett, director of the Trump White House’s National Economic Council, on Friday laid both the groundwork and the blame for any impending recession.

“There’s holiday travel, but there’s business travel,” he told Fox Business’ Maria Bartiromo, as the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) cut ten percent of flights — about 700 — in 40 high-volume markets across the country as air traffic controllers, who have not been paid in weeks due to the federal government shutdown, are increasingly overworked and under financial strain.

“Business travel is a really big, important part of air travel, and if ten percent of business travel isn’t happening, those are deals that aren’t being cut, and hotel rooms that aren’t being filled,” Hassett explained. “And so the ripple effects, and then the multiplier effects of all that, are really, really large.”

READ MORE: ‘Make Lots of Trump Babies’: Dr. Oz Highlights Midterm Goals

“And so I think Secretary Bessent wisely said we’re starting to see pockets of the economy that look like they might be in a recession, that we’re not in a recession because of this, but there are pockets that are really hurting,” he added. “And if we go another month or so, then who knows how bad the economy could be this quarter?”

“And we know whose fault that will be,” Hassett said.

Hassett was referring to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s remarks earlier this week.

“I think that there are sectors of the economy that are in recession,” Bessent said on CNN on Sunday, as The New York Times reported.

“He described the economy as being in a ‘period of transition’ because of a pullback in government spending to reduce the deficit,” the Times added. “He called on the Fed[eral Reserve] to support the economy by cutting interest rates.”

The Times also explained the White House’s strategy:

“Mr. Bessent’s remarks added to pressure on the Fed and deflected blame from Mr. Trump in case the economy does ultimately face a downturn, reinforcing a strategy that has been in place since the start of the year. As the administration has imposed aggressive tariffs on nearly all of America’s trading partners and slashed federal spending, potentially slowing growth, it has sought to pin blame squarely on the Fed in the event of an economic downturn.”

READ MORE: Democratic Rep. Interrupts Speaker Johnson — Accuses Him of ‘Lies’

But Hassett’s remarks appeared focused on pinning the blame for a possible recession on the shutdown of the federal government, which Republicans and the White House insist is the fault of Democrats.

President Donald Trump has railed against the Democrats over the shutdown, while increasingly demanding the Senate end it by going “nuclear” and eliminating the upper chamber’s 60-vote threshold for the filibuster, opting instead for a simple majority of votes to pass legislation.

For example, on Tuesday in a Truth Social post, President Trump vowed to hold up SNAP funds despite court orders, writing that food stamp benefits “will be given only when the Radical Left Democrats open up government, which they can easily do, and not before!”

READ MORE: ‘Sick’: Hunger Caucus Head Slams GOP for ‘Starving Children’ by ‘Weaponizing’ SNAP

 

Image via Reuters

 

Continue Reading

Trending

Copyright © 2020 AlterNet Media.