by Dave DeMars
news@thenewsleaders.com
There is no two ways about it – The Donald (as in Trump) tests the tolerance quotient of those on the left. He is offensive. Offensive to women. Offensive to Mexicans. Offensive to war heroes. Offensive to LGBT individuals. Practically any group or class of people in American society has felt the sting of stupid words Donald says.
And yet, he continues to keep on saying it. And even inventing new ways to insult and enrage us. And he has every right. That’s what J.K. Rowling, the author of all the Harry Potter books said. She admits he’s gotten under her skin. She admits much of what The Donald spouts is purely bigoted and offensive, but she says bad manners and filthy tongue are not cause enough to ban him from visiting the British Isles. And she is right.
“If my offended feelings can justify a travel ban on Donald Trump, I have no moral grounds on which to argue those offended by feminism, or the fight for transgender rights, or universal suffrage, should not oppress campaigners for those causes,” said Rowling, who spoke at the annual PEN Literary Gala in New York City where she received an award.
Of course there are those who are so enraged they will hear none of this. Blind hurt and rage lead them to imitate the very person who wants to build a wall to keep out Mexicans and implement a ban on all Muslims coming to this country. Hell, for all we know, if The Donald is elected, he’ll probably start a movement to cleanse the armed forces of Muslims who may well have been here for 50 years.
“If you seek the removal of freedoms from an opponent simply on the grounds they have offended you, you have crossed a line to stand alongside tyrants who imprison, torture and kill on exactly the same justifications,” Rowling said.
That’s a nice way of saying what cartoonist Walt Kelly of Pogo fame said many years ago: “We have met the enemy and he is us.”
Look in the mirror, America. At the same time, do not become so thin-skinned you must cry out for safe rooms in your dormitories because some bad-mouth bully of a clown said something that hurt your feelings. There are plenty of times when my own feelings have been scratched raw by something some jerk said.
I have never been a fan of political correctness. The price of living in a democracy, where every crackpot can spout his or her gibberish and hate-filled speech, is the getting your/our fragile egos bruised and battered sometimes. I suspect that is what Dylan had in mind when he wrote in Tombstone Blues about the hysterical bride.
“The hysterical bride in the penny arcade
Screaming she moans, “I’ve just been made”
Then sends out for the doctor who pulls down the shade
Says, “My advice is to not let the boys in.”
Now the medicine man comes and he shuffles inside
He walks with a swagger and he says to the bride
“Stop all this weeping, swallow your pride
You will not die, it’s not poison.”
Perhaps we have all become “hysterical brides” running about wringing our collective politically correct hands and letting the bad-mouth Donalds of the world control us. What it all comes down to can be emblazoned on the the back of a T-shirt.
“Haters gonna hate.”
“Exaggerated sensitiveness is an expression of the feeling of inferiority,” Alfred Adler once said. Suck it up and get on with life.
