Jeff that Ponytailed Conservative Punk is finally starting to blog again and I daresay he's lost none of his vitriol. This post regarding the hateful guttersnipe known as bigotry brought to mind a moving passage from a book I'm currently reading. (More on the book in another post.)
Upon discussing the brutal beating a man received for being gay, a distraught woman stated, "People are evil." to which this poignant monologue from another character followed:
"Not evil," Fermin objected. "Moronic, which isn't quite the same thing. Evil presupposes a moral decision, intention and some forethought. A moron or a lout, however, doesn't stop to think or reason. He acts on instinct like a stable animal, convinced that he's doing good, that he's always right, and sanctimoniously proud to go around f****ing up, if you'll excuse the French, anyone he perceives to be different from himself, be it because of skin color, creed, language, nationality or as in the case of [our friend], his leisure habits.”
This discourse infers that the orator believes bigotry to be an act of ignorance, but I’m not so sure I agree with him entirely. I think every one of us has a capacity for bigotry that, if left unbridled, would be vile as an act of ignorance but when allowed to ferment in a blackened heart becomes the personification of evil itself.
But does that necessarily mean that ignorance is the gateway to evil? I’m not so sure. I’m more inclined to think hatred is a respecter of no man, attaching itself to the ignorant as well as the informed. My Christian beliefs lead me to believe that when sin entered the world- compliments of Adam and Eve- prejudice, bigotry, racism, whatever you want to call it became part of our new acquired and grossly inferior moral DNA.
I’m grateful to live in a society that, regardless of ones religious persuasion, recognizes the vicious nature of bigotry and does not abide it. I’d like to think I’m above bigotry but, much to my discomfort, my less than virtuous character is revealed when I consider my recently acquired and only slightly veiled distaste towards all things French. How am I any different, then, from those I condemn? Like them, I can justify my position, sufficiently soothing any pangs of conscience I might feel.
The fact that I don’t write my opinions on bathroom walls is a less than noteworthy distinction.
Posted by PamCHBF at August 3, 2005 02:19 AM | TrackBack