Kneejerk. Or just Jerk.
28/3/06 09:40![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
madrobinsI have mostly been pleased with Mark Leno, California State Assemblyman for the SF area. Until last week, that is, when Battle Cry, a modern-day chattaqua rally for Christian teens, came to town. Leno not only deplored their message, but got the San Francisco Board of Supervisors to issue a proclamation that the rally was "an act of provocation" that could "negatively influence the politics of America's most tolerant and progressive city." At a counter-rally he proclaimed that the Christians were "loud, they're obnoxious, they're disgusting, and they should get out of San Francisco."
Puh-leeze.
My experience in this city is that it has pockets of highly religious, kneejerk conservatism side by side with the kneejerk liberalism. And while I might not want to saunter down to SBC Park (no, wait, ATT Park! Can't keep up with the corporate mergers!) for the rally, and while some parts of the evangelical Christian agenda enrage me, I'm glad that these kids had an opportunity to join together and celebrate their faith. The fact that I (as a UU of Jewish heritage with a firm lefty slant and an investment in pop culture) might not be a person they want to associate with is likewise beside the point.
Say it with me: freedom of speech means that I don't just tolerate, but guard the right of my neighbor to say something I find reprehensible.
Puh-leeze.
My experience in this city is that it has pockets of highly religious, kneejerk conservatism side by side with the kneejerk liberalism. And while I might not want to saunter down to SBC Park (no, wait, ATT Park! Can't keep up with the corporate mergers!) for the rally, and while some parts of the evangelical Christian agenda enrage me, I'm glad that these kids had an opportunity to join together and celebrate their faith. The fact that I (as a UU of Jewish heritage with a firm lefty slant and an investment in pop culture) might not be a person they want to associate with is likewise beside the point.
Say it with me: freedom of speech means that I don't just tolerate, but guard the right of my neighbor to say something I find reprehensible.