“I think it’s great that you’re going to Guatemala to learn their language. I just can’t figure out why they don’t learn our language when they come here. You know what irritates me? When I see ATMs with an option for Spanish. What’s next? Options for every language?”
This “what’s next” argument is the most horrific rhetorical fallacy I’ve ever heard. I wouldn’t describe myself as a very logical person, but I know enough about logic to know that the “slippery slope” is completely false. Completely.
“What’s next after we marry homosexuals? We marry horses?”
Obviously.
“What’s next after we write our signs in English AND Spanish? We start writing them in Estonian too?”
And what, exactly, is wrong with that?
The amount of energy that is put into hate could move mountains. And I’m sure the amount of energy I put into resenting this hate could move mountains.
How does love happen? How does forgiveness happen? How do I not want to punch this person in the face for saying,
“Mexicans are just bad drivers. But I’m not racist–I think women are bad drivers too!”
Which, by the way, does not make you just a racist; it makes you a sexist too.
Or for saying, “I’m not intolerant. It’s just obvious that God punishes gay people.”
Actually, I’ve never really caught that in the Bible. Of course, when Jesus talked about homosexuality–oh wait. He didn’t.
All I want to do is talk about what idiots all these ignorant people are with other non-idiots. But I KNOW that can’t be the correct response. So what is it? What would it mean to love them? Or, just, not hate them? Or, at least not call them “idiots?”
