Why Am I Here?
Testing … testing … OK, my quality support team has declared this new-fangled blog thing ready to do, so I guess I should take it out for a spin. In this first post, I will try to answer that important question I’m sure you’re all wondering about, Why Am I Here? Well, because God wanted … wait, that’s not it.
Starting to blog is something I’ve been thinking about doing for a while now. I’ve been growing more and more discouraged, disturbed, and outraged at some of the things going on in my country (I’m in the USA), and the direction we seem to be heading. I’ve been feeling the need to do something about it — to speak out about the things that have been happening, to show why they’re wrong, to try to stop them/change them — to do what I can to get things turned around and headed in the right direction.
Will blogging actually help, will it make a difference? I have no great illusion that what I write will have a large impact. For one thing, there are already many bloggers out there who write about similar things as I will, and likely more articulately and powerfully. And there is a limit to how much influence a blog can have.
But I need to do something. And perhaps I will reach some — like-minded people to share concerns and ideas with, and maybe even others with differing viewpoints, to influence and inform their thinking. Maybe I’ll be able to develop my own little presence on the web, create a space where people can come to learn about and discuss some of the important issues of our times.
Even if I don’t reach others, this blog can serve a purpose as a personal journey. It will help me to further develop and clarify my ideas and my understanding of issues, and my ability to express myself, by writing about the issues and discussing them with others.
Why Bigotry?
So what will I be writing about, what are the issues and activities that have been bothering me, and when did they start? Well, I’m sure they’ve been going on for a long long time, but one relevant milestone is President Obama’s taking office in 2009. After that came lots of pushback, including Republican obstructionism and posturing, and the tea party craziness. Then the more recent national election of 2010, when the Republicans took over control of the House of Representatives, as well as many state legislatures.
Some of the issues are, in no particular order, the fight against same-sex marriage rights (and other rights for gays, including adoption), the fight against the repeal of the military’s Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy, the greater creep of religion into government, anti-Muslim sentiment, the Republicans’ anti-union/anti-worker agenda, the Republicans’ attempts to restrict women’s access to reproductive health services and abortion, the “birther” craziness, the fight against progress in health care, the Republican’s anti-science agenda, climate change denialism, the destruction of the environment, and last but certainly not least, the huge and growing disparity in wealth and influence between the richest/most powerful in the country and the poorest.
Yes, as you can see, there are many issues of concern. What’s behind these issues? Well, some of them are complex and many factors are involved, but I believe much of the sentiment behind them is fueled by ignorance, prejudice, intolerance, and partisanship.
(Another major factor is simply the desire by those with power to maintain that power, but that’s a self-serving motive that’s typically not stated explicitly and hidden behind other stated rationales; if that motive were laid bare, the proponents of these actions would likely not be able to garner much support.)
As I was pondering these issues and the factors behind them, the beliefs, attitudes, and behavior that lead to this kind of sentiment, it occurred to me that bigotry was perhaps the central component. The belief that gays are “unnatural”, “an abomination”, and don’t deserve the same rights — bigotry; the belief that one’s religion/culture has all the answers and is never wrong, and so other viewpoints should not be tolerated — bigotry; the belief that the poor are poor because they’re weak, dumb, and lazy, and so don’t deserve any assistance — bigotry; the belief that because someone is of a different color, has an unusual, ethnic name, has ancestry from another country (particularly one from a different continent than where the majority of the population originate), that therefore he is not American — bigotry.
And so I decided that bigotry — calling it out, challenging it, doing what I can to lessen its power and influence — would be the focus of this blog. (What constitutes bigotry is not uncontroversial, and I will have more to say about that in future posts.)
In my mind, the two most serious issues facing the USA at this time, broadly speaking, are bigotry/intolerance directed at those who are different in some way, particularly minorities and underrepresented groups, and the huge disparity in income and power between the richest and the poorest (in fact, between the richest and everyone else) in the country. I’ll likely be writing quite a bit about things that fall under these two general themes.
Why “To Bigotry No Sanction”?
The title of this blog, “To Bigotry No Sanction”, comes from letters exchanged between Moses Seixas, a representative of one of the most prominent Jewish congregations in the colonial United States, and President George Washington, upon the occasion of his visit to the city of Newport, RI in August 1790.
Seixas likely presented his congratulatory address to Washington along with ones from the town and Christian clergy. In it, he expressed his positive feelings and wishes toward Washington, and his wonder and appreciation for the freedom and equality available to everyone in the new United States:
Deprived as we heretofore have been of the invaluable rights of free Citizens, we now (with a deep sense of gratitude to the Almighty disposer of all events) behold a Government, erected by the Majesty of the People — a Government, which to bigotry gives no sanction, to persecution no assistance — but generously affording to All liberty of conscience, and immunities of Citizenship: deeming every one, of whatever Nation, tongue, or language, equal parts of the great governmental Machine: …
Washington was not known as a great wordsmith, but his reply is considered one of his most eloquent writings, and his most prominent pronouncement on religious toleration and freedom:
The Citizens of the United States of America have a right to applaud themselves for having given to mankind examples of an enlarged and liberal policy: a policy worthy of imitation. All possess alike liberty of conscience and immunities of citizenship. It is now no more that toleration is spoken of, as if it was by the indulgence of one class of people, that another enjoyed the exercise of their inherent natural rights. For happily the Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens, in giving it on all occasions their effectual support.
… May the Children of the Stock of Abraham, who dwell in this land, continue to merit and enjoy the good will of the other Inhabitants; while every one shall sit in safety under his own vine and figtree, and there shall be none to make him afraid. …
(The banner image on my blog is taken from Washington’s reply.)
As I was searching online regarding bigotry, including some potential tag lines and domain names I was considering, I came across this phrase, these letters, and this story. (The letters were part of the American Treasures of the Library of Congress exhibit.)
It struck me immediately that it all fit perfectly with the blog I wanted to create, that it captured perfectly the central sense I was trying to express. The fact that the man considered the father of our country was the one to coin this phrase and express these sentiments, and so soon after the founding of our country, made it all the more powerful.
I was quite surprised, and pleased, to find that the phrase and the domain had not already been picked up by someone else. I might say it was fate, if I believed in such things.
Anyway, that’s the story of the origin of this blog. I hope you enjoy it, and come back and visit and join in the discussion from time to time.