Not So Friendly Fire
Jonathan raises some fascinating issues about free speech. I argued a few days ago that it's silly for Prop 8 supporters to claim that people have no right to boycott them. But there is a larger issue about the manner of society that we want to be. Social conservatives and gay-rights groups inevitably clash on various issues -- but does the clash have to be so rancorous and so potentially injurious to people participating in the democratic process? While high-profile actions such as the ones Jonathan lists can be cathartic to a group that feels it's being mistreated, can those actions unwittingly provoke a counterproductive, downward cycle?
Protestors of Proposition 8 in California (the marriage amendment) shoved aside a 69-year-old woman who was bearing a cross. They reportedly spit on her and stomped on her cross. They then aligned themselves in a human barricade, blocking the media from getting to or interviewing the woman.
Prop. 8 supporter Jose Nunez, 37, was assaulted brutally while distributing yard signs to other supporters after church services at the St. Stanislaus Parish in Modesto.
Calvary Chapel Chino Hills was spray painted by vandals after they learned that the church served as an official collection point for Prop. 8 petitions
Where are the "Hate Crime Police"! This was such an event.