For Shame
by tristero
Right now, there is a hideous genocide unfolding in Myanmar, carried out, incredibly, by a Buddhist government. But that is not what this post is about. This post is about how genocides like Myanmar’s begins, and it happens with events like this.
Jack Phillips bakes beautiful cakes, and it is not a stretch to call him an artist. Five years ago, in a decision that has led to a Supreme Court showdown, he refused to use his skills to make a wedding cake to celebrate a same-sex marriage, saying it would violate his Christian faith and hijack his right to express himself.
Unbelievable. The highest court in the land is wasting its valuable time listening to a bigoted cake-maker. Meanwhile, our cities burn with inequality and a man who may have colluded with a foreign government is the president of the United States.
But that’s hardly the worst of it.
Simply by agreeing the hear this case, the Supreme Court is openly signaling its interest in taking America back to segregated lunch counters, separate drinking fountains. Because what other reason besides revisiting how to legalize discrimination is there for hearing this ridiculous case?
Even worse, even though he didn’t get far in the lower courts, he may win. My guess is he will. And if he does, regardless of how eloquent Ginsburg’s and Sotomayor’s opinions are (and I know they will be searing), we’ll see the same stunt pulled off by newly-empowered White Supremacists against inter-racial couples, against Jewish/Christian couples, against couples with Arabic-sounding names, and so on.
For shame.This is how genocides start, with something both obscenely preposterous and dangerous.