Sister Wives and Tolerant Democrats and Liberals ( Update )

UPDATE- The New Republic link is corrected

Louisiana blogger the weary blues has an interesting post that has food for thought at Why There is No War on Sister Wives . I keep needing to add his blog on the side bar.

He is also one of the Louisiana liberals I follow on the twitter. Plus he is from Northwest Louisiana that is too barren on the left and right as to social media commentary on politics.

I was going to comment on this his comment section but realized it would be too wordy there. First lets me engage the main piece he quotes . The theme here it appears how Democrats/ Liberals are so above all this use of bigotry and fear tactics versus their opponents. Well I somewhat beg to differ.

... I understand that a lot of Democrats (e.g., some in the gay community) feel like the Mormons are trying to oppress them and are very willing to fight back with tough language. I sympathize. I do. But even Democrats who fight back against Mormons do so with mockery and snark, not with incitement to fear. Even when Howie Klein, in the above cited piece, cites some history to show that the Mormons have been interested in winning the White House ever since Joseph Smith ran for the White House, he doesn’t say “egads, the Mormons are all out to get you and turn this country into a theocracy.” ...

Except well that is not quite true. I mean look at this piece that ran in the NYT by Harold Bloom that left the folks at Get Religion aghast. See Harold Bloom, Mormons and spleen-venting

The New Republic said "Granted, Harold Bloom's ruminations on Mormonism deep in the Sunday Times are likely not to register much in the South Carolina GOP primary. But the piece is worth reading in full"

So as to the left I say this occurs a little bit more than might wish to admit. Returning to the piece?

...But, you know, we could make that argument. We could treat Mormons exactly the way that the Republicans treat Muslims. We could forget all about Mitt Romney's record and his ever-changing positions on the issues, and we could demonize his religion. We could pick it apart and make it seem silly. We could make it seem incredibly sinister. The whole left-leaning media world could get on board to one degree or another in pushing that narrative. We could even add in a little hysteria to mirror the right's hysteria about Latino immigration. We could point out that Mormons are outbreeding the rest of us and they'll only need a couple more centuries to become the majority in this country.

We could do these things, but we don't, and we won't. And that's because we actually believe in a few things that are more important than winning. We won't just say anything that can instill fear in people in order to manipulate them. We won't make naked appeals to tribal/racial/sectarian feelings. We won't step all over the spirit of the First Amendment and Article VI, paragraph 3 of the Constitution...

A few words on this. I actually agree the way some Republicans and conservatives treat Muslims and how they deal with the thorny immigration reform issue is counterproductive. Of course many leading Republicans say the same thing. See his Satanic Majesty himself on Muslims that being Grover Norquist ( the most powerful man in the GOP as they say) .

As to Latino's see Senator Marc Rubio's recent comments and the messy immigration reform issue see here.

The party is diverse though ,and there is push back on this. Of course those voices rarely get on the radio or TV. As to many there is sort of double standard too. I have seen and heard some rather harsh rethoric on the Democrat side ( and Unions) as to Muslims. The Democratic party had no problem pushing the envelope as to Muslims to make sure Bush 's Dubai Port Deal went down in flames.

...We won't just say anything that can instill fear in people in order to manipulate them. We won't make naked appeals to tribal/racial/sectarian feelings. We won't step all over the spirit of the First Amendment and Article VI, paragraph 3 of the Constitution....

Well let me say I disagree. We see quite naked appeals to fear of Evangelical Christians, the Catholic Church , and other assorted folks. In fact perhaps this Rabbi was actually affected by that fear ,and what he was hearing when he wrote that absurd column. See my post from today Jewish Rabbi's Bigoted Piece on Tebow and American Christians .

As to the Catholic Church ,we have seen quite an uptick in some very nasty language and appeals to tribal and sectarian feeling in the last few months.

This largely revolves around certain religious liberty issues that are in play. I cringe at some of the things my fellow Republicans say as to Muslims on twitter and other social media. But on the Catholic issue it does not take 5 seconds for people to be twittering how the Church is evil and most Priests rape little boys when these political issues are discussed . This is mainly coming from liberals. Does this represent all Liberals? Well of course not. Just like obnoxious rants about Muslims do not perhaps represent all conservatives.

For instance when have you heard about how many Southern Baptists Leaders defend the rights to build Mosque ,or the defense of Muslim rights from prominent members of the "right"? Robert George being an example of that.

Well enough of him. Lets return to the far more interesting comments of the Louisiana blogger as to this article and the show SISTER WIVES.

There’s not a “war” on Mormonism for a few reasons. Most American conservatives have no clue what Mormons believe. Also, there’s a reason the Florida Family Association hasn’t called for advertisers to dump TLC’s Sister Wives as they have All-American Muslim, a show on the same network: the family depicted on Sister Wives still fits the white, heterosexual family mold.

I think conservatives objections to Mormons are overblown but I think there is at least some "skirmish" going on .

A few thoughts about the FLORIDA FAMILY ASSOCIATION. What do I think of them? Not much.

It has all the hallmarks of a political money making scam operation that is so everywhere on the left and right.

You are bombarded by emails ,and direct mail asking PLEADING IN FACT to send them 20 dollars to save the Republic. They then proceed their mailing list to other groups and process the money through a business they own or their friends own. You will find an amazing amount of these groups have people on each other boards. It's a racket. You will find 90 percent of the money does not go to the "cause", but to promote the political organization to send more direct mail asking for more money.

As Get Religion noted the other day at their piece In Lowe’s ‘backlash,’ a fair hearing? , the organization has a WHOPPING one paid employee. Guess who that is.

The fact that Lowe fell for this is distressing on several fronts. One reason being it enables this scam to continue.

However why are there no conservative Christian protest against Sister Wives.

Well heck if you are one these groups why would you oppose it. It gives the impression of LOOK THIS IS WHAT REAL MORMONS are like.

The people that probably wish this show would fall off the face of the earth is the Church of the Latter Day Saints . ALso I am not sure typical white hetrosexual this show is. Lets face it the show partly sells because of the sexual tension that is in episodes. Also many Conservatives and anti Mormons correctly point out that this lifestyle is maintained by a nice supply of Goverment entitlements that are taken advantage of.

The fact is the use of going to lowest common denominator is done on both sides.

I tried to make this point at Why A Partisan Political War Against the Catholic Church Is Bad Civics and espcially at my post Ms Magazine, Anti Sharia Laws, Catholic Bishops and The Contraception Issue Has Common Theme .

I am not saying there is a problem that should not be spoke out against. But I do say it's a tad more bipartisan than each side thinks.