Scoble’s Link Blog

http://www.unordered.net/faith/2005/05/07/ms-the-new-john-kerry-and-scoble-redefines-hypocrisy/

Weblog: Unordered
Source: MS the New John Kerry and Scoble Redefines Hypocrisy
Link: http://www.unordered.net/faith/2005/05/07/ms-the-new-john-kerry-and-scoble-redefines-hypocrisy/

I was really going to try and stay out of this whole mess, but apparently Scoble won’t let me. So Microsoft caved to “right wing fundies” as so many of his avid libtard readers are so fond of calling us (hey, one good insult deserves another right? They’re just words right??), and now they’ve flip flopped and stated they’ll support the legislation if it comes around again. I, like so many of those who oppose the legislation (and are summarily dismissed as “trolls” by the majority of Scoble’s readership), have to question why is it that Microsoft needs to take a stand on this issue anyway? What could they possibly have to gain from it other than the rabid support of a few whacked ultra-liberals with nothing better to do (read: no job or other means of meaningfully contributing to society) than cruise through blogs and news stories looking for ultra-liberal fodder to spew from their “fundie crushing canon”? Microsoft makes software. They’re not a public awareness group… they don’t run a halfway house for transsexuals, and they don’t have a subsidiary that runs gay-getaway hotels in Cabo. They make software.

There was some concern over the fact that a minister and a few other Christian organizations had claimed victory for the original Microsoft about face, expressed by Scoble and many of his readers. Basically, the gist was, “I don’t like the fact that some fundie Christians are exerting pressure on a corporation.” Guess what… neither do I, and I’m one of those Christians. I personally don’t think Christians have any business mucking around in the everyday business of a publicly traded company. By the same token however, I don’t like the fact that a corporation is getting involved in the personal lives of everyday citizens. You don’t want us telling you what to do? Fine! Don’t tell us what to do either, which is exactly what supporting the legislation is in effect doing. By assisting in the creation of a law that would require the tacit endorsement of a lifestyle, said corporation is indeed meddling in the everyday lives of everyday citizens. In case you missed it, many of those citizens are the Christians expressing outrage over Microsoft’s endorsement of said legislation.

The only thing more amazing than the childlike elation over something that should be a non-issue to begin with, is the complete hypocrisy of those who accuse Christians of hypocrisy. It’s like some quasi-spiritual catch-22 or something. Many of the comments on his blog, and even many of the arguments made by Scoble himself amounted to, “You’re a closed minded fundie hypocrite because you don’t think like I do.” Hello? Does anybody else see the conundrum in that mentality? About half the comments regarding this post can be summarized in the following points:

• You’re close minded because you don’t think like I do
• You’re a troll because you had the audacity to have your own opinion that was contrary to mine and the nerve to express it publicly
• You’re a fundie because I can’t stand the fact that you answer to a higher moral authority than I do
• …ad nauseam

Guess what people… the world is full of people who aren’t going to agree with you. Christians experience this everyday. 9 times out of 10, we’re content to agree to disagree and merrily go on about our business. It gets a bit trickier however when you start legislating endorsement, tacit or otherwise, of a particular issue that cuts to the core of who we are and what we believe. The military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy was all about this and suffered the same fate at the hands of the same group of liberals. It was derailed with the argument, “we shouldn’t have to hide who we are”. The obvious rebuttal to that is that you weren’t being asked to hide who you are, you were merely being told that the rest of us didn’t agree with it and didn’t want to hear about it. Christians get this message all the time. We constantly hear, “I don’t want to hear about your religion… that’s a personal thing, keep it to yourself.” Well, by the same token, we don’t want to hear about your sexual preference… it’s a personal thing, keep it to yourself.

One thought rang out to me in reading Ballmer’s email, Scoble’s tirade of the past 2 weeks and the numerous comments and posts found around the blogosphere on just this subject:

Diversity is a great thing… as long as we keep Christians out of it

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