I get tired of Left-liberals who yammer on about “bigotry” because people are concerned that candidate X is Mormon\/Muslim\/etc. A person’s whole background matters, and when you are judging someone politically you are engaging in an act of discrimination based on your values.<\/b> Some conservatives play the “religious bigotry” game too, but they’re being self-interested hypocrites, as I suspect most conservatives don’t have an issue with individual discrimination based on religious orientation as such (e.g., last I checked conservatives were overrepresented among the set of Americans who wouldn’t vote for an atheist for president).<\/p>\n
The differences on this issue have cropped up in the Herman Cain Arab-doctor-chemotherapy story<\/a>. Some people bring this up as evidence of Cain’s overall bizarre stupidity. But others see it as more evidence of his anti-Muslim bias. The reality is that I think anti-Muslim bias as a general matter isn’t necessarily bad.<\/b> Just like anti-atheist or anti-Evangelical bias isn’t necessarily bad. I wouldn’t want my daughter marrying an Evangelical or a Muslim. And so on. But if I had cancer I really wouldn’t care if my doctor was a Muslim, Evangelical, or pagan worshiper of the three-horned-god! What I’d care about is whether my doctor knew their medicine! Yes, I know Herman Cain is joking…but there’s way too much evidence that this guy is just a plain joker. People do, and should, take all aspects of background into account when judging he character others. But they need to do this rationally and effectively.<\/b> At least if they want to be president of the United States of America.<\/p>\n Addendum:<\/b> I apologize to Sarah Palin for thinking she was ignorant or dull. The curve just got re-centered.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I get tired of Left-liberals who yammer on about “bigotry” because people are concerned that candidate X is Mormon\/Muslim\/etc. A person’s whole background matters, and when you are judging someone politically you are engaging in an act of discrimination based … Continue reading