The Love that Dare Not Risk Capital

I’m really not sure what to make of things.

 

Would the NFL have moved the Super Bowl had Arizona governor Jan Brewer not vetoed legislation that would’ve made it cool for businesses to discriminate against gays on the basis of their religious beliefs? I’d like to think so. I suspect the moral high ground is a lonely, lonely place these days.

Follow the money. Still good advice. The business community realized the financial impact of the obvious backlash would mean putting off the improvements to the beach property. They made their supplications to Governor Brewer who carefully considered her options then in a move that surprised few, decided to save rich people from losing millions of dollars with the stroke of her pen. Making friends with rich people has historically proven to be what’s known as “a good idea.”

Perhaps it was all just political theater; perhaps the “Alliance Defending Freedom” knew all along the legislation would never become law and Brewer would veto the bill. Still, they would enjoy weeks of free publicity, engendering a back door fund-raiser fueled by these attacks on the good Christian people of Arizona and the rest of America the Beautiful. Christians know how to donate. They will give till it hurts if it means stopping gay Mexican imps of Satan from entering the country illegally to eat dinner at Chick-fil-A because not only are they gay Mexican imps of Satan but they’re also ironic hipster gay Mexican imps of Satan. That has to be stopped.

Personally, I don’t care if Jan Brewer’s decision was economically-based rather than morality-based. Whatever. Take the win, I say.

The Super Bowl was supposedly hanging in the balance, however, the NFL decided to defer when it came to publicly rattling the shield over the Arizona legislation, content with legislating against the use of the n-word on the verdant fields of gridiron dreams. Surprisingly, they found that young black men who play football actually say the n-word quite frequently and the older white men who would have to apply the rule felt uncomfortable adjudicating the subtext of the fast moving dialog on the field of play. I’ve since heard that the league will instead make the existing rules against the use of harsh language a point of emphasis in 2014. Presumably the refs would call this rule like offensive holding. Sure, they could throw a flag on every single play but you keep your hanky in your pocket except for the most egregious of infractions.

I’m with Michael Wilbon on this one. I think the people who think they should tell me how to live my life lack moral authority. They don’t know me. I don’t think they’ve come out to themselves. It’s hard to listen to them prattle on and on and sometimes you just snap and you have to say something.

You can’t climb to the moral high ground on a pile of money.

I guess that’s why it’s so lonely there.