Last week, the American Family Association's Bryan Fischer caused a tidal wave of outrage when he asserted that Americans have "feminized the Medal of Honor" and asked, "When are we going to start awarding the Medal of Honor once again for soldiers who kill people and break things so our families can sleep safely at night?"
Fischer, on his AFA-sponsored radio show and blog, often makes comments that would be ridiculous if they weren't so offensive. He routinely directs his hate-filled rants at gay people, Muslims, and even select members of the animal kingdom. He last caused a minor splash on the Internet when he declared an intifada on grizzly bears. He has said that the fire fighters who stood and let a house burn down earlier this year did "the Christian thing." He has said multiple times that "gay sex is a form of domestic terrorism." He repeatedly says that the building of new mosques should be banned in the U.S.
It is worth remembering that despite his clear extremism, Fischer is not an outcast. In fact, he has been embraced not only by the religious right, but by the mainstream GOP. This spring, Fischer rubbed elbows with GOP presidential hopefuls Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum, Mike Huckabee, Michele Bachmann, and Mike Pence at the Family Research Council's "Values Voter Summit." He frequently has right-wing politicians as guests on his show, including Tea Party kingmaker Sen. Jim DeMint.
Fischer's prioritization of a small set of inflexibly extreme views over basic human decency is disturbing. But it's not, unfortunately, unique. In fact, the Family Research Council's Tony Perkins, a much higher-profile figure than Fischer, has repeatedly insulted servicemembers in his quest to keep gays and lesbians from serving in the military. Last week, Perkins said that if Don't Ask Don't Tell were repealed so many servicemembers would leave the army that the country would have to reinstate the draft. (Perkins, as it happens, presented a similar hypothesis to a Army Sgt. Benjamin Ratliff in June. Ratliff, who isn't exactly a proponent of gay rights, insisted that Perkins was wrong: "Even though I disagree with [DADT repeal] strongly, I love my country more.") At this year's Values Voter Summit, Perkins said of militaries that allow gays and lesbians to serve, "they're the ones that participate in parades, they don't fight wars to keep the nation and the world free"-- thereby belittling the contributions of at least seven allied countries who currently have troops in Afghanistan.
Both the American Family Association and the Family Research Council were recently added to the Southern Poverty Law Center's list of "anti-gay hate groups." SPLC explained that groups added to the list are there not because of religious beliefs ("Viewing homosexuality as unbiblical does not qualify organizations for listing as hate groups") but because of "their propagation of known falsehoods" about LGBT people.
Bryan Fischer is extreme, even by extremist standards, but his place among the ranks of the "mainstream" Right is telling. As I said when he attended the Values Voter Summit, those who hobnob with him "don't necessarily endorse [his] propaganda--but they do acknowledge its credibility." People like Fischer and Perkins have been allowed to be thought leaders on the Right despite the often single-minded direction of their thought.
Fischer's latest anti-military rant and Perkin's steady stream of digs at members of the armed forces should be a reminder of that. There is a difference between honest debate and hateful propaganda. The first step toward debate is acknowledging the basic humanity of others. Bryan Fischer's insensitive and inhumane rant laid bare his real priorities. And it should give serious pause to any political figure who agrees to be seen with him.
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The right needs to engage in some fresh thought and not simply regurgitate thirty-year-old arguments and economic theories. There are many principled intellectual positions that one can take in opposition to President Obama from either the left or right and this nation could really use such a dialogue. As opposed to having a serious dialogue all we seem to be presented with are attention grabbing narcissistic small thinkers. Being the loud boorish and offensive may get you attention but it does not advance debate. Intellectual depth is not measured by the volume in which you state your words but by the substance of the words that you state.
Where are the adults on the right? Never thought I would miss William Buckley!
BTW, it is highly likely that you did serve with gay men, and likely had one in your unit.
you deserve it.
FOR THE MEMORY OF MIGHTY MOUSE!!
As a Christian, I find Fischer's brand of hate and fear mongering distasteful. As a servicemember, I take issue with him commenting on things about the military (like DADT), when he himself never served in the military. So, on what are you basing your opinion on, Mr. Fisher?
I keep thinking about a line from the movie "The American President" -- " How do you have patience for people who claim they love America, but clearly can't stand Americans?"
These are the political folks speaking for you, and you roll over for them every time. So don't blame the public for reacting to the issues. Blame yourself for voting for them.
there do exist people who really are Christian, insofar as they can. they are actually good in very many ways and attempt to follow the teachings of Jesus.
perhaps their only failing is not being vocal enough against the extremists.
homophobia comes from the Old Testament and the post-Gospel works. this is one of the indicators of the CINO: Christian In Name Only. they derive their talking points from the Old Testament and post-Gospel books, never paying attention to anything Jesus taught. the name 'Jesus' becomes a soundbite and nothing more.
but there are Christians who don't buy into the homophobia thing, let alone other right-wing extremist views.
oh, and by the way, although i was raised in the Chruch of Christ, I'm not Christian, myself. my religion is my own. it'was born with me, and it'll die with me.
i don't need to be part of a herd.
"The SPLC’s analysis of 14 years of hate crime data found that homosexuals, or those perceived to be gay, are more than twice as likely to be attacked in a violent hate crime as Jews or blacks; more than four times as likely as Muslims; and 14 times as likely as Latinos. The findings are based on FBI hate crime statistics from 1995 to 2008, the period for which there is complete data. The basic pattern also holds true in individual years."
There are others who share culpability: all who remain quiet and do not support your children, relatives, friends, neighbors and others stigmatized. That cuts across a broad swath of America.
That's a sad commentary.
Well.... the LGBT community has a LOT of straight friends who care about them....! We will throw back the curtain of the hypocrite haters, and let everyone see who those hypocrites really are..!