Monday, October 31, 2005

The intolerance of the tolerant

Here's something I never thought I would say: Good for you, Starbucks! That's right, I'm heartily patting the back of the "we sell coffee for $52 a gallon" leftwing loving, beatnik, WiFi, "we don't say large we say Grande" cafinee pushers. Why? Because they are being fair and balanced.

You may recall a post from September regarding Starbucks. They had on their cups a quote from a homosexual regarding their homosexuality and Baylor University (A Christian place of upper education) asked Starbucks to remove those cups from the cafe that was on their campus. Starbucks obliged. People were outraged.

The cups were part of Starbucks' "The Way I See it" Campaign. They have many quotes from many people covering many walks of life. Environmentalist, Economists, Homosexuals, Civil Rights Activists, Athletes and Politicians. If you'd like to read some, click here.

Well, then next quote that Starbucks will be adding to their cups will be one from Rick Warren's Best Seller "The Purpose Driven Life." (Cup #43, if you are looking for it) The quote is as follows, "You were made by God and for God, and until you understand that, life will never make sense. Only in God do we discover our origin, our identity, our meaning, our purpose, our significance and our destiny." So good for Starbucks for offering both sides of the coin to truly foster discussion, which is the purpose of this campaign according to their press releases.

Not so good for their patrons. Margery Egan did a column asking Starbuck's patrons what they thought of the new quote. Most of them were outraged. "As an atheist, can I request a different cup?" As a straight person, can I? As a non Muslim may I request another cup? No, then I am being hateful and intolerant.

But aren't they being intolerant of Christianity? Aren't these the same people who pat themselves on the back for being "tolerant" of homosexuals, radical Muslims, terrorists, peaceniks, Pagans, Wiccans, and Communists? But they don't have to be tolerant of people who talk about God! Oh no! We'd be tolerant of drunk drivers and murderers before we'd be tolerant of people who talk about God!

Think about this: If these people were truly tolerant, they would not know what they were being tolerant of! Why? Because they wouldn't even notice it! Is anyone "tolerant" of women in the workplace? NO! Why not? Because there is no need to be "tolerant:" There is nothing wrong with it! The mere fact that people claim to be tolerant shows that they inherently know there is something wrong with what they are tolerating! But someone mentioning God... they won't tolerate that!

I encourage Starbuck's to continue putting controversial quotes on their cups. The more our society sees they aren't truly tolerant, the quicker we can move to a culture that acknowledges right and wrong!

The cups carry a disclaimer that the opinions "do not necessarily reflect the views of Starbucks." This post does represent the opinion of me. In fact, it's just my opinion.

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