Blogging off the top of our head

An observation based on zero data (well, some) and mostly anecdotal observations.


The following paragraph appeared as an Op-Ed piece in the San Diego U-T today (titled: A model of civility) and is perfectly demonstrative of the general tenor that we have seen in Op-Eds, the internet and blogs regarding the Barack Obama/Pastor Rick inaugural dust-up.

Gay activists are furious that Obama would invite the pastor of Saddleback Church, who is also a best-selling author and vocal opponent of gay marriage, to give the invocation. And evangelical Christians who oppose many of the president-elect's liberal policies are just as upset that Warren would even consider accepting the invitation.

(emphasis ours)

This would be a nice tidy way to summarize the positions of both sides of those opposing Pastor Rick Warren giving the inaugural invocation for President-elect Obama…. if it were true.

This “civil” attempt to be all fair and balanced in creating a straw man to make the broader point about the President-elect’s (“see… both sides are very upset about this and we just can’t understand why”) implicit call for tolerance and unity is well-taken. However, we simply do not see the amount and the degree of outrage among “evangelicals” and “social conservatives” vis a vis the gay community and their supporters as the pundits would have you believe. There was some Southern Baptist preacher of whom we had never heard and who supposedly put a hex on Obama… or was it Warren, we forget, over the whole ordeal.

If the point of the Op-Ed is to commend Obama and, in turn, Warren for bridging a gap between two very much opposite ideologies, then by all means, go for it. It's just shoddy and lazy journalism to have to acknowledge the point in grand and magnanimous fashion via the “reality” that there is equal outrage on both sides of the equation.

Ultimately, what this is really all about is calling out evangelicals to provide cover for calling out the gay community.

P.S. A while back we made a snarky remark, which we must now retract, regarding an L.A. Times story that neglected to report out on the “outrage” of evangelicals over this situation. Sorry, our bad.