I had an interesting discussion last night about bigotry that I want to try to work out here. By "work out" I mean, I think I know what I think, but in the course of this entry may type some pretty stupid things. Please be gentle.
It started, innocently enough, with an airing of "Mission Impossible 2" on TBS last night. John Woo birds were fluttering across the screen, impossible shots were offing bad guys and Tom Cruise is in the middle of it, driving through fire on a motorcycle. The wife walks in and we start talking about his nutty Scientology video and how his belief structure had cast a different light on his work - it's somewhat tougher to buy Cruise as a secret agent with all those Thedons attached to my spine or wherever it is they attach themselves.
Mitt Romney, the candidate for president who happened to be Mormon, had dropped out on Thursday, and said some things in his closing speech that deserved John Stewarts well thought out commentary "Fuck You!" It really fit, especially if you watched the speech, which I did. But the two events - MI2 being weird because Tom Cruise's religion is weird, and giving the middle finger to Romney who believes Jesus partied with the Native Americans, it sets one to thinking about where the line is between logic-based opinion and bigotry, and more importantly, what side you're on.
For me, it's becoming increasingly tricky as I move further away from religion but closer, I think, to faith. I make no secret of my 2-year existential malaise, where some of my beliefs, I've determined, are simply not true. Where do you go from there? I'm not entirely sure, but I'm finding my way. God is still real to me, be it psychological detachment from logic or the spark of the divine. I feel something and I know, for me, it's real even if it's mental illness. I hope it's God and that's sort of where I'm sitting - between divine intervention and the possibility of insanity. It's not a terribly pleasant place to be, and I haven't yet convinced myself it's better than blind faith.
But in deconstructing (and slowly reconstructing) my own belief structure, I have cast a more critical eye on other faiths and found some of them seriously lacking. Like Scientology. And Mormonism. And that's where I'm finding myself worried that I'm actually intolerant. Where does the line exist between "I think your beliefs are foolish but I respect your right to believe them" and "I think you're crazy and have dismissed you." If I'm over the precipice, can I come back?
Let's get some subtext in here - I actually have three people in my life I'd consider friends who attend the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I like them, they like me. I respect them as all three are talented individuals in their own right. Again, I like them but there are portions of their belief structure that can be disproven right away through the historical record, and some of the church's stances and practices disturb me. So here's the nuts and bolts - do I think less of them for what they believe? The answer...as people, I don't. They're my friends and that hasn't changed. They could believe in Abe Vigoda riding a unicorn as the savior of our ethereal plane and they'd still be the same people I hang out with as long as they weren't overly concerned about converting me to their bat shit crazy religion. As a concept, however, I think to myself, quietly, in that part of your brain you can't control "how can you believe that?" It's something I haven't figured out how to stop.
Of course, all religion and religious people of all sects are subject to the same scrutiny when they reveal their faith. Revealing that you have faith and believe in something you can't prove is a powerful statement and one that's become somewhat easy to do in our overtly religious society. But does that little voice in the back of my head, which disagrees with what someone believes in before I know anything about them is the very definition of bigotry, isn't it? And by extension, seeing "Mission Impossible 2" through a different lense because Tom Cruise believes he's tapped into the spirits of long-dead aliens to help him fight the bad effects of other ancient aliens...isn't that the same thing?
I'm starting to think (again, as I work this out) that the answer isn't acceptance of other people's beliefs or trying to silence that little voice in your head that screams "These People are NUTS!" but to make a concerted effort to meet someone as a person before you're able to classify them based on their religion. This can be tricky, and I think the person on the other end has some responsibility, too. If there's someone on the street, preaching and screaming at the top of his lungs about fire and brimstone, that person has put the "little voice" to the front of my mind and is asking, in a way, to be judged by the fact that he's yelling about fire and brimstone. Enter Mr. Cruise. For years, I saw him as an above average actor and movie star, making smart choices and working with great creative people. Then he jumped on the couch on Oprah and told Matt Lower he was an idiot for believing in science and took Katie Holmes hostage and made that freaky-ass video. In other words, he's asking to be judged as a Scientologist, and brother, you got it. "MI:2" will never be the same and it's 90 percent your fault, and maybe 10 percent mine.
As for Mitt Romney, I think that's a little different. He was asking, in effect, to be the name, face and driving force behind the country I call home, and when you ask for that much responsibility, I want to really examine who you are. Religion, I'm sorry, is part of that. You can't say "I want to lead you" and not have your beliefs come into account. The fact that he's part of the Mormon Church was a check mark against him in my mind, and I don't think that's bigotted. If I said "I will never vote for him because he's a Mormon," if it's a deal breaker on his candidacy, that's a somewhat different story.
As it turned out, he was an asshole of a candidate who spent $35 million of his own money and now has nothing to show for it. Christian, Muslim, Mormon or Abe Vigoda riding a unicorn, that's pretty freaking dumb and worthy of scorn and laughter.
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