There's pain in Maine and plainly bias reigns (by George, he's got it)

If I'm blogging too much someone just say something, but some things are too good not to be shared.

In a recent blog entry, Ta-Nehisi Coates takes on conservative fellow blogger Rod Dreher, for suggesting that, given the large number of opponents to same sex marriage as demonstrated once again by the Maine vote, maybe there's something to the opposition besides bigotry.

First, as Coates rightly points out, numbers hardly mean anything. If civil rights had been put up to referendum in southern states, or even in northern states, it never would have passed in the early 60's. So, the fact that large numbers of people oppose gay marriage proves nothing about their motives, nor does it show that there's actually some meaningful principle involved.

Second, no one ever admits that prejudice is the basis for his position. There's always an enlightened reason given. Coates cites a National Review article published in 1957 which gives this defense for segregation and Black disenfranchisement: "It is more important for any community, anywhere in the world, to affirm and live by civilized standards, than to bow to the demands of the numerical majority." As Coates points out: "those who are known to be primarily motivated by ethnic prejudice were, in their time, seen by conservatives as guardians of civilization. Likewise heterosexuals now are presumed to be about something more than base prejudice."

Anyway, an interesting piece worth checking out: A Thought On Gay Marriage In Maine.