Steyn: Don't Cross the Forces of Tolerance

In 2004, a supporter of President Bush’s reelection campaign, who had witnessed a supporter of John Kerry vandalize his automobile in an enlightened and nuanced fashion reminiscent of Genghis Khan, could purchase a T-shirt that read, “A person of tolerance and diversity keyed my car.” As Mark Steyn writes in his latest column, the forces of tolerance and diversity will broach no tolerance of diversity when it comes to the current fashionable opinions on their current pet fashionable cause. Or perhaps it’s simply Chick-fil-A’s turn to be the latest Emmanuel Goldstein for the next two minutes:

The city’s mayor, Rahm Emanuel, agrees with the Alderman: Chick-fil-A does not represent “Chicago values” – which is true if by “Chicago values” you mean machine politics, AIDS-conspiracy-peddling pastors and industrial-scale black youth homicide rates. But, before he was mayor, Rahm Emanuel was President Obama’s chief of staff. Until the president’s recent “evolution,” the Obama administration held the same position on gay marriage as Chick-fil-A. Would Alderman Moreno have denied Barack Obama the right to open a chicken restaurant in the First Ward? Did Rahm Emanuel quit the Obama administration on principle? Don’t be ridiculous. Mayor Emanuel is a former ballet dancer, and when it’s politically necessary he can twirl on a dime.

As Allahpundit writes at Hot Air, when Mike Bloomberg emerges as the voice of common sense on an issue, it might be time for a rethink, as “the Overton window of acceptable state interference is closed. Best for Rahm to have a spokesman issue a quiet climbdown and then slink away in defeat.”

But then, Chicago is a city that runs so effortlessly, Rahm has little else to do but vet the ideology of fast food chains. Who didn’t build that chicken sandwich anyhow.

Related: “A Matter of Trust.”

Update: Twitchy reports that the vice president in charge of PR for Chick-fil-A has died of a heart attack; forces of tolerance and diversity respond with two-minutes 140 characters of hate.