A Future of Fear

I’m not singling John Nolte out here, but this is wishful thinking.

I hope that like in the OX-BOW INCIDENT, some members of Gaystapo came down off the high of Eich's lynching and did some soul-searching,.

— John Nolte (@NolteNC) April 4, 2014

Did the mob engage in any soul-searching when they tried to crush Chick-Fil-A — and failed?

Did the mob engage in any soul-searching when they tried to crush Duck Dynasty — and failed?

Why, then, would they soul-search after they won one? They successfully carried out a public execution. It’s time for a party.

As we noted in Mozilla Burning, the real purpose of going after Eich was to harass and intimidate everyone who supports the traditional view of marriage. Its purpose was to drive such people out of polite society. Or make them shut up. The mob has no interest in winning hearts and minds anymore, not when crushing them swiftly will do.

Now, who is most likely to support traditional marriage and oppose same-sex marriage?

Catholics. Evangelical Christians. Wade your way through the average leftist blog, and who is on the receiving end of more hatred there than any other group of people?

So let’s look forward a few years from now.

The lesson of Mozilla is that you are never safe from the mob. A small donation made years ago can be used to hunt you down and destroy you, even if you have not engaged in any other political activity.

So a few years from now, a perfectly ordinary American decides to run for office. He owns his own business. His family is strong and together. He has no criminal record, no bankruptcies, none of the usual fodder for oppo research to pick out and exploit. He treats his employees well. He’s clean. You know, like Brendan Eich.

But he is a Republican and a well-known member of the local church. Maybe that membership is noted on his campaign website to connect him to the community’s values. He has humbly responded to his business success by giving back, donating some of his income to the church over the years. Maybe, if he was really successful, he helped it fund a new building. So not only is he clean, he has been doing the right thing by his faith.

Some years back, five or even ten, the pastor of that church delivered a sermon that someone recorded, in which he defended the traditional definition of marriage. He quoted Genesis. He quoted Matthew. He stated a position that is perfectly mainstream. This was no Jeremiah Wright type of sermon, I want to be clear about that. It wasn’t hateful. But it wasn’t equivocal either. It was energetic and it was clear.

That sermon appears on YouTube as Ordinary Citizen becomes the front-runner in his campaign. It’s edited to condense the remarks about marriage into a punchy minute or two, and it gets all over Twitter and the networks get ahold of it too.

What happens to our Ordinary Citizen?

My guess is, unless he is a strongly principled and prayerful man possessing more courage than most and is extremely savvy about public relations, he finds himself on defense and before long he’s toast. Not only does he drop out of the campaign, but the local church comes under assault, his family comes under personal attack, and he may lose his business.

For what, exactly? Well, what did Brendan Eich do?

Why do we now know who Brendan Eich is, but most still don’t know who the people at OKCupid are who launched the campaign to destroy him? Why did President Obama’s spokesman today dodge a question about what the president thinks about what has been done to Eich? It’s not like this White House is ever shy about expressing an opinion. It’s fighting a private company in court over religious beliefs right now. Why didn’t the president stand up for Eich’s right to believe what he wants? That silence sent a signal from the president to the mob: Do whatever you want. Punish your enemies. Make them fear you.

In succeeding in getting Brendan Eich ousted, the mob has created a future of fear for everyone who disagrees with them and has ever disagreed with them and has ever contemplated any public life. Publicly announce your full support for the mob, or (economically and culturally) die. Christians, you are their public enemy number one.

So, “Gaystapo” has a certain ring to it.