Monday, April 26, 2010
We know the answer!
Phil asks: Should San Francisco boycott Arizona?
We KNOW the answer: it's not clear cut, it's complicated, it's an issue that requires nuance.
And Phil, of course, delivers nuance.
How would we have felt if Texas had boycotted California when Arnold signed the stem-cell research bill in 2004? How could all those Hollywood cowboys have lived without their imported Lucchese boots, or Lone Star oil for those Lamborghinis?
In our great rush to protest potential discrimination, we should be careful that we don't discriminate ourselves. Since Arizona is about 58 percent white, could we be guilty of reverse discrimination if our boycott affects some of those people who may not support their new law? Or how about the 30 percent of Arizonans who are Hispanic? It seems likely that banning SF-to-Arizona business and the reverse could end up hurting not Gov. Brewer - the evil signatory - but, instead, innocent folks just trying to get by.
At a minimum, let's do some kind of human environmental impact report before we rush to indict.
See. A Republican governor is doing something evil, but let's not rush to condemn. It might make us look intransigent to stand up to evil. We might even discriminate! It might hurt innocent folks in AZ if city employee don't go get themselves detained in Phoenix for looking Hispanic.
So suck it up, city employees. Go get yourself to Arizona and if you end up roughed up in jail because you left your passport in a hotel room, you'll have protected innocent folks just trying to get by. So it's all worth it. Don't be sissies.
Sigh.
We KNOW the answer: it's not clear cut, it's complicated, it's an issue that requires nuance.
And Phil, of course, delivers nuance.
How would we have felt if Texas had boycotted California when Arnold signed the stem-cell research bill in 2004? How could all those Hollywood cowboys have lived without their imported Lucchese boots, or Lone Star oil for those Lamborghinis?
In our great rush to protest potential discrimination, we should be careful that we don't discriminate ourselves. Since Arizona is about 58 percent white, could we be guilty of reverse discrimination if our boycott affects some of those people who may not support their new law? Or how about the 30 percent of Arizonans who are Hispanic? It seems likely that banning SF-to-Arizona business and the reverse could end up hurting not Gov. Brewer - the evil signatory - but, instead, innocent folks just trying to get by.
At a minimum, let's do some kind of human environmental impact report before we rush to indict.
See. A Republican governor is doing something evil, but let's not rush to condemn. It might make us look intransigent to stand up to evil. We might even discriminate! It might hurt innocent folks in AZ if city employee don't go get themselves detained in Phoenix for looking Hispanic.
So suck it up, city employees. Go get yourself to Arizona and if you end up roughed up in jail because you left your passport in a hotel room, you'll have protected innocent folks just trying to get by. So it's all worth it. Don't be sissies.
Sigh.
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