The Growing Clarion Cries Of Wolves

It is a well known story we are privy to – The Boy Who Cried Wolf - imparted to us… with the underlying lesson to be had that we must be certain when there is indeed danger. I have read snippets of Newsweek Magazine articles, which says we have overreacted to the tragedy of 911; I have recently seen and read articles in the New York Times, which have relegated those of us who opposed the Ground Zero mosque as being Islamaphobes, bigots, or intolerant – it has even been mentioned here on this site; if you oppose gay marriage, you are now a bigot; and if you speak out against President Obama due to your misgivings about some of his policies, even if you voted for him, or is a registered Democrat, you are now called a racist - though, in this latter case, this is done more subtly.

All these types of spurious cries of seeing wolves are becoming part and parcel of our discourse for those who speak in absolutes… maybe because it is becoming a lucrative cottage industry. Indeed, there are those who are Islamaphobes, bigots, and who are intolerant… who doesn’t want the mosque to be erected - but everyone? And if we oppose gay marriage, we are now bigots… when many of our traditional Christian tenets proscribed that behavior? Another aspect of this phenomenon is that Blacks only make up about 17% of the general population, which means that many whites, many of whom are Independents and Republicans, must have voted for President Obama – so if some of them are criticizing the President now are racists?  

Many of us who are crying wolf cannot see the trees for the forest. Let us take the recent mosque debates… many who opposed it do so is out of respect for those who lost loved one on that tragic day… and it may not be rationale, but there it is. It is no different than when I may want to use colorful language, but because I see my brother or sister with his or her children… I refrain from doing so. In essence, many of us have refused to engage in certain conversations or rights that are within our Constitutional right, but we fore go them because doing so would have offended some of our brothers and sisters.

Take for example: if I know that there are those who are trying their best to diet, and I knew about it, I wouldn’t bring out the juicy burger just to entice them… causing them to falter; If I am having an ecumenical get-together, I would not serve my Muslim brothers or sisters Polk nor would I even have it in close proximity… so not to offend them, even though I myself might be fond of swine. All these actions many of us might refrain from… though they are our Constitutional right to do so. The spurious and bogus cries of all these wolves are just what they are – the clarion tyranny of the minority.