The World. It's a frickin' beast. Rife with insensitivity and intolerance.

But one thing at a time.

First, the Insensitivity News Round-Up.

The National Mock Trial organization is supposedly "insensitive" for refusing a request by the New Jersey State Bar Association on behalf of Torah Academy, of Teaneck, to NOT hold national finals as planned on an early May weekend, which of course includes The Sabbath. Except the weekend is precisely the time for this event, logistically, involving as it does high schools from around the country. There's a time for secular compromise in the national arena. Spare us the "insensitivity" claptrap.

In Hindu Business Line, the aptly-named B.S. Raghavan says:

...the U.S., with its commitment to democracy, bill of rights and due process, and such great achievements to its credit in a variety of fields...also suffer(s) from insensitivity and intolerance, fouling up relations with other countries. Its bad-mouthing of France and Germany and the boycott of French fries and German lager simply because those two countries had expressed themselves against the illegal invasion of Iraq still rankles in the memory of the people of those countries.

In Phuket, the government of Thailand is being called insensitive for including a tsunami wave exhibit in a new museum complex dedicated to the Dec. '04 disaster.

"Democrats lob charges of racial insensitivity in Juneau", reports KTUU-TV.

Rep. Woodie Salmon, D-Beaver, a Gwich'in...was incensed Wednesday when Republicans blocked any mention of his people in a resolution on drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. “We used to be the real Alaskans -- the real true Alaskans,” Salmon said. “Now we've been invaded by this -- I don't know, it seems like devil or something, you know. I mean, it's embarrassing.” Salmon suggested that the culture represented by the House majority is a threat to the Gwich’ins. “We’re going to be here 12,000 more years, believe it or not,” he said. “Unless you people kill us.”

Woodie! Back on your meds, now!

An animal rights group, In Defense of Animals, says it's "cruel and insensitive" to control the population of invasive fallow and axis deer around Point Reyes National Seashore north of San Francisco. The deer population has grown from 350 a decade ago to 1100 now, after a cutback in culling the herds. Now the critters dig up vegetables, intimidate livestock, damage fences and devour vegetation. It costs $3K to sterilize one, $300 to shoot one. Guess what's the preferred option? Wouldn't want to be insensitive.

Writing in the Calcutta Telegraph on the recent acquital of two Canadian Sikh fundamentalists in the bomb killings of 329 passengers on a 1985 Montreal-Bombay Air Canada flight, S.L. Rao observes:

The extremely prosperous Sikh community in Vancouver has been settled there for over a century. In parts of the city, street signs are in Gurmukhi but many third-generation Canadians still do not speak English. The community is self-contained. Many members have little interaction with other communities.

Yet Rao, in the next breath perilously asserts:

The RCMP over the 20 years of investigations spent a reported $100 million. But it was culturally insensitive, with no Punjabi speakers among policemen.

Silly me. I fruitlessly imagined that third-generation immigrants might deign to learn the native language; that it might even be a bit, ah, insensitive of them to not do so. I wonder how many languages the police are supposed to learn. Obviously it's time for some cultural competency courses.

U.S. Sen John McCain, a guy I really like, is wringing his hands that the steroids abuse scandal shows about the "absolute insensitivity" of Major League Baseball owners and players. No, Senator, it shows that professional sports is a cold-hearted business which depends on the interest and dollars of people who lack a substantial inner life; something that was already abundantly evident to any sentient observer.

And here are some Intolerance News Highlights.

According to the European Union's racism watchdog, EU countries are "confronted with intolerance and discrimination" toward minorities because a survey found about half the respondents agreed there are "limits to multicultural society," and harbor related misgivings about immigrants. Doubtless such retrograde views have subsided since the murder of Theo Van Gogh by an Islamic extremist, and since the "honor killings" of Muslim women in Europe by thier own family members.

Meanwhile, for-real scum-sucking intolerant hate-mongering racists seem to be proliferating in Oh-So-Progressive Canada; namely London, Ontario. Naturally tho, the presence of these knuckle-draggers gets blamed on the city's declining to have a Gay Pride Day. In the London Free Press article linked to directly above, two anti-hate activists:

....point to former mayor Dianne Haskett's refusal in 1995 to proclaim gay pride day in London as a key moment that made the city open for hate.

Right. Failure to embrace gay pride celebrations - which in many cities include lewd public parades - is the basis for the growth of race-hate groups in London, Ontario. That's just gotta be it.

Finally, let's salute the Chinese government, a true pillar of intolerance.

Posted by Matt Rosenberg at April 6, 2005 10:00 PM

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