Over the weekend, conservative talk show host Glenn Beck's family had a unnerving experience as they viewed an outdoor showing of a Hitchcock classic at a local park. Beck shared with his radio audience earlier this week how his family was harrassed and verbally intimidated. At one point, a nearby antagonist kicked a glass of wine onto Beck's wife's back. Not one person stood up to defend Beck, who, because of his notoriety, decided it not best to publicly respond.
When we first heard about this, it was pretty clear that the Beck family were pbullied, the current plague that has gripped our public school system. Teachers are being taught how to deal with bullying, beauty queens are on anti-bullying tours, kids are told to report anyone they see bullying. Verbal intimidation on the Internet and on air waves is a public nuisance and threat. But there's still a reason for which discrimination and bullying is permitted: if you're of the wrong political persuasion.
We wondered if any Illinois legislator would consider adding "political views" to the categories protected against discrimination - and thus bullying and harassment - by the Illinois Human Rights Act? After all, in Illinois conservative personalities are very rare, thus a minority. Shouldn't we be allowed by the First Amendment to hold political views that counter the liberal Democratic authoritarian regime lording it over the state? Would anyone in the Illinois legislature consider a contrarian political view valuable and a part of what makes our democratic republic so unique and exceptional?
It likely won't happen, however, because such an effort would need to be provoked by a public outcry the Democrats wouldn't be able to ignore. That won't happen in Illinois, because conservatives are the type that rarely whine, that learn through the school of hard knocks, and buck up when life deals them raw deals. Heck, isn't that why most of us conservatives remain in this god-forsaken state? Instead of crying in a corner, we come out of losing a fight emboldened, looking for ways to reason with the unreasonable, converse with the cruelest mouths, and do all we can to ignore the Lefties' incessant bullying.
Ann Coulter addressed the Beck family's ordeal in yesterday's column. You may find it enlightening. Thank goodness we have a woman ready to step up and defend the indefensible. You can bet if Ann Coulter would have been invited to that concert, the Beck family would have had at least one "Oh Yeah?" defense against the liberal mob.
In the meantime, maybe it would be a good thing to consider adding "political views" to Illinois anti-discrimination law. It would be nice to finally be in a specially-protected category like everyone else.
It's something to think about.
