On Brendan Eich, Stephen Colbert, and Dan Cathy

I’ve been watching and reading about two issues:

• Brendan Eich’s appointment as CEO of Mozilla, and subsequent resignation
• Racist comments by Stephen Colbert’s eponymous character, and the #CancelColbert hashtag on twitter

This also relates back to the melee over the CEO of Chick-Fil-A’s comments about traditional marriage from two years ago. I wrote about that when it happened back then.

It pains me that the first response to all of these situations is some variation of “Let us take away their livelyhood”. This response is a mildly more mature version of a child sticking their fingers in their ears and saying “Na, Na”.

What I would like to see more of is a drive for people to sit down in the same room and talk. Dan Cathy to his credit did exactly this in the middle of the protest against his company.

Senator Tom Harkin, says Congress doesn’t work because in part Senators no longer socialize with each other.

I’m reminded of a minster’s sermon from this past summer where she pondered how would the meeting of George Zimmerman and Trayvon Martin gone differently if Zimmerman had rolled down the window and asked Martin if he needed any help.

How much more powerful could Suey Park have been if she demanded that Colbert the person, have her or another Asian-American on to respond to his racism? (I only suggest a surrogate as Suey Park is a pseudonymn and I am unsure if the woman behind it would want to make a television appearance.)

I believe it is our responsibility to respect and learn about the inherent worth and dignity of all people, especially those we disagree with.