"And so do pigs and swine...

Off Topic » in reply to Birds of a feather flock together

"And so do pigs and swine...

Mary Anne — 4/21/2006 12:44:41 PM (archived)

Rats and mice will have their choice
And so will I have mine."

The point of that old nursery rhyme is that people are neither birds nor swine, in that they are but one group with many variations. Upon these variations is based the ability to choose.

You may have your choice. You may choose to exclude people based on some overarching category: religion, say, or sexual preference. Being exclusive is fun, after all, because it gives us an opportunity to say how much better we are than those inferior people over there (and may they stay at arm's length).

You may not extend your isolation of yourself to include the whole of society isolating the groups you don't like. It deprives people on your disapproved list of their choice. It makes ghettos. It drives hate through the institutionalization of ignorance, each group of the others.

Another old saying is, "You can choose your friends but you can't choose your relatives." In the world you describe, in which certain groups are "approved" or "disapproved", the saying would read, "You can't choose your relatives, and you can't choose your friends, either, unless you all have the same official approval stamps." People used to outlaw interracial marriage on the basis of the same ideas as you describe.

The whole thread (72 posts)

God, penguins, gays, and ID - ljk - 4/13/2006 4:21:28 PM
- Non-reproducing members of a species - SDF - 4/20/2006 5:23:32 PM
  - re: Non-reproducing members of a species - SDG - 4/20/2006 7:16:07 PM
    - re: Non-reproducing members of a species - SDF - 4/20/2006 8:10:54 PM
      - OK... define YOUR role.... - R.L. - 4/20/2006 10:57:57 PM
        
        Nothing wrong with being single (n/t) - SDF - 4/21/2006 1:03:36 AM
        
        and I'm not demanding spousal benefits either, since I have no special role (n/t) - SDF - 4/21/2006 1:06:35 AM
        
        By your reasoning... - R.L. - 4/21/2006 1:04:31 PM
        
        Not really - SDF - 4/21/2006 3:12:10 PM
        
        So - then you would be ok with gays getting spousal benifits if they adopt? - R.L. - 4/21/2006 5:29:28 PM
        
        Twenty years ago, we wouldn't be having this conversation - SDF - 4/22/2006 1:06:18 PM
        
        No, we'd be having the same conversation about race. - Mary Anne - 4/22/2006 4:53:18 PM
      - Pairing off - Tony - 4/20/2006 9:10:17 PM
        
        Good point - SDF - 4/20/2006 11:42:04 PM
        
        re: "Alot of women also marry because they don't want to work." - Mary Anne - 4/21/2006 12:58:25 PM
        
        However - SDF - 4/20/2006 11:51:04 PM
        
        Do you think that you turn a PROFIT with the tax breaks by adopting a kid? - R.L. - 4/21/2006 1:07:13 PM
        
        "without first finding a father that will stick around" - Mary Anne - 4/21/2006 1:05:15 PM
        
        If he beats her up, he should be charged with assault, taken away, and never allowed to return - SDF - 4/21/2006 4:01:51 PM
        
        Gays already adopt. - tony - 4/21/2006 12:12:41 AM
        
        I didn't know that. A court decision was made on November 26, 1999. - SDF - 4/21/2006 12:35:18 AM
        
        so should single women not be allowed to adopt? (n/t) - SDG - 4/21/2006 12:12:05 AM
        
        No. (n/t) - SDF - 4/21/2006 12:38:59 AM
        
        and if the single woman is gay? (n/t) - SDG - 4/21/2006 5:16:22 AM
        
        then she is still single (n/t) - SDF - 4/21/2006 3:50:50 PM
        
        "I just don't agree with that. I think children should be raised by a mother and a father." - R.L. - 4/20/2006 11:56:40 PM
        
        Because that is the natural means by which babies are made, with few exceptions (n/t) - SDF - 4/21/2006 12:38:12 AM
        
        Most things people do today isn't 'natural'... why does this one example bother you? - R.L. - 4/21/2006 12:58:29 PM
        
        What makes you think homosexuality is natural? (n/t) - SDF - 4/21/2006 3:34:20 PM
        
        Because it appears in nature. - Mary Anne - 4/21/2006 3:50:34 PM
        
        That was my original point, it DOES appear in nature - SDF - 4/21/2006 3:54:24 PM
        
        While you assign them their "place", don't forget to shave their heads and tattoo numbers on their arms. (n/t) - Mary Anne - 4/21/2006 4:33:07 PM
        
        Ironically, many of them are already doing such things - SDF - 4/21/2006 4:45:06 PM
        
        So sayeth Some Dumb F... - R.L. - 4/21/2006 5:44:46 PM
        
        Because the cause of the condition is not understood. (n/t) - SDF - 4/22/2006 1:10:34 PM
        
        Why do you need to consider it a disease? - R.L. - 4/23/2006 8:56:08 AM
        
        You are quick to call me bigoted (which is a form of bigotry itself), but I am being objective - SDF - 4/24/2006 12:49:04 PM
        
        Corrections - Mary Anne - 4/25/2006 1:27:56 PM
        
        You are one sick puppy.... - R.L. - 4/24/2006 8:15:17 PM
        
        I don't think so - SDF - 4/25/2006 12:33:36 PM
        
        Irony is a mystery to you, isn't it? - Mary Anne - 4/21/2006 4:55:53 PM
        
        Its like coppery except harder... (n/t) - R.L. - 4/22/2006 4:59:21 AM
  - Sounds like a past description of the left-handed. - Mary Anne - 4/20/2006 6:36:08 PM
    - Left-handed people aren't so offensive. - SDF - 4/20/2006 8:15:40 PM
      - What garbage!!! - R.L. - 4/20/2006 10:51:56 PM
        
        The degree of deviance that people are willing to accept varies somewhat, but not really that much. - SDF - 4/21/2006 12:53:10 AM
        
        Setting rather than content. - Mary Anne - 4/21/2006 1:25:30 PM
        
        It used to be the same for interracial marriage... - R.L. - 4/21/2006 1:12:39 PM
        
        Only in some countries - SDF - 4/21/2006 3:24:03 PM
      - Maybe they don't hate men. - Mary Anne - 4/20/2006 9:26:20 PM
        
        Birds of a feather flock together (n/t) - SDF - 4/21/2006 12:57:44 AM
        
        "And so do pigs and swine... - Mary Anne - 4/21/2006 12:44:41 PM
        
        Well, if they act a certain way and their friends act the same way - SDF - 4/21/2006 3:20:15 PM
        
        Um, because human beings are more complex than that. - Mary Anne - 4/21/2006 3:37:12 PM
        
        I don't think people are complex at all - SDF - 4/21/2006 3:42:46 PM
        
        Obviously. - Mary Anne - 4/21/2006 3:53:06 PM
        
        Simple response. (n/t) - SDF - 4/21/2006 3:56:23 PM
        
        Suits you, then. (n/t) - Mary Anne - 4/21/2006 3:59:45 PM
        
        LOL. What's wrong, can't win? - SDF - 4/21/2006 4:08:22 PM
        
        According to some parliamentary rules, silence implies consent. - Mary Anne - 4/21/2006 5:08:51 PM
      - Hatred of men? - Tony - 4/20/2006 9:12:13 PM
        
        It's not really hatred that I feel. It's disgust. Why are you willing to accept their bahaviour, but not willing to accept that I am offended by it? (n/t) - SDF - 4/21/2006 1:01:24 AM
        
        Be offended all you want. - Mary Anne - 4/21/2006 12:54:16 PM
        
        re: Be offended all you want. - SDF - 4/21/2006 3:16:03 PM
        
        Then file charges for harassment. - Mary Anne - 4/21/2006 3:39:32 PM
        
        I still think they should justify their sexual preference before encoding it in law - SDF - 4/21/2006 3:49:37 PM
        
        Why? And do you intend to institute a "test" for that too? - Mary Anne - 4/21/2006 4:00:24 PM
        
        You lasted longer than me :-) - Tony - 4/21/2006 5:14:59 PM
        
        You still letting that eat you up inside? - SDAI-Tech1 - 4/22/2006 6:41:08 AM
        
        Not eating up. - Tony - 4/22/2006 7:38:45 PM
        
        Most diseases are biological. Eventually we find treatments. - SDF - 4/21/2006 4:04:03 PM
        
        Yup, and education is the vaccine against bigotry... (n/t) - R.L. - 4/22/2006 1:49:01 AM

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