LewRockwell.com | In reality it is the agents of the State and its enforcers who are the actual criminals of society. And it is also necessary to shine a light on those who use the State’s “anti-discrimination” laws as a means to harass and financially extort from someone who has expressed an “offensive” i.e. politically incorrect point of view or has declared one’s right to exercise freedom of thought and freedom of conscience. This is another area in which minarchists should rethink their acceptance of a State with monopoly power.
For instance, we can look at the case of the same-sex couple who felt offended when a photographer didn’t want to photograph their wedding (or “commitment ceremony” in this case). The couple could have merely respected the photographer’s right to not associate with or do work for them and then move on to find another photographer who would work for them. There probably are dozens of professional photographers in every region of the country who would do the work, even in the southern redneck areas, I’m sure.
Now, I think that the couple were so “offended” by the photographer because hyper-sensitivity has become the norm in America. The government schools emphasize this now in which teasing is now called “bullying,” and “zero tolerance” is just a euphemism for thought control. In a truly moral world, of course the photographer has a right to refuse to do business with someone, and based on whatever reasons she has — it’s her business.
It seems to me that there are many people now who are more offended by someone not wanting to associate with a member of a “protected class” of people, than they are offended by people forcing others to associate with them. Just as there are many people now who are more offended by a child pointing his finger like a gun saying “bang, bang” than those who are offended by teachers calling the police to arrest the child. In other words, mere thoughts and points of view, and mere verbal expressions, seem to offend more than the actual uncivilized behavior and acts of aggression being employed by the State at the wish of those who are emotionally intolerant and hyper-sensitive.
But morally, people do not have the right to force someone to associate with them or do business with them. If someone rejects you, then you move on to someone else — that’s the civilized, moral and libertarian thing to do. But using the State and its enforcers to compel an involuntary association from someone is criminal, in my view. In that same-sex commitment ceremony case, while the photographer is exercising her right of freedom of thought, association and voluntary contract, the couple are not only the intolerant ones, but they are in fact acting criminally in their financial extortion and harassment of the photographer.
And I wonder just how much the couple felt it important to sue the photographer out of genuine principle (or spite, revenge, or pettiness, depending on how you look at it), or did they see the situation as an opportunity — in our sue-happy society — to use the courts to “get something for nothing”? Read Entire Article
