I have to admit that I'm partially on the "wrong" side of this one.

Housing, not being fired for being gay, that kind of stuff, I'm with John Oliver 100%.

But restaurants, bakers, etc. ... I dunno, I'm a little torn.

Places like Big Earl's in the clip put up a sign that says "We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone for any reason". I tend to think that is a right that we should allow private businesses (NOT things that are set up for the public good like utilities, gas stations, govt. agencies, whatever) to have.

That is NOT to say that I approve of the way that these clowns exercise that right. Dude doesn't want to make cakes for same-sex weddings ... fine. You're a retard, passing up potential customers for a really stupid reason, and also possibly discouraging business from other people that empathize with those that you are denying service to, but ... hey, it is your goddamn business. If you don't want to make a cake for people who's name starts with a Q, I'd support your right to make that (equally dumbass) decision.

Kinda the same thing goes for Big Earl's. That might even be one of the cases where the comfort of your standard clientele (redneck bigots) is potentially more important/beneficial to your bottom line than the potential lost business that your discriminating policy causes. In other words, from a purely capitalistic viewpoint, the policy might be a net positive to the business. Maybe.


The one thing that gives me pause on those more private businesses being allowed to "deny service to anyone for any reason" is shifting from LGBT equality to race equality. If that cake maker refused to make cakes for a black wedding, I'd be more accepting that we need some government intervention. I know that my opinion should be the same in both instances, but I can only honestly admit that at the gut level, I have a different reaction to those 2 scenarios.

I sorta think that even the racist cake-maker should be allowed to continue to be racist (so long as we're talking cakes, and not something more *necessary* to public good), because a racist cake maker will probably put themselves out of business without the need for any government intervention. BUT, I'm sure there are places in the US where that wouldn't have been true (and where it wouldn't be true today), and we needed the push of federal mandate to force such people to remove heads from asses. Maybe the same thing is true for LGBT discrimination.

But I do still feel conflicted about it. Even though I know I shouldn't.

Redneck racin!

Your video, Redneck Avengers: Tulsa Nights - Bad Lip Reading of Avengers, has made it into the Top 15 New Videos listing. Congratulations on your achievement. For your contribution you have been awarded 1 Power Point.

Louis CK is a god!

Nigger was a feeling...


Just as Chris Rock says there are black people then their are niggers
There are also whites and white trash/rednecks

The great Baltimore chimpout shows bad side of stereotypes.

I'll give blacks one thing, even the criminals in Baltimore destroying heir own city and being put down like Korean grocer killed looter last week. They come together.

If whites came together and rioted we'd overthrow the government!
The last times whites came together in mass, we overthrew King George's rule on America. Via terrorism, burning buildings, bombing ammo dumps, guerilla war that redcoats had never fought before.

American Loving Redneck Has Some Thoughts On Racism has been added as a related post - related requested by enoch on that post.

The cynic in me really hopes this isn't a really good actor pretending to be a redneck.

Not many people are capable of such a massive paradigm shift late in life. It can make your entire ego crumble and you become a heaping pile of 'What the fuck am I?'

If he's legit, bless, because damn that's some major introspective aweseomeness.

"I'm a redneck. Have been my whole life..."

I'm willing to bet there aren't many converts in the first place.

Congratulations! Your video, Redneck News reports on gay marriage destroying Alabama, has reached the #1 spot in the current Top 15 New Videos listing. This is a very difficult thing to accomplish but you managed to pull it off. For your contribution you have been awarded 2 Power Points.

This achievement has earned you your "Golden One" Level 8 Badge!

Your video, Redneck News reports on gay marriage destroying Alabama, has made it into the Top 15 New Videos listing. Congratulations on your achievement. For your contribution you have been awarded 1 Power Point.

Gandalf the Redneck.

Redneck Olympics high jump

Your video, Redneck Groom Fails His Wedding Entrance, has made it into the Top 15 New Videos listing. Congratulations on your achievement. For your contribution you have been awarded 1 Power Point.

Congratulations! Your video, Genius Redneck Couch Moving, has reached the #1 spot in the current Top 15 New Videos listing. This is a very difficult thing to accomplish but you managed to pull it off. For your contribution you have been awarded 2 Power Points.

This achievement has earned you your "Golden One" Level 5 Badge!

Your video, Genius Redneck Couch Moving, has made it into the Top 15 New Videos listing. Congratulations on your achievement. For your contribution you have been awarded 1 Power Point.

Bill and Sam specifically acknowledged that criticism of Islam often gets conflated with racism. But if it's ok to criticize Christianity (as we often do here on the sift) then it's ok to criticize Islam.

Just because racists don't know the difference between dark skinned people and a religion doesn't mean we don't

Lantern53 just recently tried to pull the same stunt and claimed that "police officer" is a race and thus criticizing them was racism.

It's the same thing with political parties. I think parties should be abolished, they needlessly divide the nation, but that doesn't mean I think they're equal in any way. One party is less bad the other. I'm not "racist" towards the party I don't like.

To be fair, I understand where you're coming from. criticizing Islam CAN be a disguise for racism. But that's not where Bill or Sam are coming from. There is a huge difference between making legitimate criticisms and simply bashing Islam because many dark skinned people practice it.

We are fully aware that there are plenty of people who practice Islam and are peaceful. There are plenty of peaceful Christians too. Does that mean I can't criticize Christianity?

This is about the religion, not the people.

In an odd way, The conservatives are right. They often complain that we criticize Christianity, but Islam gets a free pass. Well in that regard, sometimes they're right. (of course there is a reason for that. Americans by and large are not affected by Islam as they are by Christianity simply because Christianity is the predominate religion in America)

And to be fair, after 9/11 there was a lot of hate crimes committed against peaceful Muslim Americans and I think the only reason the crimes were committed were because the victims were dark-skinned I doubt there were many white Muslims attacked.

So because of that phenomenon, I think people are afraid to criticize Islam because they don't want to be conflated with the racist rednecks

Guess what, they were right, Bill and Sam are being conflated with the racist rednecks.

But it doesn't get more simple than this: If it's ok to criticize the bad parts of Christianity despite the fact there are many peaceful Christians out there that don't hold those particular beliefs. Then it's ok to criticize Islam in the same way.