I am much more worried about authoritarian belief systems than I am about a group of protesters who interrupt my lunch to talk about race issues. Something like that actually happened to me while I was at college. The place where we ate had an outdoor area where we could eat outdoors if we liked. However, the Aramark manager decided that too many people had abused the privilege by leaving trash, making a mess, and that sort of stuff; so he closed the area off for the rest of the school year. That didn't sit well with one of my friends, who opened the door to the outdoor area and set off the fire alarm. He proceeded to have a good argument with the manager; the manager was one of those people who my friend enjoyed arguing with. Nobody changed each other's minds, but I personally found it entertaining enough to tell everyone I knew about it.
Nobody was stopping anybody from eating at these Black Brunch protests. If I people were to confront me about race, I would be happy to talk with them as long as they wanted to; I'll argue politics with anyone as long as it doesn't devolve into obscurantism. Sure, it might screw up my day somewhat (I'm a very hurry-driven person), but I am still much more worried about the authoritarian system they are protesting. The chilling story that was in the Des Moines Register about a law-abiding citizen who had his $19,000 life savings stolen by police for doing nothing more than going 5 miles per hour over the speed limit is much more disturbing. Given that police in Iowa and other states can legally steal all your money for going 5 miles per hour over the speed limit, the Black Brunch protesters in Atlanta have every right to be upset.
The Going Clear documentary that was on HBO tonight, about the Scientology group and its ex-followers, shows what happens when any authoritarian belief system goes to its logical extreme, whether it is done in the name of religion or whether it is the present authoritarian police state we live in. The whole purpose of this organization is to charge thousands of dollars for people to move up the ladder of personal development. Every aspect of one's life is controlled and micromanaged by auditors. And there is always a few thousand more of your hard-earned dollars that you have to pony up when you are not living up to expectations. And if you leave the group and then speak out against them, expect to get stalked and harassed.
But of course, in our corrupted system, the whole purpose is to pick winners and losers. The "winners" get to extract the most profit they possibly can, whether it be through authoritarian belief systems, debt, price-gouging, or wage suppression. If you're a "loser," then you somehow didn't work hard enough, like the horse in Orwell's "Animal Farm." In this belief system that is the Bipartisan Consensus (TM), Scientology has $3 billion cash on hand; therefore, they are virtuous and hard-working.
This is why the people of Indiana and the business community there have every right to be upset at the so-called "Religious Freedom Restoration Act." I have had a ton of Police State apologists claim that there is nothing discriminatory about this bill. Well, it's too bad their governor doesn't know the answer to the question when asked if the intent is to discriminate against gays. And it's too bad that there is not an anti-gay discrimination bill in Indiana, which would clarify that the intent of the RFRA is to protect religious beliefs and not to discriminate against gays. Protecting religious liberty is important. But there is a compelling public interest in not returning to the days of Jim Crow, when all people were equal, but some people were more equal than others.
If you're a religious fundamentalist, whether you're Christian or Muslim or whatever and you want to discriminate, then form a church or private club and perform services for your members. Otherwise, don't claim that you want to offer services to the general public when you don't. That is called bearing false witness and passing judgment, both of which are prohibited by the very Bible which Governor Mike Pence and his allies claim to follow.
But the road to discrimination and tyranny starts with passing laws against people deemed as "publicans" or "sinners" or other group of people whom the Very Important People (TM) say we are supposed to be scared of. The problem is, as the seizure of the young man's $19,000 in Iowa shows, is that it doesn't just stop there. It spreads like a cancer or a virus to affect all of us.