Last week someone I follow on Twitter posted a link to Keith Olbermann’s rant on those that voted for Proposition 8 in California.
Mister Olbermann, makes some good points during his diatribe but I feel that he misses two important points.
1) A person can vote however they choose.
While Keith goes to at great lengths to ask “why” someone would vote in favor of Proposition 8 I feel that he misses the point that people can vote however they want. There seems to be this growing sense in America where many people think “you can vote however you want as long as it furthers my point of view and if you fail to do that well than you’re a very mean/stupid/ignorant/raciest person” and to me this pretty much misses the point of voting entirely.
The whole idea behind voting is that I have my beliefs and you have yours and when it comes to voting, we can vote how we believe. We vote based on our beliefs, morals, principles, and what we feel is right. You will be hard pressed to find a group of people who all believe the exact same thing. That’s why we vote.
Keith Olbermann’s rant, comes off as a giant statement about why someone who voted for Proposition 8 is “wrong” for doing so. Maybe it’s his delivery but it seemed very poineted and “how dare you”-ish.
2) When it comes to the Christian faith, it is largely about “hate the sin, love the sinner”
Another thing that Olbermann brings up (quite a bit) is the Biblical principle that we should love our neighbors as ourself. Granted he gets it right that this is Jesus’ greatest commandment but he leaves out the first one (yes, there were 2). The first commandment Jesus gave was to “love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, and soul” and the second was to love your neighbors.
Since most Christians and religious people believe that homosexuality is a sin (and most will point to Romans where Paul wrote that God gave the Romans “over to their sin” as proof of this fact), it makes perfect sense that they would vote in favor of a law that defines marriage as something that can only occur between a man and a woman.
Also, God doesn’t say that because someone sins you can’t “love” them, in fact he encourages Christians to love everyone regardless of sin because (again) Biblically “we are all sinful in the eyes of God” and no one is blameless. The Bible makes it very clear that Christians are to love others, but despise the sin in their lives.
So while, Olbermann might have thought he was convicting Christians of hypocrisy, he in fact was making an ill-informed statement. It is not “wrong” for a Christian to vote in favor of a proposition against gay marriage.
I respect Keith Olbermann’s right to say what he says. But I just think that some clarification is needed as well as a reminder that as individual citizens, it is our right to vote as we want. For or against a proposition. It is our right to vote with our hearts, minds, beliefs, ideals, morals, and anything else we hold dear.
So if you voted for Prop8, or against, good for you for taking a stand for what you believe to be right/wrong/whatever. That is what makes America so great.
Now, to all of you whom are trying to get the fact that Prop8 passed overturned in court with a bunch of lawsuits, you are a blight on this system and should regulate yourself to live with scum. Should you succeed, you will prove that the whole concept of voting is rendered useless and disenfranchise anyone who takes time to go and vote.
Michael Koby 
Olbermann Kind of Misses the Point
Last week someone I follow on Twitter posted a link to Keith Olbermann’s rant on those that voted for Proposition 8 in California.
Mister Olbermann, makes some good points during his diatribe but I feel that he misses two important points.
1) A person can vote however they choose.
While Keith goes to at great lengths to ask “why” someone would vote in favor of Proposition 8 I feel that he misses the point that people can vote however they want. There seems to be this growing sense in America where many people think “you can vote however you want as long as it furthers my point of view and if you fail to do that well than you’re a very mean/stupid/ignorant/raciest person” and to me this pretty much misses the point of voting entirely.
The whole idea behind voting is that I have my beliefs and you have yours and when it comes to voting, we can vote how we believe. We vote based on our beliefs, morals, principles, and what we feel is right. You will be hard pressed to find a group of people who all believe the exact same thing. That’s why we vote.
Keith Olbermann’s rant, comes off as a giant statement about why someone who voted for Proposition 8 is “wrong” for doing so. Maybe it’s his delivery but it seemed very poineted and “how dare you”-ish.
2) When it comes to the Christian faith, it is largely about “hate the sin, love the sinner”
Another thing that Olbermann brings up (quite a bit) is the Biblical principle that we should love our neighbors as ourself. Granted he gets it right that this is Jesus’ greatest commandment but he leaves out the first one (yes, there were 2). The first commandment Jesus gave was to “love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, and soul” and the second was to love your neighbors.
Since most Christians and religious people believe that homosexuality is a sin (and most will point to Romans where Paul wrote that God gave the Romans “over to their sin” as proof of this fact), it makes perfect sense that they would vote in favor of a law that defines marriage as something that can only occur between a man and a woman.
Also, God doesn’t say that because someone sins you can’t “love” them, in fact he encourages Christians to love everyone regardless of sin because (again) Biblically “we are all sinful in the eyes of God” and no one is blameless. The Bible makes it very clear that Christians are to love others, but despise the sin in their lives.
So while, Olbermann might have thought he was convicting Christians of hypocrisy, he in fact was making an ill-informed statement. It is not “wrong” for a Christian to vote in favor of a proposition against gay marriage.
I respect Keith Olbermann’s right to say what he says. But I just think that some clarification is needed as well as a reminder that as individual citizens, it is our right to vote as we want. For or against a proposition. It is our right to vote with our hearts, minds, beliefs, ideals, morals, and anything else we hold dear.
So if you voted for Prop8, or against, good for you for taking a stand for what you believe to be right/wrong/whatever. That is what makes America so great.
Now, to all of you whom are trying to get the fact that Prop8 passed overturned in court with a bunch of lawsuits, you are a blight on this system and should regulate yourself to live with scum. Should you succeed, you will prove that the whole concept of voting is rendered useless and disenfranchise anyone who takes time to go and vote.