2010-03-26 Marriage is Sacred

2010-03-26 Adam Baldwin Big Hollywood \marriage\Sarah Silverman http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/abaldwin/2010/03/26/marriage-is-sacred-sarah-silverman-misfires/ Marriage is Sacred: Sarah Silverman Misfires Marriage is Sacred  Comedienne/Actress Sarah Silverman told Playboy recently:

"'I'm not against marriage, but it’s just not for me...'"

That’s an entirely reasonable position. Not every person is suited for marriage.

But then she pitched intolerance:

"'I think it’s gross and [bleep]-ing crazy.'"

Not a follower of gossip tweets, I do however recall a not so private break-up from a certain late night talk-show host that may have played a role here.

We can presume President Obama and family would object. During his campaign and term as president his proud advocacy of traditional marriage and family has coincided with the vast majority of Americans.

Any honorable married person could easily find Ms. Silverman's remark offensive. To be labeled as both "gross" and "F-ing crazy" by a vulgarian is ironic. Perhaps irony was the comedienne's intention, then again maybe not. Comments:
 * My respect for Sarah Silverman just went up another notch...
 * She didn't say "anyone who marries is gross/crazy"; she was attacking the act of marriage. No "honorable married person" has any reason to find her remark offensive.
 * It's also not clear why it matters what Obama thinks about this, or why the breakup of a late-night talk-show host's marriage might have played a role in forming Silverman's opinion on the topic of marriage.

The author does not respond directly to Silverman's assertions at all, and does not in any way address its validity beyond saying that it is "clumsy and humorless".

Instead, he makes several attempts to undermine her credibility with irrelevant statements: the appeal to authority of mentioning Obama's opinion, appeal to popularity by saying that most Americans would agree with Obama, the argument from offense of saying that honorable married people would be offended, the attempt to demean gay marriage as trivial, a fad ("hot button", "fashionable meme"), denying that it's as serious a cause as the struggles of blacks and Jews (whose own causes were similarly derided in their own day), and attempting to label Silverman's opinion as somehow bigoted itself (how is what she said in any way "regarding or treating the members of a group with hatred and intolerance"? She specifically said she tolerated married people, and never said anything to hint at hatred) -- while she is standing up for a group whose members are regularly attacked and even killed by bigots. &ldquo;Any honorable married person could easily find Ms. Silverman's remark offensive. To be labeled as both "gross" and "F-ing crazy" by a vulgarian is ironic. Perhaps irony was the comedienne's intention, then again maybe not.&rdquo;   