By ROD DREHER

[…]

That majority of California voters, who balloted against gay marriage on Tuesday, did so out of “hate,” we are told. Dr. Laura Schlessinger, an Orthodox Jew who has the audacity to actually believe her religion, is excoriated as “the Queen of Hate Radio” for voicing disapproval of homosexuality. And on and on.

This is the bully tactic used by self-absorbed adolescents throwing a temper tantrum because they can’t persuade their parents to agree to their demands: “You hate me! You hate me!”

But it is proving a brilliant political strategy. As soon as a dissenting opinion is labeled “hate,” it need not be countered with reason, and those who hold that opinion need not be taken seriously — except inasmuch as they are a threat to decency and order and must be suppressed.

[…]

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New York Post Online Edition, March 12, 2000