Today in anachronism

 Yeah, well, that's just like your opinion, man.

-- The Dude

Sometimes a guy's heart just has to go out to the Harrison Butkers of the world. Imagine waking up every day and realizing it's not the 17th century anymore.

By now you've heard, or maybe not, about Butker's commencement address at tiny Benedictine College, in which the Kansas City Chiefs placekicker unleashed the traditional lament of the man out of his time. To say he's a conservative Catholic does not lend nearly enough weight to the term "conservative", and so of course he told the women graduates how much more rewarding it would be if they'd stay home and raise babies instead of pursuing (ugh) a career. And a bunch of other stuff, besides.

He said President Biden isn't a real Catholic because he's all in favor of killing babies. Bashed gays by obliquely referring to Pride Month as a deadly sin. Inveighed against IVF, surrogacy, "dangerous gender ideologies" and the "tyranny of diversity, equity and inclusion," and lamented what he perceives as the decline of masculine culture.

(The last of which, by the way, almost always makes the Blob smile. Ever notice it's always the men who trumpet their masculinity who are the first to whine about how men are disrespected these days, simply because they get pushback now when they say and do stuff for which they didn't used to get pushback? Some masculinity.)

Anyway ... none of that was particularly shocking, given Butker's particular worldview. There was a lot of vintage Thomas-More-taking-on-Henry-VIII in it, and perhaps a whiff or two of 1692 Salem. It wasn't hard to imagine Butker dressed as a disapproving Puritan of those times, complete with broad-brimmed and buckled black hat. Pass that turkey, John Alden, and let's get on with the witch-burnin'!

That's an exaggeration, of course, but the truth is Butker came off as such an anachronism it was hard for me to work up a lot of outrage at what he said. As the Dude said, that was just like his opinion, man. That it was so out of touch with the reality of 21st-century America -- that he saw such darkness in those who are simply different from him, or who support certain practices (IVF, surrogacy) out of a different sense of human charity -- made him a figure more to be pitied than scorned.

I can't speak for anyone else. But I reserve my scorn for those who reflexively jump to the defense of the Harrison Butkers, and who castigate anyone who has the temerity to call them out. I reserve my scorn for those who loudly promote freedom of speech for those with whom they agree, but try to muzzle it for those with whom they don't.

Look. I don't particularly care if Harrison Butker comes out and says Copernicus and Joe Biden should burn in hell side-by-side, or that any woman who chooses a career over staying at home and birthin' babies should be cast into outer darkness. There will always be people out there like that. And in most cases, thank God, they will be more a curiosity than a menace.

The menace comes from those who believe anyone who speaks out against the Harrison Butkers is a menace. They are not, and suggesting they are -- that they're evil simply because they disagree -- is a dangerous path to tread. History is rife with examples of what happens when that sort of mindset gains power, and those examples are always stained with the blood of innocents.

And that's MY opinion, man.