Hanks’ hypocrisy

Forrest Gump? Classic.

Woody? A childhood icon for many of us.

Chuck Noland? Almost as great of a character as Wilson was.

Tom Hanks? An idiot.

Last Wednesday, Mr. Hanks made a bold yet ridiculous proclamation proving this correct. He declared those members of the Mormon Church who support California’s Proposition 8 banning gay marriage to be “un-American.”

Shut up, Forrest.

This statement was so inherently hypocritical I had to laugh. A representative of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints responded to it by saying, “Expressing an opinion in a free and democratic society is as American as it gets.”

I couldn’t say it better myself.

As we witness the transition of power to President Obama, our country must not forget the ideals for which we stand. Perhaps the most important of these ideals are our freedoms of speech and beliefs. An American should be able to think and express anything he wants without fearing persecution. However, as Mr. Hanks has displayed, any beliefs not coinciding with liberal philosophies have somehow become taboo.

I’ve been called close-minded numerous times, yet never truly understood why. I try to approach every issue from numerous angles, as I’m sure many other young Americans do. But regardless of my understanding of an issue, a conservative, even moderate, stance automatically earns me this insult.

Does no one see the hypocrisy here?

When an opinion must align with a liberal belief in order to be deemed open-minded, the freedoms that we as Americans are blessed enough to own are being ridiculed.

Having an open mind has nothing to do with supporting controversial social issues such as gay marriage. The majority of Americans who do not support this idea don’t simply plug their ears when they hear about it. They don’t shut their eyes every time they’re presented with an image of homosexuality.

Though of course there are exceptions, most of us make our decision on this and other such issues based on a number of factors.

Yet those who disagree with us somehow feel justified in assuming our way of thinking is nowhere near as sophisticated as their own. Because we reject an idea, we must therefore be incapable of stretching our minds.

The millions of Americans who don’t support gay marriage must have some sort of thought-process malfunction that prevents them from supporting the socially acceptable answer.

What could be more close-minded than this approach?

Being an American doesn’t mean you have to swallow a personal belief in order to refrain from offending someone of an alternate lifestyle. Those Mormons who financially supported Proposition 8 did far more in exercising their American rights than many citizens will ever do.

Mr. Hanks displayed his own narrow-mindedness by labeling a viewpoint he did not personally agree with as un-American. In doing so, he insulted the very freedoms the Constitution defends.