Final Word from Thursday, August 19, 2010
PM Petr Nečas's new adviser for human rights and foreign affairs, Roman Joch, is a member of two minorities (he's Slovak and Jewish), but he's against giving special treatment to minority groups. This, together with his strict conservative views on such topics as feminism, homosexuality and selective immigration, has made him a target of leftist activists and has caused the media to treat him with hostility. Should he be condemned as being xenophobic, racist and homophobic simply because he espouses traditional values? Don't we all have our natural preferences and prejudices? Was PM Jan Fischer a racist for surrounding himself with other Jews? Are members of the pink mafia in Prague ODS heterophobic for sticking together? Probably not. In today's politically correct world, a person like Joch can't possibly win, but at least he'll provoke some interesting debate about where the limits to intolerance are.[Czech Republic xenophobia homophobia heterophobia racism]
Glossary of difficult words
intolerance - not tolerant of other people's views, beliefs or behavior that differ from one's own; also the title of a famous silent film from 1916 by D.W. Griffith;
selective immigration - the policy of establishing criteria for regulating immigration;
to espouse - to adopt or support (a cause, belief or way of life).