A goodish bit of indignation has been expressed by the Intoleristas over the apropos application of the word Intolerista. Remember when we were kids and used to play dodgeball with those red, rubber school balls? And there was always that kid who thought that getting hit by a ball constituted a foul and an outrage, and he always limped off, sobbing? The limp was for dramatic effect, and usually had little to do with where the ball actually hit him. There is nothing like getting pegged to reveal a certain kind of mentality, unique to those who are bad at dodgeball.
And so this whining by the Intoleristas is intended to make us think that this action of theirs has nothing to do with religious persecution, or ideological intolerance, and is actually about following the Law, wherever the Law might lead. This is supposed to be a disinterested action, brought in a fit of high civic-mindedness. “Teacher, I am not complaining that he hit me. I am just concerned about the Rules. Look” And he pulls up his shirt to reveal a non-existent welt, forgetting that the ball hit him on the shoe. Those who believe that this is about zoning need to get out a little bit more.
Those making this complaint are Joseph Hansen, Charlie Nolan, and Dustin Bauer, known to insiders as Scott Bauer, and perhaps next week as Dustin Scott. Anyone with more than ten minutes’ acquaintance with these gentlemen knows that their agenda is to get at us by any means at their disposal, not to mention a few means not at their disposal. And those who want folks to think that there was nothing ideological about all this could have done better with three other names, any other names, taken at random out of a phone book. And that this vendetta has come upon hard times can be seen in the fact that Charlie Nolan has actually had to sign his real name to something.
Thus far, the strategy has been to announce in bold, confident tones, out in public, that NSA has been guilty of “criminal” violation of the zoning requirements, and that the college has done this with a high hand. The strategy is to create a public circus, based on falsehood, in order to interfere with a calm, judicial determination of the facts.
Which are these. Two years ago, New St. Andrews obtained an occupany permit, and whaddayaknow, it says right there on the occupany permit that we were going to conduct college classes in the building we had purchased. To hear these people talk, it sounds like we moved into the deserted Verizon building, began holding classes in the dead of night, began claiming squatters’ rights, and successfully did an end-run around the zoning process. On the contrary, 1. we told everyone what we wanted to do, 2. got permission to do it, and then 3. went and did exactly what we said we were going to do.
This is Charlie Nolan’s idea of a crime. This is Joseph Hansen’s idea of a heinous violation. This is Scottie Dust’s idea of being a gnat-strangler — and with imaginary gnats to boot.
So let us review the chronology once more, for those who are following this complicated legal case with interest.
NSA:
Can we hold college classes downtown?
Moscow:
Sure can. Here’s the occupancy permit.
NSA:
Thanks much.
Of course this vendetta against us is ideological. Ideologues are the only people who could manufacture a problem out of a situation like this. And these local ideologues now have a name that they don’t like very much. But that is too bad because it fits them far too well to disappear. Intolerista.