First a disclaimer: I am not, nor have I ever been, female, Jewish, Black, gay, lesbian, or transgendered. I am an OWG (Old White Guy); so if anybody disagrees with the opinions that follow on the basis that since I am not a member of (insert offended group here), I don’t know what I’m talking about, I’ll probably agree. But it seems to me that groups with very real complaints spend a lot of energy, political capital, and good will on things that don’t really matter a lot.

It is, essentially, expending their resources on things that offend them rather than things that affect them.

This week we had the NAACP telling a Georgia school that they needed to change their team’s name. They’re the Rebels. If the Internet got the story right, we had a school in Mississippi whose marching band was told that they couldn’t take the field because their program included a well-known hymn. And we had a foundation from the Midwest saying that Georgia and Georgia Tech should quit offering prayer and devotions to the players. Those were just the things that made the news.

As a contract writer I lived through the he/she controversy of the 70s which was pushed to ridiculous limits (He or she needs to make an appointment with his or her gynecologist immediately.).  I had to add characters in videos just so we would balance gender, race, and other important attributes. And I had to quit telling women (not girls or gals) that they looked particular nice today because somehow that gets translated to a hostile work environment.

To be very clear, I have always been in favor of equality—gender, race, sexual preference or whatever. I’m also in favor of providing a boost to a group if they have been deprived of equality and need a hand getting to a level playing field. I do not want my faith to impinge on another person’s or theirs on mine. Having said that, I’m also very tired of picky people.

Take the Confederate battle flag, for instance. It makes about as much sense to fly the Confederate battle flag at the state capital as it does to fly the French flag over Louisiana’s capital. Once upon a time Louisiana was controlled by the French, but that’s over. So is the Civil War. On the other hand, if someone wants to fly the battle flag at his or her (note the political correctness) house, that’s none of my business. I’d probably consider him (or her) a jerk, but that’s none of his or her business.

The idea of public monuments to the Confederacy and their heroes is admittedly a grayer area, but I believe that it’s a part of history we shouldn’t forget, and I also believe the people on the monuments had a dimension other than they supported slavery. My family, along with most of the people in Johnston County, NC, were not slave holders, but—for whatever reason—they fought for the South. And I would imagine that the more their land was ravaged and the more friends and family they lost, the harder they fought.

On the edges of this issue, we encounter examples of trivialities that destroy good will. I am all for eradicating references to the Confederacy and the flag from the capital, license tags, state holidays, and anything else that has to do with state government. However, when you propose that we sandblast Stone Mountain to rid it of distasteful references, I’m put in the embarrassing position of having to switch sides.

Similarly, telling the band in Mississippi that they can’t take the field because their program included “How Great Thou Art” goes way beyond my understanding of the separation of Church and State. And I think if they had Jewish music or Muslim music or a medley of the three, I would feel the same way. It does not hurt me to hear music from people who think differently from me; in fact, I might learn something.

Then there’s the Freedom from Religion Foundation. They are on a crusade to get prayer out of the locker room. However, so long as it’s voluntary and without pressure, I don’t see why the FFRF should care. So far as I can tell, no players have complained. There is the question regarding Tech paying their chaplain $7500, but—to me—that question is not nearly as interesting as why universities pay their football coaches more than they pay a whole herd of professors.

Finally, there are the fringes of feminism. I’ve never really identified myself as a feminist. I believe that there are differences between men and women, and—as the French say—Vive la difference! But different doesn’t mean better or worse; it just means different, two parts that make up the whole of the human race. Because what I do doesn’t require tremendous upper body strength, I’ve competed with women for most of my adult life. Some were very good and very smart, and some not so good and not so smart. Just like the men. I’m all for equal pay for equal work, and I applauded when the two women finished the Ranger training.

When my daughter walked down the aisle somebody asked me about “giving her away.” I told him that she was not mine to give away. She was her own person.

However, I still occasionally get into trouble with those who operate on the edge of feminism. For instance, having been taught to open the door for ladies and the steadily shrinking number of those who are senior to me, I always do it. One time I opened the door for a young lady, and she glared at me. “I can do that,” she said. So I let her.

(A similar incident was handled with much more grace by another young lady. I opened the door for her, and she gave me a smile. Then she grabbed the next door and held it open for me. “My turn,” she said. That’s probably the sort of equality we should be aspiring to.)

As already noted, I am not a part of any group that has suffered institutionalized social injustice. What slights I have suffered were on a personal level and didn’t make a lot of difference. And I don’t want to appear insensitive to those who have to deal with it every day. My only point is that, with all the big problems to solve, I think it’s strategically sound not to waste ammunition on those that don’t really change your lives.

We live in a time when women object to being called ladies, where almost any sports team not named after an animal or weather event is going to offend someone, and where any kind of ethnic joke can end your career. I think we have more important things to do.

So far as team names go, my high school team was the Blue Phantoms. Nobody really objected to that, probably because ghosts don’t have a very effective lobbying group.