One day, browsing at a Borders bookstore in Richfield, Minnesota, I was frontally assaulted by a magazine cover portraying a man in gang-like attire with both arms raised and the middle finger of both hands raised higher.

My first thought was, “How sad.”  My second thought was better: “Give a rip, Joel!”  In a word, that means; CARE!

I decided to find out what the manager thought of this uncreative public display of crass immaturity.  I approached the information desk and asked, “Do you intend to keep this cover on public display?”

A clerk (trying to impress his manager, standing next to him) proudly replied, “Yes, we don’t discriminate!”

Reacting as much to his attitude as to his words, I said, “Are you proud of that?”

He shot back, “We have gay magazines, sex magazines and so on.  If we took this one down, we would have to take them all down.”

Perhaps I should have encouraged him to choose the latter option, but I knew that was not likely.  Plus, that would have confirmed his suspicion that I was some reactionary puritanical fundamentalist.  Instead, I chose to challenge his premise and said, “No you don’t."

This was not an expected response.

I continued, "Your store can put up or take down any magazines you want.  You are free.”

He was surprised to hear me affirm his moral freedom. Freedom was apparently not something he had consciously considered with regard to moral matters.

So I finished the thought: “You make your own decisions.  In fact, I honor your store's freedom to put up or take down what you want.  I just want you to admit that you are freely deciding what to do, when and how. Take responsibility.  Everybody discriminates.”

The clerk was speechless.  He claimed to be obligated by some noble standard of consistency that would force him to take down everything objectionable if he ever took down anything objectionable.  It was an unholy legalism as blatant as any I have ever seen among religious legalists.

Of course, he was kidding himself.  He justified things raunchy, hateful, sadistic, evil and snide with the self-satisfying notion that it is noble not to discriminate.

I have heard this from too many elitist modern art professors and curators to buy it from a bookstore clerk.  The complete failure to discriminate is nothing more than the refusal to think.  This delusional attitude is what lies behind much of the nonsensical angry art of the 20th century.  Now, bookstore clerks are drinking the Kool-Aid.

I care about art.  It’s a passion of mine.  So is bookstore browsing.  I give a rip about public decency.  Do you?  If so, let a sane public voice be heard on your campus.

Later, at a Barnes & Noble bookstore, I noticed a feminist magazine on display called “B-t-h.”  It was severely demeaning to women.  I also encountered a horrific volume of child pornography near the art section. I felt like giving that book a rip, literally.  I respectfully asked the manager to reconsider it’s public display.  She used her “immoral” freedom to put it back out for public perusal.  How sad!

Indeed, “discrimination,” when used as a tool of racial prejudice, is inexcusable.  But if a driver cannot discriminate between red, yellow and green on the highway, he’s a menace.  If a husband will not discriminate in favor of his wife over a floozy, he’s in for a crash. Discrimination helps in choosing a healthy church.  You need it to decorate your home well or to create displays at bookstores.  Most of all, discrimination is essential for sorting out right from wrong.  Those who refuse to discriminate morally may think themselves noble but they are useful tools for blatant displays of evil.

The Bible is not just a big traffic signal telling us when to stop, slow down or go.  God is too colorful for that.  Instead, it contains rainbows of love, grace and hope that bid us to discern God's higher will--and stand for it. Real love can say “that‘s wrong“ or “no way” in living color! Real love, when necessary, can get tough.  It gives a rip about indecency.  It cares enough to discriminate--morally that is.