The Huffington Post has put together a nice little sampling of anti-gay marriage ads. Over and over you hear "it's not hate" and "it's not bigotry". The ads are full of encapsulated little concrete reasons for why you should oppose gay marriage. There are references to statistics and studies, none of which is dwelled on much. The ads invariably return to the idea of "doing what's right". The language and imagery really give me the impression that the ads are preaching to the converted.
Two things going on here. First, the ads are intended to offer concrete (often economic) justifications why gay marriage should be stopped. Second, the ads appeal to the motivations of the motivated, the reasons why the viewers rage so strongly against gays getting all married. This part seems to be heavily encrypted, but the motivations seem to range somewhere between "it's wrong" to "it's disgusting".
What strikes me most here is the stark disconnect between the justifications and the motivations. Usually both aren't so clearly displayed, but I think it's this same disconnect that makes select Teabaggers so inarticulate. See also the state's rights arguments made in defense of slavery in America.
The ads, I believe, are intended to provide alternate ammunition to people whose primary reasons are at best personal and irrelevant (and at worst; very, very mean). It seems to me that if you make your point using canned statistics, while keeping your real convictions to yourself, then maybe you're not entirely on the correct side of the argument.
I don't mean to use only examples opposed to my own alignment (Neutral Good). I'm sure there are cases of the Secular Left doing this as well. I just can't think of any, possibly because it's rarer, but more likely because this sort of thing is harder to see when you're doing it yourself.
link via @shortpacked
UPDATE: Guilty! I saw this picture:
from this article and immediately started trying to think up reasons why the war in Iraq is a bad idea, just so that little girl wouldn't have to say goodbye to her dad. I'm no better than those racist and homophobic bigots, rhetorically speaking. I hang my head in shame.
3 comments:
since the army skews heavily republican, there's a good chance her dad opposed gay marriage. with his pernicious influence removed, she now has a better chance to grow up to be slightly less of an asshole.
"The ads are intended to offer concrete (often economic) justifications why gay marriage should be stopped. "
I read that as "ergonomic", which is actually a more sustainable argument than economic for these assholes.
So you're saying that your dislike for the war in Iraq is the same as their dislike for gays? If you're strictly taking about rhetoric, so what? You're blong-ranting. They're using a zillion dollar funded international propaganda machine. I would imagine that if you ever got off your ass to fight on the scale that they do you'd upgrade your arguments from misdirection, misinformation, intimidation, and sensationalism, to something a bit more respectable.
Of course that's all appropriate for blong-ranting, if not recommended. And of course this is what's expected from the religious right no matter what they're doing.
I think what I'm saying is that I might use the same tactics. Or that I might accidentally use the same tactics. Or that we all might, given the chance. I'm saying it's something that all of us--the honorable crusaders for reason and sensibility, and the disingenuous fear-mongering turds, and the two or three shades of humanity in between--need to be vigilant about.
I mean, that's what I ended up saying. I started off blong-ranting about what disingenuous fear-mongering turds the religious right can be when they put their minds to it. Disingenuous fear-mongering turds.
Post a Comment