August 2006 Weddings
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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
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No on 8 ad
I thought it was really good. ?Still not sure how I feel about the targeting of Mormons as we discussed with that WaPo op-ed, but, hey, they're providing most of the funding.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q28UwAyzUkE
?
Re: No on 8 ad
Sorry. Also not a fan. For me it's the mormon thing and using prejudice against mormons to make their case.
I am favor pro-gay marriage and equal rights for homosexuals, but this is using one prejudice to fuel the fight against another prejudice.
On the one hand, I don't mind pointing out the Mormon church's support of Prop 8. I don't think religious freedom protects your right to enshrine bigotry in the constitution. Imagine if we'd let skinheads hide behind their beliefs?
On the other hand, this ad feels icky. It portrays Mormons in a viscious way that I don't think is accurate at all. They're entitled to their religious beliefs; they're just not entitled to enforce them on all Californian citizens via a constitutional ammendment.
I think the visuals of taking away the rings and ripping up the license are pretty darn effective.
And, I think for a lot of people, they don't want a religion deciding their rights. ?Should we shy away from this line of attack when that is what's happening? ?I wish they'd use it against the evangelicals, too, but that doesn't mean the mormons should go free until they do.?
Ok -- I get the powerful imagery of Mormon men invading their homes and rummaging through underwear drawers and ripping off their rings. I get that it's a metaphor for something else - but to me it's very yucky to portray Mormons this way... I'm don't like the politics of fear. GAH, I feel so conflicted I'm not making any sense.
I cant see it at work, I will have to check it out at home.
I just wanted to say that my favorite add of theirs is the one narrated by Samuel L. Jackson that discusses discrimination in CA history. I think that was the most effective add by far.
YES! The SLJ ad was SO effective. They should stick to ads like that one. It is by far my favorite one.
Ditto.
I talked for a good long while last night while volunteering for the No campaign to an older black Baptist man. He's undecided. What he really wants most is for everyone to be tolerant of each other, but there are certain truths he feels the Bible is clear about. I've had such a hard time being tolerant of Christians who support Prop 8, it was as good for me to hear about his misgivings (and try to gently nudge rather than bludgeon him with my arguments) as it was important to win his vote.
He got the discrimination argument loud and clear, but was less bothered by injecting religion into the constitution. It's what he believes and it's right to him, so there's just not a negative connotation there. I'd say he might identify more with a Mormon than with a gay person.
my read shelf:
Here is a post from a blog about the No on Prop 8 campaign. Thus far it has been very grown up and careful to make this a discussion about discrimination, not turn it into yet another battle in the great culture war. That is what I don't like about this ad. Prop 8 is about fundamental civil rights, it is not about pitting Mormons (or any religion) against gays.
Rising above the culture war
The past couple of weeks I was feeling somewhat frustrated that the anti-Prop. 8 campaign hasn't done more to answer the lies and misrepresentations of the opposition. It only takes a little research to refute each claim, and anyone who's been reading this blog the last two weeks has gotten a sample of my amateur findings. So why hasn't the No-On-Prop-8 campaign done more to respond to the accusations of the religious right?Then I came to realize something. The anti-Prop. 8 campaign is not about screaming, accusing, and engaging their opponents in a fruitless, all-out shouting match. They are not trying to twist our arms, convince us of their moral views, or make us feel guilty or obligated. Instead they are appealing to our decency, and in doing so they demonstrate how much more respect they have for us than the other side.
The anti-Prop. 8 campaign is simply asking us to do what is fair and right. They are assuming that we already know a friend, family member, or acquaintance who is gay. They are assuming that whatever disagreements we may have with that gay or lesbian person, we ought to be intelligent enough and fair-minded enough to realize that he or she deserves to be treated as an equal member of our society. And they are trusting that when the critical time comes, when no one is looking, when we are alone in the booth with our ballots and our consciences and no one's eyes upon us but God's, we will do the right thing.
In other words, the anti-Prop. 8 campaign has been making a tremendous effort to rise above the culture-war ugliness even as the pro-Prop. 8 campaign has been attacking them with all the usual tactics from the playbook of 1985. Aren't the differences between these two campaigns telling? The fact is, the gay rights movement has grown up and gone to college, while the religious right continues to roam the playground looking for someone to bully. After all, it's the grown-ups who want to get married. The adolescents, with their limited imaginations, sneer at talk of committed love, always thinking it has be a cover for some baser agenda.
How many of those people, though, aren't already voting against Prop 8?
The people who are most in conflict about what to vote on 8 are probably largely those with a religious background. And ad like this might get a few of their votes, but not many. And I imagine it might turn them off.
For those who aren't religious and undecided, I don't get what their hang-up is. If non-religious pro-8 voters are like the avegage non-religious republicans (sorry Pgh), they're mainly uneducated (or less educated) white males. And I think if this ad is for them, they're hoping their hatred of mormons is greater than their hatred of gays, and even then, I'm not so sure it is.
This ad is best served as a funny video sent around friends who are already on board with the cause.
But the Mormon church (among others) IS pitting themselves against gays. ?Why is it so wrong to point that out? ?This is religion attempting to codify discrimination.
I think it is grown up to not be afraid to call out a religion. ?They're not protected from the same scrutiny of everything else in politics simply b/c they carry a religious get out of jail free card.?
Because it hurts the cause.
I don't think it's wrong to point out -- I think they could have done that though without taking a shot at Mormons. I think it's wrong to jump into a culture war when that is not the battle we want to have. We should always frame this as a civil rights issue, not as a religious one.