Comments on: I Do Not Think Rational Means What They Think It Means

By: Donny D.

Donny D. — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 10:05:26 +0000

Steve wrote,

They act is if gay couples are somehow stealing straight couples’ children.

I think I’ve seen that assertion made by the anti-gays, never with any kind of follow up or support.

By: Priya Lynn

Priya Lynn — Thu, 31 May 2012 17:38:45 +0000

Ian, I think that’s to at least a degree the underlying “logic” to the silly arguments they come up with.

By: Ian

Ian — Thu, 31 May 2012 17:32:13 +0000

I think their point is something like this: “marriage is a promotion of sorts. If there is marriage equality, it will be like promoting same-sex marriage, which they think is at least not as healthy as opp-sex marriage.”

Maybe they feel that anything is supported = promotion. Like um… tax-free religious institutions?

Anyone care to clarify? Thanks!

By: Jarred

Jarred — Thu, 31 May 2012 16:38:56 +0000

Timothy: I like yours as well. I actually envision a series of commercials of this sort, to be honest. Things that encourage people to look at the real effects of Marriage (In)Equality and think about the people whose lives they are voting on.

Priya: I may just do that. I’m really enamored of this idea.

By: SharonB

SharonB — Thu, 31 May 2012 16:21:18 +0000

Better yet, have partner A’s children be denied visitation of a dying parent bc of inequality. In the case of the heterosexual couple, the children do get to visit. Focus in on the children (tears) “why can’t i visit mommy?”
cut to “it affects real people.”

Win!

By: Timothy Kincaid

Timothy Kincaid — Thu, 31 May 2012 16:20:41 +0000

Jared

I like it. Perhaps this as companion:

Man in suit in office says: “where’s Beverly? We need to go over this proposal.”

Receptionist: she had to take time off. It’s Parent Teacher Day.

Man: I know. But my wife went. Couldn’t Susan go instead? She’s the one who makes them do their homework anyway.

Receptionist: No. Not after that vote. According to the school Susan is a complete stranger and has no rights at all.

Man make a frustrated expression.

VoiceOver: inequality hurts all of us

(okay, not as good as yours, but a message I think we should also send)

By: Priya Lynn

Priya Lynn — Thu, 31 May 2012 15:45:13 +0000

That’d be a great commercial Jarred. Perhaps you could send the idea to some of the organizations that fight the anti-marriage amendments.

By: Jarred

Jarred — Thu, 31 May 2012 14:41:25 +0000

@Blake: The thing is, we could actually appeal to emotions and remain legitimate. Imagine a commercial that shows two couples, one mixed-sex and the other same-sex. One person from each couple is lying in a hospital bed, hooked up to various machines. The second person in the mixed-sex couple walks in, receives a hug from the nurse, and goes to sit by zir spouse and hold zir hand.

Then show the other person in the same-sex couple approach the room, get stopped by a doctor, asked who zie is, and being told zie cannot see zir partner because they are not legally related. Have the partner walk away with tears in his eyes and through voiceover and/or subtitles, end with the message: “Marriage Equality: Because it affects real people.”

By: Blake

Blake — Thu, 31 May 2012 13:33:27 +0000

It’s propaganda. It’s not about logic or making sense nor even NOM’s core position. It’s designed to make people feel justified when they’re being prejudiced. It’s about eliciting an emotional response; specifically: “Them mean ‘ole gays made me feel bad for denying them equality but I AM justified!”

Fight fire with fire. We don’t have to produce our own baseless-propaganda-designed-to-illicit-an-emotional-response, but we ought to at least call them on their BS. And… I think we could tug on a few emotional strings while we’re at it… perhaps point out the fact that they’ve had to make over 21 mind-warping videos to explain & justify their position while ours rests on one word…

By: jpeckjr

jpeckjr — Thu, 31 May 2012 13:06:45 +0000

The reason the argument wins elections is that it (1) promotes a cultural ideal that even multiply-divorced straights carry in their minds, and (2) it sparks fear among many people that their marriage does not meet that ideal. Public policy issues are decided on emotions more often than on rationality.