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Stand Back or Get into It?
Apr. 22nd, 2009 01:32 pmTwo recent attacks in America on the cloud-like beast known as the LGBT community have made me wonder how best to react. I could stand back and say, "yup, there is legal and social progress with predictable hiccups" or I could be as outraged as ever.
The Amazon dust-up last week was actually fairly hilarious. I sent an email to their customer service saying that it was not enough to claim "computer glitch". Damage had been done and Amazon should do something to redress it, like offer an annual prize to an LGBT author. I also told them I would boycott the site for six months. Their response was "It was a technical glitch! God, were those IT people dumb!"
It just doesn't ring true. It's too reminiscent of the great LJ strikethrough. I don't think either decision came down from the top, but it shows the power of digital middlemen with access to database management.
What's interesting, of course, is how fast Amazon had to back-pedal.
The ridiculous anti-gay-marriage ad (which actually broadens into an anti-gay rights in general ad) by the National Organization for Marriage seems like even more of a tempest in a teapot and the reactions have been equally swift and lascerating.
In both cases, I was furious and outraged and wounded, but in both cases, I've stepped back and seen them from a perspective of progress. They are pathetic splashes in a sea of progress. (The passing of Prop 8 does make my argument weaker though, doesn't it?)
That being said,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
mofic wrote a very cogent piece about the NOM ad, including a smart critique of gay establishment reaction. She argues that they are missing the most important talking point, that "religious freedom doesn't allow you to impose your religion on others".
You should read what she has to say.
The Amazon dust-up last week was actually fairly hilarious. I sent an email to their customer service saying that it was not enough to claim "computer glitch". Damage had been done and Amazon should do something to redress it, like offer an annual prize to an LGBT author. I also told them I would boycott the site for six months. Their response was "It was a technical glitch! God, were those IT people dumb!"
It just doesn't ring true. It's too reminiscent of the great LJ strikethrough. I don't think either decision came down from the top, but it shows the power of digital middlemen with access to database management.
What's interesting, of course, is how fast Amazon had to back-pedal.
The ridiculous anti-gay-marriage ad (which actually broadens into an anti-gay rights in general ad) by the National Organization for Marriage seems like even more of a tempest in a teapot and the reactions have been equally swift and lascerating.
In both cases, I was furious and outraged and wounded, but in both cases, I've stepped back and seen them from a perspective of progress. They are pathetic splashes in a sea of progress. (The passing of Prop 8 does make my argument weaker though, doesn't it?)
That being said,
mofic wrote a very cogent piece about the NOM ad, including a smart critique of gay establishment reaction. She argues that they are missing the most important talking point, that "religious freedom doesn't allow you to impose your religion on others".You should read what she has to say.
