Keri:
Of course they have the right to speak. Although I wouldn't shed any tears if they didn't have any venues from which to speak (free speech only protects you from government prosecuting or persecuting you for speech, it doesn't grant you a right to a venue). For the most I agree with you although I don't agree that it would be great if they had to hide their faces behind hoods like the Klan does. The reason for this is because of what I have seen that do for race relations in America.
For the most part what large numbers of white Americans consider racism can be thought of as a synonym for "What the Klan does". As long as you aren't wearing a white sheet, burning a cross or dragging black people behind your truck you're not a racist using that definition. It lets too many people off of the hook far too easily. It is part (but not the whole) of why I think race relations have been going around in circles since the 70's. The other reason I think that having these folks hide their faces is it allows those on the sidelines to imagine that the people under the hoods are monsters--grotesque and hideous beings. The reason why I want folks like Sprigg on TV, spouting his crap, is so that people can see that the folks who hate us are the guy down the street, the pastor of the megachurch, the nice guy at the gas station, your boss, your kid's soccer coach, etc. I also want them to see that they really mean us actual harm.
It pains me to say this but in the *media* battle, the other side has done a much better job than our side has. They learned that outright hate doesn't play well so they try to make it sound like they are just interesting in 'protecting the family' which makes US seem like the threatening party. Except we aren't the threatening party, they are. One of the things that I enjoyed about the exchange between the former Army officer and Sprigg was that the pro-gay person kept returning to the point that there was no basis in fact for any of the latter's assertions. When we do that and stay calm, we throw the radicalism of the other side into sharp relief.
Cheers
Aj
Quote:
Originally Posted by iamkeri1
This being a free country, I would have to support their right to speak, though I would not allow them to advocate violence or hatred for queerfolk of any variety, because that is against the law. (both the natural law, and law of the USA.) Also, I would like for throngs of people, either gay or straight to show up and oppose them each time they speak, as people do when a known Ku Klx Klan gathering is made public. I would like them to have to hide their faces and bodies behind a coverings, to speak their awful opinions, because the disapproval of they have to say is so strong that their fear exposure. I would like them to be seen as creatures who should be scorned and shunned, as people whom Jesus would have shouted down in the temple, rather than people who are followers of and speakers for Jesus as they make themselves out to be. While I choose not to hate them, because I don't want that hatred inside myself, I hate their attitude of smug superiority and self-righteousness; their assurance that "God is on their side"
Smooches to my peeps and raspberries to the haters.
Keri
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