thoreau

Unfortunately in politics? People get emotional - and emotional turns (far faster than any of us would like to admit) to anger. People have a right to be angry when they see a poll that says 47% of Californians say they'll vote for Prop 8. With some space between yesterday's onslaught and some meditation and thought about it?

I totally understand why folks are angry.

They are frustrated..

and well - when it is right on the surface then KDFC or KOIT play a YES ON 8 Ad - - this Yes on 8 ad that is full of wild exaggerations and (depending on your point of view) lies. You hear THAT ad on a radio station known to be #1 in the market - a radio station you get evangelical over because it's a brilliant example of our culture here in SF - a polished, cultured - focused Classical Station... but all that love for KDFC goes away very quickly when your anger takes over.

You think - they wouldn't run the ad if they had a choice would they? of course not - that means - well - that means they must endorse the ad - despite the fact that there are PSA's from the station manager running saying that there are lots of ads running - that KDFC doesn't support ANY of them - and that we'll all get our say November 4th.

You have all that simmering anger under the surface - and you scream BOYCOTT before even thinking - then you think - oh - that LJ'er that posts his posters and graphics from those stations - he's gay and he works somewhere that supports antigay advertisers.

and the anger spiral gets more intense - why - why he's a TRAITOR to the gay community - why he was AT my marriage but is complicit with the enemy - why I know he's asked gays to get involved but sits in his office and does work for a company that is complicit in the Yes on 8 campaign?

It's not hard to see how anger - if not managed properly - can spiral quickly out of control.

To quote

truthfeather from my journal post, "anger needs to be handled with gentle skill for it to be useful."

These folks decided to use a sledge hammer and post my personal email and photograph to the web -

Does it matter who it was - not really. I'm actually glad that I couldn't track it back to the source. but as soon as I pointed out on LJ that it had been done? it stopped almost as quickly as it started.

People need to vote NO on 8 - and people need to understand fighting for our civil rights in situations like "No on 8" costs money and break out their goddamn checkbooks.

I mean - seriously now.

All us fags should be giving till we were outspending the other side on Fabulous impactful advertising - but no - the campaign chair has to beg on their website. Somehow people think No On 8 will win just because it is right, without any sacrifice financially required from the very community it's trying to protect. It shows just how short-sighted a lot of very open-minded supporters of No on 8's position can be.

How about giving up the $9 cocktails for a night and taking that $75 to $100 and giving it to the No on 8 campaign?

Or skip that $80 meal at the french restaurant you and your partner love and donate the dollars to No on 8.

or take the $200 you'd spend on a pair of tickets to the Opera - and donate that money to No on 8.

or if you are on a small budget - give up your $20 movie rentals for the month - and donate that money to No on 8.

or skip the trip to that Cantina at Church and Market - with the great fajitas - and donate that $20 you'd spend on burritos and Coronas.... and donate that money to No on 8.

or park your car - and instead of putting $40 in the gas tank - donate that money to No on 8.

Sacrifice a little.

Meanwhile, the opposition has The Knights of Columbus and Mormon Church money pouring into the Yes on 8 infrastructure.

I'm not justifying the behavior that I experienced from some folks via email and here on Livejournal, not at all --- but I wanted to lay it all out here - and say that I can, at least, clearly understand where it came from.... and then let it fall off my back like water off of a duck.

I'm been in far worse political scrapes - I've faced down committee chairpersons in front of television cameras on the "definition" of hate - walked door to door in hostile neighborhoods - and looked a politician in the eye and told him "Game On!" when he introduced anti-gay - or anti-choice legislation. So this is really not unfamiliar territory.

Thanks to everyone who gave me space and let me spend a day or so thinking all this through.....