Thursday, January 15, 2009

Where Credit Is Due

How cool is Prop 8 Maps? No really. Is it cool or is it kinda sick?

I have several friends that are theologically and socially conservative. And of course I'm very curious to see if they donated to support this unequal rights amendment. Half of me wants to do a quick search to see if they're listed. Half of me figures I should be forthright and just ask them. But here's the beauty of this map: If I get into a conversation about this with my friend Bible Bob, I have to confront the disagreement. And I've talked about that before. If I just slink around the map and find names, I know I can be trusted with that information. I'm good at judging silently.

But if you're not silent, I'll respect your desire for attention:


Look, she's willing to give up $200,000.00 for this intolerant cause. I'm guessing she's proud of her conviction.

If she didn't want recognition for this cause she could have gone the sniper route and given all the credit to Focus On Some Families in Colorado Springs like these sweethearts:



Now here's a true believer. She's willing to donate all that money plus squash a lucrative client base. It must be her version of tithe.


Rod Dreher calls this creepy and asks

Would you want some gay-bashing group to post to the Internet a map to the homes of contributors to a pro-gay marriage initiative?


Yes. I would. You'd see my name on there. My real one. Lots of us who oppose 8 have made public statements. What's creepy is supporting a cause you're not proud to support.

6 comments:

Casey said...

Wow... weird. Your post makes its point: I'll only add, Focus on Some Families is a mah-velous touch.

Wait: change the topic a little: what if this becomes standard practice... politics becomes more public, certainly. Is that a good thing? What about taking down the curtain at the voting booth?

fenhopper said...

that's an important point. because slippery slopes are always dangerous. no wait. they're not.

here's the difference. a vote should be available even to those who don't want to reveal their choice.

maybe donations too. maybe not. but these people made the choice to give and attach their name to the funds and in many cases even their business.

if you hang the head on your wall, don't get mad when you're called a hunter.

here's what i wonder -- these people who handed their money over to jim dobson and his horrible church organization -- do they get to count that as a tax write-off? is jamie dobson a charity or a PAC?

The Ridger, FCD said...

This is like the wedding planners etc who told the LA Times that they'd refuse to do gay weddings, BUT didn't want the Times to print their business names.

The only reason for that is that they didn't want to lose the business of any straights who would be repelled by their bigotry, but would otherwise never know.

Casey said...

No, I was being naively serious: maybe it really would be a good thing to make politics more public/transparent.... part of me thinks it'd be awesome if we all had to stand in the middle of the voting room and declare who we support. In the name of Sod, you know?

The Ridger, FCD said...

It would not be awesome. Too many people would be pressured to vote or lose their jobs, just to start.

fenhopper said...

yeah. it's nice to think that people should be open and proud of their choice. but it would just end up stifling actual choice.

the wonderfully necessary irony of the secret ballot is that it protects the possibility of a less popular option. because it limits the power of mob rule.

it doesn't eliminate it, but the limitation is important.