That's enough.
Allright, that tears it. Everybody knock it off. I've had it up to here with you people.
What is up with all the petty in-fighting about who is responsible for Prop. 8 passing, and who is or is not doing enough to combat it? When did civil rights activism become a competition event? What gives one person the right to say that they are doing the right thing to fight back against the forces of intolerance, and that someone else is not?
You are all acting like annoying school children ganging up on each other; Whites being angry at Blacks for the 70% who voted for Prop. 8 or Blacks being angry with Whites for comparing a relatively minor injustice to two centuries of life-or-death struggle. Legal folks who say that the place to battle the madness is in the courts, or protesters who feel that anyone who didn't show in the streets is an apathetic traitor to the cause.
Well, guess what -- it's all bullshit, and it will cost us any hope of victory.
I understand that we're all angry and hurt. Having such a huge number of our fellow Americans rise up against us in such a hateful, intolerant, 15th century way is an affront so heinous that we are all still utterly gob-smacked. Of course we are indignant. Of course we are motivated to rise up in a righteous backlash. And we should be.
But if we start pointing that frustration at each other, we will only tear down our own resolve, and diminish our chances of turning this madness around.
We are all working for equality and tolerance in our own ways, to the best of our abilities, within the constraints that each of us face in our own lives. I didn't make it to the big protest march here in San Francisco this weekend. I wanted to, but unfortunately, some things came up that I had to deal with. It's not anyone's place to judge whether they were more important than marching or not. It doesn't mean that I don't care about the issue, it doesn't mean that I'm not working to make a difference in another way that you might be completely unaware of.
But the important thing is this; getting angry with someone because they aren't participating in the struggle in the way that you think they should be is counter-productive. There's a difference between reaching out to others to get them motivated and active, and wagging your finger at someone for not doing what you've suggested.
This isn't just a fight, it's a war. It's been brewing for a long time, and it won't be over any time soon. We need to keep our eyes on the big picture -- and it's vastly larger than just gay marriage -- and pace ourselves for the long haul. Prop. 8 is just the current battle front, and even that won't be resolved until it's been repealed, challenged, counter-suits are filed, and the whole thing climbs it's way up to the Supreme Court.
As the founding fathers said, "United we stand, divided we fall." I know that we liberals are all about individuality and that we are about as easy to herd as cats. The opposition, however, is ruled by unthinking conformity, and as such will be marching in lockstep against us, and absolutely crystalline in their organization. Regardless of the righteousness of our cause, we have to overlook our differences of approach if want to have any hope of prevailing.
We can have solidarity of purpose without having a consensus on how best to pursue it. We can all be on the same team, even if we aren't playing the exact same game.
So get off of each other's backs already. Every second we spend fighting with each other is a generous contribution the theocrats, and they are tickled pink to accept it.