Open Comment to Lusty

[nemaihne]

I can't comment in your LJ. Dunno why. Haven't been able to in months. But it's one of those where I feel strongly enough to reply regardless. So this should actually be in the comments of your post

Comments

[lusty]

Strange. I just double-checked my comment settings, and don't see any reason why any comment would be refused from anybody, even anonymous users.

Anyway, as to your comment. I agree wholeheartedly that 8 is unjust and wrong. I really don't get how any human being could treat other human beings so hatefully. I've been campaigning against it for months with nothing more than those thoughts in my mind. It wasn't until I started today to write a blog entry that made the whole thing more personal to me that all those other thoughts came out. And if the goal is to persuade people to think about something they might not otherwise have thought of, it's not enough just to say "this is wrong" (no matter how much it should be enough). I don't think people truly connect to a message until you make it personal for them in some way. My experience is obviously intensely personal to me, but who knows, maybe it is just the thing that might give someone else pause when nothing else did.

[sahiya]

I agree. And I think the "No on Prop 8" commercials have been completely missing that point. That one with all the text sucks because it's so impersonal. "It's wrong" should be enough, but there's a significant portion of the population that obviously doesn't think it's wrong, probably because they have no personal connection to the issue. They don't know anyone who's (openly) gay and they haven't seen how it affects people.

I think there are a number of things the anti-8 campaign could do that would be more effective than what they're currently doing. If it passes, it won't be because "No on 8" was behind in money, but because they don't seem to know what to do with what they've got.

[pmb7777]

I totally agree. The fact that it's wrong is so obvious to them that they don't know how to express the feeling to people who don't think it's wrong.

This is something the "forces of good" have a general problem with. I wish our side had a Karl Rove that could explain psychology to our side and give us the right tools. Maybe we do, but people want to take the high ground with the medium as well as the message. I think that's a recipe for failure.

I've been using "Fight the Fear" as my own no-on-8 slogan, because I hope that anyone still debating the issue on their own mind will focus on the irrational FEAR they have causing them to consider voting yes, and let their intellectual brain take control of their fears.

Too bad I can't get that message to more people.

[nemaihne]

It's been my experience with closed minded intolerance that once you point out something personal, they can use it to shut their mind off to the issue by thinking 'that one person only cares because of X, so I'm still right