(no subject)
A while ago, at the behest of someone in LJ-land, I filled in a survey for the American Family Association. (Uhm... you probably don't want to click on that.) As a result of taking the survey, I got onto their mailing list.
These folks are basically a religious right-wing group. Most of their mailings complain about the "Gay Agenda" and would be quite funny, if it weren't for the underlying fear and loathing that pervades it all. I continue to receive the mailings out of a combination of morbid curiosity and a suspicion that it's sometimes better to know what the "other side" is up to.
So far, I've had petitions passed around to boycott Ford, Proctor and Gamble, etc. Some of it is pretty offensive, a lot of it is shilling for the religiously intolerant materials that they produce.
Today, AFA branched out into the important issue that is the environment. Well, sort of.
Tell Congress you want action on rising gas prices now!
June 11, 2008
Dear , [note: I may have given them one of my email addresses, but I'd never be so silly as to give them my name!]
For the past 10 years Congress has refused to do anything to make our country energy self-sufficient. Because of their inaction, we soon will be paying $5 a gallon for gas with the possibility of $10 a gallon in the future. Their refusal to do anything has hurt nearly every family in America. Because environmentalists have kept us from developing our vast and plentiful energy sources, we are now at the mercy of foreign governments (many of which are hostile).
If you believe Congress should allow the exploration of energy sources which would not materially affect our environment, now is the time to send that message. Can your family afford to pay $10 a gallon for gas? They will be forced to if Congress doesn’t act now!
We have abundant energy reserves, but the environmentalists won’t let us use them. All efforts to provide for our needs end up in court because of the environmentalists! A handful of environmentalists are forcing all Americans to pay outrageous amounts for gas!
Will our families have to wait another 10 years for Congress to act? They will unless Congress hears from American families now.
Tell Congress you want common sense action now to reduce the red tape that keeps us from becoming energy self-sufficient!
Given my own opinions on the matter, my first inclination was very much to laugh at this. But as I've read it over (mostly to make sure that I got all of the emphases correctly boldfaced), a few thoughts occurred to me.
Also, I can't help but wonder whether these things represent a good example of rhetoric (content aside).
These folks are basically a religious right-wing group. Most of their mailings complain about the "Gay Agenda" and would be quite funny, if it weren't for the underlying fear and loathing that pervades it all. I continue to receive the mailings out of a combination of morbid curiosity and a suspicion that it's sometimes better to know what the "other side" is up to.
So far, I've had petitions passed around to boycott Ford, Proctor and Gamble, etc. Some of it is pretty offensive, a lot of it is shilling for the religiously intolerant materials that they produce.
Today, AFA branched out into the important issue that is the environment. Well, sort of.
Tell Congress you want action on rising gas prices now!
June 11, 2008
Dear , [note: I may have given them one of my email addresses, but I'd never be so silly as to give them my name!]
For the past 10 years Congress has refused to do anything to make our country energy self-sufficient. Because of their inaction, we soon will be paying $5 a gallon for gas with the possibility of $10 a gallon in the future. Their refusal to do anything has hurt nearly every family in America. Because environmentalists have kept us from developing our vast and plentiful energy sources, we are now at the mercy of foreign governments (many of which are hostile).
If you believe Congress should allow the exploration of energy sources which would not materially affect our environment, now is the time to send that message. Can your family afford to pay $10 a gallon for gas? They will be forced to if Congress doesn’t act now!
We have abundant energy reserves, but the environmentalists won’t let us use them. All efforts to provide for our needs end up in court because of the environmentalists! A handful of environmentalists are forcing all Americans to pay outrageous amounts for gas!
Will our families have to wait another 10 years for Congress to act? They will unless Congress hears from American families now.
Tell Congress you want common sense action now to reduce the red tape that keeps us from becoming energy self-sufficient!
Given my own opinions on the matter, my first inclination was very much to laugh at this. But as I've read it over (mostly to make sure that I got all of the emphases correctly boldfaced), a few thoughts occurred to me.
- "you want common sense action now" (last paragraph) reminds me a little too much of Mike Harris' Common Sense Revolution in Ontario not long enough ago.
- intentionally or not, the gist of this email was "gas is getting expensive. there is gas on our own soil. nothing should get in the way of our using that gas so that we don't have to pay more." Issues such as the consequences of extracting that gas on other issues (animal populations, global warming, quality of life), the appropriate cost of fuel, etc. are beneath consideration.
- they do a good job of picking up some of the phrases that have been bandied about (e.g., "make our country energy self-sufficient"), while completely perverting the term to their own cause
- speaking of rhetoric, they do a good job of continuing to paint Activist Judges (not explicitly named here, but certainly implicated in the whole mess) as the horrible creatures responsible for the current ills facing the United States
Also, I can't help but wonder whether these things represent a good example of rhetoric (content aside).