Gay Rights

[seldear]

Gay Rights

"Why is it that, as a culture, we are more comfortable waving rainbow-coloured flags from the safety of our lounge chairs and claiming that this makes one 'a good person to know' than taking our cues from how people behave to one another, particularly those of a different mindset and lifestyle?" ~ SelDear ~

I would like to know exactly why posting the 'Gay Rights' meme in my LiveJournal has anything to do with what I really believe and how I act on that belief when the rubber hits the road. Emotional blackmail is one of the core prompters of this meme - the unsubtle implication that if this meme does not appear on your LiveJournal, then you clearly do not believe in Gay Rights and, as such, are an evil of the magnitude of Osama Bin Laden, Saddam Hussein, anything that Dubya says we should hate, and the Iranian Nuclear Program.

I'm being who I am and saying what I feel, because I think that belief in Gay Rights and the acting out of those beliefs is a whole lot more than just posting a badly-written meme on your LJ.

Comments

[starfinn.livejournal.com]

See...as someone who apparently continued this emotional blackmail...I don't get it. I don't get the blackmail part. I guess I missed it. And sure as hell didn't intend it.

Btw..I love your quote. :) Its not about flag waving personally...An nasty person is a nasty person weither or not they believe in gay rights, republicans or any other issue.

[seldearslj.livejournal.com]

To me, the blackmail is implied in the message: "if you believe in Gay Rights, you will post this meme; if you don't believe in Gay Rights, you will ignore it".

Although it's not explicitly said that not posting the meme means you don't believe in Gay Rights (whatever those rights are perceived to be), the underlying message is that if this meme does not appear on your LJ in the regular course of posting, then you are No Friend To Homosexuals.

I know that this was not intended by the people on my f-list who posted the meme. And I don't take it as such from them. But this is how I feel about the way in which the meme presents itself.

[starfinn.livejournal.com]

I'd say thats the sentiment out of 85% of the meme's out there.

It's the world of opinions fun!! ;)

[beefree88.livejournal.com]

See...as someone who apparently continued this emotional blackmail...I don't get it. I don't get the blackmail part. I guess I missed it. And sure as hell didn't intend it.

Well, it was a new and improved form of chainmail . In other words "Post this if you claim to be a good person"

[meeshy.livejournal.com]

*loves you*

A couple of people have had the sense to say the meme is crap, (I can't be assed to post today to declare it so) but yay for people with sense!

[seldearslj.livejournal.com]

*hugs*

The overarching sentiment is one thing, but the underlying prompting makes me suspicious. And the wording bugs me.

[mtgat]

Exactly. I saw the meme in a few places, and better, I saw people who wrote what they actually thought rather than posting the "if you don't agree you homophobe feel free to skip by without reposting." WTF?

I love the idea behind the meme. It's like lighting a candle, and people can look around and see the candles and know they're not alone. That's a great concept. But the execution on this one pushes even my "passive-aggressive bullsh!t" buttons. :P

[seldearslj.livejournal.com]

It's a nice shoutout, but seems both feelgood (what are people really doing for Gay Rights other than posting in their LJs?) and underhand ("We want to know who really believes in Gay Rights!")

As though posting a statement of belief on one's journal is the definitive guide to how a person treats their fellow human being.

[viralaserithan.livejournal.com]

I have the same issue with all those lovely "If you don't forward this email you don't really love Jesus/children/military/cause of the week." It's no different from any other forward that I promptly delete. I've seen it twenty times before, and so has everyone else. Why should I continue to circulate it when it has nothing new to say? What emails I choose to send says nothing about who I am or what I believe, unless it's the fact that I see no reason to send or participate in anything that I don't view as a useful allocation of my time. You want to know what I believe? Talk to me.

::clears throat:: sorry...end rant.

[seldearslj.livejournal.com]

Truly, I understand.

We hedge ourselves and others in with conditions, make people jump through hoops to prove themselves, demand that people tell us rather than show us.

*hugs*

[amilyn.livejournal.com]

Exactly.

My feelings exactly.

And "gay rights" as defined? Same as HUMAN RIGHTS. Not a difficult equation. But what we do with and say to every day with real people...that's what matters, like you said.

Thanks for pointing out the exact thing--the emotional blackmail--that bothered me.

[saramund.livejournal.com]

Hmm - I agree, on both counts. Believe in Gay rights, but why should we be made to feel like we have to put the meme on our lj?

As for meme's? Don't do em all that often, to be honest. don't understand the obsession with them.

By the way - you in USA now?

[seldearslj.livejournal.com]

Not yet. Driving out to the airport in an hour.

[pixiesio.livejournal.com]

{{hugs}} I agree hon. I wasn't going to post it, but my inner chicken came out and I went all sheepy. ;P

[seldearslj.livejournal.com]

*fluffs wool*

Cute sheepy.

[pixiesio.livejournal.com]

*snicker*

[aldiara.livejournal.com]

Meme? Huh, wha?

Whatever it is, it doesn't sound worth getting upset over.