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defrogITEM [via the dynamite and ever-vigilant StacyJill]: Pat Boone compares the Mumbai attacks to teh gays that protested Prop 8.
To which I said, WHAT?
To be fair, Pat acknowledges that, okay, sure, technically teh gays didn’t attack hotels with guns and grenades and kill 170+ people. But the sentiment was the same, see? So, you know, it’s only a matter of time. Or something.
To which I said, WHAT?
Ripping apart Pat’s argument is like shooting monkeys in a barrel, and there’s any number angles you can take, so I’ll stick with this one: the tendency of certain people to equate anything and everything with terrorism.
I’ve mentioned before the current habit of conservative Christians to frame opposing views as either an act of censorship (i.e. if I say yr wrong, I’m advocating censorship of yr opinion) or a hate crime in progress or waiting to happen, the latter of which is what Boone is doing here. But it’s part of a much bigger problem in which people driven by fear and/or cheap opportunism are redefining what counts as an act on terrorism to the point where it’s becoming a meaningless term.
Bruce Schneier has a good collection of these, and they are by no means limited to conservative Americans. Based on this evidence, everything from taking photographs and walking on bicycle paths to illegally diverting water and labor strikes is an act of terrorism.
But it's especially heinous when you start comparing peaceable demonstrations – which are constitutionally guaranteed in the states – to real terrorist acts.
Sure, people are angry over Prop 8 being passed, and personally I think they have every right to be. But anger and terrorism are NOT the same thing, and it’s ridiculous and wrong to say they are. Which is why I think it’s important to call characters like Boone on it when they do.
That said, I like Pat’s name for people who oppose Prop 8:
Sexual jihadists.
Is that what we are? Cool! Sign me up for that deal.
Combat ready,
This is dF
To which I said, WHAT?
To be fair, Pat acknowledges that, okay, sure, technically teh gays didn’t attack hotels with guns and grenades and kill 170+ people. But the sentiment was the same, see? So, you know, it’s only a matter of time. Or something.
To which I said, WHAT?
Ripping apart Pat’s argument is like shooting monkeys in a barrel, and there’s any number angles you can take, so I’ll stick with this one: the tendency of certain people to equate anything and everything with terrorism.
I’ve mentioned before the current habit of conservative Christians to frame opposing views as either an act of censorship (i.e. if I say yr wrong, I’m advocating censorship of yr opinion) or a hate crime in progress or waiting to happen, the latter of which is what Boone is doing here. But it’s part of a much bigger problem in which people driven by fear and/or cheap opportunism are redefining what counts as an act on terrorism to the point where it’s becoming a meaningless term.
Bruce Schneier has a good collection of these, and they are by no means limited to conservative Americans. Based on this evidence, everything from taking photographs and walking on bicycle paths to illegally diverting water and labor strikes is an act of terrorism.
But it's especially heinous when you start comparing peaceable demonstrations – which are constitutionally guaranteed in the states – to real terrorist acts.
Sure, people are angry over Prop 8 being passed, and personally I think they have every right to be. But anger and terrorism are NOT the same thing, and it’s ridiculous and wrong to say they are. Which is why I think it’s important to call characters like Boone on it when they do.
That said, I like Pat’s name for people who oppose Prop 8:
Sexual jihadists.
Is that what we are? Cool! Sign me up for that deal.
Combat ready,
This is dF
