First let me say that I am ecstatic about the immediate response re: Indiana/Arkansas
I'll still get flamed but, so be it. Because I am also sick of being toyed with by theatre.
Call this what it is, the 'Shiny Object' play. Like Pavlovs dogs, we reflectsively muster our outrage, ALL of us. This classic play now is so predicable as to be hilarious in its awesomely fierce cleverness.
They wave the Shiny Object and the Right gets pumped. Here's the twofer. They wave the Shiny Object, the Right gets pimped and low and behold the (so called) rest of us, as if on cue, come to the rescue of Human Rights. TaDa! Everyones happy. Scratches our itches. All's right with the Republic. puke
Here's how:
Repugs raise $$$ from the Insane Bigot Class (IBC - stolen from Insane Clown Posie)
Repugs hold on to the the Insane Bigot Class - sticking up for their religious rights, word
LBGT community gets what should be defacto rights
Lefties get a feeling of involvement. Lefties vent outrage, whew. Lefties get validation.
Big Biz gets to act thoughtfully in the service of profits & great PR - yo consumerism
Everybody's happy right? What's not to like? Folks this is a Win, Win, Win - no shit.
So who could possibly be frustrated and pissed, again?
ME
Sorry, this is just theatre, nothing more. Fills the columns and airtime, gets the clicks.
And also sorry, this is a non-issue from every perspective. If any of these horrible laws gets in place, the first egregious act would result in a Supremes case. Even the current clowns on staff would need pretzel logic to find them constitutional on the Federal level. That's that.
Secondly, it SHOULD also be a non-issue in 2015 because it is a Human Rights issue. There is NO plausible argument. Only the grossest of the gross would ever entertain this I crap if it weren't so tactically effective. Over and over again.
I'm ill.
Where is our collective outrage for our collective betterment? If the prevailing wind (quoting Sen Warren here) is behind us on the REAL problems (and it is if we could see it) things like LBGT rights would be moot.
We are fighting for crumbs after baking the pie.
Let me try a slightly different route. What if our REAL problems had something in common? What if we could find a common thread or pattern? Would we feel equally outraged? How about this?
For profit government
For profit medicine
For profit environmental resources
For profit law enforcement
For profit education
For profit prisons
For profit armies
For profit wars
For profit exploitation of labor
What am I leaving out? I'm sure there's something I forgot. It's all for sale.
Hum?