Reply #13: Not Sure What You Expect To Accomplish With This "Poll"

[casus belli]

Before your defensive mechanism kicks in and you lay into me for what is perceived as an assault on the issue of equal rights for gays, let me just say that I have always strongly advocated for equal rights, and I am one who is willing to lose elections to do what I perceive to be the right thing. No question. If this were an issue of "pretend it doesn't exist for a little while so we can win", then I would understand some of the resistance to that line of thought. But, I don't think is such a case.

Having said that, the civil rights movement of the 60s was not won overnight, and was not won on demand. It took a very long and costly road to achieve the final objective. Do you think MLK ever gave thought to how he would present his argument in the best possible light, and how a poorly timed execution could harm as much as it hurt? Absolutely. No argument. He understood the harm in the approach of more militant groups like the Black Panthers, and understood that the war for civil rights was largely one of perception. The perception of the American people. He understood all too well, that if the hearts and minds of Americans was not won, civil rights for African Americans had no chance of being realized. There is validity to the argument that ill-timed decisions or rallies can do as much harm to the overall cause as those who oppose it entirely. If progressives continue to lose elections, we will never get any progressive civil rights legislation passed. Period. There really isn't any question. So the question really becomes one of - how do we win elections, without sacrificing our core beliefs and values to do so. And how do we accomplish that without further diminishing our influence. If we are unwilling to discuss timing and presentation, we'll just have to get used to having rallies that amount to nothing. Without political influence, WE HAVE NO VOICE.

I'll close this with an analogy (probably a poor one, admittedly). If you are going to advertise a cause or event, and you are working with almost no capital and want to maximize the benefits, do you grab the first available commercial time slot, or do you look at all of them and choose the one you feel might maximize your exposure to your target demographic? Asking someone to be smart in how they choose to present an argument, and asking them to consider the timing of that argument is not asking them to pretend the cause doesn't exist. If MLK had postponed a march, for instance, to avoid having one on the same day that a hate group happened to be having one in the same city, would that have been perceived as asking minorities to sacrifice their overall objectives or pretend the human rights struggle didn't exist, or would it have been looked upon as sound strategy for a most worthy cause?

edited for spelling. Sorry. :shrug: