Blogs Apr 21, 2010 at 11:35 am

Comments

1
I support direct action on ENDA and DOMA.
2
How well would this be received if it was tea partiers wanting to shut down health care?
3
Act Up 2.0.

Discuss.
4
@2: Promoting passage of what is perceived as a positive law is the same as promoting defeat of what is perceived as a negative law?

A better analog would be protesters storming committees to demand passage of HCR. Which they did.
5
@2: So... we should leave the tactic of non-violent, respectful, civil disobedience in the interests of advancing social justice... to the raving lunatics with guns? It belongs to them now?
6
@5: Tamp down the hyperbole, Dan.

Take a ten-minute spliff break.
7
I was on Get Equal's website. Information is fairly scarce, but it is clean and easy to look at. I browsed through their store and found these black T-shirts with a three-color screen of this guy (http://www.cafepress.com/cp/moredetails.…) with no indication of who he is, and it's driving me crazy. Does anyone know?
8
GetEqual promised 4 actions this week via Twitter. One more is coming.
9
@7: David Mixner
10
I like GetEQUAL. They've done amazing work this week. But the tea party comparison is interesting.

In the background of the video you can hear someone (another legislator, I'm presuming) saying "See, this is the problem, we're never going to satisfy the public..." Direct action is effective and important. But because the tea party folks are co-opting direct action tactics of the left I'm woindering if direct action fatigue may begin to set in and legislators begin to ignore all direct action en mass... What's the answer?

That sadf, Get EQUAL has done amazing stuff this week. I'm joining.
11
sadly, @3 ftw.

Your time to do this was earlier, you missed the window.
12
@10 So much has been written about how the conservatives, when they want something, go all out with expensive campaigns to push their agenda--demonstrations, phoning, etc., but when the same actions are considered by the left, they seem to end up playing it safe and questioning whether this will ultimately hurt their cause/lose democratic votes. When did we become such pussies? In the early 80s I worked for an anti-nuclear organization, and I just don't remember any of this "walking on eggshells" approach then, it was all about planning marches, demonstrations, etc., and they definitely got attention. The squeaky wheel gets the grease...
13
Only slightly off-topic: Justice Stevens hoses Christian Legal Society for anti-gay stance
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2010/4…...
15
@3: "When did we become such pussies?"

Because hard core progressives are fundamentally about helping people and changing to something they see as better for others, and carry a deep ethical drive or they wouldn't care about helping others.

Hard core regressives are about power, preservation, and control, rather than help, and lack that sort of ethical center.

Ethical people worry about the repercussions of their actions and words. That's the answer. The secondary answer is we don't want to look as deranged and sociopathic as the right has looked since Reagan emerged to wage war on society.
16
@9 - Thank you, Baconcat. Decent at names, not always so good on faces. I'm still not sure if I'd wear his face on my chest. I'm not sure he would want to be worn there anyway... :)
17
What is a spliff break?
18
@17: I hope you're kidding.
19
@18

Well now I just look silly... don't I?

Actually I had no idea what that was until I looked it up. Neato.
20
@19: I wasn't trying to be a bitch, for what it's worth. I apologize for that.

I don't use the stuff, but this being a predominantly Seattle audience (of which I am elsewhere), I figured it was sort of a given that everyone knew. I don't use the stuff, as it wreaks havoc with my brain.
21
@20: O HAI, me. Stop acting so sleep-deprived and repetitive. It looks ridiculous.
22
Too bad the White House just said it's not going to repeal DADT this year.

(Okay: White House said it's going to wait until the Pentagon's "review" is over with. Ya know, asking parents if it's okay that their kids go play with 'the gays'. Since the earliest that's going to wrap up, pending any extension for further review, is December 1st, legislation et. all won't happen until after the Christmas Break - i.e. 2011. Since November's probably going to hurt the Democratic Party, there's probably not going to be any way that DADT will be able to repealed through legislation come this fall. That means we'll be looking at, what, 2015 for possible DADT repeal?)
23
What I keep thinking with all this talk of (and use of) civil disobedience is... will it WORK? Where are the pressure points, who needs to tip to make things happen, and does this move that closer to happening? I'm not sure it does--or that it doesn't.

Maybe a multi-pronged approach makes sense... GetEqual can make noise and HRC can work behind the scenes counting votes and nudging holdouts.

Who is doing/considering direct outreach to members of Congress? Where's the letter writing and calling campaign that puts constituents in direct contact with their legislators--gays and lesbians constituents, but also their more numerous straight friends and neighbors? Maybe this is one way to put pressure on Congress before the election?
24
@15 "Ethical people worry about the repercussions of their actions and words. That's the answer. The secondary answer is we don't want to look as deranged and sociopathic as the right has looked since Reagan emerged to wage war on society."

I think you're making the assumption that the model the right has followed in recent years is the only one. Smear and fear campaigns are really their hallmark, not non-violent protests where a group states their position. Saying over and over, in as many venues as possible, with as many people as possible "repeal DADT," for example, isn't behaving in a sociopathic manner, it's standing up for what you believe in without resorting to calling someone else an asshole (liberals used to be pretty good at it.) To me, unethical is standing by and doing nothing so as not to offend the conservatives.

Please wait...

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