In what is a typical tactic for leftish activist groups, accusations are never laid to rest no matter how much evidence there is to refute them. Accusations can fit on a bumper sticker, the evidence refuting them requires a conversation. Repeat the accusations often enough and you'll simply overwhelm any attempt to provide an anatreptic.
Such is the case with the gay fascist claim that the Mormon church "bought" the passage of Prop 8. The accusation serves two purposes--it maintains the fiction that gay marriage has popular support, and in the best tradition of Rules for Radicals:
RULE 12: Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it." Cut off the support network and isolate the target from sympathy. Go after people and not institutions; people hurt faster than institutions.
The problem so far is that they're no people to go after, which leaves the institution, but Mormons are a better target than Hispanics or blacks, who are the real reason Prop 8 passed so comfortably.
Ironically, the video here is simply bad propaganda, because it actually attempts to make an argument rather than simply repeat the accusation. The Mormon church is on record as contributing less than three grand institutionally (although church members contributed between 10-20 million...). Greenstreet works hard to try to spin the church's new media relations program as something directed specifically for the passage of Prop 8.
What he doesn't realize is that he's just grabbed the tail of an elephant.
The LDS church is apparently reading Alinsky much more closely that the GLBT fascists are.
RULE 1: "Power is not only what you have, but what the enemy thinks you have." Power is derived from 2 main sources - money and people. "Have-Nots" must build power from flesh and blood. (These are two things of which there is a plentiful supply. Government and corporations always have a difficult time appealing to people, and usually do so almost exclusively with economic arguments.)
The Mormon church has both, and the new media relations program is already an effective force multiplier as it moves from the traditional media relations role to one of support system for a grassroots movement. Its always been problematic for the church to be directly politically active, but as seen with the Prop 8 campaign, mobilizing "the troops" is not only devastatingly effective, but neatly sidesteps the entire issue of the church's involvement in political issues.
RULE 3: "Whenever possible, go outside the expertise of the enemy." Look for ways to increase insecurity, anxiety and uncertainty. (This happens all the time. Watch how many organizations under attack are blind-sided by seemingly irrelevant arguments that they are then forced to address.)
Asymmetry. One of the reasons the GLBT fascist are so angry is because they were blindsided by Mormon grassroots activism. They can deal with a stodgy old church, but they can't possible deal with a hundred thousand Mormons manning phone banks, hitting the streets and writing checks. Their response was remarkably impotent--protesting outside of Mormon temples--impersonal symbols of Mormonism. No conflict, no drama and ultimately, no impact.
Endlessly repeating the accusation usually works, but there is a prequisite. The accusation has to have some degree of credibility, a possibility of actually being true. You can accuse Bush of stealing the 2000 election because ultimately the process for determining the winner was opaque enough to allow plausible doubt. For the GLBT, the accusations that the church "bought" the passage of Prop 8 only works for as long as the pols are willing to indulge the GLBT and throw them a few investigative bones. Eventually those investigations have to conclude, and the result is not in doubt, which robs the accusation of its power.
In the meantime, the LDS church will continue to refine its grassroots media strategy, getting better and...shudder...bolder.
Comments (2)
You know, as the church asserts in it's internal documentation, it is a moral issue. Just the wrong one. To identify the proper one, grab a good concordance and look up the root Hebrew meaning for the word "Adultery."
Then check and see if it's gender specific.
Or indeed, relates solely and particularly to marriage.
Interfering with a relationship is a top-ten no-no. On the other hand, you will NOT find same-sex relationships spoken against with any great thunder at all, in any honest reading of the Bible.
So, that's your problem right there, ain't it? Prop 8 is directly intended to interfere with committed relationships between human beings - and to cloak that sin in law.
It's wrong. And it doesn't matter what you think of the people who tell you that you are - since you don't need us to tell us, if you are a person of faith. On the other hand, if you are merely a bigot, well, then, words and biblical principles won't matter to you.
But then, people of genuine faith and are not impressed by bigots - or Pharisees.
Posted by Bob King | January 15, 2009 6:10 PM
Posted on January 15, 2009 18:10
I am struck by the smugness of your argument and its total ineffectiveness.
Scriptural authority is an Evangelical thing--not a Mormon one. Yet Evangelicals will inevitably reject a non-normative scriptural exegesis as well. Moreover, you are dealing with a visceral sentiment that simply rejects the idea that same sex relationships are "moral".
Since I live in Utah, I can appreciate that its far more that a moral issue for Mormons or other Christians. The undemocratic tactics used by the GLBT--using the courts to try to do an endrun around the democratic process is what really concerns the average Joseph or Mary. Its the legal intrusions after same sex marriage is legalized that really disturb people.
I'm not sure what to make of the personal attacks. Am I a bigot for analyzing the respective tactics of the GLBT, the Mormons and other Christians?
I'm much more interested in the political strategies and tactics of each respective group, and frankly the GLBT are getting their asses handed to them. Do you honestly think Obama would have invited Rick Warren to give the invocation if the GLBT had won a convincing victory in California?
The reality is that the GLBT revealed themselves to be politically weak, and thus irrelevant. The pols will always lick the boots of those who can swing a lot of votes, and diss those who can't--no one gives a hoot what the feminists think anymore because they simply can't deliver.
Bigot, Pharisees or whatever--100,000 Mormons demonstrated really impressive political muscle and the pols will cooperate with them for no better reason than fear.
Posted by Mick Stockinger | January 16, 2009 12:27 AM
Posted on January 16, 2009 00:27