Obama's Most Critical Diplomatic Challenge: Nov. 15

Diplomacy is like tightrope walking without a net - and no weights. Impartiality is too ephemeral. Diplomats are statesman who know that there are only two possible ends to diplomacy: peace or war. On Nov. 15th (this Saturday) a grassroots effort will be taking place and, because it first started out "viral", it may become global.

At first glance, it is the protest of the passage of California's Proposition 8. It should be a statewide protest.

It won't be.

It should be, at most, a nationwide protest.

It might not be.
Similar propositions have made it through state constitutions without this much fuss. So why now? Simple: it's California. If any state of the Union should have marriage equality, California would be the natural first choice. Instead, Massachusetts and Connecticut have forged the way. Many people see the votes for Prop 8 as votes for hate; hate against a state that houses some of the most compassionate and liberal entities: like San Francisco. The campaign to push through Prop 8 was not a "defense" of marriage but an overt attack against a certain group of people, making them second-class citizens. Prop 8 supporters looked like a group of steamrollers ready to crush anything in their path.

On Saturday, physical conflict may be inevitable. So the question is: how will president-elect Barack Obama react on Saturday? Will he choose to react at all? Will he act diplomatically? Or will he antagonize citizens on both sides? One side is already girding their loins for a war against the dreaded LIBERALS!:

(From Tony Perkins, Family Research Council):

In January, we will see the government consolidated in the hands of the most radical, left-wing president and Congress in the history of our Republic. And they plan to drastically change our nation the moment they take power.

...Never forget: Extreme liberalism does not work as a governing philosophy. As in the past, the Left is likely to suffer a rapid backlash as their policies are exposed... and as they fail to help Americans.

Importantly, most Americans still disagree with the newly elected leaders in Washington, D.C. on issues of faith, family, and freedom.

That's why "most Americans" elected Barack Obama? Reality check: the "Dark Side" of this culture will not negotiate. NEVER. Why? #1: They're made up of Christofascists who rely on hatred to further their goals. Negotiation would look like weakness to their "sheeple" and in order to control their flocks, they must never look weak. #2: There is no #2.


Dear President-Elect Obama: we're sorry that you're hit with a social crises before you even take office. But if you can resolve this battle in our own culture war, you will be lionized as a genius of statesmanship.

What Will The Gay D-Day Bring?

Out of clutter, find simplicity.
From discord, find harmony.
In the middle of difficulty, lies opportunity.

- Albert Einstein

Backlash can create backlash can create backlash can create backlash until someone steps in to stop the cycle... or everyone is dead. Cyclical backlash is a very close relative to revenge killings in the Middle East. When a member of one family or tribe kills someone from a different family or tribe, the different one has an obligation to kill someone from the first tribe. Then the first tribe has an obligation to... and on and on and on. Unless there is some sort of formal truce, the vengeance killing can go on for centuries.

We're looking at two different sides of a cultural and cyclical backlash: same-sex marriage was proclaimed legal by the city of San Francisco. Politicized religious groups began to object by making some states ban the practice. Gay rights groups made marriage equality their marching banner.

Then came the Christian Right's backlash: California's Proposition 8.

The campaign saw both sides shouting about "freedoms" and "rights". The Christian Right kept saying that they had God on their side. In fact, they blamed God ("God WANTS us to do this!"). The humanists (yes, including Christian homosexuals) said that their marriage rights were basic human rights.

On Nov. 4, the campaign for Proposition 8 was won after one of the most vicious, misleading and unbelievably criminal campaigns ever experienced. It involved extortion, out-of-state money and manpower from churches, outright lies, and, most of all - mongering of hate and fear.

So now a counter backlash has been set in motion: Saturday, Nov. 15th will see a NATIONAL protest against California's Proposition 8. A protest of epic, if not historic proportions.

(From the blog by gay journalist and activist Rex Wockner)

Maybe Stonewall was Activism 1.0, ACT UP was Activism 2.0, the failed corporate activism of HRC and No On Prop 8 was Activism 3.0, and now we are witnessing Activism 4.0 being born....

And on this Saturday, in California alone, it is set to happen in Bakersfield, Chico, Colton, Costa Mesa, Delano, Escondido, Eureka, Fairfield, Fresno, Irvine, Long Beach, Los Angeles, Moreno Valley, Napa, Oakland, Palm Springs, Pasadena, Pomona, Riverside, Sacramento, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz, Santa Rosa, Stockton and Ventura. And that's just as of today. With the speed of "viral" organizing, the list could be twice as long by Saturday.

Question: how will people view this kind of "activism"? Will some see it as a kind of anarchy? Will it cause another, more virulent backlash? How many Christofascists will be counter-protesting? Will this new activism cost lives?

It might.

Just a thought.