BATTLE OF THE BULLIES!!: Dan Savage and Brian Brown To Fight Over ... "Bullsh*t"

(Author's note: Why didn't I get as much attention for calling some beliefs "crap"? Some people have all the luck!)

At a high school journalism convention, anti-bullying and gay activist Dan Savage (founder, It Gets Better movement and creator of the neologism "Santorum"), as is his want, made a crude remark making a point we all know: parts of the Bible are simply ... bullsh*t. However, he didn't say that the Bible was ALL bullsh*t, just parts of it, especially some of the laws of Leviticus. Some students showed their disdain for Savage's comments by walking out.*

Now people (aka FOX News) are calling Dan Savage a bully
...and THE WAR has begun.

Glenn Beck's THE BLAZE:

ANTI-BULLYING CRUSADER ATTACKS THE BIBLE AND CURSES CHRISTIAN TEENS DURING HIGH SCHOOL SPEECH**
Front and center in the phalanx of Christian Right critics is Brian Brown. The National Organization for Marriage's president became absolutely incensed at Savage's "savaging" (Brown's wit is astounding) of the Bible. Yes, that's the same National Organization for Marriage (NOM) that tried unsuccessfully to boycott Starbuck's for its support of same-sex marriage.***

Let me lay down a public challenge to Dan Savage right here and now: You want to savage the Bible? Christian morality? Traditional marriage? Pope Benedict? I’m here, you name the time and the place and let’s see what a big man you are in a debate with someone who can talk back. It’s easy to make high-school girls cry by picking on them. Let’s pick on someone our own size!

You will find out out how venal and ridiculous your views of these things are if you dare to accept a challenge.

The response:

FRIDAY, MAY 4, 2012

HORRORS / RELIGION / LGBTQITSLFAConfidential to NOM's Brian Brown: You're On, Motherfucker

posted by DAN SAVAGE on FRI, MAY 4, 2012 at 2:02 PM

I will name the time and the place, per your offer, as soon as possible. Looking forward to it, NOMnuts.

Lines have been drawn. Souvenir dueling pistals are being made. National bookies are taking bets. People are praying that the event take place near their home so that they won't have to break their bank accounts on airfare to attend the event. Forget the upcoming election debates - this will be the one for the history books.

The uproar even spawned some critics who are usually Savage's biggest allies, but most of that criticism resulted from what they considered Savage's being "crass" and not the message itself: that parts of the Bible are pointedly ignored because they are WRONG. 

But what exactly is this "war" about? The horrendously rotten, bullying, evil, persecuting passage of Dan Savage's speech:

“People often point out that they can’t help it. They can’t help with the anti-gay bullyings because it says right there in Leviticus, it says right there in Timothy, it says right there in Romans that being gay is wrong. We can learn to ignore the bullshit in the Bible about gay people the same way we have learned to ignore the bullshit in the Bible about shellfish, about slavery, about dinner, about farming, about menstruation, about virginity, about masturbation. We ignore bullshit in the Bible about all sorts of things.

The immediate context of the offending speech is here. Savage points out the strict Leviticus laws concerning slavery and stoning women who have been found not to be virgins before marriage ("Calista Gingrich lives") and focuses on the fact that we totally discount such concepts while taking the one concept of homosexuality and making discrimination against gays legitimate. He was making the bullying point of "you're going to hell" ridiculous, i.e:  "bullshit." 

What the incident brought out, however, is that an enormous over-sensitivity to anything dealing with the Bible is...bullshit. Students began walking out once the Bible was mentioned. Their brains shut down before Savage's point could even be formed. The possibility of the entire walk out having been staged has been discussed: knee-jerk reactions can be suspicious.

Note in the clip below, the fact that FOX News' Steve Doocy says nothing about the applause and laughter Savage's speech also created. In fact, the amount of students in agreement far outnumbered the dissidents, conveniently making "Christianity" look like a persecuted minority.

For the convenience of Savage's critics, I created a Wordle with a graphic that NOM can use, it being in the form of a wedge - NOM's favorite shape. It's too bad that the word "bullsh*t" wound up to be so small because Savage only said it about three times. (If you click on the actual Wordle below it, "bullsh*t" is easier to read).

 




So the uproar is really it's own "bullshit" - but the debate promises to spawn super bullshit from the losers: Odds are on Savage to win, but "belief" and twisted reasoning will belong to Brown in the end. Leave it to the likes of Glenn Beck and Steve Doocy to see to it.  




*Some people think the walk-out was suspiciously contrived since, you will notice in the video, students began to walk out BEFORE the offensive term.
**Evidently being called "pansy-assed" is extreme cursing. (NOTE: this article was posted under the heading of "Science" WTF?)
 *** Starbuck's stock remains at an all-time high.

Bringing Hate To Paradise: Will Bali Suffer From The Wrath of NOM?

Scott Lively, move over, there's a new international homophobia-spreader in town: the National Organization for Marriage (NOM) has attempted to go international with its DumpStarbucks campaign by targeting countries where homophobia is already established, but need a little push in the form of anti-Western sentiments. 

"...today we go international, expanding DumpStarbucks.com campaigns into Mandarin, Arabic, Turkish, Spanish, and Bahala (one of the chief languages of Indonesia) DumpStarbucks.com online ads will also start running in Egypt, Beijing, Hong Kong, the Yunnan region of China, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Oman and Kuwait."

The campaign may be an easy sell in countries where homosexuality is criminalized, but think of this: the "overspill" into countries that are gay friendly, like Bali. As part of the campaign to boycott Starbucks in Indonesia, NOM will be affecting what some people consider the closest thing we on earth have to "paradise."

And Bali is, by all accounts, very gay friendly.

Joe Jervis (Joe.My.God) is rightfully indignant at the thought of NOM's campaign targeting homophobic countries:

In what may be their single-most outrageous and repulsive move yet, NOM is attempting to whip up anti-gay fervor by expanding their Starbucks boycott into nations that put homosexuals to death or have other legal punishments for merely being gay.

The tactic certainly compliments their "drive-a-wedge" strategy. But it's necessary to look beyond the skulduggery of using already anti-gay societies and see what effects it might have on the peripheral societies such as Bali. Like it or not, Bali is intrinsically tied to Indonesia. And Indonesia is intrinsically tied to Bali's tourism and finances. Starbucks has dozens of franchises on the tiny island.

One glitch in a push by NOM in Bali:  92% of its religious community follows Balinese Hinduism with only about 5% following Islam and 2% following Christianity. NOM, of course, wishes that it was 92% Right Wing Christian or 92% Muslim.*

Sorry, NOM, But Bali Ain't Uganda

Scott Lively and Lou Engle had success in exporting homophobia to Africa: third world countries with little education were easily led by evangelicals who regaled them with stories and false statistics of the "evil homosexual lifestyle." It is common knowledge that both had a great deal of influence with the formation of Uganda's infamous "kill the gays" bill.** The First Lady of Uganda, Madam Mouseveni, a born-again Christian, welcomed them as well as other evangelicals in order to bolster the country's emerging Right Wing Christianity. Of course, calling for a boycott of Starbucks is not the same as pushing for capital punishment for gays. 

But it's a start. 

NOM's problem with Bali, however,  lies not only in a different religion, but a different mindset - and more advanced education. As the richest province in Indonesia's archipelago, it has a level of sophistication in art, literature and sciences that cannot be matched, even in Jakarta. In other words, it's "world class," not "third world class." Paradise has standards to uphold. 

So the DumpStarbucks campaign will tank in Paradise. But that is not to say that we should think it will not be successful in any of the other supremely homophobic countries on NOM's list, the irony being that most of the countries are Muslim.

The enemy of my enemy is my friend.

* Same thing - at least in terms of homophobia

**As did Rick Warren before the awarding Uganda the sobriquet of "Purpose Driven Nation." Warren's BBF in Uganda was Martin Ssempe, the "eat da poo poo" pastor (so called because he has claimed that homosexuals ingest feces on a regular basis). 

PLEASE BOYCOTT US!!!

Sorry for the bad gif.


That beautiful blue line is Starbucks rise during the so-called boycott by NOM and its supporters (AFA and FRC). Makes so many other corporations screaming "PLEASE Boycott Us!"

The Language Of Haters: NOM's Viral Memo Exposes Reprehensible Tactics And Comtempt

Unfortunately, this is NOT as bad as it gets.


But it's close.

"Gay marriage is the tip of the spear, the weapon that will be and is being used to marginalize and repress Christianity and the Church."

Just days after announcing an effort to spearhead a global boycott of Starbucks due to its stance on marriage equality, the National Organization for Marriage has been hit with a controversy of its own making: internal "strategy" memos that clearly outline its hatred for gays and its intent to "drive a wedge between gays and blacks—two key Democratic constituencies." It also proposed to " interrupt this process of assimilation [in the Hispanic community] by making support for marriage a key badge of Latino identity" and targeted President Obama to be painted as a "radical" opposing traditional values.




It also boasted about the support of Rick Santorum:

"Senator Rick Santorum has recently agreed to use his voice in a nationwide automated call effort to solicit activists and donations."

"The current state of despair over the future of marriage is manufactured, a weapon in our opponents’ hand"

With militaristic rhetoric of warfare ("behind enemy lines) and "weapons" the abysmal memo lays out plans for the years to come with headings like “Not A Civil Right” Project and The Catholic Clergy Project. It also lauded its efforts in states such as Maine and California, especially its involvement in Prop 8. The memo was ostensibly intended for staff and major donors only. 

The MAIN Strategies

NOM has always contended that its primary goal is the "protection" of marriage. But "protection" does not  insinuate force. "Defense" does not insinuate attack, or even divide and conquer:

“The strategic goal of this project is to drive a wedge between gays and blacks—two key Democratic constituencies. Find, equip, energize and connect African American spokespeople for marriage, develop a media campaign around their objections to gay marriage as a civil right; provoke the gay marriage base into responding by denouncing these spokesmen and women as bigots…”

…but we will be helped by an emerging new set of black leaders who are upset their voices and values have been ignored by the culturally liberal white elites.

The Latino vote in America is a key swing vote, and will be even more so in the future because of demographic growth. Will the process of assimilation to the dominant Anglo culture lead Hispanics to abandon traditional family values? We can interrupt this process of assimilation by making support for marriage a key badge of Latino identity.

The use of two minorities in opposing another minority.  Cool.

The MAINE Downfall

For a period spanning almost three years, the Maine Ethics Commission (along with its Attorney General's office) had been battling NOM concerning its disclosure of finances and donors. Ironically, the fatal memo points out how NOM valiantly tried to suppress such disclosure. In the end, NOM battled disclosure - through three civil courts - and lost. The Supreme Court recently refused to hear its appeal. The memo is a result of that decision in its disclosures. What NOM considered a victory in Maine,  ultimately wound up biting it in the posterior.

The Ruth Institute ("Making Marriage Cool")

Has NOM ever been truly powerful? The money it has discharged certainly denotes some moneyed interests. Its involvement in Prop 8 and various anti- marriage equality measures was a fact, but underneath all the bluster, there were failed campaigns and empty venues. It's own tangled web of "institutes" and think tanks compounds the perception that NOM is indeed built on sand: its own "Ruth Institute" has apparently only one primary member, a certain Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse who speaks at college campuses concerning traditional marriage. Prof. Morse is a former teacher of economics. Who the "Ruth" of Ruth Institute is is anybody's guess. Prof. Morse is also affiliated with the Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty, a supposed think tank promoting the marriage of economics and religion. Both the Ruth and Acton Institutes share a common goal: dragging the concept of marriage back to the good 'ole 14th century.* 

Well, They've Got Kirk Cameron and Anita Bryant ... 

Here’s the bottom line: Hollywood with its cultural biases is far bigger than we could hope to be. We recognize this. But we also recognize the opportunity – the disproportionate potential impact of proactively seeking to gather and connect a community of artist, athletes, writers, beauty queens and other glamorous noncognitive elites across national boundaries

Going after the "Hollywood elite" has been a tradition of Christian Right activists ever since movies came into existence as a cultural religion. NOM's failure in getting any real celebrities and cultural icons to back them up have always made them defensive and feeling weak. 

NOM's End

After the divulged strategies of NOM, whither will it fly? Who will support it? Who will denounce it? More importantly: who will remain silent on the issue altogether? Will today's posts and tweets will be a dizzying array of post-mortems? Or will they be a chorus of "they never represented us!" Whatever the shouting match, it will be an entertaining end to a house of hate built on sand. 

NOTE: View NOM's 2009 video below and compare it with the disclosed strategies of the memo. The contempt for gays came through even then. 

*One of the Ruth Institue's basic tenets: Lifelong spousal cooperation as a solution to women’s aspirations for career and family. Apparently "spousal cooperation" is a metaphor for indentured servitude.

Star Bright Starbucks: CEO Tells NOM To Take A (Respectful) Hike At Shareholders Meeting.

The last of the big boycotts?

Dear Marriage Supporter:

We are urging consumers across the globe to "Dump Starbucks" because the massive international corporation has taken a corporate-wide position that marriage between one man and one woman should be eliminated and that same-sex marriage should become the norm.

As such, Starbucks has declared it will use its influence and resources in a culture war against at least half its US customers, and against the vast majority of its international consumers who do not share Starbucks' position.

The National Organization for Marriage - aka Maggie Ghallagher - aka "Slaggie" by Joe Jervis (Joe.My.God) - has now initiated a boycott of Starbucks. Like JC Penney, however, Starbucks is holding its ground with its policies. Like Ben & Jerry's it sees the value of seeing things "through the lens of humanity." Like the Girl Scouts and their cookies, it's banking on diversity. Like Home Depot, it shows signs of support of the LGBT community.

There are so many national retailers being boycotted by NOM and its supporters (mainly the American Family Association) one wonders if people like "Slaggie" can purchase ANYTHING!

Responses and Results

Boycotts are nothing new. The first known boycott was that of the Meccans against the Hashemites so that they would withdraw their patronage of Mohammad. The Boston Tea Party was the first American boycott. The term "boycott" comes from a man named Boycott - a British land agent who was subject to a boycott by the Irish Land League in 1880. Perhaps the most violent boycott in history was the N*zi boycott of Jewish businesses. The purpose of boycotts has been mostly economic: if you want to get your point across, hit them where it hurts the most - in the pocketbook.

The Christian Right has for decades used boycotts as a means to demonstrate its displeasure with any organization or business. Whether they are effective or not in halting the gross national product, is another story. They seem to think they are, because they have kept calling for boycotts at an alarming rate. But manufacturers, retailers, franchises and other businesses are also steadfastly refusing to bend - at a rate corresponding to the Right's vehemence, much to it's chagrin.

McDonalds

“Being a socially responsible organization is a fundamental part of who we are. We have an obligation to use our size and resources to make a difference in the world…and we do.”
Ford Motor Company

Whether Ford Motor Company caved in to a boycott remains to be seen:

Marcey Evans, a spokeswoman for the company, said in an interview Wednesday that the AFA was misusing “diversity” by treating it as a code word for “homosexuality.” But “to Ford, diversity is a much broader definition than simply homosexuality,” she said. “Diversity is very important to Ford, and it goes beyond homosexuality.”

Disney

"I think it would be a tragedy for us to exclude anybody." 

The Southern Baptist' call to boycott Disney lasted almost nine years.

Michael Eisner, Disney chairman, called the boycott "ridiculous" and denied it would have any effect on Disney. No effect financially, he said. Eisner denied that Disney was pushing an "anti Christian" or "anti family" agenda. "That’s ridiculous. We’re not pushing any agenda."

Upon the celebration of Gay Day at Disney World, Pat Robertson forewarned Orlando, FL that it might be in for harsh weather "Maybe even a meteor."

Old Navy

The decision to produce Gay Pride t-shirts may not have been the underlying factor in the AFA's boycott of the global retailer. What really got to the AFA and it's resident homophobe, Bryan Fischer, was that proceeds of the t-shirts would go to the It Gets Better project, founded by Dan Savage.


Old Navy continued to sell the t-shirts for a long time.

JC Penney

"My instinct...is that spokespeople aren't really necessary unless a company is going through a profound change," he says. "We looked around...and Ellen was the one who stood out. She's honest, she's funny, she has integrity. Americans like her but they really trust her. She seemed to be the perfect person."

- Ron Johnson, CEO, addressing the boycot called upon JC Penney by One Million Moms regarding the use of Ellen Degeneres as a spokesman.

Girls Scouts of America

The video of a supposed Girl Scout requesting the boycott of Girl Scout cookies on the basis of the GSA allowing transgendered children into the organization, sparked a big controversy, but GSA held it's head up high:

"For 100 years, Girl Scouts has prided itself on being an inclusive organization serving girls from all walks of life. We handle cases involving transgender children on a case-by-case basis, with a focus on ensuring the welfare and best interests of the child in question and the other girls in the troop as our highest priority," a Girl Scouts spokeswoman told the Daily News in a statement.

Home Depot

"Almighty God, we pray many more Christians will boycott Home Depot, who wrote a letter this week to the American Family Association saying they will continue sponsoring Homosexual Pride parades, and encouraging employees to dress in Home Depot aprons while marching in parades that defile children and promote sodomite sin."

- Christian Right activist, Rev. Gordon Klingenschmitt

Chairman [Frank] Blake said, "I hope all of our shareholders understand that we're a company that respects the diversity of our associates, our customers, and the communities where we do business."

For that response, Home Depot earned the witty sobriquet "Homo Depot."

So what about Starbucks? Listen to CEO Howard Schultz handle the situation with aplomb when being asked by a supposed shareholder and spokesperson for NOM about its support of same-sex marriage. 

BTW: It was recently discovered that the NOM website, dumpstarbucks.com, was around before the shareholders meeting - probably because it anticipated Schultz's response. The whole exchange is HERE at Good As You.


To some people the boycott business is ridiculous, but to others, it's a deadly serious game. Will there be more to come? 


Duh, it's an election year.

It's Really Hit The Fan!: How Obama's "DOMA Dump" Brought Out The Self-Righteous, The Insane And The Just Plain Stupid

Did you know that homosexuality is the REAL cause of "dead beat dads"?? Mike Huckabee says so!!

Yesterday, I could smell the explosion of fire and brimstone here in San Francisco (where it was a cool and beautifully clear day, totally devoid of God's wrath). I could even sense the gnashing of teeth, ripping of garments and tearing of hair. And I'm evil enough to say that I enjoyed it all. The Christian Right, in full force, came out in its totally self-righteous mode, entertaining the whole country. 

So what the hell did people expect? My fingers were glued to the keyboard the moment I read the news about Obama, the Justice Department and DOMA. Then I thought, "Sit and wait, rev." The deluge of self-righteousness was overwhelming: so many people were "appalled" at the "outrageous" and "unthinkable" act "radical element" Obama has done, all-but-declaring DOMA to be null and void, "abandoning his role as President." Some diatribes were (relatively) short, others long-winded and others too flabbergasting to be coherent. The panoply and intensity of outrage was - to use their own words - "staggering":

I first went to Family Research Council's Tony Perkins since he has become, after all, the country's Grand High Exalted Mystic Ruler of the Royal Order of Righteous Rhetoric:

"This decision by President Obama and the Department of Justice is appalling. The President's failure to defend DOMA is also a failure to fulfill his oath to 'faithfully execute the office of President of the United States.' What will be the next law that he will choose not to enforce or uphold? "Marriage as a male-female union has been easily defended in court and overwhelmingly supported by the American people.

Ahem. That "overwhelmingly supported by the American people" has changed a bit since the Dark Ages (before Prop 8), but Perkins is well known for skewing numbers to the point that some researchers are thinking of suing him and the FRC.

Matt Staver, Liberty Counsel:

“This is outrageous and unthinkable ... Today President Obama has abandoned his role as President of the United States and transformed his office into the President of the Divided States. He has been the most divisive president in American history.

Staver's bluster is countered by the fact that Obama has always been a lawyer first, a President second and a constitutional scholar third when it comes to matters of law. He would not have made such a statement if he hadn't thought it out with all of the legal ramifications it might entail.  The "divisive" adjective may go along with Perkins' "overwhelming" statement, but people are beginning to think differently about same-sex marriage... and Staver knows it.

Maggie Ghallagher, NOM:

“We have not yet begun to fight for marriage. The Democrats are responding to their election loss with a series of extraordinary, extra-constitutional end runs around democracy, whether it’s fleeing the state in Wisconsin and Indiana to prevent a vote, or unilaterally declaring homosexuals a protected class under our Constitution, as President Obama just did. 

Maggie Ghallagher is no John Paul Jones, but she is definitely on a sinking ship: the "crowds" at her rallies can all fit into my bathroom.

As always, Bryan Fischer:

[This is] "a wake-up call to all conservatives that fundamental American values regarding the family are under all-out assault by this administration. It ought to represent a clarion call to man the barricades before we lose what is left of the Judeo-Christian system of values in our public life."

"Assault" and "man the barricades" reinforce more than Fischer's penchant for militaristic rhetoric: it's his evocation of the myth of the masculine privilege. Fischer is being the forceful "man" he thinks Jesus Christ was, all Rambofied and armed with tough love. This gives us the feeling that Mr. Fischer is compensating for something.

And Mike Huckabee:

"There is a quantified impact of broken families," Huckabee said. "[There is a] $300 billion dad deficit in America every year...that's the amount of money that we spend as taxpayers to pick up the pieces because dads are derelict in their duties."

This is genuinely a WTF? correlation. Is Rev. Huckabee losing it? Maybe no more than Pat Robertson who was last seen helping to conduct a faith healing that looked more like an episode of Jerry Springer.* What is a "dad deficit"? Do we now have a shortage of fathers because gay men are luring them away with their wiles? Some women should be so lucky! Point of fact: some women would rather have a gay husband. Totally apropos sentiment from one wistful woman: "I long for the old days, when the good ones were either married or gay. Now they're both!"

 

Rick Santorum:

"President Obama's refusal to defend a law that was overwhelmingly supported on both sides of the aisle and signed into law by a president of his own party is an affront to the will of the people." 

(h/t Joe.My.God)

Yes, the accompanying photo is a rather cheap shot, but I couldn't resist it. Santorum is still trying to get his name re-googled.

OK, I'll stop being giddy about the situation and stop to breathe a more serious note: the problem we now face is that of a circus trainer trying to put his tiger back in its cage. The Christian Right, with its power behind the Republican Party (and some Tea Partiers) will not only be ferocious in its onslaught against Obama, but against anyone they feel is not backing their agenda 110 percent. They've already begun to peel some moderate skin off the Republican Party with their claws.  

When pseudo-historian David Barton recently spoke to the Connect 2011 Pastors Conference, he said that Christians needed to take control of the culture and media so that "guys that have a secular viewpoint cannot survive" because Christians will "chop that kind of news off." I don't think Barton's talking about viewpoint. 


I'm serious.