(no subject)

[sorcyress]

Ye gods sometimes I wish I wasn't so empathetic.

That being said, woo prop 8 being overturned.

And why the deep fuck do humans have to fight for their right to be treated like humans?

~Sor
MOOP!

Comments

[harena.livejournal.com]

i know, right? But at least we have this one wee victory!

[kirby1024.livejournal.com]

Because the vast majority of humans don't think of everyone else as people.

Fortunately, we're fighting back and winning. Thought for a second we were heading backwards, but we were just losing a few battles. The war rages on. And we're on the winning side.

you have questions, we have answers

[woozle.livejournal.com]

And why the deep fuck do humans have to fight for their right to be treated like humans?

Kirby's answer is the common one, and I think the evidence shows it is incorrect; the vast majority of human beings are basically decent or at worst neutral.

The real reason is that there are a few people -- maybe 5% of the population -- who are essentially completely lacking in empathy, and hence are perfectly willing to use fear-of-others as a tool for gaining power -- while the majority of people, who would otherwise not particularly care, can easily be persuaded to embrace their instinctive dislike of the unfamiliar¹.

Those 5% cause the majority of the hate in the world.

(Vocabulary words for today: demonization (http://issuepedia.org/demonization), powermongery, psychopathy (http://issuepedia.org/psychopathy).)

1. This is the thinking behind a bumper-sticker I want to make -- "Be a Conservative: Embrace Your Unexamined Fears!" (...or something like that)

Re: you have questions, we have answers

[woozle.livejournal.com]

Correction: "...who would otherwise be supportive or at worst not particularly care..."

[scandiamaxie.livejournal.com]

This battle is won, but the war is far from over... the proponents are taking it to the next level....and eventually to the US Supreme Court. I mean.. really.. these people need to pour the money somewhere else like... EDUCATION or HEALTH CARE than putting it into a crapshoot where it is wasted for them and the people the money could have benefited in other ways.

[tirerim.livejournal.com]

You have got to be taught to hate and fear,
Day after day, year after year,
It's got to be drummed in your dear little ear,
You've got to be taught to hate and fear.

You have got to be taught before you are grown,
To hate those whose lives are not like your own,
To fear right away, because it's unknown,
You've got to be taught before you are grown.

You have got to be taught before it's too late,
Before you are six, or seven or eight,
To hate all the people your relatives hate,
You've got to be carefully taught.

Which is to say, humans have to fight for their rights because our parents did, too. Nothing more complicated than that, but unfortunately very difficult to overcome, because it doesn't get untaught easily.

[joshuazelinsky.livejournal.com]

Frankly, the Prop 8 decision bothers me both at philosophical and pragmatic levels. First of all, at a purely legal level, I have a lot of trouble with the notion that the 14th Amendment makes Prop 8 unconstitutional. Second, at a pragmatic level, given the current conservative make-up of the Supreme Court it seems very likely that this decision will be overturned. If the LGBT movement is going to get rid of Prop 8, it is going to probably need to focus on aspects other than a general 14th Amendment claim.

(Incidentally, how ridiculous backwards does the US seem when at this point there are countries in Europe, Asia, Africa and South America which recognize gay unions and the US still hasn't gotten its act together? Ugh.)