First things first: Don't panic! No matter what the newsmedia and some bloggers tell you, not every outrage is an outrage. It's good to remember that in a world that wants us to panic.
Some obscure Virginia Republican wants to criminalise oral sex between high school students. It would mean that a married opposite-gender couple who are 17 and have oral sex could be charged with a felony, even though 18+ couples would not. And, of course, gay couples can never marry. Panic! Outrage!
The fact is, Republican bigots are a dime a dozen, and this two-bit hater is of no significance whatsoever, and neither is his pathetic self-righteous "Christian" moralising. The reason is simple: Rep. Bozo's bill will go NOWHERE—the most confirmed bigots in Virginia will support it, and that’s the end of it. If it somehow miraculously manages to get thought the Virginia legislature—which it will NOT—then we can be certain that the new Democratic Governor will veto this incredibly stupid bigoted stunt—and it’s only a stunt.
What we’re really seeing is a far right Republican "Christian" bigot proposing bigoted legislation he knows can never become law. In so doing, he knows he'll rile up his base (all the better to get them to give him big piles of money). He'll also make himself a darling of the troglodyte wing of the Republican Party (aka, the Republican Party). He wins.
As a side benefit, mainstream people will be outraged—outraged—at what this guy is “doing”. They'll complain loudly in social media and on blogs, which only makes the Virginia bigot all the better in the eyes of his drooling supporters.
What’s learned? What’s gained?
Simple, really: We must never accept media accounts as the sole truth. Sometimes we need to ignore what the media says, no matter how inflammatory, and consider how realistic, how possible the report REALLY is. In this case, there's no chance that the Virginia bigot's law will ever see the light of day. Pick your battles, pick your enemies, pick your outrage. This one, as is so often the case, does not meet that test.
Don't panic: Not everything is really an outrage.
2 comments:
Well, the bill doesn't fit even the common sense rule, because it doesn't explain what "problem" it is alleviating.
Exactly! Nor has the doofus ever explained why it's an "emergency". Have Virginia's 17-year-olds suddenly started having oral sex all day, every day or something? Seems rather improbably somehow. All of which means that Republican lawmakers who have ambitions for higher office will almost certainly just make the bill go away without Democrats having to do a thing.
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