So the first Vote No advertisement has come out and the striking thing to me is it did not provide any arguments for why same-sex marriage is a bad idea. This is bad. Let me explain why:
Instead of focusing on the issue at hand and articulating arguments against same-sex marriage, they conflated same-sex marriage with other issues such as gender fluidity and school dress codes.
These are, of course, completely irrelevant to the topic being voted on. We will be voting on whether or not humans of the same gender should be allowed to get married. We are not voting on whether or not gender fluidity should be taught in the classroom. That is a very worthwhile thing to discuss, but let's discuss it on its own, not tacked on to a same-sex marriage debate. Gender fluidity is a difficult enough topic on its own.
The thing that scares me about conflating these issues is they will end up convincing people who support same-sex marriage to reflexively support arguably more extreme ideas such as gender fluidity, simply because they see them as issues of equality, synonymous with same-sex marriage.
And people supporting same-sex marriage should not conflate a no vote with someone who hates gay people. These are two separate categories.
We need to debate each and every issue on its own merits.
The ad ends with the statement: "You can say no." This might be the only part of the ad I completely agree with. You can vote no. You are not bigoted if you vote no. You are not homophobic if you vote no. You are not some evil, unempathetic, religious zealot if you vote no. You are a human being with a view of the world I do not share. Let's talk about what we agree and disagree on.
And people supporting same-sex marriage should not conflate a no vote with someone who hates gay people. These are two separate categories.
We need to debate each and every issue on its own merits.
The ad ends with the statement: "You can say no." This might be the only part of the ad I completely agree with. You can vote no. You are not bigoted if you vote no. You are not homophobic if you vote no. You are not some evil, unempathetic, religious zealot if you vote no. You are a human being with a view of the world I do not share. Let's talk about what we agree and disagree on.
We need to appreciate each other's views, encourage everyone to share them, and engage in this conversation.
And in every conversation.
This is why I write these blogs and I'd love to hear people's thoughts, either through a reply or a blog of your own.
By sharing our thoughts we force ourselves to examine our own beliefs, and open them up for criticism.
I want to examine my beliefs, I want others to critique them.
I want others to examine their beliefs and be open to respectful questions of them.
You can vote no or yes, but please don't conflate separate ideas.
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