As I scroll through my google feed of “news articles” on LGBT issues, I’m wondering why we, in traditional, alternative and social media, give so much attention to the rantings of some religious fundamentalists who seek to impose their superstitious beliefs on people and deny them equal rights as citizens.
No, I’m not going to mention their names, because that is what they want: publicity. And that would defeat the whole purpose of this post, which is to urge everyone to ignore these nutcases. Sure, they are entitled to their opinions, but we don’t have to run headlines about them. Maybe if we stop trumpeting their views, they’ll slink off to their caves . . .
Of course, I am not suggesting we ignore people who have real political influence in places like the United States and Russia, where some politicians are nothing but big bullies. But American evangelists who say stupid things on Internet radio that have no influence in the grand scheme of things? Why do we need to report on them?
We shouldn’t be that desperate for web hits. Let’s show some discretion, and ignore the antiquated religious folks who never got — or didn’t understand — the message in the song The Times They Are a-Changin’.
Jillian
Jillian Page 
Publicity adds legitimacy.
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Perhaps by ignoring them, they will become less and less present due to media starvation.
Fernie
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I’ll disagree, to an extent. There are a few who are so ridiculous as to be better ignored, of course, but a great many more who are semi-mainstream. And worse, they’re sometimes still seen as a “balancing” opposing side on an issue, to consult with on a story. Significantly, they often voice attitudes that others share but are uncomfortable with voicing.
Calling out those attitudes gives us the opportunity to address and dispel them altogether, while leaving those attitudes unchallenged emboldens more people to repeat and spread those beliefs, to accept them on rote (without thinking further), to repeat them more loudly, and to gradually come to appear not as a fringe perspective, but a mainstream or mainstreaming position.
The Overton Window is a sociopolitical concept that has become much more relevant in recent years, and has a lot to do with the way that the U.S. radical right has gathered political power, and began to reverse the status quo on things like abortion, separation of church and state, contraception, and the way human rights are viewed (now cast more as an outdated burden, or as being co-opted by LGBT people, rather than recognizing that we have legitimate rights).
I saw this with the “bathroom” panic, which started its surge in 2008-ish. Trans and LGBT people did not challenge it, for fear of publicizing and appearing to validate it. So unchallenged, it grew into the strategy it is today. And even now, some people are afraid to challenge it.
It’s the burden of free speech: we need to counter idiocy, lest the idiot convince the world that he is sensible.
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I agree, to an extent. But I think most people are intelligent enough to know that people like Pat Robertson and the Westboro Baptist Church crowd are nuttier than the proverbial fruitcake, and if people do buy into their bigotry, then I doubt we can dissuade them . . .
I welcome debate on these issues.
Cheers
Jillian
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