Shedding Light

In the light of the previous discussion regarding Google, somewhat ironic statements from Tom Hanks:

Tom Hanks, Executive Producer for HBO’s controversial polygamist series “Big Love,” made his feelings toward the Mormon Church’s involvement in California's Prop 8 (which prohibits gay marriage) very clear at the show’s premiere party on Wednesday night.

“The truth is this takes place in Utah, the truth is these people are some bizarre offshoot of the Mormon Church, and the truth is a lot of Mormons gave a lot of money to the church to make Prop-8 happen,” he told Tarts. “There are a lot of people who feel that is un-American, and I am one of them. I do not like to see any discrimination codified on any piece of paper, any of the 50 states in America, but here's what happens now. A little bit of light can be shed, and people can see who's responsible, and that can motivate the next go around of our self correcting Constitution, and hopefully we can move forward instead of backwards. So let's have faith in not only the American, but Californian, constitutional process.”

There is nothing either pro- or anti-American about Proposition Eight supporters: they participated in the electoral campaign, as was their right.

People discriminate (aka, make judgments) all the time in society. Just look at your Federal Form 1040 to see an important example regarding income, or the text of marriage laws for any state (the line between blissful matrimony and statutory rape can be rather fine).

What separates pro and anti-Proposition Eight supporters is exactly how discrimination is to be practiced. In other words, it is a matter of public debate.

Discrimination, followed by exclusion or inferior treatment, for religious, political, racial or sexual reasons can cause a vast amount of harm. This kind of discrimination must be avoided, where possible.

A perfect example of political discrimination that edged into racial discrimination was the Bush Administration's response to Hurricane Katrina. The Administration saw a partisan political opportunity to cast blame for a slow emergency response onto the Democratic Governor of Louisiana, and concentrated their energies on having her surrender her emergency powers - something they did not do to the similarly-belabored Republican Governor of Mississippi. The political infighting that resulted from this misguided effort (no Governor will voluntarily surrender power in a crisis) resulted in a delay that cost the lives of 1,500 people. The American people rightly recoiled from the horror of that discrimination.

Proposition Eight was just another ballot measure presented to the voters for democratic consideration: not the first, and certainly not the last. The way to oppose it is through public education, persuasion, and mobilization: precisely those areas found wanting in the last election. Like others who cluster in like-minded thought ghettoes, anti-Proposition Eight folks tend to think that adequate public education, persuasion, and mobilization work has already been done. This is manifestly not the case.