When will the media learn that the lives of gays and lesbians really aren’t up for debate anymore? They never should have been, but the reflexive urge to call Tony Perkins, the leader of a notorious hate group, for his opinion on anything that happens to gay people is getting gross:
[h/t Towleroad]
Thanks, CNN. Was that “journalism?”
Tony, tell us what you think? We really need to know, as if we didn’t already. We have all the same rights? You need to check state laws, clod. And besides, if marriage is a privilege or right or gift doesn’t the constitution guarantee EQUALITY under the law? Gee, according to him NOBODY is against anything gay except being married? Marriage benefits society. I always thought society is people so what are we that we can’t benefit with society? This man and his pronouncements make me sick and WHY is he given air time about all things gay?
No, this isn’t journalism. This is about ratings and money. When Tony Perkins is on, I bet their ratings go up a bit. They win that night’s battle for the bigot viewership. $hame.
[...] support of marriage equality? CNN thinks its viewers and the American people need to hear the opinion of a known hate group to help them formulate their own [...]
Why can’t Wolf Blitzer, or any other CNN correspondent, just ask Tony how he became to be heterosexual? Instead of making the question solely about whether or not homosexuality is a choice, expand the question to encompass the concept of HUMAN sexuality. Just saying.
24 hour news networks make a living from highlighting and exaggerating conflicts (be they Democrat/Republican, Gay/Fundamentalist religion, Black/White etc.
24 hr news was designed for something like 9/11 or election night. Without this type of event, they have to come up with a way to keep people excited and watching, therefore have to invent news and exclusives by exaggerating, or even creating conflict and formenting these manufactured disagreements through repeated repetition, making opinion ‘news’.
Both sides are guilty of this, not just Fox but CNN (as above) MSNBC, ABC and the rest.
This is why Perkins and his ilk are repeatedly invited on ‘news’ networks, for the very purpose of antagonising people, getting them worked up and keeping them watching.
Tougher fact-checking regulations and impartiality laws are the only way to combat this.
“repeated repetition”
Apologies for that.
Tony Perkins would likely say the same thing about Wayne Beeson.
What is needed is a media and politics that frames our legitimate differences in a way whereby the common good is built on to manage our differences. Without that we get exagerated voices whose interest becomes to control the dialogue and ability to define enemies as the devil.
Really, if Tony said the same thing about Wayne it would be another in his long list of lies. One leads an SPLC certified hate group while the other does not.
How is there a “legitimate difference” between a group that wants a minority group permanantly labeled as criminals and inferiors and a group that works for the rights and dignity of everyone? How can “common good” come from giving legitimacy to people who have devoted their lives to hurting others?