In Wisconsin next week, the ballot will have a question regarding whether we support a constitutional change to define marriage as being between one man and one woman. It is frequently referred to as the referendum on "gay marriage."
What has stunned me is the shocking duplicity of some of the commercials recently being run. A group that advocates gay rights is running commercials that encourage people to vote no. However, they're not being honest about their position. They're doing it by having the actors in the commercial say that they're against gay marriage, and so they're going to vote no on the amendment "to say 'no' to gay marriage." This gay-rights group is running commercials that look like conservative people in favor of marriage are opposed to this referendum. (Now, of course, some conservatives are opposed to the referendum for reasons that have more to do with constitutional amendments, and nothing to do with supporting privileges for homosexuals.) But, wow, ... to run ads for the express purpose of confusing the people as to whether a "yes vote" is a "yes" to gay marriage or a "yes" to traditional marriage.... They must not have much confidence in this referendum being turned down on its own merits. And so they resort to deception. The scary thing is that it's working to convince a lot of people that they should vote 'no.'
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So? The commercials are intended to mislead. Of course they have to be careful not to say anything technically wrong. But the intent is to deceive.
ReplyDeleteIn the summer/fall of 2000, I remember hearing an ad on the radio that sought to decieve people about (then) Governor Bush's record in Texas, stating that "Texas ranks 49th-worst in (whatever the criterion was)..."
ReplyDeleteWhen one thinks about those words, they really state that Texas ranked 2nd-best, but the obvious intent to decieve was there, based on tone of voice by the narrator.
Both parties probably have engaged in similar smearing-type of ads. I'm not meaning to take a side, just that this particular ad was one that struck me.