Anyone Want to Marry a Goat?

Thanks to a few days off from school away from Internet access, I now have a lot of catching up to do in terms of recent Prop 8 news. Bear with me while I get on that.

First up however, is dealing with piece of mail I received today. That's right folks, I received a letter from the No on Prop 8 campaign, soliciting "urgently needed contributions." I've mentioned before that the supporters of Proposition 8 seem to be doing a better job employing fear tactics to sway voters into voting yes, however this letter is a pretty solid use of fear mongering to garner "no" votes.

The underlying purpose of the letter is to highlight the 3-2 fundraising disadvantage that the opponents of Proposition 8 are facing, and underscore their need for donations to continue an effective media campaign. The more interesting part of the letter emphasises the "dehumanising slander" against LGBT peoples said by supporters of Proposition 8, including this statement from The Family Research Council in Rhode Island:

"A same-sex couple's marriage cannot be recognized because: "Following the logic of the appellants and their supporters, man/animal marriage and man/deceased woman marriage must be permitted under Rhode Island law simply because the General Assembly has not expressly prohibited it."

The letter also included this statement from the April 13 broadcast of Westwood One's The Radio Factor with Bill O'Reilly:

"So this is just the beginning, ladies and gentlemen, of this crazy gay marriage insanity - it's gonna lead to all kinds of things like this. Courts are gonna be clogged. Every nut in the world is gonna - somebody's gonna come in and say, 'I wanna marry the goat." You'll see it; I guarantee you'll see it."

After one gets done chuckling at the image of a (wo)man/goat marriage, (would the goat need a stool to kiss the bride/groom? Would it need a proxy to repeat the vows?), one can see the "dehumanizing" comparison presented - LGBT people are no better than animals or corpses. While it's hard to call this propaganda letter fear tactics precisely, it is certainly negative advertising. The letter is targeted towards individuals already targeted as being strong opponents of Proposition, and therefore are either LGBT, or avid gay rights advocates. This letter therefore, would probably incite anger within the targeted population, and therefore motivate people to give money to the campaign. Considering the more positive tenor of the television ads, it's interesting to see how the No on Prop campaign chooses to target its base. While it might more publicly present non-threatening image towards the larger heterosexual community, the No on Prop 8 campaign is just as bitterly passionate and negative as the supporters of Proposition 8. Neither side is sticking to the moral high road in this campaign.