Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Do we need to Debate Tony Perkins?


Most gays know that Tony Perkins is full of sh*t. His claims about SPLC are empty and weightless. Yet, they are using this to draw attention to their bigoted causes. So far, he's not winning any fans. Tony and the FRC are known for their foolishness and many folks (with common sense) don't take them seriously.

So with that said, I don't think we need to debate or convince Tony to see differently.

Here are my reasons:
  • Tony strongly believes in the mess he's serving to the masses. To tell him he's wrong is like someone telling me I'm wrong for believing in gay rights. I don't know if we could change his mind when his bigoted mind is already made up.
  •  FRC is a business. Their message, cause and purpose keeps them in play and rich... Very rich. Tony is not going to screw with their business because that's screwing with their money. So don't expect for them to go off message. Their message keeps their pockets fat.
  • What are the outcomes of any debate or confrontation with Tony? To show how hateful they are? They already do that for us. To shut them down? That's not going to happen. I'm not sure a debate would move anything forward. The same lines would be drawn in the sand and the same folks will stay on their sides.
But what can we do? Well, continue calling out the foolishness Tony, FRC, and any other hate group does. Usually, these groups bury themselves in their own mess. We should just make sure we have a huge neon sign pointing to the dirt piles.
And if Tony wants a debate, we need to be ready for it. But we should also remember, we don't have to fight as hard. Tony's message is highly flawed and we have the truth at our side. If we keep this mind, we will win hands down.
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3 comments:

  1. Roger PoladopoulosAugust 21, 2012 at 5:18 AM

    I agree with you, my blogger brother. Any debate with a bigot is counterproductive and a waste of time. Our energies can best be expended elsewhere. Great point.

    ReplyDelete
  2. BobAugust 21, 2012 at 5:44 AM

    Debates work when both parties are of a rational, albeit opposing, opinion.

    Perkins is not rational.

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousAugust 21, 2012 at 6:50 AM

    I sort of agree with you here but we need to neutralize him. I hate that he's the go-to bigot for CNN and MSNBC. Perhaps they should look for other bigots, just for the variety.

    I understand they're trying to keep it 'fair and balanced' but bigots like Perkins don't have anything new to add because the source of their anti-gay bigotry is animus against LGBT people justified by their interpretation of the source text of Christianity.

    When you're using a text that is pretty much static, you're not going to get many new arguments from it.

    ReplyDelete