It’s also OK to defend those priorities.
It is also important to call out divisive and hate generating media advocacy when it rears its ugly head.
Greenvtster makes a good point when he says the Democrats need to prevent the media, or conservatives – but I repeat myself – from defining their agenda as a single issue.
The Times Argus’ toxic and divisive poll is a reminder to our legislative leaders that the responsibility to enact priorities carries with it the responsibility to publicly advocate for those priorities. “Leading,” it is why we elect them.
The Democrats need to advocate for the policies and priorities needed to help Vermonters protect themselves from an economy that Republican and conservative policies have thoroughly dismantled and run into the fiscal ditch. The economic recovery and sustainability plans, particularly those the Governor and his administration consistently undermine, need to be pushed front and center.
They, and we, also need to advocate against those forces deliberately distorting the agenda our legislative leaders are pushing on our behalf. Do not shy from calling out partisans in the media. Do not shy away from those conservatives who are fighting social justice or any other group that is distracting from a badly needed progressive legislative agenda.
. . . UPDATED down under . .
The effect of inartful language in the Times Argus‘ “poll” ** is nothing more than a direct, in-your-face, jab at gays and lesbians specifically, and the majority of Vermonters, in general, who value equal protection of the law.
The TA’s behavior The survey’s language has the effect of playing into a narrative that anti-marriage rights opponents are pedaling, which pits Vermonter directly against Vermonter. The poll’s not-too-subtle message to its readers is “Your interests are necessarily mutually exclusive from the priorities of other Vermonters’ interests when it comes to legislative priorities.”
This is just plain untrue. It is toxic thinking. It creates a false, media generated, and media perpetuated conflict of priorities where none exists.
Is the TA afraid too much consensus is building around equal marriage rights? Seriously, what is the inspiration for this?
Here is the problem. When a survey in a newspaper asks:
Do you think same-sex marriage should be a top priority for the Legislature?
What it is really telling its readers is “are the issues that are important to gays and lesbians more important than the issues that affect you?”
If that’s the questions they are really asking, then want to know what the real answer to that question is? The answer is Bullshit! It’s bullshit because the implication is false. The conflict is non-existent.
If the Times Argus really wants to play those games, what’s stopping them from pulling out all the stops and pitting the rest of “us” (whoever “we” happen to be) against each other and against our neighbors? Let’s see the TA put up a poll that pits children against farmers or the elderly against working people. Why only imply to your readers that it stops with marriage rights? Certainly there are other groups that can fight to trump each other?
Try this:
What’s more important?
Do you think the legislature should make the needs of working families a top priority OR are the elderly more important?
When media outlets such as the Times Argus (they are not the only ones, just the most recent example) carelessly use language in surveys that plays into a false narrative being promoted by the GOP, the effect is to pit Vermonter divisively against Vermonter and it asks us to dig deeply into our inner-hate.
Memo: Stop pitting Vermonter against Vermonter.
This is just shameful because there really is no shortage of targets for the TA, or others, to use when pitting one group of Vermonters against another. Once the tone is set, everyone gets into the game. Worse, it makes people think they may have competing interests when, in fact, nothing is further from the truth. Because, if the TA or other well-poisoners want to play that game, they can throw frogs into the drinking water all day. How about this one:
What’s more important? Do you think the Legislature should preserve Vermont’s image of natural beauty and make cleaning up Lake Champlain a priority OR should the legislature protect Vermont’s farming heritage and ignore agricultural discharging or animal feces and pesticide runoff into the Lake?
Same false assumptions and same false priorities. They are easy to “poll,” but hard to explain.
When the equation is: “What’s more important, marriage and family rights or [Fill.In.The.Blank]?” — why even bother to ask the question? Why frame an issue in a way that suggests (as the Governor and other conservatives are also doing) that fixing one problem means ignoring others? I’ll say it again, nothing is further from the truth.
Divisive questions are really nothing more than divisive statements that are really an editorial about a false conflict. And the conflict pits Vermonter against Vermonter. It does not illuminate the subject. It does not pit “this is where we are today” with “this is where we need to be tomorrow – and why.” No, the editorial questioning keeps public policy on a zero-sum reptilian level and ignores what is truly at issue.
Chew on this: Liberals can address more than one serious problem at a time, just like Republicans and conservatives can spend their entire day trying to obstruct and block progress on any work to fix more than one problem at a time. Smell the coffee, assholes.
When the General Assembly is in session, every State law that is on the books is potentially on the table. Every (1) State dollar of every (2) State funding priority is at issue and every (3) State policy is subject to review. Let’s not pretend otherwise.
The fact is WE ALL have an interest in civil rights. Civil rights is always a top priority. And top priorities do not make anything else less important either.
————————-
UPDATE: Thank you to Rob Mitchell, of the Times Argus, for commenting on this post.
He re-states the Times Argus’ support for equal marriage rights and comments that:
The editorial of a newspaper is the voice of the publisher and the community we serve. Sometimes the editorial leads the community, sometimes it follows. . . we support gay marriage as a civil right. We said so editorially, and that is separate from our news coverage. . .
We are not just a poll question, we are much more than that. We provide a forum for people to voice their opinions, and we do not discriminate against any opinion – we protect free speech.
It is easy to get fired up about a poll question, but we have put our money where our mouth is in support of equal rights time and time again.
Please see all of his comments including, HERE and HERE, below. I note there are revisions in my post in light of his comments.
– cl
———————
[** the “poll” is a stolen cookie click’n’refresh feature. Not only is it not a poll, but this means it cannot even gauge reader preference since one person can vote as many times as desired.]
Also, an alert reader directed us to a neutrally worded survey at WPTZ (and one that does not require you to clear or “toss” your cookies!).
Loading ...