How the Far Right Distorts Things
One of the ways that the Far Right works to slow (or stop) the movement for Equal Rights for GLBTQ’s, as well as other minorities, is to spread misinformation. Sometimes, this includes outright lies, but more often than not, there is some sliver of truth that is either misrepresented or distorted to form the basis of the attack or argument. Those of us fighting so hard for full civil rights need to both be aware of when these things occur, and also well versed enough in the truth to be able to counter the claims whenever possible. Free speech allows for the distortions, and free speech is always a good thing. The solution is to speak the truth so that the misinformation is countered.
The links below illustrate how some on the Far Right construct their misinformation. There are a few important angles to this story, but today I want to focus only on how misinformation is constructed. The story starts with a gay conservative blog called “Gay Patriot,” where an post was written by someone named B. Daniel Blatt. Blatt’s argument against ENDA has 2 main points:
- ENDA isn’t needed because large corporations, such as the Fortune 500 companies are adopting non-discrimination policies on their own.
- ENDA would be impossible to enforce.
This second assertion contains the seeds of misinformation. Mr Blatt wonders if the way a federal law would be enforced would be to determine if discrimination exists based on what percentage of a work force is gay, and then forcing employers to hire gay people. Both of Blatt’s points are ludicrous, but he, like any blogger, including myself, are entitled to share our own opinions. So, not surprisingly a gay conservative site, rails against federal laws, and expresses one person’s opinion as a basis for an argument. Not that big a deal in some regards- in fact I would suggest that is partly the role of a blog is to put ideas out there, and allow discussion.
Discussion did indeed ensue on Pam’s House Blend in a blog post by Autumn Sandeen, where Blatt’s ideas were countered with facts. Correctly, Sandeen identifies Blatt’s position as libertarian, and then describes in considerable detail what is wrong with his ideas. This is all good stuff, and I encourage everyone to read Sandeen’s post on Pams House Blend.
Enter a Far Right blogger, Bryan Fischer writing for Renew America. Fischer is a talk show host known to be way out there on the fringe right. But like Blatt (and myself), all of us bloggers are entitled to share our own opinions. However, what Fischer does, is go beyond sharing his opinion and a distortion is formed. Fischer seeks to validate Blatt as a “gay activist,” because if even a gay activist is saying something, then it must be true. Fischer does this in two ways. First, he cites and responds to the article on Pam’s House Blend which is heavily liberal and very gay and lesbian. Pam often writes from the first person. Fischer writes:
According to a far-left website, a gay activist by the name of B. Daniel Blatt has written that passing ENDA…
OK, now that I’m writing this, I was wrong. This isn’t just distortion, but outright lying. Sandeen’s piece never identifies Blatt as a gay activist. The far-left website merely identifies a post from a blog and finds every hole and flaw in the argument. But in that one sentence, Fischer elevates Blatt to the status of “expert” and “person-on-the-left” by putting words in Sandeen’s mouth. The reality is that Blatt’s is simply a writer/blogger who has some posts on the Gay Patriot website. Nothing I found of his suggests he is even gay, let alone a gay activist. He is simply a blogger with a point of view who posts to a blog.
Interestingly, Fischer doesn’t even go back to Blatt’s original post. He merely quotes from Sandeen’s post, yet fails to even notice Sandeen’s commentary at all, and Fischer concludes with:
When even homosexual activists say ENDA is a bad idea, you can take it to the bank: it’s a bad idea.
Fischer misses Blatt’s primary argument:
Of course, it’s wrong to discriminate against an employee just because he (or she) is gay, but it isn’t the government’s business to prevent business owners from doing wrong. (Bold emphasis added is my own- not a part of the original.)
Blatt doesn’t really call ENDA a bad idea, because for Blatt, any law where the government tries to control business wrong-doing is wrong. In other words, for Blatt, ENDA isn’t wrong because it protects gay people, it is wrong because all laws affecting business are wrong. But Fischer doesn’t mind that. His goal was to create a distortion, accomplished by finding a way to label Blatt a gay activist, which he does by falsely attributing that to Sandeen.
There are some other points, I’d like to make about this, but suffice for now, this is the anatomy of a Far right distrotion.
Pam’s House Blend:: ENDA: Libertarian Gay & Lesbian Thought Vs. Progressive LGBT Community Thought .
Home of the lies and distortion: Renew America
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