Sooo....Youtube happened again. I was watching a video on the PBS Idea Channel about whether seeing Ender's Game is a political action, since a lot of people apparently didn't want to go see it because of the original creator's extremely homophobic views. Well one person in the comments thought that it was ridiculous to be discussing something so trivial and said that the LGBT community always makes a big deal out of nothing. Getting into a little dispute with another commenter, the person made his views pretty clear that he "has nothing against the LGBT" but doesn't think very highly of their cause. The right to get married in all 50 states is extremely trivial compared to much more serious issues more worthy of people's concern like deforestation, real world genocide, world hunger, neglect of proper water treatment, the way we handle foreign affairs etc. Compared to that, all the LGBT community is doing is just whining. Our issues shouldn't take precedence over REAL problems.
Now, the other commenter arguing with this person I don't feel did a good job. He/she just kept calling the person a troll and homophobic. So I wasn't able to see a good counter argument. Which is why I came here. Is this person right? Are our issues trivial compared to other stuff? Should we put our issues aside so that the "more important" issues can be solved? Is this a stupid question?
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name calling is the usually indicative of a person reaching a point where they cannot put forth a good arguement.
Just because someone thinks that there are more important issues than SSM doesn't make them right, doesn't make them wrong either, just means they have a differing opinion and a different set of priorities.
Yes there are other issues that need the same if not more attention than SSM, poverty is one, youth suicide is another...but in one of lifes little intricacies all these issues tend to be intertwined and will inadvertantly affect each other, for example you legalise SSM you will have less poverty, you will have less suicide etc.
So in the big scheme of things no issue is more or less important, but to individuals based on life experiences they each may feel something are more important to them.
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We don't know exacly how many people are LGBT, so as to estimate with accuracy, what percentage of the population is affected by the lack of or presence of LGBT rights..
our problems are in bewteen other problems that affect the general population, that's true. It's not the ONLY thing we should be focusing on.
But, trivial?
No, LGBT rights are enmarked within human rights which have a large impact for everyone.
One could argue if what this guy say it's true, that the end of segregation some 50 years ago was a trivial matter cause it only affected those who were of African ancestry, no?
We all know that's not true.
Every constitution starts by saying something on the sort of "every men is born free and equal"
If that is so, the status of LGBT people as not being equal under the law in many places, is unconstitutional and therefore, not trivial
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*Human Rights
Also, your either or concept is flawed.
When social justice happens it does not happen on the concept of: "I must choose between racism and hunger today", but individual people fight for causes that are important to them, taking opportunities that are given. This creates change.
If we spent all of our time deliberating nothing would ever get done. We do what we can, where we can.
That's how we improve the world.
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Quote:Getting into a little dispute with another commenter, the person made his views pretty clear that he "has nothing against the LGBT" but doesn't think very highly of their cause. The right to get married in all 50 states is extremely trivial compared to much more serious issues more worthy of people's concern like deforestation, real world genocide, world hunger, neglect of proper water treatment, the way we handle foreign affairs etc. Compared to that, all the LGBT community is doing is just whining. Our issues shouldn't take precedence over REAL problems.
Based on this and this only, I see his point, and based on this and only this, he is absolutely 110% correct.
We LGBT make up less than 10%, more like 3-5% of the world's population. Like it or not, there are bigger issues that affect far many more people.
He may not have been politically correct and diplomatic in this, but he was factual and truthful, there are much larger issues which may be the difference between being able to complain about 'human rights' and being extinct as a species.
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I think people mainly fight for things that actually affect them directly or things that are easy to comprehend. Basic equality is something everybody can understand and relate to. Everybody wants to be treated with respect and have the same rights as others, so when a group of people don't have that, then they fight for it. Big issues like world hunger don't directly affect most people living in richer countries. It's only the people who are really interested and dedicated to helping the less fortunate. There are also issues that a lot of people don't even understand because some of it is complicated political stuff or things that are mostly kept hush-hush. Even if they're big issues, most people won't get how it affects them or how it's relatable so they don't worry about it. But you can't expect everybody to fight for the same thing you fight for and you DEFINITELY can't expect everybody to fight for every issue. If you wanna feed starving children in an underprivileged country, there's gonna be people angry you aren't helping your own country. If you wanna fight to end the destruction of the wilderness, there's gonna be people upset that those trees stand while plenty of people are still left without homes and no land to build new ones. And if someone is pushing for gay rights, there's gonna be someone who's mad that you aren't fighting for something "more important". There's no way to win, so don't bother trying to please everyone. Just fight for SOMETHING.
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LGBT issues are important and so is equality. However, of course there are more important matters. If my country had 3 political parties who supported gay marriage but whose financial plans and foreign policies were horrific and a 4th party who stood against gay marriage but had otherwise reasonable stances, I'd vote for that one.
A lot of people in Sweden say they support Obama but once you ask them why you realize that the only thing they know about him is his support of gay rights - that's the only reason they "support" him. Likewise, the only thing they know about his opponents is that they're against LGBT equality. It's sad.
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Every time I hear someone in the media, be it on the internet media, on TV, or the radio talking about how gays and lesbians just need to get over it, and is marriage between same sex couples really important. I mentally just imagine what people would think if you used the same arguments to apply to say marriage between a mixed race couple or equal rights for women.
Unfortunately even though we've made a lot of progress the simple reality is that being homophobic is still generally considered to be a socially acceptable bias, and until that attitude changes we'll never really be treated as equals with everyone else. Best thing I think is continue to live your life the way you want to live it, and fight the fights you need to fight and I think eventually the world will come around.
Richard
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gay rights are human rights. That's all that I'd have say about that.
Yeah there are lots of pressing issues in the world. But not everyone can stand up for every issue. Gay rights are an issue and once they are no longer issue then we'll stop bitching. Otherwise IMO it's our right to fight for what we think is right.
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I also believe that the issue should be human rights.
The political correctness lobby brigade in many cases have lost the run of themselves to the extent that it is difficult for people to have a laugh any more for fear of offending this group or that group.
Sometimes things are said which are blown up out of all proportion and not taken in the correct context. It is as though people sit on the fence and pounce on anything that could be construed as being even remotely offensive. Of course sometimes there is genuine justification for it.
I suggest people should do less moaning and more living as we only have one life and if people want a tolerant society the first thing they should do is practice what they preach and become a little tolerant themselves!
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