And, On The Other Hand, Somebody Sane

[filkertom]

And I'd vote for him again in a hot second:

Any force that tries to make you feel shame for being who you are, and loving who you love, is a form of tyranny over your mind. And it must be rejected, resisted, and defeated.
– Al Gore, speaking at the Human Rights Campaign Gala on March 25, 2006, at the Century Plaza Hotel.

Anybody 'round here have a problem with that?

Comments

[lukeski.livejournal.com]

Any force that tries to make you feel shame for being who you are, and loving who you love, is a form of tyranny over your mind. And it must be rejected, resisted, and defeated.

Sounds like a pretty decent description of his wife Tipper and her buddies over at the Parents Music Resource Center who've spent most of their time over the past 20 years trying to censor innocent artists and musicians.

Four words that scare the crap out of me are "First Lady Tipper Gore". So, I didn't vote for Gore. Didn't vote for Bush either.

But I appreciate the sentiment and your approval of Gore's statement, I just have a tough time believing that he actually means it.

[folkmew.livejournal.com]

I withhold comment on Gore because to be honest I don't know enough about - only that I liked him better than Bush. However, it is just possible that he does not share Tipper's opinions about PMRC. (I love Zappa's response to them btw). I don't know about Gore and Tipper but I sure know that Ed and I, while we are wildly compatible, do not share every political and moral viewpoint. :-)

[suburbfabulous.livejournal.com]

Ever notice how Frank Zappa and John Denver aren't around any more?
I'm not saying that it was planned or anything.
I would never do that.

[holzman.livejournal.com]

is just possible that he does not share Tipper's opinions about PMRC.

I'm afraid it's not -- he, and ironicly enough John Ashcroft, are the reasons that there were congressional hearings about whether or not rock albums should have warning labels on them. (Anyone else remember Frank Zappa and Dee Snyder testifying, snyder doing so in denims rather than a suit?)

The difference, and it's a big one, is that Gore's statement on the matter at the time was that the Constitution was the only thing that stopped him from censoring lyrics he found offensive. At first, I took the tack lukeski did. But over time, I decided that I can cope with and even respect someone who considers themself bound by the Constitution -- even if I'd prefer Gore didn't have that urge in the first place.

And as a result, the PMRC wasn't a bar for me voting for Gore in '00, nor would it be in another year.

[folkmew.livejournal.com]

Thanks! As I said, I didn't know where he stood on it. I agree, I can respect someone who personally thinks that lyrics should be censored but respects the Constitution. At this point I'm afraid I might actually vote for "anyone but Bush". sighhhh

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

Thankfully, Al is not Tipper. And, yeah, I'm extremely well aware of her stuck-uppedness.

I think there's a pretty good chance that he actually means it. If nothing else, he certainly phrased the situation beautifully.

[selenesue.livejournal.com]

I was not involved with the music industry at the time, just an average news-gatherer; but I seem to recall that Tipper stopped the whole campaign against explicit song lyrics about the time her hubby became VP. Or maybe when Frank Zappa died. Did she continue while I wasn't looking?

[archanglrobriel.livejournal.com]

Where was he when Bill Clinton passed the hideous "Don't ask, don't tell" bullcrap? Did he go in and bang open the door to the Oval Office and go "Seriously Bill, what the fuck?" He and Bill have a great track record of saying a whole lot of nicey nice things to the Queers while they need us to work their phone banks or bust our asses to get them into office, but when they actually get there...that's another story.
Now maybe Al Gore truly was horrified by the stuff Clinton pulled, I have no way to know. But to me it goes hard to have him standing up and yapping about this sort of stuff now. It seems very "second verse, same as the first" and I'm pretty tired of being Charlie Brown footballed by the Democrats in general.

As far as voting for him again...I don't know man. Why didn't he stand up and fight for what was right in the 2000 election? He could've forced the issue, demanded a recount, pursued all the tips he had about boxes of votes being chucked into the Floridian swamps and for a minute it looked like he was going to...but he caved. He wussed out and conceded an election that he rightfully won and now the country is in a FUBAR mess.
I don't know that I can forgive that.
Would I vote for him again if the Dems decide to run him against whoever Turdblossom decides to throw at us? In a New York minute...but that doesn't mean I'm in "forgive and forget" mode by any means.

[morpheus0013.livejournal.com]

"Don't ask, don't tell" was a misguided attempt to placate everyone--which, when you're dealing with the military, isn't the worst idea in the world. I also think it was a miscalculation on the administration's part: I think they hoped that would be the first step into "easing" the military into the issue. Do I think it's worked? No. Do I think it makes a damned bit of sense? No. Does it piss me off? Yes. But I have little respect for the bullshit that goes on in our military to begin with, and I lay much more of the blame for this crap policy on them than on people whose hands were, to an extent, tied.

As for the 2000 Election, the blame for that should lie with the media that was licking Bush's ass the whole time. Gore could have pressed the issue all he liked, and not a damn thing would have turned out differently--the press decided months before the election who had already won.

Gore gets the shaft quite a lot because of how he is portrayed and how the people around him act. It's terribly unfair.

There's also something to be said from learning from mistakes, which he may have. People do change.

[palenoue.livejournal.com]

From what I understand, now that I've had a few years of reading "insiders" commentary, is that Gore was hamstrung by numerous Democrat advisors. When the right started making up lies and proclaiming them as truth, Gore wanted to call them on it over live TV, but the advisors worked overtime to get him to ignore it. When Gore wanted to talk about global warming, the advisors convinced him that it would alienate moderate republicans (who weren't going to vote for him anyway). These are the same advisors who told Kerry to ignore the swift boaters, that showing any kind of passion would offend voters, and his only chance was to portray himself as "GOP Lite®." The really sad thing is, these advisors are _still_ around and playing an important part of the Democrat party (as if you couldn't tell ;-)

I'm hoping Gore has learned from his failures and decided not to listen to those advisors any more.

[admnaismith.livejournal.com]

But...but...marrying Box turtles!

Senator Cornyn said so!

[jrittenhouse.livejournal.com]

Then again, I wouldn't marry Senator Cornyn. I don't have sex outside my species.

[jss]

Apparently he does: his wife's a human and he's a jackass.

[jrittenhouse.livejournal.com]

Sir, I do not admonish my friends for their kinkery, and doing so for my enemies is a big waste of my hot air, lungs, and tongue. I have better ideas for all of those.

[palenoue.livejournal.com]

Hear hear! If you want to wear a furry suit during sex, then you have no right to critize when members of the far right wear Sailor Moon outfits to an orgy.

Well, except maybe a few pointed comments about hypocracy, and whether or not they got the costume right ;-)

[jrittenhouse.livejournal.com]

Frankly, I don't want to think of Cheney dressed as Sailor Moon.

[wouldyoueva.livejournal.com]

I think he's matured over the years. He used to be not so pro-choice. I hope he runs in two years, maybe with Hillary as his Veep.

[gan-chan.livejournal.com]

It is sort of interesting, indeed, to see the "new" Al Gore. He's a much more interesting fellow now.

I voted third-party in 2000 because I felt it was very much a "Tweedledee vs. Tweedledum" race (not that my vote actually counted, since I have the misfortune of living in Texas). However, I think Gore has become a lot more respectable since 2000, while Bush has gotten obviously a lot less so.

I just hope that if he does run again, that he doesn't revert to the way he was 6 years ago.

[salkryn.livejournal.com]

Personally, I'm writing in C'thulhu on my ballot. Why choose the lesser evil?

[admnaismith.livejournal.com]

Dude, compared to the current Administration, Cthullu is the lesser evil.

[peachtales.livejournal.com]

I voted for him then and I would vote for him again. I think he is a decent guy. Tipper, on the other hand, stinks to high heaven.

[tigertoy.livejournal.com]

While I think Gore's political views are reasonable, I think it would be a terrible move for the Democrats to nominate him. Of the people who aren't already committed to vote for the Democratic candidate no matter who he is in '08, I suspect that the fraction who would vote for Gore is lower than the fraction who'd vote for Kerry if he ran again -- and running Kerry again would be suicide for the party. I think even having Hillary run would be a better choice than either of those -- she would energize the right horribly, but she *might* energize the left enough to win anyway. I want a candidate who isn't already considered a loser by Joe Sixpack, who actually looks good on TV, and is good enough politically that he can actually win and actually govern.

I wanted Edwards to be the candidate in '04, and I think we could do worse to nominate him in '08. I'm willing to hear arguments that we can do better, but I don't think we would with Gore.

[mathmuffin.livejournal.com]

Tom Smith asked, "Anybody 'round here have a problem with that?"

Sorry to be argumentative, but yes, I have a problem with the wording. Let me examine what that cheery platitude really says.

Any force that tries to make you feel shame for being who you are,...
I want drug pushers who hook people on heroin and other narcotics to be ashamed of who they are. I want slumlords who collect rent as their properties deteriorate into rat-infested firetraps to be ashamed of who they are. I want politicians who send soldiers to die in useless wars to be ashamed of who they are. You could claim that that is shame for what they do instead of who they are, but they have let themselves become the kind of people who do that.

...and loving who you love,...
Love is great, but sex is a different matter. I want a married man or woman who has an affair to be ashamed, not matter how much they felt in love during the affair. I want a repressive patriarch who treats his wife as property, because that is what he calls love, to be ashamed. I want a man who had sex because he was in love, but won't support the child born of that love, to be ashamed. I want anyone who treats love as an excuse, not a commitment, to be ashamed.

...is a form of tyranny over your mind.
Shame can be used to put people in emotional shackles. I have heard of that happening in many families. However, most tyrannies use shackles of metal, along with prisons and firing squads. Shame is more a tool of democracies, where we want the people help each other of their free will, and failing that, we use soft coercions such as shame to keep them polite and civilized.

A larger excerpt of Al Gore's speech (a link (http://www.inlamag.com/904/opeds/904_oped1.html#up) is provided in the Pandagon blog) is clearer that his remark applies only to gay marriage. I am in favor of gay marriage. The United States is a land of freedom, and for the sake of freedom, we must allow that option. Al Gore's sentiment that commitment between a loving gay couple should not be denied is perfectly fine, but his exact words are flawed.

Erin Schram

[warinbear.livejournal.com]

Anybody 'round here have a problem with that?

Yes. I think it's not getting anywhere near enough press.