Quote:
Originally Posted by strandinthewind
The hedging begins:
Following last week's inane passage of California's Proposition 8, which amends the state constitution to ban gay weddings (including George Takei's!), opponents are calling for a boycott of Utah tourism to punish the Mormon Church for its support of the initiative. Obviously we understand why they're upset, because we are too. But now, caught in the crossfire, for some crazy reason, is the upcoming Sundance Film Festival: "It's high time Sundance found a better state to party in than the seat of the Mormon Church," writes America Blog's John Aravosis. "Sundance is THE gathering of liberal Hollywood. The last place it should be is in Utah. Robert Redford, are you out there?"
Problem is, since next year's fest opens on January 15, it's way too late for a change of venue. And, as Dave Poland points out, it's not totally clear that any of Sundance's participating hotels or businesses actually donated to the Prop 8 campaign. Plus, it's not like Park City (where Sundance is based) is as conservative as its surrounding areas, and we can't really see much point in punishing the city just because it happens to be located in Utah. Poland urges Aravosis to draft a list of boycottable Park City business that did give money to Prop 8, and that seems like a reasonable solution here, since any protest that threatens the actual film festival would be sort of idiotic. Like a spokesman for the fest said yesterday, "Sundance Institute was founded on the idea of championing diversity and freedom of expression. It would be a grave disappointment to us if our Festival were to be singled out for a boycott, especially as we celebrate 25 years of showcasing independent voices."
http://www.nymag.com/daily/entertain...ers_targe.html
Here's a link to the Utah based supporters
http://www.americablog.com/2008/11/w...al-taking.html
Here's a link to the acts of the Mormon Church:
http://www.mormonsstoleourrights.com/
In the end, anyone that supports a mob rules mentality is an idiot because that mob could turn on them in a heartbeat. |
People are free to protest! As stupid as I think protests are, people are free to do it. I protested John Kerry once, only because his entourage stole my parking spot during a rally. I had to park about a mile away and take a bus to work, so that pissed me off.
I think protesting only makes the side doing it look bad. I mean, here near Fort Lewis, we had democratic protesters laying down in front of train tracks of trains delivering food and supplies to troops overseas. They were holding signs saying that they support the troops, ironically. Basically, everyone wants a better America. It's the people's right to look like idiots if they choose to.