In Which it is Proved that I'm Way Too Idealistic for my Own Good.

In an article written by Op-Ed Columnist Charles Blow, he discusses indirectly how my approaches and critiques of the black community voting overwhelmingly for Proposition 8, are misguided and do not appeal to the black voters themselves (many whom, blow argues, are single black women who frequent church and are apparently potentially jealous of men marrying each other because they might have been spurned in the past). He plugs it as a health issue.

This is a solid argument that is absolutely logical and probably hits closer to home (Blow argues that if sexual politics were slightly less taboo, black teenagers--who are most likely to have unprotected premarital sex--would be educated and make better sexual health decisions, lowering the prevalence in HIV amongst the black community). Solid.

I wonder, though. Doesn't pandering to a community's fear of death and disease based on it's apparently misguided notions of sexual health and acceptance marginalize the group even more than they are currently? In my Article "Dr. King's Dystopia..." (see below), I thought it was logical to appeal to the black community's sense of history, to their collective humanity and empathy in hopes that they could recognize the similarity in the Civil Rights Movement and the Gay Rights Movement. Appealing to a fear of death and disease is just another form of PR for politics in that we ignore the root of the issue in order to get to a quick goal (hint, this doesn't work. For evidence, see the scapegoating of non-Aryans in post-WWI Germany, and most recently playing on the sensitive fears of the US citizens to send troops into Iraq--a couple significant events that stuck out in my mind that fit the bill; there are doubtlessly multitudes more).

As a minority, I feel a little put off about Mr. Blow (a black man) essentially selling his community out.

Though is he buying the greater good?