Boone Says Prop-8 Protest Same as Mumbai Terror

In an article published recently on the right-wing website WorldNetDaily, country-crooner-turned-right-wing-pundit Pat Boone compared the anti-Proposition 8 movement in California to the Mumbai terrorist attacks in India.  Boone's essay is a tour de force of violent framing, not to mention civic, historic, and political ignorance, but it is nothing new.  Right-wing pundits have been framing political issues in violent terms for decades.  Heck, it was not long ego that two prominent right-wing pundits blamed 'the gays' for causing the terrorists attacks of September 11, 2001.  Old pundit habits die hard.

According to Boone:

Well, if current theories and intel are correct, this slaughter was planned and executed by one of many Islamic groups that feel directed by their religion to subjugate - or exterminate - "infidels" like Hindus, Jews, Christians and even other Muslims who don't hew to their extremist views. To them, there is only one acceptable worldview - a theology they intend to enforce on all humankind - and anyone who might disagree or obstruct their goals should be removed, violently if need be...Have you not seen the awful similarity between what happened in Mumbai and what's happening right now in our cities? (link)

Protesters in California are like the terrorist murders who tortured and murdered people in Mumbai?  That is true only if your goal is to reframe the Prop-8 protesters as a potential terrorist threat to the safety of other Americans, which appears to be Boone's goal.   

It is worth pausing for a moment to describe in our own terms exactly what Pat Boone is arguing.  If we accept his logic, we are supposed to believe statements that can be reduced down along these lines:

1. Californians protesting the organizations that funded and passed an anti-equal-rights ballot measure are the same as terrorists who tortured and murdered hundreds of innocent people in Mumbai.
2. Protesters who speak out against the sponsors of discriminatory ballot measures are the same as terrorists who kill innocent people.
3. Protesters who speak out are the same as terrorists who kill.
4. Protesters are terrorists.

Boone then continues to explain that the Prop-8 protesters are not terrorists right now, so much as they are terrorists in the making:

Hate is hate, no matter where it erupts. And hate, unbridled, will eventually and inevitably boil into violence. How crazily ironic that the homosexual activists and sympathizers cry for "tolerance" and "equal rights" and understanding -while they spew vitriol and threats and hate at those who disagree with them on moral and societal grounds.

So let this be a warning to anyone who protests: your hate will soon turn violent no matter what you do--at least that is what Pat Boone says.

Unfortunately, Pat Boone is about as ignorant as a post when it comes to the Constitution.

In fact, the difference between speech and violence was always been a crucial one in the minds of the Framers of the Constitution.  Protest is precisely that form of speech the Framers sought to protect because it is an engine of civic discourse.  Without protest, civic discourse breaks down.  Violence, by contrast, is an incendiary presence all by itself, which is why it was believed that it must be judiciously controlled, regulated in its use beyond military, and in not mobilized as a substitute for politics. 

So, if we fast-forward to the the present discussion of Prop-8 in California, we arrive at a Constitutional logic remarkable different from what  Pat Boone suggests.

When gays and lesbians are brutalized and murdered by thugs--right-wing adherents told by pundits like Boone that homosexuality is a 'lifestyle' undermining the survival of society--that actual violence threatens American civil society.  Mob violence, like vigilante violence is the epitome of anti-Constitutional behavior.  On the other hand, when gays and lesbians organize to speak out against the violence and discrimination they experience as a result of right-wing pundits and their followers, that protest speech protects and strengthens American civil society through the exercise of fundamental rights of free speech.

Incidentally, when the the Prop-8 protesters speak out against marriage equality, they are also strengthening civil society.  But at no point in time does this mean they are free from protest or dissent.  Particularly in a plebiscite system like California's, freedom of speech implies two rights:  the right to expression, and the right to dissent.

The Framers knew this.  Apparently, Pat Boone and a large number of people in the right-wing of American politics do not. Instead, these right-wing pundits and their followers believe that expressing your political views somehow strips people of the right to respond--and to not follow that convention is to become, in so many words, a terrorist.

Keep in mind, however, that reframing political issues in violent terms is nothing new to right-wing politics in America.  In my book Outright Barbarous I lay out in painstaking specifics how the right-wing framed dozens of political issue using violent metaphors, narratives, and predictions.   Most people do not remember, for example, but in the hours after the attacks of September 11, 2001, right-wing pundits Pat Robertson and Jerry Fallwell surmised on national television that part of the blame should be assigned to 'the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians' (p.29).  

In those days after 9/11, there was a great deal of confusion amongst many Americans, but the arguments blaming 'the gays' voiced by Robertson and Fallwell were in place and ready to use because they had been ongoing for years leading up to 2001.   Up to that point, the right-wing had spend so many decades, so many hundreds of millions of dollars, and so many tens of thousands of broadcast hours blaming gays, lesbians and abortion for every ill in American society.  When the planes hit, those were logically the arguments they reached for--like a smoker reaching for a cigarette in a time of great stress.

When Pat Boone calls Prop-8 protesters 'sexual jihadists,' he says less about the nature of political discourse in America than he does about the bad habits of right-wing pundits.  Like Boone, there are still many pundits on the right who have become so accustomed to defining the left in violent terms, that it may take years before they are fully worked out the system and a new, more productive cohort of right-wing pundits emerges.

In the meantime, every journalist with a license to speak on public airwaves has a professional responsibility to take Pat Boone to task for inviting  his readers to hold in check what he describes as the inevitably violent, 'jihadist savagery' of the California Prop-8 protesters. 

Pat Boones' description of political dissent in America as hateful 'savagery' verging on violence is precisely the kind of speech that defines political opponents as dangers to society--thereby exhorting people to strike out first against what they perceive to be a mortal threat.  It is the kind of punditry that clogged America's airwaves for too long over the past decade, and particularly during the last election.  It should be redressed immediately and unhesitatingly by everyone with a commitment to healthy public discourse.

(cross posted from Frameshop)

Comments

[donklinestiver]

Its sad when Christian fundamentalists start talking exactly like Islamic fundamentalists. Im Tired of both maybee we could send them to wherever and let them fight it out to the last man wow would the world be better of and Peace on Earth would be much closer. Hate doesent own a color or a dogma.

[mercury613]

"To them, there is only one acceptable worldview - a theology they intend to enforce on all humankind - and anyone who might disagree or obstruct their goals should be removed, violently if need be..."

How ironic that Boone should make such a statement when Christians have been doing that very thing to gay people and non-Christians for centuries.

It's almost as ironic as Brad Dacus comparing same-sex marriage to the rise of Hitler. I guess he was ignorant of the fact that homosexuals were singled out for especially cruel treatment in Nazi concentration camps.

[rwt1138]

Ah, Worldnet Daily. . . .

graveyard of the marginally talented, permanent members of the b-list.

[carsntrucks]

Couple points: 1) I don't agree with his comparison AT ALL, even if I don't agree with same-sex marriage and supported Prop 8. It's a low-blow, and highly insensitive at that.

2) I would ask that people take heed to this man's comparison, though. Not because of its aptness, but because that's how many view a lot of the strident rhetoric and activism by No on 8 supporters. You can't support the "grassroots activism" of No on 8 supporters, blithely accept some of the more debased aspects of it (vandalism, shouting racial slurs, invading churches, lighting holy texts on fire in front of a church, insulting people's religion in their faces, smacking crosses out of old ladies' hands, etc) and NOT expect these sort of radical comparisons.

[Eric8869]

God you just spread your homophobia on all thd gay posts.

The prop 8 protests have been universally peaceful - if you don't believe that go to youtube and look it up.

There was one incident where an old lady with a cross went INTO the protest crowd screaming homophobia. She fanned the flames and deserved it.

If gay people brought up every slur, violent act or abuse done against gay people by churches, religious people etc - it would fill VOLUMES.

This is just homophobic groups of people upset about the backlash. Well you spent money to pass Prop 8 so now you get a backlash. QUICK CRYING.

Gay people didn't put this on the ballot.

Boone is a guy who got famous ripping off black artists for his fame. He is irrelevant is all ways.

Carsntrucks - why don't you actually learn about gay people and these issues before you spread your stupid comments.

[carsntrucks]

Because you know me so well that you can say with certainty that I'm a homophobe? I don't think so.

Uh, no they haven't. I don't need to go to YouTube to look it up. If I did, I wonder if I could find the one where people are assembling in front of a Mormon church and holding offensive signs about magical underwear. If I did, I'm sure I could find stories about gay marriage supporters invading a church during service and throwing out fliers.

That's peaceful to you?

It doesn't matter if she "fanned flames" (I'll forgo the obvious joke there). That's not peaceful AT ALL.

It also doesn't matter if they can point out every slur they have ever heard because it's massively hypocritical nonetheless. You can't COMPLAIN about hatred, then CONDONE IT FOR YOURSELVES. BECAUSE GAYS HAVE FACED DISCRIMINATION DOESN'T LET THEM OFF THE HOOK TO DO AND SAY WHATEVER THEY WANT.

I know enough about gay people to spread my "stupid comments". Perhaps it's you who needs to learn something about them, considering you seem to think everything they say and do is justified. Perhaps you need to learn about "gay PEOPLE" and not "GAY people".

[LS1958]

And I would ask that Christians hold one another accountable for being examples to the world, rather than pointing a finger and saying, "Hey, they did it, too."

Pat Boone has for years made a good living trading on the Christian brand. I'm not doubting his sincerity at all. I'm just tired of prominent Christians spewing this kind of hate-filled, violent nonsense, and then finding new and creative ways to justify doing exactly the opposite of what Jesus did.

Keep in mind, the only time Jesus got really ticked off was with the money changers in the temple and those "holier than thou" Pharisees who spent a lot of time talking about how rotten other folks were because they didn't worship the right way.

Sound familiar?

[carsntrucks]

To be honest, I'm not interested in people complaining about Christian hatefulness when so many sit by and allow it to go on with the left-wing, Liberal, love-and-tolerance crowd without so much a batting of the eye. I know it exists, and I don't support it AT ALL. But I'm not breaking my neck to get in front of it.

It's starting to seem like both sides are hateful, and neither side wants to listen and be understanding or compassionate. So what's the point in complaining?

[mercury613]

I guess Pat hasn't seen the footage of the violence perpetrated by "Christians" on gay people.

http://www.latimes.com/video/?slug=la-me-protest7-2008nov07-vid

[steve-annie]

Could the right find ANYONE less relevant than Pat Boone to speak for it?

[Eric8869]

um chuck norris? Joe the Plumber?

[ElBruce]

As awesome as it would be to be considered a "sexual jihadi" - and that's pretty awesome - the simple fact remains that Islamist terrorists are FOR denying rights to homosexuals.

See Pat, you and them are on the same side: legislation of religious dogma, no rights for gays, no rights for women, "traditional values" and lots of war.

[PolarisCountry]

No, what I find ironic is that way back in the way-back-when, Mr. Boone made his bones off of a particularly rockin' rendition of that ultra-flamboyant Little Richard's Tutti Frutti.

[kevinlangendorf]

Pat Boone? Do we really care what that old has been thinks? About anything at all? Sorry to put it so bluntly, but time is on our side Mr. Boone, your generation has held things back long enough. Those of us who are trying to make things better need only wait you out.

[lennix]

pat boone a bad actor bad singer and a right wing nut like the rest who use GODs name to spread the lies about not only gays but all people who are not lilly white and the msm and the cowards on cable keep letting these maggots get away with it when people like pat boone keep putting this hate out there the sick thinking people will keep hurting and killing gays and other race of people and this happens every day but the media as always do nothing about it when it get so out of control and it will hate always do then its to late this is when the power that be start the meetings bs to see way it happen and as always nothing happens people like boone are fakes and under cover racist all ways ways

[FlamingLibrul]

Pat Boone says: "To them (Gays), there is only one acceptable worldview - a theology they intend to enforce on all humankind - and anyone who might disagree or obstruct their goals should be removed, violently if need be..."

Huh, sounds just like the worldview of the Christian Taliban Mr. Boone whole-heartedly supports. Don't Dobson, Falwell, Robertson and the rest of their ilk believe the same thing about anyone who opposes their fanatical religious views? Freud anyone?

[losangelesmd]

What fabulous irony!

Gay Americans have been denied their right to marry, a basic civil right which is guaranteed under the Equal Protection clause of the U.S. Constitution and will eventually be borne out by the Supreme Court (by those darn "activist" Republican-appointed Supreme Court judges).

Pat Boone wields HIS First Amendment right to free speech as a "dirty bomb" to spew (constitutionally-protected) hate speech about gay people being "terrorists" and "jihadists" by publicly demanding their civil rights.

Mr. Boone, the only thing I'm likely to strap to my waist in a crowded train station is a Dunkin Donuts chocolate cruller. Your 15 minutes expired decades ago. Stick with evangelical infomercials, dude.

[LMPE]

Not long ago, Pat Boone claimed that Democrats want to turn the entire country into San Francisco. Later he appeared in an ad for Norm Coleman.

Where'd they dig this bozo up anyway?

[midknightryder13]

I have one question -- "When the Prop-8 protesters speak out AGAINST (emphasis mine) Marriage Equality..."
Have there been any protests from the Yes on * side? I haven't seen any, but that doesn't mean there haven't been any.
Assuming that you meant "FOR Marriage Equality" (by being AGAINST Prop 8), that one error explains how and why these ballot initiatves manage to pass.
How many times have we heard AFTER the fact, from people who actually wanted to SUPPORT equality -- "I thought by voting "yes" I was voting FOR equality.
One of the things we need to do is make certain these intiativies are NOT counter intuitive when it comes to voting.
In other words, if you are FOR Marriage Equality -- you would vote "yes" instead of 'no'. Another failing of the campaign.

[Incumbent]

You're right, of course. However, it is generally accepted (based on what data I have no idea) that a comparable number of voters voted no on Prop 8 thinking they were voting no on gay marriage to those who voted yes on Prop 8 thinking they were voting for gay marriage. Meaning, theoretically, that they more or less balanced each other out.

The good news is that if the California Supreme Court doesn't overturn Prop 8, when the repeal of Prop 8 is placed on the ballot in 2010 or 2012 voters will be asked to vote yes (to repeal) if they support gay marriage and no (to not repeal) if they're against it.

[M1]

Pat Boone is just a wierdo!