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04/14/2009
Hey NOM: We're not scared of you. We're pointing our fingers directly at you and calling you a joke. Loudly. Proudly.
I, Jeremy, once knew a girl who was always bragging about the famous people she routinely met. She'd regale folks with stories of Paris Hilton and Lindsey Lohan, describing their outfits and affectations with obsessive detail. To hear her tell it, there was no party to which she was uninvited and no red carpet persona whose presence was off-limits.
The detail she always left out when telling her "fabulous" stories? That she "met" all of these people because she was their cater waiter! Rather than sharing drinks with the A-list, she was serving their mojitos. And in terms of interactions -- well those usually extended no further than, " Can you get me straw?" with cordiality limited only to the few who deemed her efforts worthy of a "please."
I was reminded of my friend just a few minutes ago. Why? Well, because I saw a new fundraising email/brazen attempt at damage control that the National Organization For Marriage is sending around. In it, they talk and talk about how many people have seen their "Gathering Storm" ad, even linking to its official YouTube home. But what NOM fails to mention is that everywhere the ad is posted, including NOM's official YouTube and Facebook pages, the ad receives HORRIBLE ratings, 90+% negative comments, and treatment in which the word mocking would be too kind of a descriptor! They place no premium on receiving positive attention and see no reason to acknowledge the resounding criticism -- to NOM's Brian Brown and Maggie Gallagher, there apparently is no such thing as horrendously bad press!
Here, check out the email for yourself:
(Thanks to LOrion for sending this in!)
NoM eMail
Oh yes, NOM -- we're all just so scared of your EPIC FAIL of an ad. Almost as scared as we are of your 2M4M campaign, misplaced Vaclav Havel comparisons, cancelled media appearances, unfairly pulled Maddow clips, and all of the other missteps that have, in a week's time, made you all the biggest joke of an anti-gay group to grace the American landscape!
And again, we have to ask them: Why are they directing every last bit of their energy at HRC? Sure, HRC is big. But the combined forces of the internet have come together to smack NOM down with more collective power than even HRC alone can muster. Why won't NOM acknowledge us? Why won't NOM acknowledge how we've caught them denying our comments (*and it's cute that they say they are "saving" threatening comments, when we have collected loads of perfectly civil ones that they refuse to even acknowledge!)? And if they wanna talk about that supposed "fact sheet," why won't they acknowledge the bullshit that we've found within that very document?!
Sure, it's easy for NOM to say that we gays are scared of them so that they can $ave their $illy mi$$ion. But just like my cater waiter former friend: The facts on the ground will ultimately, embarrassingly belie this fantasy existence!
Your thoughts
hahahahaahahahaha, Maggie "utterly DEVASTATED" Solomnese. Are they serious?! These people are delusional in all walks of their lives, like, this whole thing has to be some serious joke.
I bet these people believe the country's economy is BOOMING because there's a sale at Lord & Taylor. They neglect to mention the "going bankrupt, everytihng must GO" part of the sale sign.
UGH. Stupidity in it's finest format. Lies in e-mail.
Posted by: Stef | Apr 14, 2009 6:46:21 PM
"Oh Joe, I can't believe you called me a bigot"
I have an idea for a new drinking game - every time Gallagher says the word "bigot" on any television appearance, you have to take a drink. We would all be drunk within the space of two minutes.
Posted by: a. mcewen | Apr 14, 2009 7:43:30 PM
And, the resounding failure of the 2M4M campaign is ringing as well. Their website is getting about 140 page reads per day! THAT'S PER DAY! Not per minute or hour.. PER DAY! With all of the fervor generated by the "Gathering Storm", you would think that they would be getting a lot of hits just from the curious among us (which probably amounts to about half of those 140 PER DAY)
http://www.websiteoutlook.com/www.2m4m.com
And, this guy had a great idea: 2M4M.org (Maggie and her cohorts didn't spring for the extra $7.95 to get the 2M4M.org domain name, so this guy did, and he put up a site that (at first glance) looks like an anti-same-sex marriage site, but upon reading a bit, it is a refutation of the anti-gay rhetoric. And, he is getting MORE HITS than Maggie is.
Posted by: Dick Mills | Apr 14, 2009 7:55:51 PM
Jeremy:
Why are you Gay? Do you want to be set free? I can tell you how.
Posted by: Wayne | Apr 14, 2009 9:43:17 PM
Wayne-
I'm pretty sure no one is holding Jeremy hostage, chaining him to a radiator, or imprisoning him. I'm pretty sure he is very free and very happy. And though I am not him, nor do I speak for him, I respect him enough to say Jeremy is the epitome of what a successful happy person, gay or straight, should be. Upbeat, involved, self aware, caring, and informed.
Posted by: Stef | Apr 14, 2009 10:07:20 PM
JH, I think that Wayne is hitting on you!
Posted by: Dick Mills | Apr 14, 2009 10:09:03 PM
Read between the lines:
The launch of our "Gathering Storm" television ad has been a huge success (for supporters of marriage equality), and our opponents are scrambling (to upload parodies of our ad to YouTube). The Human Rights Campaign, the nation's leading gay marriage advocacy organization, has made NOM public enemy #1 over the past week and is doing everything they can to discredit our ads (because this has been a fundraising bonanza for them).
But, we have no intention of backing down (because we've spent millions on this stinker). In fact, the controversy HRC created has given the ad more exposure (to TV comics, online pranksters, and amateur video fans) than I ever thought possible.
Posted by: Fritz | Apr 14, 2009 10:31:40 PM
I am almost completely convinced that Wayne is simply going out of his way to annoy us. Move along people. Nothing to see here. Pay no attention to the troll under the bridge.
Posted by: RainbowPhoenix | Apr 14, 2009 10:35:40 PM
Shocking to see them begging for donations throughout. Nothing amuses me quite like a religious whore casting stones.
Posted by: Kelly W. Patterson | Apr 15, 2009 12:18:42 AM
The problem is, what seems ridiculous to us may not to people who don't know what not from these here interwebs. Seriously, these ads could actually have the desired effect in the homes of people who would vote yes on prop 8 or similar. We can't take anything for granted just based on a one-star rating on youtube.
Posted by: Bruno | Apr 15, 2009 2:51:27 AM
"The problem is, what seems ridiculous to us may not to people who don't know what not from these here interwebs."
I agree with you, Bruno, that the internet is not the be all, end all, and that we she be wary of thinking it is. But the difference this time is just how overwhelmingly negative the response has been.
Just take YouTube: Ever since the vid was posted, NOM's own site has been one of its biggest traffic supplies. However, the comments have been at least 98% negative, with the rating never going above one star. I've never seen that before. All through the Prop 8 campaign, the response to these sorts of things was much more evenly mixed.
The same goes for Facebook. Their page is loaded with comments that call them on the carpet. And even though one would assume their FB is crawling with their fans, the NOM-supporting pushback is minimal, and, in some portions of the page, nonexistent.
Posted by: G-A-Y | Apr 15, 2009 7:20:11 AM
On the other hand, a. mcewen, if we had to take drink everytime Maggie said something intelligent, we'd die of thirst waiting.
Posted by: Bill S | Apr 15, 2009 8:05:05 AM
I'm laughing really. They're imploding and I think they know it. Only their die-hard believers think they have a chance any more. Everyone else is fed up and fighting with a vengeance. They're tired of the lies, the hatred and the notion that bigotry deserves a place at the top.
Posted by: Buffy | Apr 15, 2009 1:10:23 PM
So you guys really believe that it is "natural" and "normal" to allow other men to Sodomize you? What an absolute disgrace and shame for grown men to be that confuse that they actully believe that it is okay to behave like women!
Wow!
Wayne
Posted by: Wayne | Apr 15, 2009 7:29:18 PM
Just like the link says below:
My baloney has a first name, it's NOM NOM NOM NOM NOM!
http://icanhascheezburger.com/2008/06/13/funny-pictures-itz-nom/
Posted by: Julie | Apr 16, 2009 9:20:56 AM
And in Wayne we have the direct example of homophobia combined with a base of raw sexism and misogyny! What could be worse for a man than to act like a woman? Women aren't even fully human.
Ok, Wayne.
Posted by: Azarnes | Apr 18, 2009 12:46:44 PM
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