I'm totally obsessed with Mitt Romney! Not in a *gay* way, not that there's anything wrong with that. (By the way, wouldn't it be great if Mitt had a *huge* gay following - like all these gay men were in love with his freaky uber-newscaster looks. And they all built webpages with pictures of him and slash fiction! Like McCain/Romney meet-ups. Or even, "across the aisle love," like a John Kerry/Mitt Romney hook-up, if you're really into thick hair, chins, and big white teeth. Shut up - you know you're hot just thinking about it. ANYWAY. And then, all this gay love had a huge backlash and Mitt totally lost the Republican nomination over it? It would be the weirdest, most awesome political story of the season. Like Passions or something.)
As came up in a conversation with obd, in response to my last journal about running for the presidency, what's interesting with Romney is how being a Mormon is such a liability for Romney. Just last week there was a quotation in the New York Times from a woman who said she liked Romney, but wasn't sure about voting for him since he was a Mormon. Part of her reasoning was that Mormons had "different values" than Christians or Catholics (I'm a bit surprised that she would even include us Papists as Christians at all. That's progress!).
I'm pretty sure what is going on here is what Freud called the "narcissism of small differences." In social science, we call this "advanced" or "secondary" marginalization (I totally schooled TheFuckOffKid on this already
). Basically, as a fringe group is trying to develop mainstream acceptance, it marginalizes its own most extreme fringes. In so doing, it's both trying to reassure itself ("hey, at least we're not those guys!") *and,* more importantly, reassure the mainstream ("we swear - we are NOT like *those* weirdos!"). It's not really a new thing. The civil rights and women's rights movements both kept down gay and lesbian members; the gay and lesbian movement did it to its transgendered members. It's an ugly, ugly thing, and it makes your faith in human reason and tolerance sink more than a little.
But it's also kind of damn scary. I mean, first, are Mormons really that fringe? I knew some Mormons in high school (I didn't grow up terribly far from Nauvoo, IL - where there's a Mormon temple and important Mormon stuff happened). They seemed all right. I mean, I'm sure if we met today and talked politics or whatever, I'd disagree with many of them on some issues. But they didn't seem *freaky* to me or anything. It's, again, disheartening that polygamy - which still happens but is outlawed by the Church of Latter Day Saints and is generally not a part of most Mormon lives - is still keeping Mormons down. It also makes me worries about the Christian right in the United States. If the Christian right doesn't *think* they're mainstream (which they must now, since they are marginalizing fellow right-wing types like Mormons), just what *is* their agenda? I mean, do they have some really nutty plans they're waiting to unfold, but first they have to look legitimate?
Maybe I should turn this frown upside down, and instead conclude that the *mass public* isn't crazy evangelical, and that's why the Christian movement is trying to make itself more mainstream?
I dunno. The whole thing just makes me nervous.
As came up in a conversation with obd, in response to my last journal about running for the presidency, what's interesting with Romney is how being a Mormon is such a liability for Romney. Just last week there was a quotation in the New York Times from a woman who said she liked Romney, but wasn't sure about voting for him since he was a Mormon. Part of her reasoning was that Mormons had "different values" than Christians or Catholics (I'm a bit surprised that she would even include us Papists as Christians at all. That's progress!).
I'm pretty sure what is going on here is what Freud called the "narcissism of small differences." In social science, we call this "advanced" or "secondary" marginalization (I totally schooled TheFuckOffKid on this already
). Basically, as a fringe group is trying to develop mainstream acceptance, it marginalizes its own most extreme fringes. In so doing, it's both trying to reassure itself ("hey, at least we're not those guys!") *and,* more importantly, reassure the mainstream ("we swear - we are NOT like *those* weirdos!"). It's not really a new thing. The civil rights and women's rights movements both kept down gay and lesbian members; the gay and lesbian movement did it to its transgendered members. It's an ugly, ugly thing, and it makes your faith in human reason and tolerance sink more than a little.
But it's also kind of damn scary. I mean, first, are Mormons really that fringe? I knew some Mormons in high school (I didn't grow up terribly far from Nauvoo, IL - where there's a Mormon temple and important Mormon stuff happened). They seemed all right. I mean, I'm sure if we met today and talked politics or whatever, I'd disagree with many of them on some issues. But they didn't seem *freaky* to me or anything. It's, again, disheartening that polygamy - which still happens but is outlawed by the Church of Latter Day Saints and is generally not a part of most Mormon lives - is still keeping Mormons down. It also makes me worries about the Christian right in the United States. If the Christian right doesn't *think* they're mainstream (which they must now, since they are marginalizing fellow right-wing types like Mormons), just what *is* their agenda? I mean, do they have some really nutty plans they're waiting to unfold, but first they have to look legitimate?
Maybe I should turn this frown upside down, and instead conclude that the *mass public* isn't crazy evangelical, and that's why the Christian movement is trying to make itself more mainstream?
I dunno. The whole thing just makes me nervous.
VIEW 5 of 5 COMMENTS
obd:
Really? I don't think the Republicans will be immune from the 'can't win in the genereal election' game, and I don't think either of those two can. The radio says Fred Thompson is considering a run. It's funny, I'm not sure that the republicans can avoid a seven dwarves style disaster of a primary.
obd:
that's a major symptom of their problem: the primary is so wide open at this point, someone like Thompson talks about jumping in and has to be taken seriously. I have no idea who is base would be or where in the spectrum he would fall ona given issue (not that vague or unknown positions have ever hampered a presidential candidate).