I am of very mixed mind about this YouTube -- a bouncy, charming and catchy ditty about the "tiny minds" of some of our opponents. The song is about bigotry in general, and the creator of the video used the song to make his more specific point.
This is the Proposition H8 generation settling in somewhere between offensive and playful. On the one hand, I kind of like its breeziness about homophobia, which is the opposite of victimization -- certainly a major step forward for this generation. On the other hand, it's the sort of thing that gets all up in Maggie Gallagher's grill -- it's exactly what she loves to complain about.
On the third hand. . . it's the sort of thing that gets all up in Maggie's grill with some style. Unlike some of the snarling references to right wing bigotry by our spokespeople on the cable snooze shows, these kids really aren't worried that someone else's bigotry will turn them into simpering, cowering lumps of citizen-mush. Their self-respect is fully intact no matter what someone else thinks about their sexual orientation.
And the style is such a supreme contrast to the gloomy, ominous alarm of Maggie's Gathering Storm video -- which is still generating much-deserved parodies.
I would so much like the public debate to be high-toned and respectful. And much of it really is, as anyone who watched the Maine legislative debate today could see. I'd love to know if Maggie agrees about that. But a lot of public debate takes place in cultural niches that don't have any civility rules. These include, today, Miss America contests, the parking lots of Mormon temples, and now YouTube videos. I prefer the campy incivility of this video to the toxic innuendo of The Gathering Storm. But that's because I think people can live with campy incivility a lot more easily. And campy incivility is something you can grow out of. I don't think that's true of toxic innuendo.