Rick Perry’s latest TV ad is getting a lot of attention, but most all of it is negative.
Here’s the ad:
It’s been viewed almost 3 million times in just a few days and 98% of its youtube ratings have been “dislike.” The comments have now been disabled for it, but the post on Rick Perry’s Facebook wall has continued to get thousands of comments (mostly negative). You can view it here.
If you view the conversation there, it’s easy to see why this kind of ad is not helpful. I admire and commend the witness to the importance of faith, but, on the issue of homosexuality, it lacks the nuance the issue deserves and instead uses it as a political tool.
It ends up just being red meat for those who fail to distinguish between a person’s attractions and their actions. And it gives ammo to pro “gay marriage,” “pro-gay” groups who like that the Christian approach to homosexuality so easily comes off as bigoted and overly simplistic. Something I’ve always appreciated about Catholic teaching is the depth and charity regarding its teaching on issues like homosexuality. And it’s sad that such a high profile opportunity (like this ad) ends up getting used to further entrench an overly simplistic and inadequate understanding of the issue, rather than to bring more understanding to it.
What I really mean is that he should have just used a different analogy. Not because we don’t need to fight for traditional Marriage and values, but because the issue of being “openly” homosexual deserves a little better platform that doesn’t reduce it to the antithesis of prayer in schools. There are lots of things he could have said instead to make his point.
What do you think?
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What an odd ad!
I’m not sure what this has to do with the fight for marriage, but you’re right that it wasn’t the best analogy.
He is wearing the exact same jacket as the gay cowboy character in Brokeback Mountain. That is just so funny.Perry is grasping at straws now.
the GOP just can’t quit the gay.
“He tells us the truth as he sees it”
That surely deserves our respect
His view is not sullied by knowledge, or facts,
Or intelligence we can detect.
He’s a church-going, god-fearing Christian
And he’s honest as Sunday is long
There’s nothing that tempts him to change his beliefs
Like the fact that they’re utterly wrong
He’s suspicious of climate-change science
Evolution, and the age of the earth
But he’s steadfast and true in his ignorant stance
His resistance to change shows his worth
In hundreds of life-and-death matters
His was always the right choice to make
Though it’s better to execute innocent men
Than admit he could make a mistake
See, it just doesn’t pay to be truthful
When consistency makes you look right
If correcting mistakes made you rise in the polls
Then he would. Or he should. Or he might.
But it’s me, and the rest of us voters;
If we checked, then we likely could tell
Still we vote for the one with the prettiest lies
And together, we waltz off to Hell.
I am not for gay marriage, but I do think that if the government provides modest bathing areas for its soldiers the matter shouldn’t be an issue. Heterosexuals serve openly, but they don’t get promiscuous about it or they are penalized. The same should go for those people with same sex attraction.
It’s the party line, unencumbered by facts or nuance. But, sadly, it’s what many people want to hear.
Paul,
But the heterosexual men soldiers presumably don’t bunk in the same barracks as the heterosexual women soldiers. That would be a disastrous for discipline. For the same reason, having homosexual men in the barracks could be a disaster for discipline. Also, I’m not sure that modest bathing arrangements are provided. Maybe they are…I simply don’t know.
Still, it wasn’t a good example for Perry to choose in a 30 second ad.
Good point Dave.
I find the hysteria over this ad predictable.
It’s a blunt ad aimed to a particular part of the base.
1. Gays serving in the military isn’t the issue. Gays openly serving and demanding the military cater to their demands is. A lawsuit filed in Boston for partner benefits and base housing changes is an expensive problem.
2. 2000 Military Chaplains balking at a DOD memo stating future policy on same-sex ceremonies is a problem.
This is not a settled issue in the military anymore than it is a settled issue in society as a whole…But in the military unit cohesion is paramount & division in ranks over social politics fatal.
This sort of dog wistle ad used to run on local cable networks in select target merkets. The introduction of YouTube just reveals the stealth campaign to everyone ouside of the evangelical target in Iowa. The"hysteria” is just reaction of the majority of humans who are not hung up on gay people like right wing Christians who are obessed with gay people. Perry linked several idiotic ideas into one me me. The internet handed his bigot message back him tenfold. The idiot even wore the same style jacket from Broke back Mountain and open the door further parody on YouTube.
Rick Perry,s comments might be awkward at a clance,but the man is right on the money.
Perry is ahead of the curve. On December 1 the U.S. Senate voted to approve a defense authorization bill (S 1867) which includes a provision repealing the military ban on sodomy and bestiality. If this gets signed into law, it will mean the acceleration of our descent into moral chaos. Hilary Clinton is promoting homosexuality on the international scene, and it now seems likely that the young men and women in our armed forces are going to be facing the same kind of depravity. Same-sex marriage started in Massachusetts and now is spreading around the country. Kids in school are taught that sodomy is okay, and I suppose that bestiality soon will be on the list of approved activities you want to try.
The ONLY thing wrong is that he misused the term “gay” as anybody that is seeped in SIN cannot or ever will be truly gay. The huge negative response is from the so-called homosexual community, which I am sure that Gov. Perry was expecting as these people just don’t want to face the truth. How about the fact that the big “o” is planning on shoving same-sex on all of us NO MATTER WHAT next year? I guess that he & his “democrats” believe that normal people are in the minority as we don’t make too much noise, as an example: how often have we heard from the American catholic church about this disgusting sin & it’s leading straight into hell all those that are involved in this activity. Good ad Gov. Perry, but next time, COME ON STRONGER as our priests & bishops are too afraid to say what needs to be said. +JMJ+
It’s a great ad. At least someone is saying it.
From the present trend of the Western nations, we think that the day is not far of when incest, animal companion sex, and all” styles” of sexual activities of men and women are legalised. God, help us from seeing a son asking for sex with his father or mother. Oh the western civilization is sinking. But we are happy we have the Catholic Church which upholds morality and truth to the world. Let us pray for more and more votaries for the Church.
Posted by dcb on Saturday, Dec 10, 2011 6:38 AM (EST):
“This sort of dog whistle ad used to run on local cable networks in select target markets.”
dcb you are correct. There is no link between the issue of gays openly serving in the military and the issue of prayer in schools. This kind of ad is just the candidate trying to say to a targeted selection of voters “I GET you, you don’t like gays and you want your children to pray to Jesus at school even if some of the children are Jewish or Muslim or Hindu or have no religion, and why can’t life be back like it was in ‘Leave it to Beaver’? Vote for me because I GET you! Even if I can’t do anything about those particular issues in the executive branch.”
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10772398
Truly a new angle in bizarre anti-gay switch ups.
One of the GOP’s primary candidates for the 2010 Alabama Governors race turned up in New Zeeland and made the local news. Turns out has taken up a new hobby of impregnating LESBIANS in New Zeeland. Note that he ran on the anti-gay marriage family values issues in Alabama and did not inform his wife of his sideline in New Zeeland. So its OK in New Zeeland but not Alabama.
“Catholic teaching is the depth and charity regarding its teaching on issues like homosexuality.”
So diagnosing us with a “disorder” that no respected health oriented institution agrees with then subjecting us to a life of humiliation and absence of sex romance and being able to start a family while society uses your rhetoric to rationalize everything from slurs to denying certain human rights and you think it’s charitable?
How so?
“This new Reich will give its youth to no
one, but will itself take youth and give
to youth its own education and its only
upbringing. Your child belongs to us
already… What are you? You will pass
on. Your descendants, however, now
stand in the new camp. In a short time
they will know nothing else but this new
community.” Adolph Hitler
PERRY: I’m not ashamed to admit that I’m a Christian, but you don’t need to be in the pew every Sunday to know there’s something wrong in this country when gays can serve openly in the military but our kids can’t openly celebrate Christmas or pray in school.
As President, I’ll end Obama’s war on religion. And I’ll fight against liberal attacks on our religious heritage.
Faith made America strong. It can make her strong again.
I’m Rick Perry and I approve this message.”——!!!!!!!!!BRAVO!!!!!!!!!!
—He is stating that, under the Obama administration, that immoral behavior is justified & accepted, yet, people who want to practice faith are banned.
So sick and tires of America. Everything is sex..I’m not a prude, but enough is enough. Keep what you do to yourself, I don’t wanna know….These sex and gender issues are not appropriate. There’s a time and a place for everything. It’s disgusting to know children are exposed to such gibberish..
Perry’s right!!! In the constitution, we have FREEDOM OF RELIGION-something the govt. is going against….
There’s not constitutional right that says FREEDOM TO HAVE SEX WITH ANYONE OR ANYTHING!
The envelope has been moved from the 1980’s “You must tolerate us” to now “You must accept us” —as normalcy. Catholics and Christians alike do not accept and will never accept homosexual behavior as normal. Perry is correct and so are Rick Santorum and Michele Bachman.
Joseph: The Church’s primary concern is with the health of your soul, not necessarily ‘diagnosing’ your mind or body. She is using a theological term, not a clinical psychiatrist’s jargon that has entered the popular lexicon. It is ‘disordered,’ where order means the way God has organized the universe, its laws, its inhabitants, etc.
So people are using “our rhetoric” to justify their slurs? Well it doesn’t seem that they asked our permission. The Catechism is still the gold standard by which one can be measured. You have to expect that even a very good idea will be misused and misunderstood by some. I police things to the extent that I can, which I’m afraid is quite a modest role, but I’m assuming we’re all grown-ups here so please—it is time—accept partial responsibility for separating the wheat from the chaff with the marvelous thinking machine each of us has.
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They are all using religion to distract voters from the real issues. Since religious people can’t think for themselves and need to be told what’s good for them it’s easy to convince them that homosexuals and atheists are the enemy.
It’s the economy, you fools!
I hope Perry is the GOP candidate…That should guarantee an Obama victory.
PIUSXXX: are you a liberal troll? It is sad that you would endorse that Godless creature that now resides in the White House. As a retired military officer, I believe that Perry is spot-on in his commentary and is being crucified by the lavender mafia.
People who fault this ad are incapable of listening to or taking part in plain speaking, honesty or moral outrage. It’s come down to ‘choosing carefully the right words so we don’t offend anyone’. Had Jesus done that, we’d have ‘the words’ rather than ‘THE WORD” and we would all be deep in satan’s capacious pockets because we could no longer could distinguish between what is truth or what is a lie. I really like simplicity, honesty and plain speaking and I’m very sick of all these careful people in the Catholic faith who definitely aren’t going to offend anyone by calling a spade a spade…like homosexuality which is totally sinful and an abomination and will lead people who promulgate it straight to hell (including those who support them) If I ever heard a homily against the practice of homosexuality, I’m sure I would faint in utter surprise. True men don’t exist anymore. Our children will grow up never knowing the intrepid men that I had in my father’s generation. What a bunch of wimps!
He recognises his Christian duty to speak out against morally wrong laws.
Good for you Rick !
Wake up America, for goodness’ sake.
As a Christian he is entitled to his beliefs. As an American, he has the freedom to express those beliefs. What he does not have, is the right to impose those (religious) beliefs on everyone else. That’s what FREEDOM OF RELIGION means. It doesn’t mean you force your religion on everyone, it doesn’t mean your religion is the only one, it recognizes that we may all have DIFFERENT religious beliefs or even none at all.
This entire argument is stupefying because religions myopically focus on one or two main issues and forget about the rest of their belieifs. Why is that? I believe it is out of fear and ridicule.
As an example, I can accept that Catholic teachings tell us that homosexuality is wrong and deviant, but Catholic teachings also tell us that ANY sex that denies the ability to procreate is a MORTAL sin. Masturbation, for example, is a mortal sin. Why aren’t the GOP candidates spreading the word and introducing legislation that makes masturbation illegal? Why? Because they would be publicly ridiculed.
So lets call a spade a spade and a mortal sin a mortal sin. Let’s be transparent about our core beliefs, not pick on one that is more publicly palatable. If he is not able to articulate ALL of his beliefs, he is at best a publicity stunt and at worst a coward.
James, Fair enough, I understand your viewpoint, maybe and I am not looking for a fight. But do you truly believe this man is cowardly ? Who is imposing what on whom ? He has the courage to state his deeply-held beliefs quite openly and proudly, not something which is 100% shared, don’t knock him for it man.
You claim “Because they would be publicly ridiculed. “ Well, people who praise the practice of the solitary sordid sin of masturbation are much to be pitied, on my side. Their values are not right, not a guide for good living.
“This entire argument is stupefying because religions myopically focus on one or two main issues and forget about the rest of their belieifs”. Demonstrably untrue.
The Catholic religion provides a guide to righteous living : after loving the Lord our God with our “heart, soul, mind and strength” we are told that we must love our neighbour as ourself. For the last 2000 years or so, from a very small beginning, the Catholic Church has done just this : hospitals, schools, universities, bringing care to the sick and dying, the indigent, the widowed, the oppressed. In doing so, the Catholic Church has raised the condition of life for countless millions and millions, rescuing them from backwardness, evil, paganism and many other barbaric ways of living. What have atheists done which remotely compares? Or other religions ? I would truly like to know.
When we mention homosexuality and licentious living, do we ever think to acknowledge that the Catholic Church, in its missions, hospitals, clerical, medical and lay workers, do more for the sufferers of HIV and AIDS than the rest of NGOs, the UN, governments and others all combined ? Is that or not a loving church? How many people are aware of that ? It doesn’t make money out of it, nor seeks to, which cannot be said for the manufacturers of condoms, so-called prophylactics which are guaranteed by the makers NOT to protect 100% against the dreaded virus.
OK, OK, yes, the Church, or, to be accurate, some of its members, fail frequently in the good work of the church, the same as have countless others. You don’t condemn baseball because some of its practitioners break the rules do you ?
Sex, the wonderful and beautiful marital embrace, is not a commodity to be traded or used like a good ham sandwich or a nicely cooked steak, or a decent bottle of CabSauv, just to satisfy an urge. Sex is manifestly and mechanically designed, I insist, for the propagation of the species, all species, in one form or another. Its secondary aim, which applies only to humans, is to enhance and enrich mutual love and respect in marriage, teaching the fruit of that marriage good human values. Other uses of sex are intrinsically defective, not normal. For example, homosexuality (sodomy, properly called, even though homosexuals avoid the word) is an act clearly against nature, I don’t need to draw a diagram for that. Sodomy does not beget children and never will.
The official statistics on life expectancy for practising homosexuals (sodomites) are very depressing, go check. No-one should take pleasure in this, it is awful. I speak as one who has just been told about a very pleasant and likeable former work-colleague who was murdered after inviting someone to join him in his apartment, someone he “met” through a “gay” website. His funeral is on Monday.
I shudder to think what passed through his desperate mind in the instants before he was stabbed to death, how utterly awful ! Poor man, poor man. As a Catholic, my reaction is to hope that “between the saddle and the ground, he mercy sought and mercy found”*
Catholicism and its teachings are not secret, like masonry, they are open and available. They cost nothing, but they promise eternal life. If a person decides to reject them, that is their responsibility, no-one else’s. That is far from imposing your values on someone. Peggy Lee had a wonderful song - “Is that all there is ?” Says it all.
Here endeth the lesson, thanks for reading through, may God bless you and yours.
* a very good piece on this here : http://www.greatmalvernpriory.org.uk/david60.html
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