This is a SRIOTD, but I don’t know if it angers me so much as depresses me. Long rant incoming, sorry
It seems that a group of Texas lawmakers got together the other day to celebrate, yes celebrate the 10 year anniversary of a law that passed. As unusual it might be to go back and celebrate old legislative victories, the cause of it was even weirder. They got together to celebrate the 10 year anniversary of Texas passing a gay marriage ban. With cake.
You know, in this thread, I’ve been long desensitized to some cruel, evil things. But luckily, my reaction typically is one of anger or shaking-my-head disgust. And fortunately or unfortunately, those committing the SRIOTD are usually doing it from fear, anger, ignorance, or religion. The point is, we know where they come from and its eminently mockable.
But for some reason, the casual cruelty of celebrating (with cake!) the denial of rights to a group of people struck me as nothing more than souless, monstrous, cartoonishly evil. The fact that they would equate stripping away the dignity and rights of people to a birthday or holiday seems to me that this form of hatred is so ingrained into their pea-brains that they are absolutely immune to seeing just how evil it is. I mean, I wouldn’t have been surprised if they had acted like those people who protest every Roe v. Wade day in front of the SCOTUS, with righteous anger. These lawmakers could have stood on their state capital steps to reaffirm marriage and denounce the evils of gays. Or if it would have been a solemn, dignified affair, where they put out a statement praising Texas for holding back that line against encroaching gay marriage (but seriously, fuck you guys, it’s coming and there’s nothing you can do about it) and extolling the good of Texas morality, I would have understood that too
But cake?
Look how happy they are, they are literally cutting up a cake while saying “Fuck You!” to a group of American citizens denied their rights. No remorse, no “this was the only way”, just happy smiling faces. Am I out of line for thinking this way, that such ordinary, pervasive, and deeply-ingrained madness is just so out of place? To be honest, I don’t even know if any of those guys in the picture were actually around 10 years ago. If they weren’t, its even more sad, they are celebrating something that’s not even a personal accomplishment but they are making it personal.
People like these lawmakers allow and encourage hate to spread. In another time, they’d be the ones taking their kids to watch lynchings, or tossing kindle on pyres to burn witches, or raping slaves. They have absolutely no concept that there is a thinking, feeling, human being on the other side actively being hurt by their decision. I mock a lot of conservatives, but I’m not happy about it, I’d rather they weren’t so stupid to mock, I’d rather get along with them. And when I’m happy about a legislative or court victory like gay marriage or healthcare, the happiness is usually for the people it will help. Are any of these people simply happy for all the souls they think they’ve saved? Are they going to go to a church right after this to hug all the “good Christians” who benefited from this law? Are they going to find a gay person and congratulate them for being able to make it to heaven? Or are they going to go home, take off their shoes, change into a comfortable shirt, watch some TV, play with their kids, and beat a gay person they have tied up in the basement? They have absolutely no empathy at all, I would not be surprised if any of these so-called people drowned puppies in their spare time or set fire to mosques. Fuck them all
