otohara
otohara's JournalLloyd Blankfein HRC's New “national corporate spokesman for same-sex marriage.”
Yuck
Double yuck
Last week, the Human Rights Campaign, the organization that advocates for equal rights for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people, announced that Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein will be its first “national corporate spokesman for same-sex marriage.” HRC’s move was almost universally portrayed in the media as a laudable one for the cause of equality: a supposed Nixon-goes-to-China-esque coup that aligned a politically conservative icon with a liberal cause. As one HRC executive told the New York Times: “Lloyd Blankfein is not someone average Americans would think is going to support marriage equality.”
In all the ovation and self-congratulation, however, two big problems were left unmentioned.
First and foremost is the simple fact that this is not some brilliant P.R. move in the Nixon-to-China vein. On the contrary, many (though certainly not all) Wall Street financiers have long professed their support for gay rights, culminating in their pivotal role helping legalize gay marriage in New York state. That’s, in part, because it’s an effective strategy to divert attention from their economic agenda.
Taking a page out of corporate greenwashing strategies, many of the most offensively greedy, right-wing thieves in the business world have long touted their personally progressive position on select social issues like gay rights as a means of publicly presenting themselves as Good and Decent People. Not surprisingly, the particular progressive causes they choose tend to be those that do not impact their businesses or personal economic situations. In some cases, in fact, these thugs seem as if they are leveraging their stands on such progressive issues as a quid pro quo bargaining chip for their personal financial interests. As just one example of where that kind of dynamic may have played out, recall that almost immediately after Wall Streeters underwrote Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s campaign to legalize gay marriage, Cuomo launched a public (though ultimately unsuccessful) campaign to halt the extension of a so-called millionaires tax on those same Wall Streeters.
This isn’t to say that Wall Streeters’ support for marriage equality isn’t a good thing; it most certainly is. (As a strong supporter of marriage equality, for instance, I’m glad those Wall Streeters helped New York State legalize gay marriage.) It’s only to say that Blankfein’s support of gay marriage isn’t some hard-to-believe coup; it’s probably exactly what many “average Americans” would expect from a Manhattan investment banker.http://www.salon.com/2012/02/14/an_offensive_advocate_for_lgbt_rights/
Self Deportation
I'm waiting for Rachel to get back to the episode of This American Life and self deportation.
This "self deportation" joke is working very well in Alabama.
Self Deportation - Listen to This American Life
I know I chuckled when Mittens suggested it, but it seems to be working in Alabama.
http://www.thisamericanlife.org/
Alabama's new immigration law aims to make life so difficult for illegal immigrants that they will "self-deport." And in a way it's working. Immigrants are fleeing Alabama...but not just the undocumented ones. This and other stories of people living with the unintended consequences of their decisions.
Will Allen West Be Re-elected?
I looked at the numbers of his district from the last 3 POTUS elections and all went Dem...what happened in this district to bring this vile POS into our lives?
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