link: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/07/opinion/07flanagan.html?pagewanted=1
In the OP-ED, "Showdown in the Big Tent", the journalists, Caitlin Flanagan and Benjamin Schwartz, tackle the issue of the effect that African American voters had on the outcome of the vote for proposition eight in California. I do not agree with their generalizations and stereotyping of black voters, in the article they say things such as, "The struggle for equality... has been so central to African-American identity that many blacks find homosexual claims of a commensurate level of injustice frivolous, and even offensive." These statements somewhat elude to the whole African American population of California being against gay marriages, though it is clearly stated in the beginning of the article that, "7 in 10 blacks voted in support of traditional marriage." This therefore leaves the 3 out of 10 voters who did not, which I believe this article fails to represent, though it was not the core focus of the writing; I believe the addition of the views of African Americans against proposition eight would have added to and been beneficial to the piece.
Moving more into the article, it was an interesting take on an issue that did not receive a lot of attention. Not many media sources chose to investigate why proposition eight was passed in California, but more just the reactions afterwards. This piece, which chose to pinpoint African American Obama supporters as the majority to help pass proposition eight, examined and defended this accusation. What made this a good OP-ED was that it had an apparent opinion supported by relevant facts and it showed new ideas that have not previously been reported on. The journalists defiantly wanted a surprised reaction from the readers, because they start off by saying how Hollywood celebrities believe they are open-minded and forward thinking, for electing Barack Obama and possibly being supportive of gay marriages, they go on to write, "It was only recently that the A-list discovered that this love is unrequited." Obviously this OP-ED is aiming to almost shatter the views some readers, maybe this "A- list" they mentioned, have on African American views on gay marriage, and point the finger towards that section of voters to why it did pass.
Overall, I saw this as an interesting article and a good OP-ED, I can't say I understand or agree with their thinking and reasoning, though they are able to support it.
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3 comments:
When I was reading the article, I didn't get the sense that the journalists were pigeonholing black voters in the election. No demographic or political group is completely homogenous, and 7 out of 10 voters shows a definite trend. However, I do agree with you that the piece did not ever address the 3 out of 10 that would have voted for gay marriage. Nor did it report how white, Hispanic, or other ethnic groups voted on Proposition 8. Granted, it is an op-ed and is not required to do so, but I think the omission weakens the piece because it indicates that the data may not have supported the authors' positions.
One thing I did think the journalists did well was to talk about rainbow parties and coalition parties, and to actually explain these terms, which are foreign to many readers. The end is almost a call to action - urging people not to base their political allegiences on such parties that are formed on weakly-forged bonds, otherwise, they may find themselves surprised at the turnout of the next election.
I read this same article the other day and I got a similar take on it. I thought it was an intersting topic to write on but I did feel the journalists handled the issue somewhat poorly. The opening sentence you said meant to "shock" readers seemed to me to be stating an offensive opinion while trying to come off like they didn't want to offend anyone. I also feel that they brought in awkward allusions such as the celebrity thing, when that wasn't what they were writing about. I felt that while they werne't generalizing black voters, they were generalizing the outcome of Prop 8 in saying that black voters could have swung it. Not every issue is black and white, and I think its ridiculous to think that an entire race could or should vote one way, and also that that would have an impact on the passing of a bill. That's just one step away from blame, and I think that's a dangerous position to be in. The article was informative but the topic could have been handled better.
I also agree with you, Anne. I thought that the lead was poorly written and extremely boring. Its references confused me enough to make me want to stop reading the article. The article continued to bore me with extremely long paragraphs and upset me with their generalizations. The journalists did not consider that not all back voters voted for Obama, or not all of them were against gay marriage. Overall, I think the article was poorly written.
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