Wherein Michele Bachmann is confronted by an 8-year-old

alexandraerin:

tithenai:

gailsimone:

cafemicaela:

grantaires:

cognitivedissonance:

And it’s just as fantastic as it sounds:

Watch the video:

The look of shock on her face is incredible. Elijah is brave little man, and I commend him.

dude i’d be so scared if she put her face that close to mine

seriously all the sudden lady grabs my kid

also what a quality little human being


Could only be better if the demon lords swept down to take her back to their homeworld.

I … want to like this, but it actually feels kind of horribly manipulative. I mean, for it to not feel that way, I need to imagine a scenario in which that mom and her kid are watching Bachmann on TV and the kid of his own volition turns to her and says “but you’re gay does Ms Bachmann think you need to be fixed” and the mom explaining that yes, she does, and the kid saying “but I want to tell her that you don’t need to be fixed” and the mom goes “well as it happens she’s signing books around the corner!” and the kid then saying “let’s go!”

Absent that, just what’s shown there, with the mother having to encourage her clearly very shy child to say something activistic to a complete stranger while being filmed… I can approve the message to high heaven, but the medium squicks me out.

I both agree and disagree. I have a difficult time judging the parent’s hypothetical choice to involve her child as I can easily believe that from her perspective her child is already involved because he would be affected by any laws or policies that target their family. 

I agree with both of you. It occurred to me that it’s probably fairly important for gay parents to make it clear to their child early on that  they’re going to face some discrimination and why. It breaks my heart to think that an eight year old has to know that his mom is hated by some people purely for who she loves, but it’s a fact of his reality, and giving him the tools to cope with it is probably huge.

But this.. feels exploitative. It feels like he was coached to do something he was scared to do and shy about doing in front of a camera to make a political point, before he’s old enough to understand the political activism going on here. I’m not comfortable with an eight year old becoming the viral face of a movement, even a movement I agree with, if that child didn’t freely choose to get involved.

Being an activist is hard. You have to be prepared to stand up to some harsh criticism and as we all know too well, sometimes that criticism is threatening and scary. That’s why it’s vital that being an activist be a choice.

Any one else have thoughts on this? I’m also privileged here- my hypothetical future kids are never going to have to explain that their mommy loves their daddy and that’s ok. Any thoughts from any LGBT folks who have to deal with this choice?