15
Jul
This has got to be the stupidest/funniest thing I’ve seen in a while:
Once again, the innocent peeps of the US, primarily South Carolinians, were made aware of this very, very, bad idea by a blog, The Palmetto Scoop. The political reaction in South Carolina was fast and furious.
South Carolina governor Mark Sanford said the governor felt it was inappropriate as well. In the article, they mention Sanford is a potential running mate for John McCain. I had never heard this, but it makes the story a little more “national”. Fact is, I don’t think he is.
My second thought on this is who at the state level would have thought this was an idea that didn’t merit public input? I mean, it’s public tax dollars at work here, I think the public should have been made aware that a PR campaign to attract alternative lifestyles to their neighborhood was being pondered.
The tourism department quickly said it was canceling payment of its $5,000 fee for the posters, which it said were approved by a low-level state worker who did not run the idea by senior officials. The employee, who was not identified, resigned last week, the agency said.
Now, I don’t just quite buy that a major PR campaign targeting another country to attract alternative lifestyles would be made by a “low-level state worker” without anyone else knowing about it. Now, I think that “low-level state worker” should be fired for being so inconsiderate of who’s money they were spending. But, I think their supervisor probably needs to go as well for being so clueless as to what their subordinates are doing.
In the big picture of things, if South Carolina doesn’t want to appeal to gays, it’s no big deal to me. There’s not really a whole lot to do in South Carolina that couldn’t be done somewhere else. For example, my friends recently took their two very young, impressionable, girls to Dollywood for a family getaway. Once they got there, turned out it was “Out at the Park“. If you go to Disney World the first week of June, you can be assured to see lots of gays there that week as well. And, of course, there’s always New Orleans, Miami, and Key West. Being straight there just kinda seems out of place. So, the fact that South Carolina wants to have a particular PR angle of appealing to people with kids that don’t really want to explain what “gay” is to five year olds is a pretty good angle to me. In fact, at this point in my life, it’s a lot more appealing than Dollywood, Disneyworld, New Orleans, Miami, or Key West.
Now, the hook against South Carolina’s values was given as:
Gay tourism is a $64.5 billion market in the United States, the International Gay and Lesbian Travel Association estimates, and more than 75 cities around the world have gay-themed campaigns that create no controversy.
The issue here is how many “normal” tourism dollars are lost by people who don’t want to subject their small children to alternative lifestyles? Used to I’d go to any theme park without hesitation. Now, I think twice about places like Dollywood and Disney World because there is no telling what will be there. Now, granted, the peeps at Dollywood were a lot more discreet than the peeps at Disney World, it’s still just not something I want to explain to my very inquisitive five year old boy. I don’t want to tell him what they’re doing is wrong, and I sure as hell don’t want him thinking what they are doing is something he should be doing as well. So, rather than risk it, I’ll double-check which alternative lifestyle is frequenting the park and see if it falls within an acceptible range of what I want my child exposed to at a family theme park.
Or, I’ll just take the family to Myrtle Beach again and take the kid to Disney World when he’s eighteen.
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