Obedience?

It is easy to ignore responsibility when one is only an intermediate link in a chain of actions.--The Perils of Obedience

There is a fervor this election cycle that I haven't seen in my lifetime. Maybe I wasn't paying attention, but it seems like America is really engaged in the political process at a new level and it is very exciting. We have history before us, no matter who is elected, gender or racial barriers will be broken. We have difficult decisions to make, as a country, about what our values are. Will we continue to borrow against the future of our children and gamble with our economy or will we start to practice a little prudence? Will we end our immoral invasion of other countries for profit or will we continue to value our comfort and convenience over foreign lives? Will we find ways to value the foreign nationals who come and toil in our agricultural and industrial jobs as participants in our economic and cultural landscape or will we continue to scapegoat them? Will we find common ground in the cultural wars or continue to propogate a vicious and polarized approach to our national conversations?

In freshman english, back in my college days, we had a series of required readings, among them The Perils of Obedience by Stanley Milgram. In it he tells the story of an experiment he did to determine the power of obedience to overcome our moral compass in the face of another's pain and suffering. It was a shocking and compelling summary. Socially we require a certain level of "obedience" or compliance in order to keep things functioning smoothly and safely, the consequences of folks driving willy nilly would be quite devastating on several levels. But obedience to authority without consideration of the consequences is quite a different matter. As a queer community, we understand this on a personal level. Living a straight life when we are not a straight people has an immense cost. For those of us who were raised in a socially or religiously conservative lifestyle, the difficulty of coming out and claiming our personal expression is life altering.

I encourage you to get involved this season. Volunteer for a candidate you believe in, work on an intiative campaign (such as No on 48 or the local 2E campaign ), donate to causes that inspire you, or come join us at the Pridehouse, we have several local programs that volunteers and donations play a crucial role in keeping going. Find your passion and follow it and we will make the change happen that we all want to see!