From: rcd@raven.eklektix.com (Dick Dunn)
Subject: Put on your hip-ocrisy boots!  Let's wade away from this one.
Organization: eklektix - Boulder, Colorado
Date: Mon, 23 Nov 1992 05:36:21 GMT

bartlett@rmtc.Central.Sun.COM (Terry Bartlett) writes:
>peterscc@ucsu.Colorado.EDU (PETERSEN CAROLYN COLLINS) writes:
>>Your boycott will hurt small business like ine much more than
>>it will hurt these large corporations ...
...
>>[instead, we should] Hurt the companies who contributed to hate when
>>they donatd money to the ultra-right groups who are trying to force this down
>>the throatsof the 48% of Coloradans who didn't vote for hate.

>And finally the true reason for all this.  Small businesses like yours
>*should* be hurt by the boycott.  There is a price to be paid for
>intolerance and discrimination, and we're all going to have to pay it.

OK, hold that thought, head down to the .signature.  This person is with
"Sun Microsystems Rocky Mountain Technology Center".  That's cool--no
problem dumping on the small businesses here 'cause Terry's company is
based in California.  Terry's paycheck is safe.  ("we're all" really means
"you're all".)  Looks like there's a surfeit of hypocrisy in Colorado
Springs.

>The 48% of Coloradans who didn't vote for hate have allowed it to fester
>here for too long, and have given it safe haven in Colorado Springs.
>Until now the rest of the state has been content to allow this to go on.

Enough malice to go around in Colorado Springs, too, I see.
(ObDisclaimer: I've got friends and colleagues in Co Spgs that haven't been
afflicted with this malice.  I do worry about them down there.)

Look, try to imagine the possibility that we haven't all been content, we
haven't given hatred "safe haven", blah, blah.  Sorry to say, we're not
omnipotent.  We try to do things that we think will help.  They don't
always work, and they don't always change the entire world on the first
attempt.  Try to keep in mind that you can try and not succeed at first.

>They have known for years how the character of Colorado Springs has been
>changing, but most people chose to ignore it...

Don't bother trying to rewrite history to prove your point...there aren't
enough stupid people here to buy it.  (No, not even on USENET.:-)  Colorado
Springs has been a military town for a long time, and it has been both
military and quite conservative since long before the idea of "gay rights"
ever began to emerge.  Or hadn't you noticed the Air Force Academy, Ft
Carson, Ent and Peterson AFB, and the NADC in Cheyenne Mtn?  CFV is not
much of a change; it's quite in keeping with the town's spirit.

Charity begins at home.  Those of us who live elsewhere have actually made
some progress in our own home towns--and it was needed everywhere.  WE may
have lost some of the progress for however long Am 2 is allowed to stand,
but we haven't lost all of our progress:  The attitudes will remain even
while the legal protection is missing.

Let me amplify on "it was needed everywhere":  A couple of decades ago, in
Boulder, a gay-rights ordinance was proposed.  Not only did it fail re-
soundingly, but two of the city council members who proposed it went up for
recall.  One *was* recalled; the other narrowly survived.  Boulder has come
a long way since then.  In my necessarily Boulder-centric view, I like to
think that Boulder has tried to lead a reform and mellowing of views, a
broadening of perspective for the state.  Although people joke about us as
"the People's Republic of Boulder", it's often accompanied by a bit of
envy, because Boulder has done very well.  I don't want to act smug; I want
to point out that somehow, a more open, tolerant attitude hasn't harmed us
at all.

Consider that Boulder and Colorado Springs are situated in comparably attrac-
tive locations, similar in several ways.  Boulder's economy is the strongest
in the state; Colorado Springs is struggling in spite of a greater influx
of high-tech business in the last decade.  I don't think it's too much of
an extrapolation to say that it has to do with attitude, atmosphere, life-
style...the "place" things are comparable; it's the "people" things that
make the difference.  (Some of it has to do with scaling down the military,
but in a sense that also ties back to attitudes...Boulder doesn't have
such a strong reliance on round circuit boards.)

I would say it's time for Boulder (and the other more liberal towns) to
start trying to export some of their beliefs, to show more people that
"live and let live" not only works, but thrives.  We still have work to do
here at home, but we've got something to show.  Now, tell me how we can
affect Colorado Springs--preferably in a way that will help them wake up,
rather than simply attempting to browbeat them or (worse yet) play the same
games as CFV.

>...Not going to the Springs
>and avoiding the issue isn't good enough.

There are two separate statements here; let's take them apart.
	- "Not going to the Springs...isn't good enough."  In other words,
	  a boycott isn't enough.  OK, fine.
	- "...avoiding the issue isn't good enough."  Fine; the rest of us
	  haven't been avoiding the issue.  See above.

If you have ideas for what the rest of us can do about the bad stuff coming
out of Colorado Springs, let's hear 'em!  Your article is long on criticism
of others and short on useful ideas.

>...If you feel strongly enough to believe people 
>shouldn't boycott Colorado and hurt your business, you should be willing
>to provide more support against the matter that started this.  How about
>some of your money, time, and effort for the cause?...

Now you're talking positive.
Let's hear what's going on; let's hear what needs support.

There's a big difference between "boycott" (which takes from everyone, with
no respect to whether they support or oppose, can afford it or not) and
"support" (which will take from those who can give, what they can give).
-- 
Dick Dunn    rcd@raven.eklektix.com   -or-   raven!rcd    Boulder, Colorado
	...Ain't no time to hate.
Newsgroups: co.general