Flint, Michigan, Anal Sex and You.
The terrible water crisis in Flint, Michigan is the fault of — and certainly could have been handled better by — the local government.
For a couple of days, I’ve seen a lot of (too many) people spreading a version of a sensationalized “article” about Michigan “outlawing anal sex” and using that to point out the absurdity of Michigan’s legislative priorities in the face of such a crisis.
Thing is, despite the OMG!-ness of the article title, that’s not exactly what’s going on.
The so-called “sodomy ban” has to do with an animal cruelty bill, which is very likely a perfectly fine piece of legislation — no one approves cruelty to animals, right? — but with some terminology left over from an old, constitutionally unenforceable law that was left in the bill because it is more trouble than it is worth to try and *change* the wording of a law that has already been deemed unconstitutional and is unenforceable.
Doing so, some argued, could hold up the passage of the bill, which again, seems like a perfectly fine piece of legislation, meant to protect animals — named after a dog who was intentionally burned with acid.
Here’s a decent article about the actual bill. Here’s a decent follow-up.
Is it silly to keep this archaic language in the bill? Sure.
But is the passage of this bill stopping the legislature from acting on the Flint water crisis? No.
The articles people are passing around make it sound as if the entire Michigan legislature is sitting around making up laws about anal sex, when that is simply not true.
So the “outrage” that Michigan would pass such a law when there are more important things to do exists almost exclusively because a huge deal was made out of something fairly trivial, the type of minor legislation that happens a thousand times a day everywhere. Even with the issue of the absurd, outdated language, Michigan is one of 12 states that still have such language “on the books,” but since the Supreme Court has long determined that these laws are effectively meaningless, this should have only really been of interest to legal or political nerds.
But Michigan! And ANAL SEX! So it gets unnecessarily amplified.
Look, does this mean that there shouldn’t be outrage at the lawmakers involved in the Flint water crisis? Of course not. The governor should probably face criminal charges. The story is tragic, unacceptable, has horrific racial implications, and sadly, may only be one of many such stories.
What this DOES mean is that people are way too easily distracted by clickbait article titles and spend way too much time and effort making a big deal about something that they don’t understand.
Should Michigan legislature prioritize dealing with the water crisis in Flint?
Of course!
And maybe they (finally?) are. And if they still aren’t doing enough, THAT should be the story.
How we got here, THAT should be the story.
Who is responsible, and what is being done to hold them accountable? That NEEDS to be the story.
Armchair e-activists should spend zero time polluting the social media landscape with salaciously-titled clickbait that confuse an already confused electorate about how the political process works.
Because we NEED TO KNOW HOW THE POLITICAL PROCESS ACTUALLY WORKS if we plan to fix Flint and the next Flint and the next Flint after that.
If you want to “fix” the water crisis, or any of the 23487209 other shitty things wrong with America’s political systems, passing around hyperbole-riddled articles which skew actual facts and further obfuscate the process does nothing to help.
I’m sure the intention is good, and there is certainly something to be said for the absurdity of the political process, particularly when there ARE more important things that seem to be lacking the proper governmental oversight.
But seeing, believing and redistributing purposefully skewed misinformation helps perpetuate an atmosphere of political ignorance that continues to plague our country, where we, the people, are hugely misinformed about the process to begin with, and are not being given the information or tools to understand it better.
So if you want to make a difference, instead of lazily passing around an article that helps fuel this ignorance, take a civics class. Go to PTA meetings. Go to city council meetings, run for school board, run for city council, volunteer for a candidate that is doing things right, or find some other way to ACTUALLY infiltrate the systems and find ways to right some wrongs.
Get. Involved.
Use your social media presence to spread helpful info about the legitimate operations that exist to help the people of Flint.
We’re seeing a big change in America, in how the general public understands, and responds to social issues. It is becoming even more clear during this election cycle, when politicians seem even more eager to capitalize on the ignorance, fear, misgivings and misunderstandings that many Americans have.
So we may in fact need that political revolution that Bernie Sanders has been calling for — a change that goes way deeper than who we vote for as president.
But before that can happen, we need educated, informed constituents.
The kind that know a clickbait article when they see it, and knows better than to share it.
The kind that understands why Michigan isn’t “outlawing anal sex.”
The kind that spends their energy learning how to tackle the actual problems instead of unwittingly helping those who are working very hard to to keep us all confused and ignorant in the first place.
