Raising money by "gaming" people is smart?
Incredibly so. You have to be able to know which buttons to push, and how, and be predict people's knee-jerk reactions and know their gullibility.
I think it's dishonest and immoral, and that's what I taught my kids.
I think it's dishonest and immoral, too. That doesn't mean it's not smart. They aren't mutually exclusive.
I bet this lady discovers lots of others don't like being lied to, either.
Doesn't matter. She's gamed them fully. She's poo-pooed the naysayers as nothing more than naysayers and she's forging on with what she loves most, laughter and rainbows. In her most recent note on gofundme, she's laughing, a lot. She's a single mother of four and wants some cash to whimsy up her house with rainbows and if she can get the relentlessly gay crowd to back her up, she's not gonna burst their bubble. If more rainbows can make her unidentified neighbor even angrier that's an added bonus.
Even if she comes out and says her statement wasn't even about LGBT rights (which is precisely the statement she came out and made), the LGBTers are still gonna use her for their rainbow poster girl du jour.
THE ADVOCATE and others pushed her statement aside as unimportant, and powered on.
It kind of reminds me a little of something that happened a few years ago to an actress friend of mine. She and her boyfriend had been dating for several years and every time they were out in public, together or separately, they invariably asked when they were going to tie the knot. They got so sick and tired of answering the question that finally she said, "We refuse to get married until same-sex marriage is legal in America." It wasn't in support of same-sex marriage, or some statement that they didn't feel it was right for them to get married when same-sex couples couldn't. She had no strong feelings about same-sex marriage one way or the other. She wasn't against it, but wasn't an advocate of it, either. It was because she wanted to shut people up and stop asking her when she'd get married, and she figured it would be a really long time, if ever, before same-sex marriage became legal in the US. It was a way to shut people up for the long term.
She became an instant hero in the LGBT community, a veritable poster girl for marriage equality. GLAAD gave her an award. She played along. It stopped the questions about her own marriage, that's for sure. Then a couple of years later is when states started legalizing same-sex marriage, and her tune had to change to that of "until it is legal in ALL of America." A couple of years after that she dumped her boyfriend so it didn't matter any more. Then a year and a half ago she started seeing another guy, and despite same-sex marriage not being legal in ALL of America, they got engaged about 6 months ago. The LGBT community didn't take away her Honorary Gay Person Card, though, as she had done her bit for Queen and Country. (you're welcome for the inclusion of the "o") But, alas, her new fiance kind of screwed the pooch (not literally, of course) and she dumped him hard last month. That wedding is off. Done. Fini.
So, too, will this pass for Baltimore Rainbow Lady. She'll get a new roof with rainbow roofing tiles, and pocket the other $35,000 or so, and in a few weeks, if not sooner, people will have forgotten about her.
