Reflection on Activism Text
June 4, 2011
English 289
Professor Hammond
While I do not consider myself an activist of any sort, I do consider myself an
advocate for equal rights and legalizing gay marriage. Several of my good friends are
gay, and as a friend, I want them to have access to the same rights and opportunities that
the rest of us do. That being said, I cannot stand it when these conservative politicians
with histories of anti-gay voting are caught in some sordid gay sex scandal. The
hypocrisy of it all is so irksome and has been something that I am extremely passionate
about. I felt like this multi-modal project was the perfect opportunity to create a
somewhat satirical presentation on these scandalous men, and at the same time advocate
for equal rights and legalizing gay marriage.
I want to address a general audience, although it will probably be most appealing
to a young-adult, liberal crowd. My hope is that people will see this and begin actively
thinking about how much trust we put in our politicians, and begin paying closer
attention to what those politicians are voting for and against. I think this can apply to a
general audience, but the satire of the presentation and even the subject is more appealing
to the under forty crowd, who may be more willing to keep open minds on this subject.
With this audience in mind I decided to use Prezi to create my presentation. I initially
went to Prezi because it seemed fun and interactive, lacking the snooze-effect of
powerpoints. However, being extremely technologically challenged, I struggled to create
my Prezi. Hoping for an easier time, I briefly switched to using Glogster, which was very
easy to use and had tons of fun graphics. After a brief flirtation with Glogster though, I
missed the interactive quality of the Prezi and returned to that format. I chose the “Loud,
Manifesto” background because my feelings towards this subject often result in my being
loud and preaching my “manifesto” to people, so it seemed like a perfect fit. I named my
Prezi “Holy Hypocrisy” because not only did it have a nice ring to it, but it also touches
on the underlying message of these “wholesome, family oriented, religious” politicians,
and their hypocritical behavior.
To present the text I felt like I needed to start out slowly, with a few facts about
gay marriage, where it’s legal, where it’s not, who supports it, and who doesn’t. The
Prezi sort of gives off my sarcastic personality, which I think makes the satirical tone
more apparent. After presenting a few facts I wanted to jump right into the fun,
scandalous core of my project. I wanted to show the contrast and the hypocrisy of these
men by first explaining a little about who they are, what they do, how they vote, and then
showing their hypocritical actions. So the presentation wasn’t too flat, I added a YouTube
video of Ted Haggard bashing homosexuality in the movie Jesus Camp.
To finish the presentation, I wanted to go back to the beginning and end it on a
somewhat more serious note. I felt that I should state that the purpose of this text was not
just to satirize the hypocrisy of these men, but to encourage the audience to question their
political parties’ voting habits and see that if these supposedly “family oriented” people
live these secret lifestyles, then shouldn’t we allow gay couples who really want to be
married and start a family the same privileges? If these men think so highly of marriage
then perhaps they should stay out of the bathroom stalls and stop sneaking off to Europe
with a personal luggage carrier.
I wanted to end the Prezi with a little bit more statistics, to bring the presentation
full circle. I thought a really strong, powerful comparison to gay marriage is how many
more states allow marriage between first cousins compared to the few that allow marriage
between same sex couples. I also felt like I should add a link to GLAD’s (Gay and
Lesbian Advocates and Defenders) website for people to learn more about DOMA
(Defense of Marriage Act), with which I began my presentation, and what people are
doing to fight it. My goal in this presentation is that the audience will really think about
the hypocrisy that many people in society are spreading, and that they will share this with
their friends or family.
I am most pleased with how my text all came together and how it looks when
presented in the Prezi. I like that it’s not another linear powerpoint, and I think that the
movement really brings it to life and makes it more fun for the audience. The one thing I
would have liked to include is a sound file to play throughout the Prezi. I wanted to play
Green Day’s “American Idiot” because I think it would have really complemented the
satirical tone of the presentation and also because it addresses American society’s
continuing denial of equal rights to the gay community. The added element that the sound
file would have brought, along with just livening up a fairly quiet presentation would
have really completed my vision for this. I also had difficulty finding a way to link to a
website so that people can go straight there, and unfortunately had to just put the web
address in the presentation. I think had I been able to add the sound and working links
that it would appear much more professionally done.
I wasn’t so much influenced by anything specific in how I designed my text as I
wanted it to be satirical and funny, but keep those serious undertones. After looking
through it though, I did feel like my opening lines of text sounded very similar to the
opening of Law & Order, which was absolutely unintended, but somehow ends up adding
to the “public trial” feel of the presentation.
Overall I had a very fun time putting this text together. It was nice to have a
chance to learn about some new media formats and presenting an advocacy text to the
rest of the class. I hope that next years class will have the same opportunity to learn how
to use these awesome new mediums.