A day or so ago, a video featuring an eight-year-old boy telling Michele Bachmann where she could cram her little ex-gay therapy went viral, because the internet loves adorable little kids and crazy church ladies being put in their place.
But as always, it raised a few moral questions that didn't really have any cut-and-dried answers. Clearly, it was the kid's mother's idea to put the whole thing together, and while they did make a valid point, is it morally okay to use kids to voice our adult opinions, regardless of whether they're right or wrong?
We'll start on the con side, because it's my blog and I can organize talking points however I want. No, the kid shouldn't have been thrown into a political game. Politics are like sex: it's something you should really start doing when you're old enough to understand the whole process. No one wants to see kids try their hands at politics or makin' sex until they have the actual maturity to handle it. Otherwise, you end up with Sixteen & Pregnant and/or the Young Republicans.
And for God's sake, the kid's mom was behind him the whole time. She's a perfectly capable adult here. It's not like she couldn't just go up to Bachmann and say, "Yeah, I'm gay and I don't need to be cured, you fucking bush-baby-looking lunatic." See? Really not hard. Adults should be mature enough to talk to each other openly about what they believe in without resorting to the mouths of babes.
But now comes the pro side. Look, I have no doubt in my mind that the eight-year-old kid loves his mother, and I'm sure he has a loving family who is raising him just as well as any heteronormative family out there. The kid makes a valid point, one that I'm sure he would believe in if he were old enough to understand that some people still think that his family is less than theirs because they don't listen to a really old book. When the kid is old enough to understand this and stand on his own two feet, with his own thoughts and opinions and beliefs, by all means, let him at the Michele Bachmanns of the world, because those bitches won't stand a chance. But until then, just let him be a kid. He'll have all the time in the world to fight the good fight when he's old enough, but for now -- he's eight. Don't use kids as pawns in an adult game, even if you're on the right side.
(via Queerty)
