In another setback to One Million Moms, the conservative Christian campaign has retreated from Facebook after a post about DC Comics’ reintroduction of Green Lantern Alan Scott as gay was inundated by comments largely supportive of the publisher’s decision.
The New Civil Rights Movement reports that moments after issuing a “warning” Friday about DC’s official announcement (see below), the page’s administrator began deleting positive comments before apparently giving up and removing the post entirely. Shortly afterward, the One Million Moms page disappeared from Facebook, certainly the initiative’s most valuable social media platform. The abrupt exodus was followed by a tweet announcing, unconvincingly, to Facebook users that, “OMM will be offline most of next week for Vacation Bible School!”
The timing might not be quite as suspect if One Million Moms hadn’t pulled the same disappearing act in February, after its boycott of retail chain JC Penney for hiring Ellen DeGeneres as a spokeswoman backfired spectacularly, drawing supporters of the lesbian talk-show host in droves to the group’s Facebook page.
What’s crazy about these One Million Mom clowns (and really, does anyone believe there are a million of ’em) is that they aren’t even picking battles with proposed changes in the law regarding gay rights. No, they’re such bigots that they are spasmodically protesting the mere existence of gays.
Patricia Kayden
How many moms are actually members of this hate group? I’ve heard the figure is very small. Who exactly are they representing? Why not just call themselves “One Thousand (or so) Republican Women”? And why not protest things that are actually consequential to women? How does a gay fictional character, like Green Lantern, impact moms?
quannlace
If I remember the sheer dullness of the one time I went to Vacation Bible School, it’s hard to believe it takes up much of the Million Mom’s time.
scav
That’s a Bible Camp we might be able to see from space.
Just Some Fuckhead
Is there any truth to the rumor that Green Lantern has been seeing Aquaman secretly?
cathyx
A million moms sounds more impressive than a handful of moms.
Stuck in the Funhouse
That’s because Karl and Rush got into the Rum drops, and fucked up their internets.
CW in LA
@Patricia Kayden: As I understand it, if they followed your suggestions, it would be something like “Fourteen Republican women.” Just not very imposing.
Anyway, I believe the commentator Nelson Muntz sums it up best: HA HA!
rlrr
(and really, does anyone believe there are a million of ‘em)
Or that they’re actually moms..
Valdivia
I think the arc of the universe on this one is finally bending implacably towards justice. I still can’t believe JCPenny is the brand that stuck its neck out like this. Yay for progress.
Valdivia
@Just Some Fuckhead:
It would be irresponsible not to speculate, as you know.
Nylund
What I don’t get is how they still don’t understand that social media is a two-way street. Do they think a few hundred (few thousand?) Republican women are really going to be able to hold back the tidal wave of comments from the millions of non-bigoted people who push back whenever they go on one of these “OMG! The world has gay people!” rants?
dmsilev
They didn’t have the will to maintain their Facebook presence? Ironic.
jon
I once tried to do my part to end this kind of thing, but it was a disaster.
MattF
I guess “One Million Moms” sounds more family-friendly than “Round Them Up and Hang Them.”
Polish the Guillotines
If we were talking about One Million MILFs at Vacation Bimbo School, the conversation might be interesting.
Amir Khalid
I’d guess that One Million Moms is in fact one very junior American Family Association member. Do these right-wing types even let their kids read comic books in the first place?
cathyx
@Nylund: Just like in the discussion about voter suppression, a commenter didn’t understand what the big deal was about getting an ID. And it was pointed out to him that he needed to think beyond his own little world and realize that some people don’t have a means to get an ID or haven’t had a reason to get one before.
The million moms group has the same blind spot and can’t see the rest of the world having a different viewpoint from their own.
Boudica
@Patricia Kayden:
ONM protest Ellen DeGeneres/J.C. Penney and Green Lantern because they “normalize” homosexuality and make it appear okay and normal to be gay (which to OMM, it is not). OMM cannot countenance any positive portrayals of homosexuality lest people think it’s not a sin.
geg6
Too right, Cole. This group is about two dozen Church Lady types tut-tutting about SATAN in the most comically inept way. Idiots, through and through. I have been shopping at JCP just show them my love for their standup behavior. And I email when I do so they know people like me have their backs. It’s good to tell a company that I approve of how they do businesss instead of bitching that I’ll never patronize them again because they are too wingnut to overlook. Anymore, I see it as the personal being political and doing my small part to fight back. Good to be demonstrating that idea in a positive way and not my usual negative.
Older_Wiser
“One Million Moms” is probably one of their “communications” guys…
beltane
Does this mean that if Vacation Bible Camp were made into a year-round affair we’d never have to hear from these losers again? Three cheers for Vacation Bible Camp!
Yutsano
Hmm…
:: looks around ::
Still here.
Methinks the ladies doth protest too much.
cathyx
Richard Dawson died.
Corner Stone
@Polish the Guillotines: You had me at “hello”.
beltane
@Older_Wiser: I don’t know why, but the name “One Million Moms” gives me visions of endless rows of store racks filled with size 14 mom jeans.
WereBear
@cathyx: A dang era has ended.
Suffern ACE
@beltane: Well to do that we’d have to close the schools year round or change the meaning of vacation to “what you do every day.”
rlrr
whois onemillionmoms.com
Registrant:
American Family Association
PO Drawer 2440
Tupelo, Mississippi 38803
United States
Registered through: MoreInformation.NET, LLC (An Optimus Partner)
Domain Name: ONEMILLIONMOMS.COM
Created on: 29-Nov-01
Expires on: 29-Nov-12
Last Updated on: 21-Apr-12
Administrative Contact:
Shank, Ron [email protected]
Optimus Media
450 Main Street
Savannah, Tennessee 38372
United States
7319261967
Technical Contact:
Shank, Ron [email protected]
Optimus Media
450 Main Street
Savannah, Tennessee 38372
United States
7319261967
Domain servers in listed order:
NS23.DOMAINCONTROL.COM
NS24.DOMAINCONTROL.COM
cathyx
@WereBear: No kidding. It was an after school staple for me. My mom said he acted like he was drunk most shows. Thinking back I’m sure he was.
gaz
@beltane: LOL, you too?
I’ve resisted the urge to stick rainbow stickers to the windows of minivans.
It’s funny that the suburbanite Jesus-as-Mammon worshipers are the most hateful.
It usually brings me back around to the idea that “Will somebody think of the children?” is the most fascist phrase in the entire history of the english language.
Mustang Bobby
If there really are “One Million Moms” and the statistics are right, about 100,000 of them have gay kids.
Mr Stagger Lee
Right Now I am watching Kill Bill vol 1 on my DVD, and reading this the Woo Hoo song by the Japanese Girl Group, the 5,6,7,8’s is playing, what a better theme for the Million Moms. What a better theme song for their late lamented Facebook page.
Valdivia
@Yutsano:
LOL.
BTW have been meaning to ask: how you doing?
Hope your convalescence is progressing apace.
muddy
@rlrr: That’s perfect, “Shank”. Like what they just did to their facebook page. Heh indeed.
scav
Speaking of Bible Camps, this thing at the Vatican is getting fun. Beyond Baroque, positively Renaissance and Dan Brownthic. I’m still at the deliciously confused stage. Guard and Beeb
owlbear1
I think liberals are supposed to find the idea of One Million Moms scary!!
jon
@cathyx: I got to reading a bit about Hogan’s Heroes as a result of hearing that. And while I knew Werner Klemperer insisted he only play a loser fool of a German, I didn’t know anything about the LeBeau guy’s past.
Best. Revenge. Ever.
Richard
So, it’s just a front for another Christian hate group.
LosGatosCA
I think that’s stated pretty clearly in the business proposal they gave to Tony Perkins and Joe Ricketts.
Yutsano
@Valdivia: It’s going all right. This is the hurry up and wait portion where I get to do a whole lotta not much. At least I have enough evidence to declare the surgery a success. My mom had no idea how much I had been hunching over. Now I can stand up straight. So to speak. :)
Valdivia
@Yutsano:
I am so glad to hear it. As a tall girl I know how much it matters to stand up straight and how hard it is to do when my back is in pain (i.e. I look like a badly designed pretzel when that happens).
May you hurry up and wait with good cheer or if not, good drinks or company ;)
Felanius Kootea
@Mustang Bobby:
This just reminded me of a bumper sticker I saw on a car while driving in Pasadena last week: “May the fetus you save be gay.”
First time I’d seen that, though a friend later told me those stickers have been around a while.
Amir Khalid
@Yutsano:
I think you meant to say that you can now stand erect.
Wait. That doesn’t sound quite right, either.
Frankensteinbeck
@Yutsano:
As @Valdivia: has reminded me, please accept this sober expression of solidarity in the hopes of a rapid recovery.
And in response to @Patricia Kayden: they need to try and eat liberals’ lunch by coopting liberal protest memes like the Million Man March to prove that there are way, way more conservative bigots than liberals. Once it was a bedrock assumption of their ethos. Now it is a desperate plea. It gives me a happy.
JPL
@Yutsano: Nice. Wait until you can start lifting normally, that will really be a milestone.
Yutsano
@Amir Khalid: There’s no way out of that trap. I just sit back and enjoy the innuendo. If I shut up then m folks would think something is REALLY wrong with me.
@Valdivia: I am hurry up and waiting my way into a doctor-mandated nap. It’s true. It’s in my discharge instructions. Honest! :)
Valdivia
@Yutsano:
I totally know it! I come from the land of the siesta so no doctor’s note needed. Rest up and heal soon.
ETA: I cannot believe I, I!, missed that innuendo. hmmm. What’s wrong with me these days? ;)
Heliopause
There have always been gay comic book characters but they used to be more discreet about it.
gaz
@Heliopause: I guess I just always assumed batman and robin were gay.
And then (not quite a comic, but animated) He-man. I re-watched that as an adult and the gay innuendo is practically sashaying out of the screen. It’s so damned funny I can’t watch it without running a risk of injury by falling out of my chair. The lols are legion.
gnomedad
Hmm, this Two Minutes Hate thing is trickier than it looks.
Suffern ACE
@Heliopause: Yeah, but like gay conservatives that they are, they spend their time fighting the Rainbow Creature than working toward it’s goals. Easier to get talk show gigs as contrarian voices I presume.
PurpleGirl
@Amir Khalid: Do these right-wing types even let their kids read comic books in the first place?
Good point. I sincerely doubt it. The superhero comic stories are full of violence (which is probably okay) but they aren’t religious in a fundy way, which is bad.
Villago Delenda Est
@cathyx:
A decent, ethical man.
Meanwhile Donald Wildmon lives.
There is no fucking justice.
Tony J
The bit I find funniest about all this is that, according to the writer of DC’s Earth-2 line, the revamped Alan Scott isn’t going to be just another superhero. Oh no. His Green Lantern is going to be the world’s numero uno superguy, leader of the Justice Society and all around alpha-male that everyone looks up to and trusts. In short, he’s the Earth-2 line’s Superman figure.
That’s got to count as a major two-fingered salute from DC to the Obey My Gawd! haters, for which they get a round of enthusiastic applause from me. And I say this as a Marvel Zombie.
gaz
@rlrr: It’s not a big secret or anything. This is well covered ground. They aren’t exactly trying to hide it. I think it even says so right on their website, IIRC
asiangrrlMN
@Boudica: Pretty much this. Plus, the more it’s seen in a casual context, the more people accept it as part of the scenery, so to speak. AND WE CAN’T HAVE THAT!
@Yutsano: I’m here, too! The lay-dees will have to try harder to get rid of us. Glad you are on the mend.
Suffern ACE
@PurpleGirl: We were warned strongly against most super hero comics in church youth. This was before super heros went through their dark transformations in the late 80s. Too many had their powers from magic or spirit dimensions and some were pagan gods. Lots of fake eastern mysticism as well.
xian
@Polish the Guillotines: this one time, at vacation bible camp…
Forsetti
“…they are spasmodically protesting the mere existence of gays.”
They are protesting the mere existence of fictional gays.
gaz
@Suffern ACE: In a just world, parents and churches would warn their kids about One Million Moms and the AFA
Kent
I’m imagining that behind this is a pudgy sweaty homophobic guy in a short sleeve shirt and tie (the full Sipowicz as my wife calls it) sitting in his basement in front of a computer screen getting his jollies by impersonating moms.
SiubhanDuinne
@rlrr:
Tupelo, Mississippi.
Savannah, Tennessee.
Why do these addresses not surprise me?
SiubhanDuinne
@Amir Khalid:
L.O.L.!!
RalfW
@Kent:
I just visited optimusmedia.com and wow, the shit they produce for the iterwebs is, well, crap.
I suppose they charge clients, but I’m pretty sure an 11 year old could do more with some freeware.
What a surprise, the fundy who set up the “million” “moms” site is a guy and a piss poor web designer.
BethN
Please help us, One Million Moms is taking credit for canceling GCB. Please read our blog, then click on the tab”Sign the Petition” Help us get GCB back on the air! teamgcb.com/2012/05/gcb-vs-one-million-moms/
RalfW
Oh, and the blog (including thoughts on evolution, boycotting McDonald’s where he used to spend $80/month! and more inanity) for Ron Shank of Savannah, TN is Shanktified!
Yep.
John M. Burt
Alan Scott? A really weird choice, I must say, and hard to justify as a “major” character.
I was hoping for Plastic Man, myself.
Marcellus Shale, Public Dick
so what do you think they would say if the green hornet and the brown hornet did it just for fun?
Simon Taverner
@John M. Burt: Well, what do you expect? They don’t want to go*too* much out on a limb!
Gemina13
Thanks to OMM, I’ve started checking out JC Penney’s lineup . . . and, holy crap, do they have some cute items there. Even better, affordable stuff. I’ve nearly hit my target weight (the one that will make my doctor happy and get me into my preferred A1C range)–I think it may be time to reward myself with some pretty new clothes.
I think I’ll send the receipt and a thank-you letter to OMM. Would they reply, do you think?
gnomedad
@John M. Burt:
I would expect Plastic Man to be even more, um, flexible.
Kent
@Gemina13:
Probably be more useful if you sent the letter to JCP
catperson
I believe they’re protesting the existence of fictional gays.
Barbara Louise
@rlrr: Or even women.
Hunter
@Patricia Kayden: Easy answer: “One Million” has a nice resonance to it, and builds on previous movements. And second, it’s all about “Save the Children!”
I hear there are 40,000 members, which I figure is probably inflated. When one considers that the population of the US is 310 million, most of whom do not care about J.C. Penney’s or Green Lantern, I think we’re getting a good take on the level of their support.
Hunter
@Nylund: I think one of the key revelations is that they are actually close to completely clueless about contemporary life and popular culture. Not only did they badly miscalculate the reaction to their rants on Facebook, but they don’t seem to know that there have been gay superheroes in comics since the early 1990s. Quite a few, in fact. In that respect, Green Lantern coming out is a big yawn.