Analyzing and refuting the inaccuracies lodged against the lgbt community by religious conservative organizations. Lies in the name of God are still lies.
It's not a surprise because we knew that religious right pundits would falsely claim that GLAAD is trying to silence them. I'm sure as the days go by, we will be hearing more of the false "censorship" angle. I anticipate a full media campaign just like they attempted when SPLC called several of them hate groups.
And it means one thing. These liars are shaking in their boots. Don't let Sprigg's or Barber's false bravado fool you because it's all an act.
They know that no one is trying to silence them and their whines about censorship is a deliberate attempt to confuse the issue. However, allow me to again post the statement from GLAAD spokesperson Herndon Graddick in regards to the project:
"These activists have the right to recite their anti-LGBT talking points, but it is important to expose the questionable and often hostile rhetoric that passes as punditry when so-called 'experts' speak out against the lives of LGBT people on the air or in print. If networks are going to continue to invite those with incendiary anti-LGBT views on their programs, show runners should know the full picture of who these individuals really are so that critical context can be relayed to the audience."
It's not about censorship. It's about honest debate. If these so-called Christians can repeat some of the nastiest comments about the lgbtq community when amongst those who support them then they should have no problem being questioned on them by the media.
As you can tell, I am extremely psyched about this project. In fact, I have been psyched about it all day. You need go to this page and do what you can to make the project a success. And here is a little incentive. The following are the folks whom GLAAD have called out for their lies. Click on the names to get more information:
100 Real Tweets from Homophobes Who Would Murder Their Gay Child - I can't even say I hope that is a joke because if it were, it would still be awful. And people whine that lgbts are "too sensitive." The tweets on this site are not for folks with sensitive natures.
When it comes to discussing gay issues, the media sometimes handles anti-gay pundits with kid gloves.
It's not because of any bias, really. I think that a lot of it has to do with these pundits having the ability to disguise their anti-gay animus.
When they speak on news programs, folks like Tony Perkins, Maggie Gallagher, or Brian Brown are careful to dress their responses up as reasonable. They are even able to portray themselves as supposed defenders of traditional values, leaving the interviewer and audience unaware of the comments they make when not in front of the cameras; comments which reveal that their animus against the gay community have less to do with preserving traditional values and more to do with exploiting ignorance.
And at the rare times in which they are pressed about these comments, they play the victim by claiming that they are unfairly being labeled as bigots.
It's a very dishonest thing to do because it taints the debate over gay equality. And its not just me who has a problem with it.
The GLAAD Commentator Accountability Project (CAP) aims to put critical information about frequent anti-gay interviewees into the hands of newsrooms, editors, hosts and reporters. Journalists or producers who are on deadline often don't have the time to dig into the histories of a commentator. Audiences need to be aware that when they’re not talking to the mainstream media, these voices are comparing the LGBT people to Nazi Germany, predicting that equal treatment of LGBT people will lead to the total collapse of society, and even making accusations of satanic influence.
The Commentator Accountability Project is bringing all of these statements to light, while calling attention to the sentiments behind them. We will show that the commentators who are most often asked to opine on issues like marriage equality or non-discrimination protections do not accurately represent the "other side" of those issues. They represent nothing but extreme animus towards the entire LGBT community.
GLAAD's Commentator Accountability Project will include anti-gay pundits and certain statements they have made when not in front of the camera, such as:
Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council
- Says about gay people: “They are intolerant. They are hateful. They are vile. They are spiteful...pawns of the enemy.”
- Says that gay young people “have a higher propensity to depression or suicide because of that internal conflict; homosexuals may recognize intuitively that their same-sex attractions are abnormal.”
- The Family Research Council has distributed a pamphlet that erroneously depicts gay men and lesbians as physically and mentally ill pedophiles who can be “cured.”
Brian Brown, president of the National Organization for Marriage
- Recently attempted, via his national newsletter, to raise a link between marriage equality and pedophilia: "Will pedophiles become "minor-attracted persons" in our culture? Will courts which endorse orientation as a protected class decide down the road that therefore laws which discriminate against "minor-attracted persons" must be narrowly tailored to a compelling government interest?”
- Has advocated for gay people to change their orientation. Said of a faith-based study on self-identified so-called "ex-gays": "Even those who disagree with us about gay marriage (or Christian sexual ethics) should feel good about this this scientific verification of the possibility of free will triumphing over desire. We are all more than our instincts, sexual or otherwise."
Maggie Gallagher, founder of the National Organization for Marriage
- Referred to being gay as “a sexual disability preventing certain individuals from participating in the normal reproductive patterns of the human species.”
- Compared winning the fight to ban marriage for gay couples with the fall of communism and believes that if it is made legal, it will mean “losing American civilization.”
- Said “I oppose extending anti-discrimination laws to gays.”
Bob Emmerich, Northeast Field Ambassador of the Family Research Council
- Routinely proves that his advocacy goes beyond marriage and into "changing" gay people: "Those who want to redefine marriage want us to believe that we show love and support for homosexual family members by encouraging them to remain in their sin. Christian people will remember that true love and support helps people overcome, not surrender."
- Accuses his state's pro-equality lawmakers of mocking God: "It was the most shameful, most embarrassing thing for my state that I have seen. I listened to Senator after Senator stand up and mock God, mock the word of God, mocking the people of God…I was so angry hearing the way they were speaking about my God."
And these are just a few of the anti-gay pundits GLAAD rightfully calls out for their dishonest rhetoric.
Now knowing religious right organizations, their spokespeople are going to whine that GLAAD is trying to silence them. This is a lie and GLAAD has made sure to make clear the goal of this project:
“Hate is not an expert opinion,” said GLAAD spokesperson Herndon Graddick. “In most cases, news outlets invite reputable experts to speak on the subject at hand, but when talking about LGBT issues, open hostility and anti-LGBT bias seems to be all the credibility required. This project holds these so-called ‘pundits’ accountable for the extreme anti-LGBT rhetoric they continue to spread.”
"These activists have the right to recite their anti-LGBT talking points, but it is important to expose the questionable and often hostile rhetoric that passes as punditry when so-called 'experts' speak out against the lives of LGBT people on the air or in print," explained Graddick. "If networks are going to continue to invite those with incendiary anti-LGBT views on their programs, show runners should know the full picture of who these individuals really are so that critical context can be relayed to the audience."
In other words, this project is not about silencing anyone but having an honest debate. And you can't have an honest debate when one party is being deceptive in terms of their goals and their true feelings about the community they oppose.
It's a matter of laying all your cards on the table and it's high time that these so-called morality groups and their spokespeople did just that
GLAAD will utilize the resources of the Commentator Accountability Project in future meetings with editors, writers, network executives, producers, and guest bookers -- providing the mainstream media with a tool by which to hold commentators accountable.
GLAAD encourages individuals to alert the organization when these virulently anti-LGBT activists appear on local or national news. To report an incident visit: http://www.glaad.org/cap
Editor's note - Stay tuned for a post coming about a MAJOR development against the war of anti-gay lies perpetrated by the religious right? Does it have the potential to be a game changer? I think so.
Sometimes I have to keep myself from getting furious, but it astounds me how much the Family Research Council, an organization which is supposed to be about morality and God, can willfully lie.
Take for example the recent case involving the Anoka-Hennepin school district in Minnesota. FRC does not like the recent lawsuit settlement the school district agreed to and gives a very inaccurate rendition what led up to it:
If anyone deserves to be on the national "hate group" list, it's the organization that claims to be in charge of it! Anyone who had doubts about Southern Poverty Law Center's (SPLC) credibility has been proven right after the group named a local parents group to its ridiculous catalog of "haters." According to SPLC, the Anoka-Hennepin Parents Action Team belongs in the same league as white supremacists because they asked a Minnesota school district to keep a policy of neutrality on homosexuality! During a long debate over Anoka-Hennepin's bullying policy, six students sued the district with SPLC's help, demanding that schools void the rule on homosexuality and move from impartiality to full acceptance. When the community opposed the decision, SPLC involved the U.S. Justice Department (which apparently has nothing better to do than team up with SPLC to harass a local school board).
Ultimately, the district capitulated and agreed to a five-year anti-bullying partnership with DOJ. Now, to punish parents--whose only request is that schools don't undermine the values they teach at home--SPLC is attempting to silence the group. Clearly, SPLC is not the independent arbiter that liberals make it out to be. On one hand, they advocate for homosexuality, and on the other, they try to stigmatize and marginalize the opposition. It's like giving SPLC the chance to referee and play in the same game!
What's even more disturbing is the DOJ's role in all of this. What authority does it have to barge in and exert pressure on a school district when there is no federal discrimination statute for sexual orientation?
That's the Family Research Council's spin of the lawsuit settlement and it's a spin which ignores several facts.
In spite of Maggie Gallagher's assurance that she believes that same-sex parenting does not harm a child, the organization she began, the National Organization for Marriage, is doing its utmost best to push this fallacy.
The reason why NOM is linking this book to the lgbtq community is because of one paragraph in the Lifesite article which states:
The homosexual rights community is getting behind the book for its positive portrayal of the dozens of alternative methods that can be used to create a new human life (about 30 according to the author). The author intends that his “book for kids about sex,” aimed at pre-schoolers through to 8-years-olds, will also be accompanied by a teacher’s resource to assist its implementation in a school setting.
But here is the problem. No one from the lgbtq community is quoted as saying that they support this book or will promote this book. In fact, no gay activist is quote in the article at all.
And I venture to say that most likely, the vast majority of us - if not all - have never even heard of this book. So basically, NOM is lying. It's not anything we haven't seen before, but this time it's so unabashedly blatant that it should be criminal.
In actuality, the book has less to do with the lgbtq community and more to do with educating people that not all children come from the traditional manner. Author Cory Silverberg says this:
What Makes a Baby is my response to the fact that books about where babies come from leave many of us out. They tell a nice story (mommy + daddy + intercourse = you!) but the truth is that more and more of us are acknowledging the help we get to bring children into our lives. That help might be a doctor, fertility clinic, adoption or foster agency; it might be a turkey baster and a friend; it might be a sperm donor or a surrogate. What Makes a Baby helps parents tell children a story about where they came from that isn’t just true for them, but true for everyone.
Crafted for children roughly from pre-school to 8-years-old, What Makes a Baby is written and illustrated to include all kinds of kids, all kinds of adults, and all kinds of families - regardless of how many people were involved, what the orientation, gender identity, or other make up of the family is, or how it came to be that way. It's a social justice approach to sex education. Like all picture books, it's meant to be read to a child and gives the adult reader the opportunity to fill in as much detail as they would like.
Written by a certified sexuality educator, Cory Silverberg, and illustrated by award-winning Canadian artist Fiona Smyth, What Makes a Baby is being designed and produced with the help of Zab Design & Typography and will be an exquisitely made hardcover picture book. 32 pages and full color, it will be as fun to look at as it is useful to read.
It's an interesting concept to say the least. But to exploit this book to push a notion that gays are declaring war on the so-called traditional way of creating children? Not so interesting. In fact, it's downright foul.
Last week, the Southern Poverty Law named 11 new anti-gay hate groups, including one which you may recognize. From Think Progress comes the list:
United Families International (Gilbert, AZ): This group backed the sodomy laws ruled unconstitutional in the Lawrence v. Texas case and has argued “No one is ‘born that way.’ Policies that would normalize homosexuality by equating homosexual behavior with innate characteristics such as race or ethnicity should be opposed.”
Save California (Sacramento, CA): The group is leading the charge to repeal California’s FAIR Education Act, hoping to stop teachers from “kidnapping the brains of kids” by teaching about the contributions of LGBT Americans. Save California’s head, Randy Thomasson, blamed a bullied and murdered gay teen for his own death.
Sons of Thundr (Faith Baptist Church) (Luthersville, GA): The church’s website feautures a “sodomites can be saved” section which claims “ALL HOMOS ARE: SICK, BRAIN DAMAGED, PERVERTS!”
You Can Run, But You Cannot Hide (Annandale, MN). Bradlee Dean, the group’s president and CEO, has said, “The gay ‘movement’ is part of a sexual revolution that has stripped sexuality of all moral significance for an entire generation. We cannot accept the physical prosecution of homosexuals and we cannot accept the proposal that homosexuality is either private or moral,” but notes he is opposed to actually executing LGBT citizens.
Parents Action League (Champlin, MN): A small group of parents in the bullying-riddled Anoka-Hennepin School District want to require schools to teach that AIDS is a gay disease and to promote harmful and ineffective ex-gay therapy.
Jewish Political Action Committee (Brooklyn, NY): This group claims that marriage equality in New York State has created a “surge” of child molestation and distributes signs that say “G-d sent AIDS to punish male gays.”
Windsor Hills Baptist Church (Oklahoma City, OK): The church’s pastor, Tom Vineyard, argued against an employment non-discrimination proposal by making the bizarre claim that half of all murders in large cities are by gay people.
True Light Pentecost Church (Spartanburg, SC): On the church’s blog, it warns that “The sub-human culture created by the anti-christ and magnified by the Sodomite/Lesbian movement,” has “brought end-time prophecy to a final state,” and encourages followers to “fight the great sodomite/lesbian army.”
Tom Brown Ministries (El Paso, TX): Pastor and exorcist Tom Brown led the charge in El Paso to rescind an employment non-discrimination law he felt was “condoning immorality.” He also preaches that “homosexuality is actually an emotional, psychological disorder brought on early in childhood.”
Public Advocate of the United States (Falls Church, VA): Run by Loudoun County, Virginia Supervisor Eugene Delguaido (R), this group is infamous for its over-the-top anti-gay fundraising letters, including comments like, “As homosexuals die off due to AIDS, the remaining AIDS carriers prey on children to replenish the ‘Homosexual Community.’”
Even as I write this, You Can Run But You Can't Hide is embroiled in an ugly controversy in which it was invited to speak at a Dunkerton, IA high school assembly. Apparently the principal was not aware of the group's reputation. However, he - and the students - became swiftly aware when Dean began spinning lies about the lgbtq community, i.e. the usual Paul Cameronesque nonsense about us not living past 42. And that itself is ironic seeing Dean once conducted an interview with the discredited Cameron in which they traded homophobic conspiracies.
Needless to say neither the principal, nor the students, nor some parents were appreciative of Dean's homophobic vigor. (For video footage of this hot mess, see the site of one of my favorite bloggers, the Arn Anderson to my Tully Blanchard, Jeremy Hooper)
However, these groups are simply cocktail canape to the last group named by SPLC as an anti-gay hate group. We all knew it was coming sooner or later:
Oh Linda, Linda, Linda. You finally made the big-time so to speak. You now are in company with the huge homophobic groups such as the Family Research Council and the American Family Association.
And if you ask me, it couldn't have happened to a more deserving individual. I leave you with probably the main reason why Harvey got the designation, i.e. her admonition against gay and lesbians health practitioners:
Transcript:
How do you feel about open homosexuals tending to your child in a health care setting? Do you think these folks provide good role modeling at a time when your child is very vulnerable? I was thinking about this recently when I heard that Children’s Hospital in Columbus has a homosexual employees group called NCHARGE, which stands for Nationwide Children’s Hospital’s Advocates Representing Gay Employees. The meeting minutes of this groups reveal that they participated in last June’s gay pride parade, that they participated in a health expo on adolescent health this summer and that they’re concerned about same-sex partner benefits. They’re also planning to be identified with rainbow lapel pins.
But let’s say your eleven year-old has broken her leg rather badly and needs to be in the hospital a few days, which would you prefer: a nurse who’s proud of her lesbianism, who has rainbow identifiers on her work clothing, or a nurse who does not?
I would like to suggest that parents think long and hard about this. If you want your children to admire people who proclaim a homosexual lifestyle, they’re involvement with your child during a hospital stay is sure to be an influence. And let me be clear that folks involved in these behaviors can be certainly competent workers but they are tacking on to their workplace identity one that is highly offensive to many people and can be erroneously influential to children who won’t, or shouldn’t, see the whole picture of how this behavior really manifests itself.
Here’s what parents can do: select your pediatrician very carefully, first of all. There are a few homosexual doctors treating kids, there are far more nurses, LPNs, technicians and other health care workers in these lifestyles so you may want to consider writing a letter that you file with your pediatrician that should your child ever be hospitalized, you do not want your child to be treated or cared for by one of these members of the Children’s Hospital gay employees group except in the case of an emergency situation. But for routine in-hospital care where contact with your child would be required, your values should be respected.
I know what you are all thinking because I am thinking it, too. PLEASE Family Research Council, come to the rescue of these groups. I double dare you!
Related post - Rejected ad on anti-gay hate group becomes massive hit - I cannot emphasize this particular post enough. The post above is a perfect reason to call MSNBC to the carpet for featuring Perkins without directing attention to the homophobia he espouses and the junk science his group - FRC - pushes. If you haven't written to MSNBC expressing your displeasure, click on this link to find out how to. And if you have written to MSNBC already, do it again and get your family and friends to do it. It's not about censorship. It's about the integrity of the news media.
With over 28,000 hits in just a few days, it's obvious that the ad's message is resonating
Meanwhile, Perkins has shown that he is aware of the ad and is playing the familiar role as victim. During an interview with the American Family Association president Tim Wildmon (AFA is another SPLC-designated hate group), Perkins had this to say:
Perkins: You might remember the Episcopal Bishop Eugene Robinson who split the Episcopal Church because he’s openly gay and wanted to marry his lover or whatever you call it, and he gathered 20,000 signatures and presented them to MSNBC demanding that they keep me off of MSNBC because you know I’m on there you know talking about politics or whatever and usually it’s nothing to do with homosexuality, they just don’t want anybody who does have views that are counter to theirs.
Wildmon: I’ll tell you what, you’re in good company, the other day Kirk Cameron went on Piers Morgan on CNN, and man, Piers Morgan asked him a question about homosexuality, he said it was ‘unnatural,’ he just got torched.
Perkins: I talked to Kirk, I talked to him yesterday actually I was actually interestingly enough I was coming out of MSNBC where I was on yesterday with Martin Bashir, and I would actually encourage folks to go watch that interview that I did with him—they have it on their homepage; at least they did this morning on MSNBC—and thank them for allowing a balanced discussion. Obviously Martin did not agree with me but we had a very civil discussion on the issues and I tell you what I have to respect MSNBC for allowing debate and not buckling under the pressure of a loudmouth, Soros-funded group that is simply trying to silence the public debate over important public policy issues, so I will have to come to the defense of MSNBC for not buckling under that pressure.
The fact that Perkins isn't talking about gay issues per se only proves the point that maybe MSNBC doesn't necessarily see him as an expert on the subject.
But the entire issue is about news integrity. Would MSNBC have David Duke on its program talking politics even if he wasn't commenting on African-American issues? Would it have a Holocaust denier talking political issues?
The irony is that for all of his talk about a "debate," Perkins has had the luxury of not debating the issue his organization is famous for defaming - i.e. gay equality.
Other than one debate with Mark Potok of SPLC (in which he was caught citing a sham medical organization) and extremely friendly question-and-answer sessions on Fox News, neither Perkins nor other FRC spokespeople have been taken to task for their attacks on the lgbtq community or their usage of junk science and cherry-picking of legitimate science.
At the most, there should have been a roundtable discussion on it conducted by someone like Rachel Maddow or Howard Kutz and at the very least, it would have been nice for Keith Olbermann to devote a commentary on it.
The lack of attention to this issues sends a negative message to my lgbtq brothers and sisters; that those who cause us problems through lies and junk science are handled with kid gloves by the news media.
Therefore, I propose that we take the homophobic bull by the horns and slam it down.
The subject line allows you to contact any show featured on MSNBC. I suggest that you go to either Chris Matthews or Rachel Maddow. When writing your comment, please be polite but firm. Ask why does MSNBC give Tony Perkins a platform or demand that more attention be paid to how his organization demonizes the lgbtq community.
For all of their talking about morality and following God's laws, religious right groups seem to throw these things out of the window when it doesn't suit their purposes, particularly the commandment about not bearing false witness.
The lgbtq community know this hypocrisy very well since we tend to be the recipients of the religious right's lying vitriol.
But now they have a new target - Sandra Fluke. Fluke, who was venomously attacked by Rush Limbaugh two weeks ago for her testimony in front of Congress regarding contraception, now have members of the religious right smearing her name.
Spokespersons from groups like the American Family Association, Family Research Council, Liberty Counsel and the National Organization for Marriage have come to Rush’s defense while continuing to demonize Fluke as an immoral and promiscuous “sexual anarchist.”
These groups include:
The American Family Association:
AFA’s Bryan Fischer: Fluke “Sleeping With So Many Guys That She Can’t Keep Track.” During the March 7 edition of his Focal Point radio show, American Family Association (AFA) spokesman Bryan Fischer said:
FISCHER: To think that you would have a leftist like the President of the United States saying that the parents of a woman who goes on national TV, admits that she’s sleeping with so many guys that she can’t keep track, doing it three time a day, running out of money, driving me to the poor house, and to think that parents, he’s saying that parents ought to be proud of that. You know, I just wonder if he would be proud if his daughters were doing the same thing. Would he be proud of his daughters going on national TV to say the same thing? [AFA’s Focal Point, 3/7/12]
My post last week featuring the Unsung documentary on Sylvester was such a hit that I wanted to post another Unsung documentary on another gay artist.
Billy Preston was a legendary keyboardist who at one time was called The Fifth Beatle. He embarked on a monumentally successful solo career before being sidetracked and unfortunately destroyed by drug abuse.
And yes, as the documentary pointed out, he was openly gay:
In newest issue of the Intelligence Report, the Southern Poverty Law Center has focused on the purveyors of anti-gay junk science - i.e. the shell groups and sham organizations created to give these inaccuracies a veneer of credibility. These articles are required reading for all of us in the lgbtq community as well as those interested in exposing the tools used by the religious right to demonize the lgbtq community: NARTH Becomes Main Source for Anti-Gay ‘Junk Science’
Pope denounces U.S. political push to legalize gay marriage - With respect to the Pope, this is a secular issue and he should be advised that we are no longer in the Middle Ages where the church, particularly the Catholic Church, had a say in secular laws.
A recent article in the American Family Association's One News Now more than illustrates how the organization bends over backwards with other so-called morality groups to obscure the truth about a critical issue.
The Anoka-Hennepin school district in Minnesota has been in the media because its negative treatment of gay students and its inability to combat the bullying of these students. Recently, the district settled a brought by six students.
Until Tuesday, the Anoka-Hennepin school district, north of Minneapolis, was known for a virulent clash over the rights of bullied gay students. Now the district has agreed to change its approach to handling anti-gay harassment and to teaching students about gender and sexuality in the classroom. It’s a local shift that’s also about something bigger. The growing recognition that students should be protected from bullying is forcing schools and communities to make space for students to be themselves—whether they are gay or perceived as gay or just don’t act the way other people expect a boy or a girl to behave. The Anoka-Hennepin schools, like some other districts, are making that space in the face of heated opposition from local conservative Christians.
Here’s the history: In the last few years, LGBT and gender-bending students in the Anoka-Hennepin district have reported being mocked, urinated on, and physically harmed by their classmates, and nine students, four of whom identified as gay, took their own lives. In 2011, six students represented by the Southern Poverty Law Center and the National Center for Lesbian Rights sued the school district, which serves 39,000 students and is represented in Congress by Michele Bachmann. The students’ lawsuit described an “epidemic of anti-gay and gender-based harassment within District schools” that was “rooted in and encouraged by official District-wide policies singling out and denigrating LGBT people.” The Obama Justice Department investigated and found that sex-based harassment was creating a “hostile environment,” because the physical and verbal bullying was severe and pervasive.
At first, the school board stood by a curriculum policy passed in 2009, which on paper instructed teachers to “remain neutral” about sexual orientation and in practice operated as a gag order. Teachers were required to refrain from saying that being gay is not a choice, even if they were quoting the position of the American Psychological Association. When history teachers included gay rights in a unit about how the strategies of the black civil rights groups influenced subsequent movements, the district deleted the reference. For a staff diversity training session, the district rejected a book called How Homophobia Hurts Children because it did not “include an opposing viewpoint.” The schools also scrubbed LBGT support services, like a gay and lesbian helpline, from the list of health resources given to students. And a conservative Christian parents’ group called the Parents Action League pushed for teaching gay students about “reparative therapy”—how to root out their homosexuality—by promoting groups that treat it as a sin against the will of God. In 2010 the head of the group told the Minnesota Independent that LGBT students had killed themselves not because of bullying, but because of “homosexual indoctrination” and their own “unhealthy lifestyle.” (The statewide sponsor of the Parents Action League is a group called the Minnesota Family Council; last spring, Bachmannn and Newt Gingrich were the headline speakers for an MFC fundraiser.)
So how did One News Now cover this issue? Did the publication focus on the students? Did it go into detail like Slate?
Just something to remind all of my readers (Thank you all so much by the way!My blog is swiftly headed towards 1,000,000 hits!) that I don't always focus on religious right groups. The following is intended to lift your spirits as well as remind you that no fight worth fighting for is going to be easy. But the benefits always outweigh the costs:
