Make or break.

Help me and Tawn get married.

I chanced upon this blog post one day, thinking how can anyone help with marriage? Then I realized that Tawn and Chris are a gay couple who might be affected by the outcome of a campaign known as Proposition 8.

"Here's how you can help me and Tawn:

Contact the people you know in California - let them know about me and Tawn and that if Proposition 8 passes, we'll be unable to marry in December. Ask them to vote no on the proposition and to talk with their friends, family and fellow citizens, too.

If you are a Californian, talk to people who think differently from you - it is easy to "preach to the choir" but the ones who need to hear form you are the undecided voters, the ones for whom a personal story will make all the difference. Studies have shown that personalizing the issues makes people more supportive of equal rights.

If you are a registered voter in California, remember to vote - right now the proposition is slightly ahead in voter support. To defeat it, we will need ever supporter who is registered to vote to actually get out to the polls. Your vote will count!

Consider contributing to the "No on 8" campaign - They are being outspent by 2-to-1 by donations from outside the state, 30% of which have come from the Mormon Church. I have already made a donation and hope you will join me. Even if you donate just $10, you will help buy valuable television airtime so our side of the debate can be heard. Click here to donate at Equality California's secure website."

Upon reading his post and the various ways to help them, donating to their cause was one option. Chris said that he has made a donation himself, and went on to say why it mattered. Here comes the shocker. The more donations each group has, the more media time they will receive. I never knew that people had to ‘pay’ for media like these. It truly highlights the fact that the rich and powerful are the ones steering the direction of the media. Because the media holds a limited, but still powerful degree of influence, it tends to shape public opinion. It has the power to shape the opinions of the neutral group, as their vote can make or break the entire campaign.

This is media hegemony in place, where the group with less financial power will be silenced. It is exactly why Chris appealed for more help, as he wanted the minority to have a say in the debate. He wanted people to hear, what the minority had to say. Likewise, the lack of coverage on any side would result in voters being skewed to the party that has been mentioned more in the media. This results in priming, which leads to greater awareness of one party over the other, which is rather unfair. It is especially so when only one side of the story is heard, which is made even worse if the message is biased.

Aside from that, Chris has actually mentioned media determinism in his post. He urges Californians to talk to those with a different view. Just like Marshall McLuhan, Chris believes that the medium in which the message is sent makes a whole lot of difference. In fact, Marshall McLuhan believes that "the Medium is the Message". And it is true that the medium makes a whole lot of difference. Chris stands by this concept by asking others to share a personal story. This medium would be much more personal as compared to ads on television, or even an article in the papers. Because afterall, face to face communication is the richest medium that is available.

On another note, my initial intention wasn't to do a post on Chris and Tawn. Instead, I was contemplating of doing something closer to home.. perhaps in reference to this. And this. But I was too much of a chicken. I am the perfect example of the spiral of silence! It states that people have the tendency to refrain from expressing unpopular ideas or views. It is true, I am refraining because I am afraid. Even our own newspapers are not supporting this particular view, there is an utter lack of coverage for the other party. They are working together with majority of the public opinion, effectively silencing the minority, who have thus turned to mediums with more freedom. Likewise, people like Chris have also turned to the internet as it is very effective media channel, and much less restricted than the traditional forms.

Do you think that things would be different if it wasn't for new media channels such as the internet? Well, I certainly do.