Australia: Martyr complex among "no" voters

[Cecelia]

Traditional Marriage is a word, I find, that religious people use to try to make the position sound stronger than it actually is. Of course, the argument fails as a whole. We're an ever changing culture. Some people want to cling to their old culture, because they find it comfortable and because they find it puts them in a position where they can feel superior. Tradition is a word that means nothing more than "It's been done this way for a long time." Which is itself rather meaningless. Just because something has been done one way for a long time, doesn't mean that changes don't need to be made. We had the institution of slavery for a very long time. For a very long time black people could not marry white people. For a long time, women couldn't vote. I imagine this is the culture some people would like to return to. And it'd be nice if we had a time machine, so we could send them back in time, and then bring forward those who suffered as a result of the views of those in power at the time. It'd be a curious experiment to see, without those to oppress--if their culture would simply find a new group to oppress. I'm almost certain they would. Perhaps it'd even be those who cling to the traditions of the past, and chose to go back in time. After all, they'd be the most different when you remove all else. They'd be a minority--which is what they fear most of all (becoming a minority). They'd be the ones without power, and would make them easy targets. And that's really what it comes down to. Those who have a need to feel superior to others--they need a group to oppress. They need a group who is different -- because how else can they know who to hate?