I flatly refuse to grant the proposition that a relatively weak social position in any way removes the need for common courtesy either as a social standard or as a key component of a persuasive argument. It is both uncivilized and counter-productive. We will have to agree to disagree on this as I find her behavior inexcusable.
As far as the problem with the proposition that the civil rights movement provides encouraging precedent for the idea that screaming like a madwoman is helpful, Frederick Douglass changed more minds by proving that a black man could be an educated, intelligent, eloquent, civilized human being than any number of people screaming could ever have hoped for. Booker T. Washington did more to turn generations of black children into educated, intelligent, eloquent, civilized adults than any number of people screaming at the President. Rosa Parks was one of many to be arrested, but she did it building on a century of reasonable, civil discourse, and she did it with a quiet dignity Gutierrez has explicitly rejected. Granted, Gutierrez is not the Angela Davis or John Brown of the comparison, but she's clearly gone well out of her way to not mimic the celebrated heroes of the civil rights movement. She has created a fair bit of celebrity, though. I wonder how long until the book deal occurs?
With MLK on the brain as somebody who did things very differently from Gutierrez, keep in mind that he was named for a guy who broke in half arguably the most powerful church the world will ever see without interrupting the Pope for a screaming session. Five hundred years later we know who he is because of the quiet dignity of "Here I stand. I can do no other." Admittedly, Luther reserved his ranting for the Jews, who he clearly had outgunned. When dealing with power he was unfailingly polite, and it worked. While it's true that people took up arms in his cause, and that their motives were varied, the fact is that Luther kept his cool in a way that we already know Gutierrez either can't or won't, and that's what got him taken seriously enough to make the changes he wanted. I really can't think of a struggle which overall doesn't actively destroy the idea that less power translates into less need to at least try to look like a grown-up.
Joe Wilson is the perfect comparison because a straight white male got labeled an idiot for screaming at the POTUS like a lunatic. Even people who agreed with his sentiment crapped all over him for the way he expressed it. My understanding is that we have a long list of stupid things straight white men can do and get away with *NOT* being called idiots for doing, and a very short list of things which go the other way. I'm not really inclined to agree that something stupid somehow becomes a better idea when society affords you less benefit of the doubt.
Long story short, I wish Gutierrez was championing a cause I not only was not associated with to any degree whatsoever, but one that I actively wanted to fail.
