"Condom Bindaas Bol" And Bill Donohue

"Say Condoms Freely", the slogan for an Indian public awareness campaign designed to encourage the use of condoms has won this year's UN Grand Award, a UN public relations award.

You have to admit "Condom Bindaas Bol" is beyond catchy, it's cool. [No, I don't speak the language, so my pronunciation is probably off but I still love it.] As is the message behind the slogan that 'condom' is not a delicate word and it should be discussed freely.

Which brings us to Bill Donohue and his reaction to Manhattan Mini Storage's temerity to run a billboard with a a factual reproductive health message:

There is a billboard on Manhattan’s West Side Highway, at 44th Street and 12th Avenue, that shows a large wire hanger with the inscription, “Your closet space is shrinking as fast as her right to choose.” The ad was placed by Manhattan Mini Storage, owned by Edison Properties.

Catholic League president Bill Donohue spoke to this issue today:

“New Yorkers are accustomed to Manhattan Mini Storage posting billboards that bash the Bush Administration, but when it makes the leap from partisan politics to crude cultural commentary, it is stepping on dangerous turf. Why a storage company finds the need to advertise its support for abortion is a story all of its own, but when it seeks to depict the pro-life community—which is primarily Catholic and Protestant—as oppressive, then a line has been crossed.

“Those who like this billboard would no doubt be aghast at the sight of a billboard that featured a bloody baby who survived a botched abortion. They would be even more incensed if the picture were accompanied by the remark, ‘This is what happens when abortion fails.’

“Manhattan Mini Storage is not only guilty of crudeness, but of cowardice. To wit: Why didn’t it have the guts to identify the object of her ‘shrinking’ choice?”

This is a good piece of propaganda and your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to go through the statement, examine Mr. Donohue's propaganda technique, and, most importantly, learn from it. Why? Because when combating malignant ideologues [are there any other kind?] like Mr. Donohue reality, facts and righteous indignation are not sufficient. To be effective you have to become thoroughly conversant with the tricks of the trade employed by people like Mr. Donohue.