There is a picture of rainbow house floating around the Internet right now that puts all other rainbow pictures to shame.
Granted, the picture itself is not the whole story.
For that, a simple Google search will fill in the rest.
The rainbow house is across the street from Westboro Baptist Church, which is the group that claims American military deaths are punishment for accepting homosexuals.
Not only does it feature a spiffy new paint job, but it will have a 30-foot flagpole with a pride flag adorning it.
To top it all off, the man who started this project, Aaron Jackson, is planning to make the house a gay-rights center.
Personally, I find this to be a brilliant way of fighting WBC.
Although the intent is confrontational, the painting and re-purposing of the house itself is not.
There might be some zoning laws or aesthetic requirements that are not met.
But those are the only things I can think of that would unhinge this plan.
The good the center can do will slightly offset the harm WBC inflicts upon everyone who must endure its hate instead of merely adding his voice to the cacophony of this debate — which we’re late to the party to, anyway.
Most “civilized” countries have already settled this issue — Jackson was proactive and emphasized his words through action.
Although there is some truth to fighting fire — or in this case, hate — with fire, the fairy-tale virtue of love conquering all proves itself true in circumstances like these.
I went to a counterprotest of WBC when it appeared in Gainesville a few years ago.
Although never seeing any members of WBC or even seeing a controversy, the counterprotest became a celebration.
Anyone on the fence about the debate would have been inspired.
They would have seen how ineffective WBC’s way of spreading its message truly is.
Raising up everyone is much more productive than tearing down those who already deal with enough negativity.
What astounds me, though, is some of the comments this story is getting.
One user complained the seller of the house did not get his asking price for the house.
He then proceeded to insult Jackson for using the reduced price he eventually paid as self-glorification.
If this was Jackson’s first altruistic project, it might have some truth.
It doesn’t, though.
Jackson has a litany of other works that show this is not a single event.
Other comments claim this only helps WBC by giving it publicity, which is true on a small, mostly irrelevant level.
Even so, I see that argument and raise that it works in reverse just as easily.
Now when news stations get a shot of WBC’s headquarters, they can occasionally get the center in the frame as well.
Normally, Internet comments lack merit and should be disregarded.
But not the comments on our opinion columns.
I enjoy reading those because they are usually thought out and present interesting and unique viewpoints that augment the article.
But there was something that struck me when it came to this.
Here we have someone, the commenter, going out of his or her way to combat hate without adding more hate to the discussion.
Yet, there are still those who try to find something wrong with it.
I know Darts & Laurels is for the editorial, but I’d definitely like to add a LAUREL of my own to Jackson and what he does — be it promoting gay rights or any of his other projects.
We need more doing instead of just talking.
Logan Ladnyk is a journalism junior at UF. His column runs on Fridays. You can contact him via opinions@alligator.org.
