Well, BT, I see from your "consistency" comment that you completely missed the point of my Red Army comments. I was merely attempting to show that from a military POV, there may be some dubious advantages to be gained from a policy that winks at hazing or looks the other way, whereas there is no conceivable military advantage to having Christian scripture engraved on gunsights. If the Neanderthals who run the military training efforts in the U.S. subscribe to the old-school Red Army view of hazing, then what better way of encouraging it than the Gott-Mit-Uns cultivation of a sectarian Army that still has enough minorities within its ranks to furnish the expendable victims of the hazing process? Weinstein , obviously not a proponent of the virtues of hazing, sees a good reason to link it to the promotion of a religiously sectarian military.
<<If Weinstein was doing this because of idealism and principle he would have filed suit about the sights and let the case make it's way through the courts.>>
More incompetent logic. You might as well argue that if the U.S. were interested in pursuing its wars of unprovoked aggression because of principle and idealism, it would have done so through the courts of international law. If Gandhi were truly interested in Indian independence, rather than being in it purely for the money, he would have litigated it all the way through the courts. If the history of the U.S. civil rights movement teaches us anything, it teaches us that there is a place and a time for litigation and there is a place and a time to take the fight to the streets and/or the media. Weinstein is a fucking lawyer, for christ sake. He is thoroughly aware of the advantages and disadvantages of the courts in promoting his cause, and he chose for reasons best known to him to proceed in the way he felt would be most efficacious for him in his struggle. Since he won what he was after, I am not going to second-guess him now and tell him or anyone else that the court was the proper arena for his struggle.
<<This was a media driven event. And what media events do is publicize an issue and draw attention to the advocacy group pushing the story. >>
You're right, up to a point, but your emphasis is all fucked up and your vision is severely constricted. Here is what media events do:
1. Bring the issue to the attention of the general public, which gets more people drawn into active roles in it (hopefully but not necessarily on the side of the guy seeking the publicity;)
2. Bring the issue to the attention of the guys who should have been watching the store and make them aware that not only is there an issue, but that there is a potential shit-storm of public and/or Federal government outrage hovering over them if they fail to resolve the issue in a way that is perceived to be fair and constitutional.
3. Recruit people to advocacy groups on both sides of the controversy.
For your own very peculiar reasons, you choose to ignore the policy-influencing reasons that most media events are staged for, and treat them mainly as attention-getters for the persons or groups staging them. That is a kind of one-size-fits-all judgment that conservatives are famous for, ("The 'terrorists' hate us for our freedoms.") It's particularly foolish of you where the chosen tactic, (regardless of any other beneficial effects it may have had for Weinstein) resulted in a victory for him, bringing that particular struggle to a successful conclusion that completely by-passed the court system.
<<It was a membership drive and members pay dues.>>
LOL. Like Gandhi's March to the Sea? Like the March on Selma? Get over it, man. Weinstein won. The way he chose to fight was the way that won the battle. If he also happened to pick up more members and more financial support along the way, that is what happens, BT. To the victors belong the spoils. Weinstein's the winner - - should his victory have caused him to lose sponsors and to bleed money? In what crazy world does that happen?
<<Follow the money. >>
LMFAO. What money? You are the one who is bitching in every post about how much money that Jew Weinstein is making out of all this. Time to put up or shut up. How much money IS Weinstein making from all this and how much of it is going to him personally? Where is the Crystal Cathedral of Tomorrow that he built with his ill-gotten gains? Where is the institutional jet? Don't keep us waiting too long, I've gotta see all the money that the Evil Jew Weinstein amassed from his satanic endeavours to separate church and state.