Interest Groups: How they Relate to Mean Girls

Hey, it's Nat again, and I decided to make references to make new political terms easier to understand. So, have you ever watched Mean Girls? If you have you've got to remember the lunchroom scene, where each clique has their own table and their own nicknames: the Cool Asians, the Burnouts, the Plastics, etc. Each little clique is like their own interest group; they band together because of a similarity and do things to try to benefit themselves, like how Janis makes Cady infiltrate the Plastics to get want she wants.

A more real example of an interest group is the Human Rights Campaign (HRC). The Human Rights Campaign supports LGBT rights and makes sure to ensure them by lobbying (influencing politicians to vote in favor of what they want). For example, one recent case that greatly benefitted them is voters in Massachusetts voted in favor that transgender people have the right to use any public accommodations.

The HRC is a more liberal interest group; they want to help LGBT people gain the same equality that cisgender people have. The reason why the HRC exists is for "...a world where LGBTQ people are ensured of their basic rights..." They want to strive for equality, the most essential characteristic which Liberals stand for (find out more about them in this video). Unlike another conservative interest group, Mass Resistance, who think giving LGBT people rights is a threat of traditional values. They are a conservative group because they believe that tradition is the best way to keep the country afloat. Their perspective on the same issue (transgender people have the right to use any public accommodations), was a stark contrast to the HRC's. They advocated against the law with the phrase "Stop Trans-Insanity" instead of supporting transgender people getting equal rights as cisgender people.   

The author of the post never seems to acknowledge why their opinion is justified. Why is gay marriage such a threat to them? How does it negatively affect traditional values? With an explanation as to why giving LGBT rights threatens traditional values, they can probably gain support from not only more conservative people but from another political ideology, Devout and Diverse, who are religious Democrats. 

But, one thing the author did well was using pathos to invoke an emotional response from readers. They used words like "assaults," "threats," and even "unconstitutional" to persuade readers that giving LGBT people rights is not only threatening the way we live, but it is also illegal. The first 2 words make LGBT rights seem like they can harm society; allowing them to be made will inflict trauma on America. The last, "unconstitutional," riles up people to stand for what is lawful, and in this case, it is stopping LGBT rights from being made. 

Though there are benefits to having interests groups, like having your perspective be broadcast, there are also downfalls. If your view does not coincide with what a majority of the people believe now, it will not be represented equally. For example, society in general now is more pro-LGBT, so there are more initiatives being made to give LGBT people equal rights instead of taking away them like what more socially conservative people want.

All in all, Interest Groups are a group of people who share a similar perspective on a certain issue. To get their point across, they persuade other politicians to vote their way during important elections (lobbying).