In his early movie, Bananas, Woody Allen’s character Fielding Mellish complains:

This trial is a travesty. It’s a travesty of a mockery of a sham of a mockery of a travesty of two mockeries of a sham.

The vocabulary has been adapted recently by a Miller Beer ad which spoofs a political debate in which the exasperated candidate has exhausted his time:

Candidate: This whole thing is a travesty and a sham and a mockery! It’s a TRAVISHAMOCKERY!
Moderator: No making up words.
Candidate: Burgleflickle!

(You can watch the commercial here after supplying age information.)

In its press release marking the first same-sex marriages in Massachusetts on Monday, Exodus spokesman Randy Thomas sounds exasperated, too.

  • “This is a travesty for the American people…”
  • “…legal chaos for years to come…”
  • “This mockery also extends to [gays] deluded into thinking homosexual marriage brings fulfillment…”

And he one-ups Donald Rumsfeld’s “body blow” language, saying “the legalization of same-sex marriage is a deathblow to children.”

Alan Chambers suggests that, had gay marriage been available then, he might have married and divorced multiple times during the year and a half in which he lived as an openly gay man.

When it comes time to wrap up its gloomy predictions, though, the press release takes a sudden turn:

If and when the Federal Marriage Amendment passes the resulting state ratification process will lead to truly intelligent debate… When each state legislature debates the ratification of the amendment they will not only shed light on true tolerance for the same sex attracted but will also take back and preserve what marriage has always been.

Years of legal and moral chaos? Nah… intelligent debate!

Deathblow to children? Nah… true tolerance!

Travishamockery? Burgleflickle!

— Steve B.

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