on activism

So a Malaysian minister has directed the executive branch to replace any copy of "LGBT" with the copy "deviant culture". The policy device is well known on earth, and the policy direction is well known to Malaysians : and now they come together. 

Setting aside discussion about how likely the policy is to achieve its ends, my thoughts go to the activists in Malaysia's LGBT community. In the past I have found that some of them assert appeals "from empathy", but I believe that approach is strategically ineffective. 

The nature of pain is that it is subjective. Everyone can claim to be in pain, whether it is actually true or false. So it is an appeal which leaves all parties back where they start, in a state of equal competition. 

If activists for, and against, a cause, are to make progress, each in their opposing directions, they must appeal to material arguments. It is no good to yell and hope the other party will change their mind. As already stated, appeals to empathy fall under this category of argument. Each party must be familiar with material devices of law, politics, economy, technology, and physics.

Only materially informed arguments have any strategic advantage.