You’ve heard of “The Great Schlep,” the Internet phenomenon starring comedian Sarah Silverman and urging grandkids everywhere to get down to Florida to make sure their grandparents vote (presumably for Obama). You probably haven’t heard of “The Great Hack,” so far an Internet non-phenomenon, a valiant effort spearheaded by San Francisco-based comedian Heather Gold to protect the marriage rights of all Californians.  “The Great Hack” urges tech geeks to hack the election and vote “no” on Prop 8.

Check out Gold’s video, which parodies Silverman’s presentation and intonation, with the intent of rallying the geek vote to defeat Prop 8.


The Great Hack from The Great Hack on Vimeo.
 

If you don’t live in California, you probably don’t know about Prop 8. According to Ballotpedia, “Proposition 8 is one of four ballot measures which propose to amend the California state constitution and appears on the ballot titled as Eliminates Right of Same-Sex Couples to Marry. If it passes, it will amend the state constitution to say ‘Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.'”

The proposition is being supported by such groups as the National Organization for Marriage, Focus on the Family, the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America, the Mormons, and evangelical minister Rick Warren. On the opposition side, you have Steven Spielberg, Brad Pitt, Apple, and Google, among others.

To sum up, the purpose of the endeavor is to mobilize a laptop nation on behalf of equal marriage rights.

For the blogger/comedian, it’s totally personal: if Prop 8 passes, Gold’s marriage (which became legal in California on June 17th) to her partner, Stacey will effectively end.  As a newlywed, Gold begs her readers to help her save her marriage.  Or, in Gold’s own words:

“I ask geeks to use their powers for good and defeat prop 8 (copy protection for marriage) on Nov 4th. Join us at thegreathack.com. The people fighting to copy protect marriage spent over $20 Million. We spent $15.80.”

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