Wednesday, November 10, 2004
The Love That Dare Not Annoy More Conventional Folks
There are a few issues that I’m just not really excited about. The death penalty is one. Another is Gay Marriage.
As a libertarian, by default I believe in everyone’s right to live their life as they choose with the qualification that they not impose their will upon others through force or fraud. Fairness and “justice” should, of course, afford everyone the right to marry who they choose – legally or otherwise. None the less, “gay marriage” is a new concept for most people.
If one believes some talking heads’ analysis of the recent election, then “homophobia” is now progressing to the pogrom stage of hate and tyranny. Contrary to this typical pseudo-rebel overreaction, I’d suggest that the rejection of gay marriage by the voters of the last election was not “turning the clock back.” It was a rejection of adopting a radical new standard whose time may just not have come yet.
I have a few friends passionately devoted to “gay issues,” by and large because it’s just another symbol of political chic for them to espouse. They certainly don’t practice “tolerance” or “acceptance” of several other groups within humanity. Some who preach such tolerance toward politically correct groups are incredibly intolerant, and even hateful, to members of groups they see as too conventional or average. In their predictable rants one finds invective for anyone who is white, male, middle-class, religious, or republican.
I’m going to suggest that a good portion of those who recently voted against gay marriage are not “full of hate.” An easier “sell” of the issue would have probably gone a long way in attaining some incremental success. The left always demands that the world be turned upside down and when some are slow to follow they spew their usual rant about “hate” and “right wing extremists.” No, rejection of radical change in society’s social standards is not akin to a “return to Jim Crow laws.” It’s not a “return” to anything. Advocates are demanding something with rare modern precedents.
I think most people, myself included, really don’t care who gets married to whom. Of course, the issue itself is far more “nuanced,” to use the new popular euphemism of partisan polemics. Legal issues of marriage, divorce, custody, and insurance etc. call for official recognition if “gay unions” are to become fully legitimate. Like other issues in the last election, the Left overstated its case and is currently over reacting to its rejection. Most American’s born and raised on Hollywood proselytizing have certainly come to realize that there are many among us whose lifestyles or social arrangements are not “conventional,” but…
The truth is, -- and gay advocates hate this -- homosexuality is still a marginal value system (or determined tendency). Aside from some much-touted minor and often questionable examples, most cultures throughout human history have, at best, reluctantly accepted it as a deviation from some written or unwritten norm. More typically, homosexuality has been rejected outright, as everything from a bizarre curiosity to perverse “sin” (and no, the Christians aren’t alone on this) -- most places are not Lesbos over two millennia ago. There are always standards of what is “normal, acceptable,” or “socially tolerable.”
Every “nerd” (myself included) has learned to moderate his or her eccentricities somewhat. Deviate too far from the norm and one is bound to experience some negative response, or at least a noticeable lack of favoritism. With the “advocates for social change” though, this issue is always a life or death “struggle.”
Out of a population of 280 million, if a few psychos commit an act of violence against a Muslim or gay, expect to see it touted as an example of a “culture of hatred and violence.”
The advocates of social change would be wise to adopt some of the very “tolerance” they demand of others when perusing radical change. Those who defend the standard of a traditional family unit have their own valid concerns regarding the world they’re raising children in. Such positions on the issue are simply brushed off as “narrow-minded,” “homophobic,” or hateful by many in the social advocacy crowd. Calling more traditionally minded people “fascists” and conjuring fictional nightmare episodes of oppression isn’t going to win adherents to the cause.
If the avant-garde rebels of Hollywood and academia were wiser, they may see some value in tempering their demands on a society that isn’t quite ready for an instant transformation from the social template of millennia.
There are a few countries -- very few – that have adopted liberal laws regarding gay marriage. When America also adopts such laws, as they surely will, it will still be among a minority of nations in the world to do so. It may be surprising to some left wing social advocates, but such an expansion in civil rights is not likely to occur in the Muslim countries that they so vocally side with when deriding our own culture.
America is a radically different country than it was a few decades ago. Its strength has always been an incredible adaptibity to change and ever-greater openness to new ideas and values. The left of course, would deny this and claim that we’re perpetually returning to some 1950’s style “conservatism.” Any honest appraisal, of course, knows this is nonsense.
Contemporary America is one of the most open and diverse societies in human history. The fact that it has failed to fully sanction a contempory fringe interest hardly makes it a gulag, and chastising more conventional values will only slow the progress toward change that some may seek.
As a libertarian, by default I believe in everyone’s right to live their life as they choose with the qualification that they not impose their will upon others through force or fraud. Fairness and “justice” should, of course, afford everyone the right to marry who they choose – legally or otherwise. None the less, “gay marriage” is a new concept for most people.
If one believes some talking heads’ analysis of the recent election, then “homophobia” is now progressing to the pogrom stage of hate and tyranny. Contrary to this typical pseudo-rebel overreaction, I’d suggest that the rejection of gay marriage by the voters of the last election was not “turning the clock back.” It was a rejection of adopting a radical new standard whose time may just not have come yet.
I have a few friends passionately devoted to “gay issues,” by and large because it’s just another symbol of political chic for them to espouse. They certainly don’t practice “tolerance” or “acceptance” of several other groups within humanity. Some who preach such tolerance toward politically correct groups are incredibly intolerant, and even hateful, to members of groups they see as too conventional or average. In their predictable rants one finds invective for anyone who is white, male, middle-class, religious, or republican.
I’m going to suggest that a good portion of those who recently voted against gay marriage are not “full of hate.” An easier “sell” of the issue would have probably gone a long way in attaining some incremental success. The left always demands that the world be turned upside down and when some are slow to follow they spew their usual rant about “hate” and “right wing extremists.” No, rejection of radical change in society’s social standards is not akin to a “return to Jim Crow laws.” It’s not a “return” to anything. Advocates are demanding something with rare modern precedents.
I think most people, myself included, really don’t care who gets married to whom. Of course, the issue itself is far more “nuanced,” to use the new popular euphemism of partisan polemics. Legal issues of marriage, divorce, custody, and insurance etc. call for official recognition if “gay unions” are to become fully legitimate. Like other issues in the last election, the Left overstated its case and is currently over reacting to its rejection. Most American’s born and raised on Hollywood proselytizing have certainly come to realize that there are many among us whose lifestyles or social arrangements are not “conventional,” but…
The truth is, -- and gay advocates hate this -- homosexuality is still a marginal value system (or determined tendency). Aside from some much-touted minor and often questionable examples, most cultures throughout human history have, at best, reluctantly accepted it as a deviation from some written or unwritten norm. More typically, homosexuality has been rejected outright, as everything from a bizarre curiosity to perverse “sin” (and no, the Christians aren’t alone on this) -- most places are not Lesbos over two millennia ago. There are always standards of what is “normal, acceptable,” or “socially tolerable.”
Every “nerd” (myself included) has learned to moderate his or her eccentricities somewhat. Deviate too far from the norm and one is bound to experience some negative response, or at least a noticeable lack of favoritism. With the “advocates for social change” though, this issue is always a life or death “struggle.”
Out of a population of 280 million, if a few psychos commit an act of violence against a Muslim or gay, expect to see it touted as an example of a “culture of hatred and violence.”
The advocates of social change would be wise to adopt some of the very “tolerance” they demand of others when perusing radical change. Those who defend the standard of a traditional family unit have their own valid concerns regarding the world they’re raising children in. Such positions on the issue are simply brushed off as “narrow-minded,” “homophobic,” or hateful by many in the social advocacy crowd. Calling more traditionally minded people “fascists” and conjuring fictional nightmare episodes of oppression isn’t going to win adherents to the cause.
If the avant-garde rebels of Hollywood and academia were wiser, they may see some value in tempering their demands on a society that isn’t quite ready for an instant transformation from the social template of millennia.
There are a few countries -- very few – that have adopted liberal laws regarding gay marriage. When America also adopts such laws, as they surely will, it will still be among a minority of nations in the world to do so. It may be surprising to some left wing social advocates, but such an expansion in civil rights is not likely to occur in the Muslim countries that they so vocally side with when deriding our own culture.
America is a radically different country than it was a few decades ago. Its strength has always been an incredible adaptibity to change and ever-greater openness to new ideas and values. The left of course, would deny this and claim that we’re perpetually returning to some 1950’s style “conservatism.” Any honest appraisal, of course, knows this is nonsense.
Contemporary America is one of the most open and diverse societies in human history. The fact that it has failed to fully sanction a contempory fringe interest hardly makes it a gulag, and chastising more conventional values will only slow the progress toward change that some may seek.
