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28 November 2003 
Some Old Farts Are More Dangerous Than Others
Colby Cosh on the Spencer affair:
Peter Mackay inadvertently confirmed yesterday how insane our approach to these little dustups is: "I'm shocked, frankly, that a person would have those thoughts, let alone express them in such a fashion," he said. Q: is Peter Mackay a retard? He's shocked that anyone could contemplate proscribing homosexuality by law, despite having been born in a country where it was illegal. He's shocked that an old man confused by the rapid acceptance of gay sex would be attracted to nutty explanations for it, or that anyone would believe homosexuality is inculcated by nurture rather than nature, which was a near-universal belief until about last week. Sorry, I call bullshit. This is not a case of being "shocked": this is a case of a country, and a political class, having arrived at a certain moral position and trying to secure it by pretending that things were always this way.Just a suggestion, but if you're going to chastise people for expressing shock at the discovery that a sexagenarian holds homophobic views, it might help your case if you didn't at the same time get exercised about a politician who is not being completely honest and sincere in his statements.
But even aside from that quibble, I don't get Colby's "frustration at forty-year-old people pretending that they've never talked to a batty older person in their f***ing lives." Speaking for myself (and while neither shock nor even surprise is the emotion I am feeling) what bothers me is not that a batty older person went off on a homophobic rant. Given that alone, yes, amusement or maybe even understanding and sympathy would be more appropriate reactions. What bothers me is that this particular senior citizen is a prominent member of a party that hopes to become the government in the next election. There's a difference in what I will tolerate from "some old fart" and an old fart who might soon be writing laws in Ottawa.
09:06 PM |
Church and State
I said in last night's post that Larry Spencer had "apparently advocated the locking up of" homosexuals. It turns out I was wise to include the weasely "apparently." In fact, while saying he would support a bill criminalizing gay sexual activity, he also said:
I wouldn't even suggest that there would be a penalty. I just think it's so sad that we have to take an issue like this and be asked to put the Good Housekeeping seal of approval on it without being allowed to tell the truth and talk about facts.So the case is slightly different. Instead of a consistent position arguing that the behavior is an objective danger that therefore needs to be outlawed, Spencer's stance has a more explicitly religious flavor: he just wants his moral code given the imprimatur of the state. Not content to practice and preach his ideas privately, he wants the feelings of power and moral superiority that go with his opinion being given the sanction of the government. Sorry Larry, there's a reason we have two different words for Church and State: they're different things. Keep your religion out of my bedroom.
02:08 PM |
Confusion Corner
tenet. n. An opinion, doctrine, or principle held as being true by a person or especially by an organization.
tenant. n. 1. One that pays rent to use or occupy land, a building, or other property owned by another. 2. A dweller in a place; an occupant.
Challenging someone's tenants, therefore, is very different from challenging his tenets.
That is all.
10:12 AM |