most people would temper that type of talk to protect the brand. phil just doesn't give a shit. i respect that.
I knew this whole thing was a marketing ploy once all this shit hit the fan near last Christmas shopping season and I saw Duck Dynasty items everwhere. I don't doubt that an old religious guy from the South has pretty negative feeling towards gays, but I don't doubt that the timing of when the big controversy hit was anything but coincidental.
I don't know. I think you are selling the vast array of UFO shows currently airing on the History Channel. Hard hitting stuff there. Makes me pine for the days when my fellow history grad students derisively called it the "Nazi History Channel".
Here is some interesting info I've discovered that's been very eye opening in what appears to be a large cultural shift in the view of homosexuality in America. There was a book written in 1989 called "After the Ball: How America Will Conquer Its Fear and Hatred of Gays in the 90's". It followed a conference in 1988 in Warrenton, VA by gay intellectuals discussing ways to change America's perceptions of the gay community which was preceded by article written in 87 by one of the authors of the book and another person arguing that gays must portray themselves in a positive way to straight America, and that the main aim of making homosexuality acceptable could be achieved by getting Americans to think that it is just another thing, with a shrug of their shoulders. Then your battle for legal and social rights is virtually won From the book flap: "Dismissing the movement's outworn techniques in favor of carefully calculated public relations propaganda, "after the ball" unveils the key psychological principles and national strategies that gays must follow..." Kirk and Madsen propose a clear-eyed agenda to reform gay culture..." One of the writers was a former madison ave ad exec who used the same strategies to influence buyers to change the public's view of the gay community. It was essentially a call to arms for tactics to use on straight America by the gay community and strategy for a massive media campaign to invade the spheres of influence in America. There is a 6 point plan in the book: Talk about gays and gayness as loudly and as often as possible Portray gays as victims, not as aggressive challengers Give homosexual protectors a just cause Make gays look good Make the victimizers look bad Get funds from corporate America According to Gallup American's think 20-30% of the population is gay. A study by UNC-Chapel Hill... National longitudinal study adolescent males... states that based on their research 2-3% of the population is gay and 3% that said they were gay at 17 identified themselves as heterosexual by 23. This is stuff I've never heard of and found very interesting.
it's pretty well documented that the 15% number for gays is vastly overstated. i don't for a second believe that a high percentage is saying they are gay and then turning hetero. it just doesn't make any sense. my wife and i were watching the next foodnetwork star and at least 50% of the male contestants were gay and the network is run by a gay male and in the past he's always been very pro the gay contestants. I was saying to my wife that if I was one of these people worried about gay culture being perpetuated that this would be a nice example of that.
Here is a link to an article from 2004 about the book. http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1147428/posts
Here are some highlights in the article with quotes from the book. "In practical terms, this means that cocky mustachioed leather-men, drag queens, and bull dykes would not appear in gay commercials and other public presentations. Conventional young people, middle-age women, and older folks of all races would be featured, not to mention the parents and straight friends of gays." Furthermore, "It cannot go without saying, incidentally, that groups on the farthest margins of acceptability, such as NAMBLA [North American Man-Boy Love Association], must play no part at all in such a campaign. Suspected child molesters will never look like victims." What about the origin of sexual orientation? The success of the homosexual movement can be largely traced to the very idea of "orientation" itself. More precisely, homosexuals advanced their cause by arguing that they were born that way. Madsen and Kirk offer this as candid public relations advice. "We argue that, for all practical purposes, gays should be considered to have been born gay--even though sexual orientation, for most humans, seems to be the product of a complex interaction between innate predispositions and environmental factors during childhood and early adolescence." Alas, "To suggest in public that homosexuality might be chosen is to open the can of worms labeled 'moral choices and sin' and give the religious intransigents a stick to beat us with. Straights must be taught that it is as natural for some persons to be homosexual as it is for others to be heterosexual: wickedness and seduction have nothing to do with it."
continued: Conservative churches, defined by the authors as "homohating" are portrayed as "antiquated backwaters, badly out of step with the times and with the latest findings of psychology." There can be no doubt that Christianity represents the greatest obstacle to the normalization of homosexual behavior. It cannot be otherwise, because of the clear biblical teachings concerning the inherent sinfulness of homosexuality in all forms, and the normativity of heterosexual marriage. In order to counter this obstacle, Kirk and Madsen advised gays to "use talk to muddy the moral waters, that is, to undercut the rationalizations that 'justify' religious bigotry and to jam some of its psychic rewards." How can this be done? "This entails publicizing support by moderate churches and raising serious theological objections to conservative biblical teachings. It also means exposing the inconsistency and hatred underlying antigay doctrines."
JZ, it is impossible for me to take this book seriously. Homosexuality is not the bogeyman, and it has been around a lot longer than Christianity. But then, what am I saying? The Bible says I should be stoned and killed too so I guess I am next if I don't get back in line. Good grief.
giving the gays an awful lot of credit. what secret gay council is implementing these suggestions? we'd have to be talking about a multi generational huge organization with a huge financial backing.
I don't see how anyone could believe the whole gay conspiracy thing if they ever grew up with or really knew a gay person. They don't wake up and decide to make their life 10 times harder.
And gay men and lesbians all getting along and on the same page. Do they think gay people all get along or agree about even most things? They are as random a collection of opinions and personalities as any group. More random than this forum.
