If you haven't seen it by now, Time's new cover calls Obama America's "first gay president." Anyway I thought this was a very cogent analysis of our thoughts on homosexuality in the broader context of American progress. Namely we are taught that America has always moved forward in its thinking about race, gender, sexuality, etc.. When in fact, America largely went backwards during the 1st half of the 20th century and we're only now just recovering. http://www.salon.com/2012/05/14/our_real_first_gay_president/
basso's photo from: http://danieljmitchell.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/clooney-obama.jpg basso, other than the blog http://danieljmitchell.wordpress.com/ , how many other Teabagged blogs do you cycle through in a single day, and what percentage of material from those blogs do you simply repost on clutchfans?
I love how they take five or six concepts that are so contradictory that they can't actually be visually depicted by a professional, full-time artist; so they just write them out on the back of a sedan. "Just so you know this nondescript car is being ridden in by the half-dozen different types of people that would allow this kiddie-drawing to make any sense."
That is the stupidest **** ever. Facial hair? There are 2 basic reasons why Americans retrenched in the early mid 20th century 1) Reconstruction. Jim Crowe and KKK and all that **** was a direct result of the imposition of Reconstruction. When the troops left and the South finally wrested control of their states back they were more racist than ever and, more importantly, conditioned into a completely defensive mindset. That's why you had Richard Russell and the Southern Caucus dominating the Senate for the first half of the 20th century, forever looking backwards and zealously holding onto what little they felt they had. 2) The politicization of homosexuality. Homosexuality is a modern Western invention. Prior to that gay activity existed, for example the Greeks practiced pedastry, segments of modern day Iraq openly accepted bisexuality by its men, but the idea of gay sexual activity as an identity (in particular exclusive from "normal" behavior like also ****ing women, getting married, having kids and fulfilling your normal duties to society) was unknown. When it's just something the your offbeat uncle does with some other dudes and you don't really know what's up that's one thing. When it becomes a political issue (by either side) people draw up sides and get into trenches. Since "progress" is measured by where we currently are, America has always moved forward by the definition of the word. If the US was currently a parochial religious state do you think we'd consider ourselves "regressed" or do you think we'd be convinced we'd moved forward from an aimless, hedonistic, and barbaric time? America supports homosexuality so of course we measure it using that stick and believe we've moved "forward" it's entirely semantic. Society will shift back and forth on all these issues.
I don't know where you get your **** bloop. Anti-homosexuality is not a "modern Western invention". Thanks to some selective readings of Paul and the OT, the Christian establishment did their best to clamp it down or move it out of sight for a good 1000+ years. Before homosexuality became "politicized", it was considered a mental illness. You had butches and effeminates locked up in mental wards and subjected to shock therapy to cure them of their demons. Those who could hide their sexuality didn't choose to be closeted or danced on deliberate ambiguity but rather did so in fear of the consequences. The "politicization" you're referring to is landmark research and the subsequent decision to remove homosexuality from the book of mental disorders. Here, the power of science influenced public opinion, but it wasn't like people were eager to move along with it. People "drew up sides" because there was no longer gut arguments against homosexuality on the basis of "naturalness" or "biology" when the truth told people differently. Where they felt inside is where they stood along the lines. That's a stronger and lasting influence than whatever pendulum shift you're trying to generalize to.