High Altitude Attitudes
Diversity seems to scare some people. The thought of being equal to people they look down upon and think of as dirty or "too different" can scare them out of their half-wits. In another sense, this being brought down to the level of the rest of us ordinary sinful mortals makes some people doubt their own religion and forces them to face the fact that perhaps what they believe in is not as sound as they thought - and that the only way to 'save face' is to deny all truth and facts and turn extreme fundamentalist and to look for scapegoats to blame their worldly woes on. This is what seems to be happening in SA and around the world today.
Ten or so years ago the thought of
people of all colours living together in peace and mutual respect and dignity -
with full equal rights - in this country, scared some so much that at the time
of the 1994 elections they had stocked up candles, paraffin, tinned food and of
course, weapons. Membership levels in paramilitary racist fascist groups like
the AWB escalated for some time until these groups went the way of the
dinosaurs. Some people hastily emigrated. (Some still do, joining what is today
called the "chicken run", making jokes like "will the last
person to leave SA please blow out the candle"). That is how some feel
today about "giving" equality to GLBT people - they look down on
those who differ from what they consider to be the "norm" - and thus
to them this high altitude attitude gives them the self-assumed
"right" to persecute.
Back in the late eighties and early
nineties SA churches were polarized by the matter of racial politics. There
were those using the "word of god" in favor of human rights, and
those using the very same "word" of the very same god to justify
apartheid and the "morality" of taking away those human rights. This
trend is today disturbingly familiar, with the very same book being used by
both sides to justify opposing doctrines.
Today instead of black people - it
is the GLBT people running the gauntlet of religious fundamentalism. It is no
longer viewed as politically or even morally correct to attack or criticize
people on the grounds of race - but in some churches, the ordinary pink folk
next door or in the office across the hall are still fair game. These religious
imperialists are dressing their followers in red and declaring open season on
innocent fellow citizens. In many ways those who claim "Gay is the new
black" are right on the money.
Science has in the past decade or so
made significant progress in proving genetic and biological "causes"
for people being born GLBT or I - and provides evidence which cannot be simply
dismissed or explained away with cryptic or vague references to dogma or even
"faith". Yet most consistently, fundamentalist Christians who
coincidentally are also largely involved in gay-hating organizations around the
world, have denied it and tried to disprove it by using what? A 3000 year old
collection of fantasy and picturesque imagery - and the trumped up pseudo-science
of right wing gay-hater and former psychologist Paul Cameron, which every
reputable scientific body has laughed into the obscurity it so richly deserves.
Right wing gay-hating Christian political groups snap up everything his
organization has in print and put it in the same folder as their bible, calling
it all "scientifically proven" and "proof" that GLBT are
"perverts" who are "not born gay or trans", but
"choose to sin" and "follow a sinful lifestyle" by "rejecting
God" and threaten the holy "family unit" and civilization!
Come on!
Despite the knowledge freely
available for several years even up to today (to those who are interested in
learning the truth instead of propagandistic BS), this very morning I was
informed that a gay man (call him Mr. "X") was called onto the red
carpet by his employer specifically because of his sexuality. Apparently the
boss's "dominee" last Sunday had the arrogance (and brute stupidity)
to publicly blame his company's current 'rough times' on their continued
employment of "perverts" such as Mr. X at his company. Mr.
"X" had yesterday lodged a complaint that co-workers had been
acerbically taunting him over this matter since Monday morning, and over
similar matters previously. So this morning Mr. "X" was criticized on
said red-carpet by management for being involved with 'devil worship' and
'immoral activity' and being a disruptive influence in the work place. How very
interesting indeed. First they create the problem with their prejudice against
him and then blame any resulting turmoil on him as well.
Is
this not a prime example of hate speech and incitement to hate? So much for a
"loving" faith indeed!
A small man in a pulpit makes a
personal attack on somebody for no justifiable reason and he is then left to
face the fallout on his own, with co-workers and management making life
unbearable for him - not because of his job performance which does concern them
- but on personal matters which don't concern them in the least. And apparently these people have the blatant lack of IQ to
not only believe what is said - but to persecute somebody based on the
programming they allow others to insert freely into their minds without any
question.
As another example, let us examine
the emerging saga of the Pink Loerie Festival, which has been facing an
unrelenting attack from right wing Christian fundamentalist elements for some
time now.
Most recently email and Internet
campaigns against the Pink Loerie Festival use as their main weapons, lies
about the parade clearly intended to incite anger among their supporters over
matters such as alleged "nudity" and "simulated sex acts"
at previous events. It has also been alleged that HIV-positive children who
make puppets for the parade and directly benefit from the exposure have been "forced"
to take part - and still the lies go on.
I
wonder - isn't lying supposed to be a 'sin'? Or is it okay to lie when trying
to make people you hate look bad?
Blatantly fundamentalist
"Christian" Facebook groups continue to make personal attacks on the
mayor of Knysna for withdrawing what was in fact a biased and negative
"survey" to “test” the attitude of residents and visitors towards the
festival. Another group made an overture attacking the festival from a Knysna
business point of view, and while receiving the backing of just one supporter,
was inundated under masses of mails from those who support the festival, both
GLBT and straight.
Reliable sources indicate that the
survey launched by the Knysna Town Council was met with widespread criticism
due to the unprofessional and biased way in which it was drafted. Also, the
overwhelming support that poured in for the festival from across the country
came from both gay and straight people.
Further, there are reports of an
email campaign led by Errol Naidoo of the Family Policy Institute and petitions
by local Pastor Jerome Nel (signed by only 300 people). What does this small
four day event in a small town have to do with Naidoo who lives 500 km away in
Cape Town and concerns himself with attacking gay rights and dignity in
parliament? Both he and Nel, as so-called "men of god" should look
within themselves and try to make themselves better examples of their faith
before trying to convince the rest of the world that they have anything
worthwhile to offer - unless they are actually trying to market bigotry,
intolerance and hypocrisy.
Such dastardly and underhanded
campaigns undermine the foundations of our young democracy and threaten the
civil equalities for which so many have fought so hard to achieve. If their holinesses
Naidoo and Nel - or their tiny group of supporters - feel offended by the
celebration of cultural diversity at the Pink Loerie, they have every right to
not attend this event - but no right whatsoever to force their religious piety
and bigoted views and disdain for diversity on the rest of us. The majority of
religious folk in SA seem to follow a policy of 'live and let live' - these
holier-than-the-rest-of us hypocrites should do the same and try to be more
"Christian".
Great piece.
ReplyDeleteThanks ;)
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