Where the Rubber Hits the Road

Gentle readers,

I imagine that some of you may be sitting back now and saying to yourselves:

“Well OK Martin…so you have blathered on for several posts and you have managed to demonstrate that Brian W. Clowes wrote some propaganda against gay men. Big deal – he was wrong in this ONE single instance, but he is otherwise aligned with my church’s teachings, and he holds a correct biblical interpretation about homosexuality. In any case, Mr. Clowes has a right to free speech - even if that free speech is based on weak arguments. So why should I give a tinker’s hoot about this issue?”

Good point. Mr. Clowes indeed has a right to speak freely – even if that involves making poor arguments. Similarly, I have a right to point out those poor arguments and distortions, and to make counter arguments. But that is not really the end of the story. 

Why?

Firstly, Mr. Clowes produces his anti-gay propaganda in the name of the pro-life movement and in the name of Catholics everywhere. Mr. Clowes’ a...

Gentle readers: Examining Mr. Cowles’ article is yielding some interesting results. Let’s take a closer look at another anti-gay claim:

“A recent study published in the Archives of Sexual Behavior found that "The best epidemiological evidence indicates that only 2 - 4% of men attracted to adults prefer men. In contrast, around 25 - 40% of men attracted to children prefer boys. Thus, the rate of homosexual attraction is 6-20 times higher among pedophiles."

This is a quote from:

Ray Blanchard, et al. "Fraternal Birth Order and Sexual Orientation in Pedophiles." Archives of Sexual Behavior, October 2000 [Volume 29, Number 5], pages 463-478, p. 464.

First let me begin by saying that the Archives of Sexual Behavior is a legitimate peer -reviewed journal, and that Dr. Blanchard is a well qualified researcher in his field of study. The quote provided by Mr. Clowes is not really damaging at all to the general population of gay men. 

Why? 

Because it tells us nothing a...

Gentle readers:

One of the reasons why anti-gay propaganda is so powerful is because it is relatively easy to make false claims, but it is much more time-consuming to do the heavy lifting necessary to refute those claims. Case in point – look at how long this series is relative to the brief section in Mr. Clowes’ original article that makes those claims.
 Nevertheless, let’s examine another of Mr. Clowes’ claims to see how well it stands up to critical thinking. He states that:

“Homosexual Alfred Kinsey, the USA's preeminent sexual researcher, found in 1948 that 37 percent of all male homosexuals admitted to having sex with children under 17 years old.”

I find it interesting that Mr. Clowes chooses to cite the work of Alfred Kinsey at all. The religious right often dismisses most of Kinsey’s work, especially his much publicized claim that 10% of the population tends towards a homosexual orientation.

For anyone with even a passing understanding of Kinsey’s work on homosexuals, t...

Gentle readers:

Many of you may be legitimately wondering what the heck I mean by “propaganda”, and some of you may suspect that I am simply trying to portray people with whom I disagree in a negative light by using this term. You are right to be skeptical, so I need to begin by defining the term “propaganda”. 

First of all propaganda is much more than what we commonly call “persuasion”. A useful definition of propaganda is put forward by Jowett and O’Donnell (Jowett, Garth S., and O’Donnell, Victoria. What is Propaganda and How does it differ from Persuasion?” in Propaganda and Persuasion. p. 4):

“Propaganda is the deliberate and systematic attempt to shape perceptions, manipulate cognitions, and direct behavior to achieve responses that furthers the desired intent of the propagandist.” 

Jowett and O’Donnell also provide us with sub-categories of propaganda:

White Propaganda – this propaganda “…comes from a source that is identified correctly, and the information in the message t...

Gentle readers: Is all external criticism of the LGBT community necessarily inspired by bigotry, intolerance, or homophobia? Of course not. No community (regardless of its identity) ought to be exempt from principled criticism. This much I think we can all agree upon. In fact, the LGBT community is often critical of its own individual leaders, organizations, trends and movements. Vigorous (if not sometimes rancorous) debate and criticism is a hallmark of many North American LGBT communities. What I want to explore in this series is not: principled criticism of the LGBT community; poor (but well-intentioned) arguments against the LGBT community; or, occasional rhetorical flourishes that sometimes unfairly criticize the LGBT community. What I want to explore is much more insidious. It is something that is structurally and systematically supported by many Catholics and the Church itself. What I want to explore is as corrosive and as unfair to LGBT citizens, as it is to Catholics. What I w...

I introduce to the blog today what will be a series of posts written by a frequent commentator, 'Martin'. They grow from a discussion that developed between him and 'Paul', another regular contributor here on the subject of homosexuality and the gay agenda. Paul takes the orthodox Christian perspective. Martin is a vocal proponent for the gay cause. This particular discourse saw Paul make certain claims about the gay culture, claims that he supported by evidence drawn from a website (RenewAmerica.com) which promoted the published findings on the subject by a Dr. Brian W. Clowes, PhD.  Martin's keen eye noted this credit and researched Clowes, only to discover that he certainly holds a doctorate from a reputable US school... in Civil Engineering. Clearly, he argued, Clowes qualifications were in a field of study that didn't provide any credible justification for his expertise regarding the issue of homosexuality. After pointing this out to Paul, he began to write...

The drumbeat of war is getting louder. If Noam Chomsky is correct, we might see the start of hostilities between Iran and the West within months. I believe it was he who postulated that when a nation's media starts to pay up another country as a threat, it puts into process a series of events that usually leads to armed conflict within a year. It is a process that is marked by a steady drumbeat of more and louder voices making the argument that force is the only effective option to 'protect ourselves'. Somehow they convince the majority to actually buy into an argument that essentially concludes that 'war is the best tactic to prevent war'. After suitable noise has been made demanding steps Iran must take to change its ways (allowing inspections etc.) along with the establishment of deadlines that ultimately Iran will either ignore or fail to comply with, Chomsky would predict that the West will go to war again in the next phase of a battle to control the earth'...

This story is part of an unsettling trend where the 'drums of war' are becoming more and more insistent. It has been posited that whenever governments decide that war 'needs to' be waged, they start 6-12 months in advance to prepare their population with a slow and steady increase in 'propaganda' designed to bring them on side in preparation for conflict. I've noted such an increase over the past few weeks of media stories which seem to be aimed at just such a process. I really, really hope that I am wrong, but I fear that I may be correct. If I am correct, we are in for some difficult times in the months ahead. Iran's escalating conflict with Gulf neighbours increases risk of war | News | National Post

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