More from the Mail Bag. I"ve gotten several
letters of late. Some offer positive comments, some beg to differ,
and some are resolutely critical. We"re debating whether it's
practical to start posting correspondence in a special section
(with author approval). But for now, here are excerpts from three
recent letters, and brief responses. While this is just a sampling,
thanks for all who"ve written in to share your thoughts.
"Thank you for pointing out the flaws in the radical left's anti-Israeli bias. And as for that group QUIT [Queers Undermining Israeli Terrorism], yes, I think it is very queer indeed that a group of gays and lesbians (I hate the term 'queer' as a description for gay people) would support the foundation of another anti-gay Middle Eastern dictatorship, and consider a rather progressive Middle East country to be terroristic. -- Apparently the radical left's tendency to root for the underdog, even if they are NOT in the right, made them ignore that."
My, what an astute letter writer!
"Since Sept. 11th, IGF has become stupidly knee-jerk conservative. I used to be able to rely on the IGF for informed, critical opinion. Now it's just conservative blathering and thoughtless rhetoric. How sad! The point for which to take the QUIT group to task is that they insist on making their Palestinian protest a gay issue, even though I agree with them. In the past, that would be the angle that IGF would take. Why make all gay people believe, especially the closet cases, that in order to be gay they must take on a particular political stance or adopt certain moral values? How wrong, indeed."
For starters, I"m not the voice of IGF; I"m just one contributor who volunteered to write a blog a couple of times a week.
I agree with the principle that a self-identified gay group shouldn't get involved in all manner of "Gays Against..." causes. But I can't hold my criticism of QUIT to that point alone, not when I believe that its stance is immoral. I'm not going to debate the issue here, but I do want to suggest that a romanticizing of the Palestinian fighters (including the suicide killers), akin to the past romanticizing of both Fidel Castro's Cuba, and of the Vietnamese communists, has now taken hold -- especially on college campuses. Like Fidel and Uncle Ho (or Mumia, for that matter), Yasser becomes the embodiment of the freedom-seeker unjustly put down by the U.S. and its supposed puppet. It's all so predictable, and so completely wrong headed.
As for your point about conservative blathering, hey, it's my
blog. You don't agree, fine. But I"m not going to temper my views
so as to not possibly offend anyone.
"I, like most of the demonstrators [at the anti-globalization rally in Washington, D.C.] am not willing to ignore the effects of "free trade" in poorer nations like you and other like-minded people would. I refuse to just sit idly while our country reaps the benefits of "free-trade." Not only was there a diversity in economic background [among the protesters], but also in race, religion, political affiliation, and value systems. More importantly, I find it ironic that you attempt to lump a group of people in one category when gays and lesbians have been victims of that practice so many times themselves."
There are generalizations, and then there are generalizations. I"ve observed enough anti-globalization protesters to draw some rational conclusions. Yes, not ALL are pampered college students spouting economic nonsense; it's just that most are.
I also got the "how dare you generalize" argument when I discussed examples of the left's (including the gay left"s) penchant to try to silence opponents, rather than argue publicly with them. But hey, enough examples make a trend, and thus support a generalization. Given the preponderance of campus speech codes that label opposing points of view on issues such as affirmative action (and, yes, gay rights) as "hate speech," and the tendeancy of non-left speakers (including libertarians!) to be shouted down with bullhorns, I think my generalizations about censorious conduct are justified.