In 1995, I bought a book called Prayers For Bobby. It is the true story of a mother’s coming to terms with the suicide of her gay son. I thought of that book today when I read Terrance’s post about another gay son. Go and read it. Plus ça change…
Category: Society
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Indoctrination
Dear lord, this is depressing. I have news for the young man who thinks he’s going to win a Nobel prize. Not in this universe, sunshine. -
Our Maddy of the Sorrows
I confess that almost anything that Madeleine Bunting writes usually has me rolling my eyes by the second paragraph. And that’s on a good day. Some of the pieces from Our Maddy of the Sorrows have been known to push me close to apoplexy. It’s really not good for either my sanity or my health. In June 2006, it was announced that she would be leaving the Guardian to take up the post of Director at the Think-Tank, Demos. Pausing only to wonder whether Demos would have to re-christen itself to be a Belief-Tank, I did permit myself a sigh of relief that I’d no longer be reading her rubbish in the Guardian.Alas, a mere six weeks after taking up the post, Demos announced her resignation, and she scuttled back to the Guardian. I wonder whether we’ll ever learn the true story behind that. The Demos press release is intriguing:Since it has emerged that her vision for Demos is incompatible with that of the trustees, she has decided to focus on her interests as a writer and a thinker at this point in her career. She will resume her regular column in the Guardian and her position as Associate Editor…That’s the trouble with incompatible visions, always causing problems for someone or other.Anyway, she’s back, writing the kind of article that we have come to expect. I was going to comment on it, but I see that a far better class of fisking has been delivered by Opehlia Benson, over at ButterfliesAndWheels, and J. Carter Wood at Obscene Desserts. Go and read them and sorrow at our Maddy.Oh, and J. Carter Wood amplifies on something that struck me when reading AC Grayling’s retort to Bunting; that Grayling could be said to have delivered a hostage to fortune with the lax wording of his challenge. Fortunately, J. Carter Wood tightens up the challenge, and demonstrates that the essential point is that the religious have a distressing tendency to insist that their holy books must be right when science points out a discrepancy. -
Bruckner on Hirsi Ali et al…
Via the blog of the editor of the New Humanist, I’ve come across a defence of Ayaan Hirsi Ali by Pascal Bruckner against the "attacks" on her by Timothy Garton Ash and Ian Buruma. I must admit I found Bruckner’s piece somewhat shrill.While I haven’t got the writings of Garton Ash to hand that Bruckner quotes, I do have a copy of "Murder in Amsterdam" by Buruma that Bruckner uses as evidence of the attack on Hirsi Ali. And I have to say that I don’t recognise the portrait of Buruma that Bruckner paints from it. I thought that Buruma portrayed Hirsi Ali very sympathetically, even when he mentions what he sees as her shortcomings. His writing about the events and the participants are rounded and humane. I don’t think the same could be said of Bruckner:It is her wilful, short-fused, enthusiastic, impervious side to which Ian Buruma and Timothy Garton Ash object, in the spirit of the inquisitors who saw devil-possessed witches in every woman too flamboyant for their tastes.Er, I’m sorry? As I said, Bruckner’s piece strikes me as being shrill and makes it difficult to be receptive to his argument. I felt as though I was being hectored by someone shouting in my ear and waving his arms about wildly… -
The Sound of Woo
Following on from Donnie’s musical offering, Orac treats us to the wilder shores of woo… -
Blasphemy!
If you didn’t catch the discussion (I wouldn’t call it a debate) between Christopher Hitchens and Stephen Fry at last year’s Hay Festival, then here’s your chance to hear it or capture it for posterity. Posterity will be moderately proud of you. -
Two Fathers
Gelert, over at An Experiment In Normailty, adds his thoughts on the UK adoption row. Worth reading. He mentions the interview on BBC Radio with the Archbishop of York, John Sentamu, yesterday. I didn’t hear it, but there’s a telling comment on it in the piece today by the Guardian’s religious affairs correspondent:…it is uncomfortable for the archbishops, as anyone who heard the Ugandan-born Archbishop of York equivocating on the Today programme, as he tried to explain why being "in conscience unwelcoming to gays" was entirely different from in conscience discriminating against black people, will have appreciated.Well, quite. A clear example of cognitive dissonance, I would have thought. The article also clarified for me why I thought that Cardinal Murphy-O’Connor seemed uncomfortable in the interview I saw a couple of days ago with him laying out the party line. It seems as though one of the factors playing out here is politics in the Catholic hierarchy, in particular, who gets to succeed the Cardinal when he retires later this year. I suppose one shouldn’t really be surprised that the Catholic hierarchy is stuffed with venal politics just like every other aspect of human life, but still, the hypocrisy does take my breath away at times.Update: This article is a shortened form of the piece that Stephen Bates wrote for the Guardian’s Comment Is Free section. The full version is here, and is definitely worth a read.There’s also an article in today’s Guardian about the Rev. Martin Reynolds, who, together with his (male) partner, has been fostering a boy for the past 15 years. The boy has two fathers, which brings us neatly full circle to the song in the link that Gelert refers to: Twee Vaders. It’s nice to end on a positive note. -
Following Orders
As you might imagine, the kerfuffle in the UK over Catholic adoption agencies wanting an exemption in the law so that they do not have to consider gay couples as prospective adopters of children does not make me feel kindly disposed towards the Catholic hierarchy. And now, perhaps predictably enough, the Anglicans are closing ranks with the Catholics.
And, as usual, Ophelia, over at ButterfliesAndWheels, casts some light through the gloom.
Frankly, it seems to me that the Catholic adoption agencies are swirling in a cesspit of their own making.* They do not appear to recognise that the overriding factor here is the well-being of the children, instead they prefer to focus on their particular cherries that have been plucked from a set of ancient tales by multiple authors. If they do feel obliged to close their agencies, rather than consider all couples as prospective adopters on their own merits, then so be it. Apparently, they only fulfilled 4% of the 2,900 adoptions in the UK last year anyway, and that gap should be able to be filled.
And I cannot pass without a comment on Ruth Kelly, Minister for Women and Equality. As she is also Roman Catholic, and a member of Opus Dei, one could be forgiven for thinking that the phrase "conflict of interest" might well pass through one’s mind as a particular danger in her case.
I think that she would be well advised to reflect on the political circumstances of Charles E. Wilson in the Truman administration. He was the CEO of General Motors, before he was tapped to enter the Truman Administration as US Secretary of Defense. He was asked if, as Secretary of Defense, he could make a decision (in his role as Secretary) that would be adverse to the interests of General Motors. Wilson answered affirmatively but added that he could not conceive of such a situation "because for years I thought what was good for the country was good for General Motors and vice versa." It was quite rightly pointed out to him that in his role as US Secretary of Defense, his task was to do what was right for the country, and not for General Motors.
Similarly, Ruth Kelly should take a decision that is right for the children and the country, and not for her particular religion. I await with interest to see the outcome.
I see also that Martin Newland, in a Comment is Free piece in The Guardian, argues that "in opposing the new law on gay rights and adoption, Cardinal Cormac Murphy O’Connor is simply doing his job".
That’s as may be, but I will run the risk of invoking Godwin’s law by saying that in a very real sense he could also be said to be following orders. I watched an interview on BBC yesterday wherein the Cardinal was clearly uncomfortable about what he had to say, but nevertheless stated the party line.
When it boils down, then what the Catholic agencies are doing is wanting to turn their backs on people who could help rebuild children’s lives. They can claim conscience all they like, but their conscience, in my view is wanting. Steve Bell points out what, in all honesty, I think lies at its heart.
*With acknowledgements for that lovely phrase to Sir James Anderton, the former Chief Constable of Manchester.
Update: Oh-ho! Is Cherie the real Eminence Grise here? Can’t say I’d be surprised.
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Easy Targets
Well, of course, editing the film makes it easy to remove those who gave the right answers, but even so, this remains pretty depressing. We’re all doomed, I tell you. -
Denying Denial
A statement, signed by more than one hundred Iranians, deploring "that the denial of these unspeakable crimes has become a propaganda tool that the Islamic Republic of Iran is using to further its own agendas", and condemning the Holocaust(-denial) conference organized by the Iranian government last month. Scroll down for the English translation.(hat tip to Normblog) -
Going Dutch
After 23 years living in The Netherlands, I’ve taken the step of obtaining Dutch citizenship. While officially this occurred last month, yesterday was the occasion of the naturalisation ceremony held in the local townhall. It’s an opportunity for the State to recognise those individuals who have become Dutch in a small ceremony. Nothing too serious, but a nice gesture.There were a number of us at yesterday’s ceremony. Here we are, together with the Deputy Mayor who officiated.
In case you are wondering about the characters in the background wearing orange hats, they are my friends and neighbours who showed up to give their support. I had told the Townhall that I’d just be bringing Martin and one other friend, but Martin surprised me with this large group. Fortunately, there was enough coffee and cakes for everyone.Afterwards, we returned home, and the party continued…
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Undermining Respect
Ophelia, over at ButterfliesAndWheels, reflects on the language used by pressure groups opposed to stem cell research, and wonders whether they mean what they say. She has a point. -
The Evil Within
Theodore Dalrymple considers the question of whether evil is instrinsic in the human condition. And comes to the conclusion, which I share, that it is a component that cannot be easily dismissed.(hat tip to Normblog) -
Virtually Unreal
On the day when Niall Stanage weighs in with a rather silly piece on the danger of Second Life (clue: the backstory has nothing to do with Second Life whatsoever), Not Saussure points us towards the true surrealness of the phenomenon. -
Pocket Money
This is prompted by From the Heart of Europe.Count all the euro (and related) coins in your pocket – not by how much they are worth, but by which country they come from. (The full list of coins showing which ones come from which country can be found in many places, including http://www.euro.gov.uk/eurocoins.asp)Germany: 6Netherlands: 3France: 1Italy: 1Finland: 1Now, which country do you live in? GermanyObviously it helps to do this meme if you live in Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Monaco, San Marino, the Vatican, Andorra, Montenegro or Kosovo, but people outside those enchanted places can play too. -
Noaberschap
One thing we’ve noticed since we moved to this part of The Netherlands last March is that the sense of community is still pretty strong around here. There is the local custom of Noaberschap (neighbourliness), where neighbours are expected to help each other out when necessary. We were touched when the young farmer across the field formally asked us if we would be Noaste Noabers (literally closest neighbours) to him and his girlfriend. This means that we are responsible for organising the rest of Herman and José’s neighbourhood in times of celebration or need (e.g. weddings or funerals). Hopefully, it’ll be the former, rather than the latter.We’ve just had the first celebration. Today was the day when Herman officially became the owner of the farm. So yesterday, the rest of the neighbourhood was at our house painting signs and making paper roses to decorate a pair of fir trees.
Then today, while Herman was at the notary to sign the papers, we set everything in place to officially welcome Herman and José to the neighbourhood.
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The Sound of Silence
I hope that this will be my last comment on last week’s gay rights versus religious rights debate in the UK, but I couldn’t help but raise my eyebrow in a very ironical fashion when I read the piece by Giles Fraser, the Vicar of Putney, in today’s Guardian, entitled Atheists: the bigots’ friends.While I grant him the point that many Christians are fully in support of gay rights, it does also seem that most of them have kept pretty quiet about it recently. And then again, there’s the rather telling point that of the 26 Bishops who sit in the House of Lords, only five of them were present in the debate last week, and of them, only one(!) voted against the motion to deny equal rights to gay people. So that leaves four of them who are quite happy to have discrimination continue, and potentially there are a further 21 of them who would agree with them.But then again, perhaps Giles Fraser doesn’t think that the Bishops are representative of the views of many Christians. If so, it’s a peculiar state of affairs indeed.Update: Ophelia, over at ButterfliesAndWheels, has a little chat with Giles. -
Parent Power
I see that a parent in Seattle has been initially successful in his attempt to prevent local schools from showing the Al Gore film An Inconvenient Truth. He’s clearly in full possession of the facts and an intelligent rationalist:"Condoms don’t belong in school, and neither does Al Gore. He’s not a schoolteacher," said Frosty Hardison, a parent of seven who also said that he believes the Earth is 14,000 years old. "The information that’s being presented is a very cockeyed view of what the truth is. … The Bible says that in the end times everything will burn up, but that perspective isn’t in the DVD."Wonderful.Update: Apparently Frosty has been moved to give us a deeper peek into his rationale (and I use that word advisedly) behind his objections. Stop digging, Frosty… -
Stereotypes Only
A somewhat disturbing story in the Guardian today about the treatment meted out to Joanne Lees by the media. Her crime? She’s a woman in control of her emotions, instead of the tearful victim the tabloids want. There’s more than one Nicholas Hellen out there… -
Matching Pairs
I am like Diamond Geezer, I hate shopping for clothes. Fashion is probably the 13th worst idea in the history of the world.
