It is a common feature of totalitarian states, such as the Communist regimes, to haul recalcitrants off to camps where they can be made to conform to official state ideology. The strict enforcement of group-think is a hallmark of such police states, where no deviation from the state line is tolerated.
Communist Vietnam of course was infamous for its reeducation camps, used to brainwash South Vietnamese into the Marxist version of events. Coercion, torture and propaganda were used to obtain the desired results. The aim of course was to break the prisoners, and get them to sign “confessions”, forcing them to denounce America, imperialism and other ‘evil’ concepts.
Sadly however the use of indoctrination, propaganda and brainwashing is not confined to atheistic totalitarian states. Increasingly the West is moving in this direction. The public education system is especially becoming a main source of politically correct propaganda and indoctrination.
I have documented many recent examples of this, and they continue to occur at alarming pace. England seems to be leading the way in all this. Indeed, England is quickly beginning to rival Vietnam in its use of government-enforced proselytising and indoctrination. All manner of PC items are being force-fed to the English, especially its school kids.
And as always, leading the way in government coercion and indoctrination is the new religion of homosexuality. All must bow to the homosexual agenda, and any rebels will quickly be subdued by the state. The English government seems intent on turning every single Brit into a willing and compliant worshipper of the new homosexual cult.
Consider this recent horror story out of the UK. It involves yet another example of pro-homosexual indoctrination, this time aimed at five-year-olds. Here is how the press is reporting the story: “Pupils as young as five were left ‘confused and worried’ after a school assembly to explain homosexuality. Teachers played a recording of Elton John’s Your Song before explaining that the singer is homosexual and what the term means. The children were then shown images of same-sex couples. Parents said the experience left some pupils afraid to cuddle each other in the playground in case other children thought they were gay. They have complained they were not consulted over the content of the assembly.”
And it gets even worse: “When parents complained to the headmaster, they claim they were treated as ‘homophobic’ for even raising the issue.” That would be about right. Who do these stupid parents think they are? After all, the state knows what is best for children, not their silly parents. Big Brother will look after them.
The story continues, “Gemma Martin, 28, whose children, Chloe, seven, and Danny, four, attend the school, said some pupils were now worried ‘about being friends with each other’. ‘Little girls often cuddle each other if one of them is crying or has fallen over, and now they are afraid to do that in case the others think they are gay,’ she said. Michelle Cosgrove, 33, said some parents felt they were treated as homophobic just for asking why they had not been consulted about the assembly. ‘There is no way on this earth I’m homophobic – I just want the choice as a parent to talk to my children about this when the time is appropriate,’ she said.”
Vietnam and other totalistic states would be proud of the British example here. Those enlightened elites in Britain know what they are doing alright. They are utilising every trick in the book to good effect here. All so typical of the tyrannical state.
Notice that they first seek to drive a wedge between parent and child. Just as indoctrinated school children turned in their own parents in Communist East Germany decades ago, and were seen as heroes for doing so, modern British kids may not be all that far behind.
Make sure the parents do not know about the brainwashing taking place at school, and keep indoctrinating the little kiddies. Soon enough the PC school kids will become helpful government informers, reporting on any homophobic activities their parents might be engaged in.
And with all cases of state indoctrination of the masses, it is imperative that the kiddies are targeted, and the earlier the better. Indeed, it’s a pity the kids are not going to state schools at earlier ages. They are even more pliable and amenable to brainwashing then. In fact, why not just remove all infants from their parents at birth? Why allow those bigoted homophobic parents a whole five years to instil their values into them?
And how very clever of these social engineers. Use a well known homosexual celebrity to further soften up little Johnny and Sarah. Indeed, why not just bring in homosexual activists to the schools on a regular basis, and force those little kiddies to embrace their lifestyle? Actually, this very thing is happening in many schools today in the West.
So the total state, ever seeking to fully command loyalty and allegiance, and squash all opposition and rebellion, continues in its relentless march. The incremental approach is of course the way to go. Ordinary citizens are easily deceived when this statist power grab is done piecemeal. By the time concerned citizens finally wake up to the erosion of freedom and the assault on Christianity and family values, it will be too late.
That is why watchmen are needed. And that is why we must all be vigilant. If we do not wake up real soon, we may find that things have gone beyond the point of no return.
19 Replies to “Herding Our Children off to the Reeducation Camps”
Good article, Bill, though wouldn’t this news confirm things have already gone beyond the point of no return?
Murray Bentham
Thanks Murray
Yes you could well be right. However, two countervailing thoughts are worth hanging on to. One, God is always on the throne, and one day all this madness will come to an end.
Two, history tells us that often in times of the greatest darkness, with God’s grace and the activity of God’s people, things can be turned around.
So although things are very grim right now, we do not despair – we must keep fighting the good fight.
Bill Muehlenberg, CultureWatch
Encouraging thoughts. As you’ve noted on numerous occasions, it seems that England is leading the way here with a changing social order. It will be fascinating to see what the (current and soon) rebirth of the Conservative movement in power will mean for all this.
Murray Bentham
What can one say about England. From politicians without scruples at one end to the rule of minority activists at the other. It is getting to the point where any possibility of a religious revival is likely to come from Islam rather than Christendom.
Kerry Hardwick
In fact, the darker and the madder it gets, the more desperately people seek an answer. We can but pray that we can encourage them to look to Jesus, THE solution.
Ian Brearley
Bill
I am pleased with this and your other articles on similar subjects. What this country needs is for so-called Church leaders to speak out like you do. However I wonder how many of those leaders are in fact, sympathetic to the other side. You correctly stated that one of the problems we are faced with, is the Left’s tactic of introducing their agenda gradually- then it seems to be too late for us.
Also one of the problems experienced by the Catholic Church in the USA was the tactic of the homosexual lobby to get under the radar and infiltrate 35% of the seminaries there. This fact was documented in the best selling book “Goodbye Good Men” by Michael S. Rose. The infiltrtors would question young aspirants in a manner, which gave the young men the impression the seminary was looking for candidates with orthodox values, when in fact those who expressed those values in their replies, were immediately eliminated from consideration.
Some would be surprised to know that the number of priests, who broke their own Church laws with sexual misbehaviour, amounted to just five-eights of one per cent. However that was enough to create a serious scandal, and nullify those clergy, who wished to speak out on sexual matters, from doing so.
Apart from the homosexual juggernaut, the abortion issue in Victoria and the USA has demonstrated how morals have been turned on their head. I remember when I was a young child in Queensland, doctors were arrested for performing abortions. The NON choice pro-abortion group masquerading as a government in Victoria, have in place such fascist legislation that it is possible for a doctor to be jailed for NOT performing an abortion, or at least not referring some poor woman to some baby slayer, who will “oblige”.
Frank Beiiet, Petrie Qld
I have just begun reading the biography by Stephen Mansfield of Derek Prince (of the ‘Fort Lauderdale Five’ and famous Bible teacher). In his Cambridge student days in the 1930s he was a member of the infamous secret society known as “The Apostles”.
The biography reports the horrid nature of this group, despite it’s Christian origins. It’s membership included Bertrand Russell, JM Keynes the economist, Burgess and Blunt (UK spy scandals), and although the group had receded from the worst of it’s perversions (whitewashed by Wikipedia, I note), Keynes did famously say “We were in the strict sense of the term immoralists.”
By God’s grace Prince, who was a strong intellectual and great academic, was not involved in the “sexual innovations” but hung around on the outer fringes, studying philosophy under Ludwig Wittgenstein.
It is recorded as being a hotbed of radical ideas, and the members were later to move into the highest levels of power and influence in British society. A small group which has no doubt done a lot over time to undermine British moral and social standards.
Hmm, I might explore whether there were any links between this group and John Dewey who did so much damage to education.
John Angelico
In their determination to destroy all categories, morality, and the Judeo/Christian bonds that keep western civilisation together, the LGBTs are encouraging us to regard sex, gender and even species as mutable and fluid, a kind of menu from which we can pick and choose, at any time. Women with their breasts amputated are already seen in gay parades.
Ultimately it leads also to the end of opposing political parties – to the one party state. In order to understand this, one only has to see the number of homosexuals who are at the heart of the labour government, where members are forced to vote en block rather than according to their consciences.
The LGBTs are free to believe whatever ideology they want, regarding the authenticity of their lifestyle, but this does not give them the right to either flaunt their extreme sexual behaviour in public, or force our children to conform to a lifestyle characterised by sexually transmitted diseases (The National Blood Service refuses their blood), mental disorders, such as bi-polar depression, social disadvantage, a shortened life and many other negative downsides.
The government with their compulsory sex education for children, whose minds and emotions are still being formed and therefore plastic, are forcing heterophile children to reject their natural antipathy towards homophilia and thereby encourage them to deconstruct sex into all kinds of behaviour. In any other language this is corruption and grooming on a national scale.
Be warned, here in the UK, Clause 61 (which deals with incitement to hatred on the ground of sexual orientation), the product of totalitarian minds such as those of the Eagle sisters, Ben Summerskill and Angela Mason, has only one aim and that is to shut down all dissent. The present censoring of religious belief and sexual ethics, will soon become tomorrow’s political censoring, resulting in the homogeneous, one party, Marxist state.
David Skinner, UK
We have recently been discussing the problem of teacher training in the West and it is so clear that the tightening noose of monopolistic left-wing and secularist ideology dominates already to the point that it is almost impossible to find a teacher who has not been thoroughly indoctrinated into this world view. Sadly, even good Christian teachers with the best intentions by and large do not really understand the extent to which they have been influenced by ideas straight from the atheistic, socialism of Dewey, and other ‘educators’ of his ilk and company. There are almost no places where one can become trained as a teacher in this country that do not require an intensive and intentional study into social theories that are the very antithesis of a biblical worldview. Thankfully Christian home schooling and independent teaching is growing and alternatives to the current narrow view are flourishing thanks to grace of God and the tireless work of a few stoic pioneers who understood the times well before most of us had a clue.
Phil Twiss
Thank you for fighting the good fight Bill. I feel that the so called ‘progressives’ in the churches have let us down in the breakdown of Biblical values; however, frequently the average Joe in the conservative wing has been silent. As a result, the ‘Spirit of this Age’ has led the charge in this bad legislation. The church needs to pull its socks up. As a protestant I am grateful to the pope for making a stand.
Stan Fishley
Well said Stan.
Can it be that the Pope is the Vicar of Christ on earth after all?
Dunstan Hartley
It’s funny, don’t you think, that the state goes to all that trouble to destroy or remake the morals of a nation and then expects loyalty and fairness from its citizens? I have heard it said that evil already has in it the seeds of its own destruction.
If right and wrong are to be overturned, why would a person oblige the LGBT community or the state with such intangible notions such as equality, fairness and compassion in such an environment?
Lennard Caldwell, Clifton QLD
Even 5 years ago Christians wouldn’t have thought this could ever happen. What can parents do?
1. Complain about the headmaster to the next level in their education system and seek an apology.
2. If that doesn’t work, then withdraw their children and do home schooling (if that’s still an option). If enough parents withdraw their children, that should get the message across.
3. Spread the word across the UK.
Graham Lawn
You said it well Lennard. So did Lewis in The Abolition of Man.
In a sort of ghastly simplicity we remove the organ and demand the function. We make men without chests and expect of them virtue and enterprise. We laugh at honour and are shocked to find traitors in our midst. We castrate and bid the geldings be fruitful.
The practical result of (such) education… must be the destruction of the society which accepts it.
Stepping outside (the moral values), they have stepped into the void. Nor are their subjects necessarily unhappy men. They are not men at all: they are artefacts. Man’s final conquest has proved to be the abolition of man.
Lachlan Dunjey
Thanks Dunstan
Given that Stan is a Protestant, I am sure that he will not want to see his remarks extrapolated in the direction you suggest!
Bill Muehlenberg, CultureWatch
Bill, you hit the nail on the head as usual, but I would like to influence you against giving any legitimacy to the stupid word: “homophobia”.
As George Orwell showed in his cautionary tales, the control of language is a vital component of the indoctrination of the people. It is with his influence in mind that I think we should avoid using the word “homophobia”. By doing so we implicitly concede to the enemy that such a disease exists, when it so patently does not. Here are my thoughts on this ridiculous word.
This neologism was coined by a psychologist in 1969 in the US to describe the attitude of a client. Since then, however, the word “homophobia” has come to be used with the intent of applying a despective and insulting epithet to anyone who makes the slightest expression of disapproval of homosexual behaviour and practices.
Whichever way one considers it, this expression appears to be an illiterate juxtaposition of concepts constructed more for its sonic effect as an insult rather than for any sensible meaning. The presence of a strong “f” sound makes it akin to that favourite word of political abuse: “fascist”. Indeed, it is probably quite significant that those most likely to use the word “homophobia” are usually the most frequent users of the word “fascist”.
During the heyday of the Cold War, apologists for the Communist dictatorships routinely described as “fascists” anyone who uttered even mild criticism of Communist régimes and of Communism itself.
Let’s dissect the word into its constituent parts: “homo” and “phobia”.
“Homo” can come from the Greek word meaning “the same”, as used in words like “homogenous”, “homonym”, and “homosexual”.
“Homo” can also come from the Latin word meaning: “man”, as in a word like “homicide”.
“Phobia” can only come from the Greek word “phobos” signifying terror, extreme fear, horror, such as in words like “xenophobia” (= extreme fear of anything foreign), and “hydrophobia” (= a horror of water), the medical name for the real disease of “rabies”.
Now let us combine these meanings in their two possible combinations:
1. (Latin) Homo + (Greek) Phobos = irrational fear of, aversion to, or discrimination against Men.
2. (Greek) Homo + (Greek) Phobos = irrational fear of, aversion to, or discrimination against Sameness.
In the first combination, therefore, “homophobia” could be a way of referring to the attitudes of extreme feminists, or of lesbians, or, very realistically, of the traumatised female victims of rape or of any other crime committed by males against them.
In the second combination, however, “homophobia” could be a way of referring to the attitudes of extreme radicals, of persons suffering from Attention Deficit Disorders, or, very realistically, talented artists of outstanding creativity.
Never, though, can the word “homophobia” have anything remotely to do with homosexuality.
Why don’t we all just set about ridiculing it, and its usage, wherever and whenever we meet it?
Best wishes,
Dominic Baron, NZ
Dominic,
I agree with you in regards to the use of the word ‘homophobia’ and its derivatives, but for the simple reason that it falsely accuses normal people of having some terrible dysfunction.
As far as I’m aware, endorsing the only method of creating new people, and giving that method a ‘wrapper’ of legal status above all others to ensure the continuing health of a population is eminently sensible. On the other hand, homosexual behaviour is by definition infertile, transmits HIV readily, and vastly increases the risk of rectal cancer. (That’s just for starters.)
For those who don’t understand, let me put it another way:
Heterosexual behaviour: 6,000,000,000 plus (not counting those who have lived in the past)
Homosexual behaviour: 0 + disease + death
(Yes, I’m aware of illegitimate children, as well as heterosexual sexual diseases, as well as those who think violence is a solution to society’s ills. For the moment, that is not the concern here.)
The numbers speak for themselves. The fact is, if anyone has been called ‘homophobic’, they’re probably quite reasonably adjusted when it comes to knowing what sex is supposed to be. So, I think you’re right about ridiculing it, it is a stupid word, invented not because it has any use other than to attempt to shut people up – especially about the kind of obvious and really inconvenient facts mentioned above.
Those concerned parents of the 5 year olds should’ve laughed when they were accused. I hope some of them did. Truly black is white and white is black.
Mark Rabich
I don’t understand why you call homosexuality a religion. Who do these folk worship? Priapus?
Homosexuals are only a few percent of the population and of them only a relative handful are activists. The question arises as to how so few managed to gain so much influence, subverting anything from scientific research to sound government. There needs to be a good book on this. Is there one? My view is that the cause is Western secular culture. Look at its post-Christian moral thinking, a crazy, unedifying mix of kneejerk subjectivism, relativism, egoism, utilitarianism. The latter is a post-Christian moral philosophy much touted by atheist philosophers. By definition it is supposed to be empirical and pragmatic, but has anyone see it actually work? And the Marxists were the worst of the secular mess, both theoretically and practically subordinating morality to the needs of the Party. We are now at the stage where people will believe almost anything on moral issues. Thanks to the secular Left, we now have citizens so blind they can’t even think that the culling of millions of human unborn every year might have bad effects ranging all the way from personal spiritual problems to future population dynamics. Got a moral problem? Fix it with technology. Feel low about doing something wrong? Take an anti-depressant.
On the subject of homosexuality, I think the more these people come out into the open on the basis of imagined acceptance, the more their actual behaviours will generate disapproval. My experience of “straight” people who approve of homosexuality is that their approval is a bit two-faced. They clearly have private reservations behind the public veneer of political correctness. In other words acceptance of homosexuality will be partly illusory, a sort of collective make-believe to keep up liberal appearances. Gay activists themselves understand that they can’t win over all adults. That’s why they are interested in the “education” of little children even more susceptible to make-believe. But that won’t work either because every generation inevitably produces skeptics who see that the facts don’t always fit official political dogma.
John Snowden
Thanks John
I called it a religion because the secularists have effectively turned it into one, a cause celebre. They want us all to worship at the homosexual shrine by completely accepting and endorsing the lifestyle. No dissent is allowed. So it has all the hallmarks of some fundamentalist religious crusade.
And these folks do worship – they worship themselves and their sexuality. As Chesterton once remarked, “When a man ceases to believe in God, he does not believe in nothing. He believes in anything.”
.
Bill Muehlenberg, CultureWatch
Good article, Bill, though wouldn’t this news confirm things have already gone beyond the point of no return?
Murray Bentham
Thanks Murray
Yes you could well be right. However, two countervailing thoughts are worth hanging on to. One, God is always on the throne, and one day all this madness will come to an end.
Two, history tells us that often in times of the greatest darkness, with God’s grace and the activity of God’s people, things can be turned around.
So although things are very grim right now, we do not despair – we must keep fighting the good fight.
Bill Muehlenberg, CultureWatch
Encouraging thoughts. As you’ve noted on numerous occasions, it seems that England is leading the way here with a changing social order. It will be fascinating to see what the (current and soon) rebirth of the Conservative movement in power will mean for all this.
Murray Bentham
What can one say about England. From politicians without scruples at one end to the rule of minority activists at the other. It is getting to the point where any possibility of a religious revival is likely to come from Islam rather than Christendom.
Kerry Hardwick
In fact, the darker and the madder it gets, the more desperately people seek an answer. We can but pray that we can encourage them to look to Jesus, THE solution.
Ian Brearley
Bill
I am pleased with this and your other articles on similar subjects. What this country needs is for so-called Church leaders to speak out like you do. However I wonder how many of those leaders are in fact, sympathetic to the other side. You correctly stated that one of the problems we are faced with, is the Left’s tactic of introducing their agenda gradually- then it seems to be too late for us.
Also one of the problems experienced by the Catholic Church in the USA was the tactic of the homosexual lobby to get under the radar and infiltrate 35% of the seminaries there. This fact was documented in the best selling book “Goodbye Good Men” by Michael S. Rose. The infiltrtors would question young aspirants in a manner, which gave the young men the impression the seminary was looking for candidates with orthodox values, when in fact those who expressed those values in their replies, were immediately eliminated from consideration.
Some would be surprised to know that the number of priests, who broke their own Church laws with sexual misbehaviour, amounted to just five-eights of one per cent. However that was enough to create a serious scandal, and nullify those clergy, who wished to speak out on sexual matters, from doing so.
Apart from the homosexual juggernaut, the abortion issue in Victoria and the USA has demonstrated how morals have been turned on their head. I remember when I was a young child in Queensland, doctors were arrested for performing abortions. The NON choice pro-abortion group masquerading as a government in Victoria, have in place such fascist legislation that it is possible for a doctor to be jailed for NOT performing an abortion, or at least not referring some poor woman to some baby slayer, who will “oblige”.
Frank Beiiet, Petrie Qld
I have just begun reading the biography by Stephen Mansfield of Derek Prince (of the ‘Fort Lauderdale Five’ and famous Bible teacher). In his Cambridge student days in the 1930s he was a member of the infamous secret society known as “The Apostles”.
The biography reports the horrid nature of this group, despite it’s Christian origins. It’s membership included Bertrand Russell, JM Keynes the economist, Burgess and Blunt (UK spy scandals), and although the group had receded from the worst of it’s perversions (whitewashed by Wikipedia, I note), Keynes did famously say “We were in the strict sense of the term immoralists.”
By God’s grace Prince, who was a strong intellectual and great academic, was not involved in the “sexual innovations” but hung around on the outer fringes, studying philosophy under Ludwig Wittgenstein.
It is recorded as being a hotbed of radical ideas, and the members were later to move into the highest levels of power and influence in British society. A small group which has no doubt done a lot over time to undermine British moral and social standards.
Hmm, I might explore whether there were any links between this group and John Dewey who did so much damage to education.
John Angelico
In their determination to destroy all categories, morality, and the Judeo/Christian bonds that keep western civilisation together, the LGBTs are encouraging us to regard sex, gender and even species as mutable and fluid, a kind of menu from which we can pick and choose, at any time. Women with their breasts amputated are already seen in gay parades.
Ultimately it leads also to the end of opposing political parties – to the one party state. In order to understand this, one only has to see the number of homosexuals who are at the heart of the labour government, where members are forced to vote en block rather than according to their consciences.
The LGBTs are free to believe whatever ideology they want, regarding the authenticity of their lifestyle, but this does not give them the right to either flaunt their extreme sexual behaviour in public, or force our children to conform to a lifestyle characterised by sexually transmitted diseases (The National Blood Service refuses their blood), mental disorders, such as bi-polar depression, social disadvantage, a shortened life and many other negative downsides.
The government with their compulsory sex education for children, whose minds and emotions are still being formed and therefore plastic, are forcing heterophile children to reject their natural antipathy towards homophilia and thereby encourage them to deconstruct sex into all kinds of behaviour. In any other language this is corruption and grooming on a national scale.
Be warned, here in the UK, Clause 61 (which deals with incitement to hatred on the ground of sexual orientation), the product of totalitarian minds such as those of the Eagle sisters, Ben Summerskill and Angela Mason, has only one aim and that is to shut down all dissent. The present censoring of religious belief and sexual ethics, will soon become tomorrow’s political censoring, resulting in the homogeneous, one party, Marxist state.
David Skinner, UK
We have recently been discussing the problem of teacher training in the West and it is so clear that the tightening noose of monopolistic left-wing and secularist ideology dominates already to the point that it is almost impossible to find a teacher who has not been thoroughly indoctrinated into this world view. Sadly, even good Christian teachers with the best intentions by and large do not really understand the extent to which they have been influenced by ideas straight from the atheistic, socialism of Dewey, and other ‘educators’ of his ilk and company. There are almost no places where one can become trained as a teacher in this country that do not require an intensive and intentional study into social theories that are the very antithesis of a biblical worldview. Thankfully Christian home schooling and independent teaching is growing and alternatives to the current narrow view are flourishing thanks to grace of God and the tireless work of a few stoic pioneers who understood the times well before most of us had a clue.
Phil Twiss
Thank you for fighting the good fight Bill. I feel that the so called ‘progressives’ in the churches have let us down in the breakdown of Biblical values; however, frequently the average Joe in the conservative wing has been silent. As a result, the ‘Spirit of this Age’ has led the charge in this bad legislation. The church needs to pull its socks up. As a protestant I am grateful to the pope for making a stand.
Stan Fishley
Well said Stan.
Can it be that the Pope is the Vicar of Christ on earth after all?
Dunstan Hartley
It’s funny, don’t you think, that the state goes to all that trouble to destroy or remake the morals of a nation and then expects loyalty and fairness from its citizens? I have heard it said that evil already has in it the seeds of its own destruction.
If right and wrong are to be overturned, why would a person oblige the LGBT community or the state with such intangible notions such as equality, fairness and compassion in such an environment?
Lennard Caldwell, Clifton QLD
Even 5 years ago Christians wouldn’t have thought this could ever happen. What can parents do?
1. Complain about the headmaster to the next level in their education system and seek an apology.
2. If that doesn’t work, then withdraw their children and do home schooling (if that’s still an option). If enough parents withdraw their children, that should get the message across.
3. Spread the word across the UK.
Graham Lawn
You said it well Lennard. So did Lewis in The Abolition of Man.
Lachlan Dunjey
Thanks Dunstan
Given that Stan is a Protestant, I am sure that he will not want to see his remarks extrapolated in the direction you suggest!
Bill Muehlenberg, CultureWatch
Bill, you hit the nail on the head as usual, but I would like to influence you against giving any legitimacy to the stupid word: “homophobia”.
As George Orwell showed in his cautionary tales, the control of language is a vital component of the indoctrination of the people. It is with his influence in mind that I think we should avoid using the word “homophobia”. By doing so we implicitly concede to the enemy that such a disease exists, when it so patently does not. Here are my thoughts on this ridiculous word.
This neologism was coined by a psychologist in 1969 in the US to describe the attitude of a client. Since then, however, the word “homophobia” has come to be used with the intent of applying a despective and insulting epithet to anyone who makes the slightest expression of disapproval of homosexual behaviour and practices.
Whichever way one considers it, this expression appears to be an illiterate juxtaposition of concepts constructed more for its sonic effect as an insult rather than for any sensible meaning. The presence of a strong “f” sound makes it akin to that favourite word of political abuse: “fascist”. Indeed, it is probably quite significant that those most likely to use the word “homophobia” are usually the most frequent users of the word “fascist”.
During the heyday of the Cold War, apologists for the Communist dictatorships routinely described as “fascists” anyone who uttered even mild criticism of Communist régimes and of Communism itself.
Let’s dissect the word into its constituent parts: “homo” and “phobia”.
“Homo” can come from the Greek word meaning “the same”, as used in words like “homogenous”, “homonym”, and “homosexual”.
“Homo” can also come from the Latin word meaning: “man”, as in a word like “homicide”.
“Phobia” can only come from the Greek word “phobos” signifying terror, extreme fear, horror, such as in words like “xenophobia” (= extreme fear of anything foreign), and “hydrophobia” (= a horror of water), the medical name for the real disease of “rabies”.
Now let us combine these meanings in their two possible combinations:
1. (Latin) Homo + (Greek) Phobos = irrational fear of, aversion to, or discrimination against Men.
2. (Greek) Homo + (Greek) Phobos = irrational fear of, aversion to, or discrimination against Sameness.
In the first combination, therefore, “homophobia” could be a way of referring to the attitudes of extreme feminists, or of lesbians, or, very realistically, of the traumatised female victims of rape or of any other crime committed by males against them.
In the second combination, however, “homophobia” could be a way of referring to the attitudes of extreme radicals, of persons suffering from Attention Deficit Disorders, or, very realistically, talented artists of outstanding creativity.
Never, though, can the word “homophobia” have anything remotely to do with homosexuality.
Why don’t we all just set about ridiculing it, and its usage, wherever and whenever we meet it?
Best wishes,
Dominic Baron, NZ
Dominic,
I agree with you in regards to the use of the word ‘homophobia’ and its derivatives, but for the simple reason that it falsely accuses normal people of having some terrible dysfunction.
As far as I’m aware, endorsing the only method of creating new people, and giving that method a ‘wrapper’ of legal status above all others to ensure the continuing health of a population is eminently sensible. On the other hand, homosexual behaviour is by definition infertile, transmits HIV readily, and vastly increases the risk of rectal cancer. (That’s just for starters.)
For those who don’t understand, let me put it another way:
Heterosexual behaviour: 6,000,000,000 plus (not counting those who have lived in the past)
Homosexual behaviour: 0 + disease + death
(Yes, I’m aware of illegitimate children, as well as heterosexual sexual diseases, as well as those who think violence is a solution to society’s ills. For the moment, that is not the concern here.)
The numbers speak for themselves. The fact is, if anyone has been called ‘homophobic’, they’re probably quite reasonably adjusted when it comes to knowing what sex is supposed to be. So, I think you’re right about ridiculing it, it is a stupid word, invented not because it has any use other than to attempt to shut people up – especially about the kind of obvious and really inconvenient facts mentioned above.
Those concerned parents of the 5 year olds should’ve laughed when they were accused. I hope some of them did. Truly black is white and white is black.
Mark Rabich
I don’t understand why you call homosexuality a religion. Who do these folk worship? Priapus?
Homosexuals are only a few percent of the population and of them only a relative handful are activists. The question arises as to how so few managed to gain so much influence, subverting anything from scientific research to sound government. There needs to be a good book on this. Is there one? My view is that the cause is Western secular culture. Look at its post-Christian moral thinking, a crazy, unedifying mix of kneejerk subjectivism, relativism, egoism, utilitarianism. The latter is a post-Christian moral philosophy much touted by atheist philosophers. By definition it is supposed to be empirical and pragmatic, but has anyone see it actually work? And the Marxists were the worst of the secular mess, both theoretically and practically subordinating morality to the needs of the Party. We are now at the stage where people will believe almost anything on moral issues. Thanks to the secular Left, we now have citizens so blind they can’t even think that the culling of millions of human unborn every year might have bad effects ranging all the way from personal spiritual problems to future population dynamics. Got a moral problem? Fix it with technology. Feel low about doing something wrong? Take an anti-depressant.
On the subject of homosexuality, I think the more these people come out into the open on the basis of imagined acceptance, the more their actual behaviours will generate disapproval. My experience of “straight” people who approve of homosexuality is that their approval is a bit two-faced. They clearly have private reservations behind the public veneer of political correctness. In other words acceptance of homosexuality will be partly illusory, a sort of collective make-believe to keep up liberal appearances. Gay activists themselves understand that they can’t win over all adults. That’s why they are interested in the “education” of little children even more susceptible to make-believe. But that won’t work either because every generation inevitably produces skeptics who see that the facts don’t always fit official political dogma.
John Snowden
Thanks John
I called it a religion because the secularists have effectively turned it into one, a cause celebre. They want us all to worship at the homosexual shrine by completely accepting and endorsing the lifestyle. No dissent is allowed. So it has all the hallmarks of some fundamentalist religious crusade.
And these folks do worship – they worship themselves and their sexuality. As Chesterton once remarked, “When a man ceases to believe in God, he does not believe in nothing. He believes in anything.”
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Bill Muehlenberg, CultureWatch