{"id":4647,"date":"2011-12-15T20:45:56","date_gmt":"2011-12-16T01:45:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/?p=4647"},"modified":"2011-12-15T20:45:56","modified_gmt":"2011-12-16T01:45:56","slug":"the-dance-of-the-straw-men","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/?p=4647","title":{"rendered":"The dance of the straw men"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you\u2019re a social conservative,<\/strong> chances are you\u2019ve had a conversation something like this:
\n<\/p>\n

Conservative: \u201cBut if we accept homosexual behavior as normal, how do we retain other traditional taboos, like the one against incest?\u201d<\/p>\n

Liberal: \u201cThat\u2019s just a straw man. Nobody\u2019s going to advocate incest.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Now, read this<\/a>, from Tauriq Moosa, tutor in ethics, bioethics and critical thinking at the University of Cape Town, South Africa (courtesy of Dale Nelson):
\n<\/p>\n

Thirdly, and oddly, people exclaim [incest is] \u201cjust\u201d repugnant. We will examine this more closer later. Nonetheless, why should the sexual activities of two consenting adults concern us? This is the same question we can ask those who are \u2018against\u2019 homosexuality (which is like being against having blue eyes). It is none of our business what two consenting adults wish to do (as long as no one else is harmed\/involved without consent). <\/p>\n

Repugnance helped many things we now consider wrong to continue in the past, such racial and sexual inequality. We can\u2019t rely on repugnance to justify our social policies, since our repugnance is simply that: our own. Besides which, people are repulsed by different things \u2013 and we cannot leave it up to the whims of our emotions to implement policies and laws which could, unnecessarily, cause suffering to other people, as is the case with gay people, women, and indeed the current brother-and-sister couple.
\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Pretty lively for a straw man, isn\u2019t it?<\/p>\n

Liberals\u2014I want to share a serious word with you, in honesty and without malice. If you have any principles\u2014any at all\u2014I promise you that, if you continue on the Left, you will eventually either have to give them up or move to the Right. Because liberalism is not a position. It is a process. That process evolves continually. Nothing is out of bounds for it, given enough time. That\u2019s why so many \u201860s radicals are Reagan Republicans now.<\/p>\n

For years, people have been telling me (to take another example) that there\u2019s nothing wrong with homosexual behavior because homosexuals are born that way (I\u2019m still not convinced of that, but it\u2019s beside the point for this discussion). The argument is, \u201cIf it\u2019s inborn, it\u2019s natural and right.\u201d Christian liberals say it must be God\u2019s will.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy would anyone choose to be gay?\u201d the liberal says. \u201cIt\u2019s penalized in our culture. So it must be inborn, and the gays have no choice in the matter.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bear that argument in mind when you read this<\/a>, from Italy\u2019s La Stampa<\/i>.
\n<\/p>\n

A study conducted by neuroscientists at Turin University and researchers at the department of neurological science of the University of Milan asserts that pedophilia is caused by a defective growth factor called pleiotropic protein Progranulin (PGRN). The results were published in the journal Biological Psychiatry and presented during a recent convention of the Neurological Italian Society in Turin.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Now, if this theory is true, explain to me how the previously stated arguments for homosexuality don\u2019t apply just as well to pedophilia.<\/p>\n

And no, \u201cYou\u2019re a Nazi,\u201d does not count as a valid argument.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you\u2019re a social conservative, chances are you\u2019ve had a conversation something like this: Conservative: \u201cBut if we accept homosexual behavior as normal, how do we retain other traditional taboos, like the one against incest?\u201d Liberal: \u201cThat\u2019s just a straw man. Nobody\u2019s going to advocate incest.\u201d Now, read this, from Tauriq Moosa, tutor in ethics, … Continue reading The dance of the straw men<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4647","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-religion"],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4647","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4647"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4647\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4647"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4647"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4647"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}