Have you noticed how many television programs are touching on subjects other than heterosexual sexuality lately? It started out as a trickle, and it is becoming a torrent. I suppose it is, more than anything else, a manifestation of the ultra liberal television and film industry's concern over and support for liberal causes.
That does not mean I don't think the public airing of programs dealing with alternative sexuality is a bad thing. I don't think that at all. We have become a nation which no longer reads. More and more our values are shaped by the social media. God knows there is more than enough crap scattered throughout the social media and the entertainment industry. I think it is great that they can do at least a few worthwhile services by promoting new view of homosexuality.
I, for one, do not underestimate the service that was provided the country by making gay people seem
acceptable by television shows such as "Will & Grace." The show had an eight year run and it made homosexuality an acceptable topic of discussion for all members of the family from grandma right down to junior. More recently, "Modern Family" has contributed greatly to the cause by suggesting, correctly, that homosexuality is something that touches a great number of families personally.
Some programs, such as "Major Crimes" are now beginning to get into even more controversial subjects such as transgender issues. I see that as a good thing too. The truth is that many Americans are so ill informed about such subjects that they consider homosexuality, transgender, bisexuality and pedophilia all to be part and parcel manifestations of homosexuality. A little education to the contrary can't hurt.
Recently, I mentioned to a friend that my wife and I along with my son and his family often spent time with a homosexual friend of mine and his partner. The friend asked if I was really that comfortable with my elementary school age grandchildren being exposed to such an atmosphere. I told him it fit rather well with my desire to see my grandchildren learn to accept or reject people based on their merits as individuals rather than their sexuality. My homosexual friends are good people. They have something to contribute to society; otherwise, I wouldn't call them my friends. I'm not ashamed of my friends and don't even attempt to pretend I don't have homosexual friends.
I do admit that I have concerns about the integration of homosexuality into the mainstream of American Culture. I hate to say this; but in my view, race relations in this country have actually gotten worse since Obama was elected President. Many of us hoped that Obama's political success would signal the beginning of the post-racial era in America. It hasn't happened. Antagonisms between the races have actually gotten worse. I think there are many reasons for this - not the least being Obama's own attitudes and knee jerk reactions to racial issues. He has also been altogether to quick create and use racial bias for his own benefit. He has been all to slow to hold black Americans accountable for their own welfare, preferring instead to vastly extend the Nanny State to previously unknown proportions.
Another thing that has played a part in increasing racial tensions is the 800 pound gorilla in the room that very few are willing to acknowledge. Obama's election itself is the product of race based voting. There is no thinking adult, white or black, who honestly thinks anyone of Obama's experience level and political outlook would ever have been elected to office if such a person were white. This was even verified during the last election when a number of black voters admitted they were disappointed in Obama, but had no choice other than to vote for the black man. Many will immediately judge me a racist based on that statement. I am not a racist. I know and could name several black men and women who would have been more qualified than Obama to be the first black president, and who undoubtedly would have better used their high office to enhance rather than degrade racial harmony.
I fear that as homosexuality becomes an open part of our society which is perceived as heterosexual, some of the same type of things will take place. We will be expected to give preferences to homosexual people because they are homosexual rather than to judge them on their personal merits.
The recent Zimmerman case illustrates well where a great deal of racism really resides in this country. Many black Americans never once stopped to entertain the idea that Martin just might have contributed something to his own death. All they saw was a dead black man and a white man who admitted killing him in self-defense. The story was completely different a few years ago when OJ savagely murdered two white people. In that case, the white establishment was just out to frame the black man though the evidence that OJ was guilty was overwhelming.
White people do not hesitate to send other white people to prison. White people do not hesitate to identify other white people as white trash. And white people do not hesitate to defend a black person against a white person when the evidence supports defense of the black person. Any honest person knows that to be true. Certainly the number of white men who are in prison for crimes against black people know it to be true.
Our racial problems will end in this country when every citizen white or black reaches the point at which they can honestly judge people by their merits rather than the color of their skin. The significant rise of the black middle and upper class in this country over the past 50 years is proof that white America is willing and able to do just that. The failure of black America to become as vocal about black on black crime as they are about white on black crime indicates black America by and large has not reached that point. The incidents of white on black crime does not come close to the number of incidents of black on black crime, but we hear little about that in the black communities and we certainly don't see Al Shapton and Jessie Jackson taking to the streets to denounce blacks for their crimes against other blacks.
I hope the same type of thing will not happen in the homosexual communities as they become more and more a part of the American mainstream. Over the last 20 years I have come to know a number of homosexual men. Some of them are among my best friends. I have even written one into my will. But there are a number of homosexual men who I wouldn't spit on if they were on fire - not because they are homosexual, but because of things in their life style that have nothing to do with their homosexuality. There are bad homosexual people. That does not mean heterosexual people thus have an excuse to hate all homosexuals. Neither does it mean heterosexuals must think kindly of all homosexual people.
Jack Scott
