Bad Writing
December 12, 2002
The Advocate chimes in with a bit regarding the (continuing) practice of making homosexuality the "explanation" for evil:
How many of us stand in utter boredom in the checkout line looking for something�anything�to amuse us and then find ourselves reading a National Enquirer headline and wondering, Oh? Really? The November 12 headline caught my attention��Snipers: Their Secret Gay Life�And Why It Made Them Kill��claiming that the motivation behind John Muhammad and John Lee Malvo�s sniper attacks was a lurid homosexual relationship. Unnamed sources who �fear Islamic militant retribution� and a �pal� from their local YMCA (OK, which of the Village People is going to fess up?) opine about an indelible link between homosexuality and terrorism.From their offices deep in the swamplan of Florida, where sleight of hand is a matter of convention, Carol Burnett�s favorite tabloid continues to do what it has always done best�trim the truth to make it palatable to the masses. And it knows it has a captive audience at Vons, Kroger, or Piggly Wiggly.
When a sniper picks off victims like targets on a shooting range and millions are afraid to pump their own gas, we collectively wonder how something so vile could happen. The Enquirer seizes on that desire for understanding and brilliantly exploits one of the great weaknesses in the American character: a hunger for the simple solution.
And a sensational one. Since Allah worship is, by this point, old news as an excuse for evil, the obvious alternative is to say Muhammad and Malvo were gay lovers, thus tapping into a deep vein of homophobia that sees gayness as inherently evil.
Connecting the evil of homosexuality to the evil of terrorism gives bored shoppers the tidy explanation they long for. They can momentarily leave their brains at the checkout counter and buy into a tabloid definition of terrorism lite.
Posted by Jody at December 12, 2002 12:47 AM
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