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CARL SAGAN
NRO - The Corner ^ | 5/16/04 | John Derbyshire

Posted on 05/17/2004 3:42:10 PM PDT by swilhelm73

Apparently Carl Sagan was a closeted homophobe:

"Dear Mr. Derbyshire -- If you were not aware, Carl Sagan -- Yes, the happy, life-affirming, turtle-necked, warm-glow Carl Sagan -- was also mildly & tolerantly homophobic.

"Two biographies on Sagan came out in 1999 and both (though one more than the other) were pained and hurt by some of the comments that would come out of Sagan's mouth. My favorite was that Sagan wasn't convinced that homosexuality was genetic, though if forced to accept that conclusion, he wanted it understood that homosexuality was a genetic deformity. Another was when Sagan discovered that his son was best friends with a homosexual at school - he told his son that it would be wrong to not be friends with the boy just because he's gay, but also wrong not to acknowledge that the boy's sexual preferences were not to be approved. ... Sagan's views on homosexuality left the authors confused because at one moment he would be saying something very homophobic and at the next arguing for the promotion of a gay faculty member, etc. What the authors lacked the imagination to understand is that this is how the mild & tolerant homophobic mind works. So in addition to Cicero, you have Carl Sagan on your side."


TOPICS: Culture/Society
KEYWORDS: carlsagan; derbyshire
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1 posted on 05/17/2004 3:42:11 PM PDT by swilhelm73
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To: swilhelm73

on Corner articles, if you like to the date under the article, you will have a permanent link to that particular article.


2 posted on 05/17/2004 3:44:40 PM PDT by gilliam
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To: swilhelm73
Sagan wasn't convinced that homosexuality was genetic, though if forced to accept that conclusion, he wanted it understood that homosexuality was a genetic deformity.

Why is this "homophobic"?

3 posted on 05/17/2004 3:47:31 PM PDT by My2Cents ("Well...there you go again.")
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To: swilhelm73

That guy was awesome at science, but was also a pot head and politically liberal in general. He's lost a bit of respect in my view.


4 posted on 05/17/2004 3:49:44 PM PDT by Monty22
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To: swilhelm73

There's a new theory about female genetic components that attack male genes resulting in more early male miscarriages and causing some males to be gay. One study shows that gay males have siginificantly more aunts than uncles. I can't defend the theory, I just heard about it on a talk show.


5 posted on 05/17/2004 3:50:18 PM PDT by bayourod (Is it just coincidence that the FR spell-checker lists "a**h*le as an alternative to "Tom Dashle?")
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To: My2Cents
Why is this "homophobic"?

My2¢, I was thinking the same thing.

6 posted on 05/17/2004 3:50:32 PM PDT by Blue Highway
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To: swilhelm73
My favorite was that Sagan wasn't convinced that homosexuality was genetic, though if forced to accept that conclusion, he wanted it understood that homosexuality was a genetic deformity. Another was when Sagan discovered that his son was best friends with a homosexual at school - he told his son that it would be wrong to not be friends with the boy just because he's gay, but also wrong not to acknowledge that the boy's sexual preferences were not to be approved.

LOL, that is homophobic????? That is more like a well-reasoned point of view. Besides, there isn't one shred of evidence to suggest that homosexuality is genetic.

7 posted on 05/17/2004 3:51:46 PM PDT by Always Right
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To: Monty22
That guy was awesome at science, but was also a pot head and politically liberal in general. He's lost a bit of respect in my view.

He's gain respect by a large margin from me. Here is a guy who is able to speak his opinion against the PC science (which has no basis in science).

8 posted on 05/17/2004 3:54:11 PM PDT by Always Right
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To: swilhelm73
I am not afraid of, nor do I feel contempt for the homosexual individual, on the contrary they have my pity, but surely all clear thinking people know that homosexual sex is unnatural and aberrant behavior.

As to the word, 'homophobe', I will accept that tag if only to irritate the politically correct crowd. I abhor the behavior, but the homosexual man or woman has my sympathy for the prison in which they find themselves.

9 posted on 05/17/2004 3:54:43 PM PDT by O.C. - Old Cracker (When the cracker gets old, you wind up with Old Cracker. - O.C.)
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To: Always Right

He was a leftwinger, if he was anti-gay that's an aberation.


10 posted on 05/17/2004 3:58:48 PM PDT by Monty22
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To: gilliam

Ah...did not know...that thanks for the info!


11 posted on 05/17/2004 4:00:03 PM PDT by swilhelm73
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To: swilhelm73

Look at the language spin: "a closeted homophobe."

Poor Carl Sagan was probably a half-a-fag to begin with; due in part to his years embroilled in the academic quagmire. I dug his stuff, and cut him slack as a peon from Brooklyn.

The point being: he's dead, and somehow his life's work is interfering with getting Kerry elected.


12 posted on 05/17/2004 4:00:26 PM PDT by Solamente
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To: Always Right
Where to start? The author is a dim wit who "can't understand" that Sagan had some view of homosexuality but would support a gay professor's promotion. grow up. Further, not only is there no evidence of homosexuality being genetic, i have read articles in the Science of the Times (NYT) about gays who do NOT want all homosexuality to be genetic. In other words, they are beginning to acknowledge that of course they want to "convert" people to homosexuality.

In college, we had a poli sci and a sociology professor who were the leading feminist lesbians on campus. I remember vividly being in the student union building with a very attractive girl who was in tears because the professors were constantly telling her she had to try lesbianism in order to prove she didn't need a man. In other words, they were just trying to get in her pants.

13 posted on 05/17/2004 4:00:44 PM PDT by Williams
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To: bayourod
In this life, it has been my experience that everyone either comes out of the birth canal with a defect or gets one soon after. Maybe having more aunts than uncles can cause some kind of problem, I don't know, but I do know that once you get past a certain age (mid-late teens) you are responsible for your choices. You either struggle against the evil and seek the light of God, or you give up and give in to the pull of this world.

All of this theorizing about why we do the evil we do reminds me of the liberal hand-wringers trying to rationalize the terrorist's motives for September 11, 2001.

14 posted on 05/17/2004 4:03:59 PM PDT by O.C. - Old Cracker (When the cracker gets old, you wind up with Old Cracker. - O.C.)
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To: O.C. - Old Cracker

Very well put.


15 posted on 05/17/2004 4:05:01 PM PDT by jonno (We are NOT a democracy - though we are democratic. We ARE a constitutional republic.)
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To: Solamente
Look at the language spin: "a closeted homophobe."

Great point, 180 degrees.

16 posted on 05/17/2004 4:05:22 PM PDT by StriperSniper (Welcome home Thomas Hamill !!!)
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To: swilhelm73

Carl Sagan is a well-known atheist. The fact that he might have questioned the gay activist ideological politically correct line simply proves that people may have other objections than religious objections to homosexual behavior. That is why it is so wrong for Canada to criminalize any discussion of homosexuality and why the defense that one is speaking in accordance with sincere religious beliefs is not enough to protect freedom of speech in this area. In a free country, people should be free to discuss homosexuality from all sorts of perspectives, pro and con, and whether based on religious, moral, social, political, biological or anthropological concepts.


17 posted on 05/17/2004 4:05:25 PM PDT by Unam Sanctam
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To: Solamente

What, pray tell, is "a closeted homophobe"???


18 posted on 05/17/2004 4:05:28 PM PDT by gilliam
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To: Monty22

A lot of lefties have their own rules, one for them and one for us.

Steve Jobs of Apple is notorious for being a flaming liberal and not so subtle "homophobe."
I read where he canceled some Icons on the original Mac because he said the looked too "queer looking and faggy". Ditto's on the decision to move from rainbow Apple logo to monocrome. Or so I've read.
Yet he hires gays by the busload...go figure?

Now if i said this stuff to employees, i'd be sent to PC Camp for reeducation


19 posted on 05/17/2004 4:07:06 PM PDT by Will_Zurmacht
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To: My2Cents
That's what I was going to ask. What makes this "homophobic"?

And the "but he was also 'tolerant'" line.

LOL

Goodness. Such a refusal to accept what most people say is their position on this issue. I dare say it is just as described here (in this area. I parted ways with Sagan on other matters).

20 posted on 05/17/2004 4:10:35 PM PDT by cyncooper
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