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As Gay Becomes Bourgeois
Townhall.com ^ | December 29, 2010 | Jonah Goldberg

Posted on 12/29/2010 11:03:28 AM PST by Kaslin

So now openly gay soldiers get to fight and die in neocon-imperialist wars too?

David Brooks saw such ironic progressive victories coming. In his book "Bobos in Paradise," he wrote that everything "transgressive" gets "digested by the mainstream bourgeois order, and all the cultural weapons that once were used to undermine middle-class morality ... are drained of their subversive content."

Two decades ago, the gay left wanted to smash the bourgeois prisons of monogamy, capitalistic enterprise and patriotic values and bask in the warm sun of bohemian "free love" and avant-garde values. In this, they were simply picking up the torch from the straight left of the 1960s and 1970s, who had sought to throw off the sexual hang-ups of their parents' generation along with their gray flannel suits.

As a sexual lifestyle experiment, they failed pretty miserably, the greatest proof being that the affluent and educated children (and grandchildren) of the baby boomers have re-embraced the bourgeois notion of marriage as an essential part of a successful life. Sadly, it's the lower middle class that increasingly sees marriage as an out-of-reach luxury. The irony is that such bourgeois values -- monogamy, hard work, etc. -- are the best guarantors of success and happiness.

Of course, the lunacy of the bohemian free-love shtick should have been obvious from the get-go. For instance, when Michael Lerner, a member of the anti-Vietnam War "Seattle Seven," did marry, in 1971, the couple exchanged rings made from the fuselage of a U.S. aircraft downed over Vietnam and cut into a cake inscribed in icing with a Weatherman catchphrase, "Smash Monogamy."

Today Lerner is a (divorced and remarried) somewhat preposterous, prosperous progressive rabbi who officiates at all kinds of marriages -- gay and straight -- and, like pretty much the entire left, loves the idea of open gays becoming cogs in the military-industrial complex.

The gay experiment with open bohemianism was arguably shorter. Of course, AIDS played an obvious and tragic role in focusing attention on the downside of promiscuity. But even so, the sweeping embrace of bourgeois lifestyles by the gay community has been stunning.

Nowhere is this more evident -- and perhaps exaggerated -- than in popular culture. Watch ABC's "Modern Family." The sitcom is supposed to be "subversive" in part because it features a gay couple with an adopted daughter from Asia. And you can see why both liberal proponents and conservative opponents of gay marriage see it that way. But imagine you hate the institution of marriage and then watch "Modern Family's" hardworking bourgeois gay couple through those eyes. What's being subverted? Traditional marriage, or some bohemian identity politics fantasy of homosexuality?

By the way, according to a recent study, "Modern Family" is the No. 1 sitcom among Republicans (and the third show overall behind Glenn Beck and "The Amazing Race") but not even in the top 15 among Democrats, who prefer darker shows like Showtime's "Dexter," about a serial killer trying to balance work and family between murders.

Or look at the decision to let gays openly serve in the military through the eyes of a principled hater of all things military. From that perspective, gays have just been co-opted by The Man. Meanwhile, the folks who used "don't ask, don't tell" as an excuse to keep the military from recruiting on campuses just saw their argument go up in flames.

Personally, I have always felt that gay marriage was an inevitability, for good or ill (most likely both). I do not think that the arguments against gay marriage are all grounded in bigotry, and I find some of the arguments persuasive. But I also find it cruel and absurd to tell gays that living the free-love lifestyle is abominable while at the same time telling them that their committed relationships are illegitimate too.

Many of my conservative friends -- who oppose both civil unions and gay marriage and object to rampant promiscuity --often act as if there's some grand alternative lifestyle for gays. But there isn't. And given that open homosexuality is simply a fact of life, the rise of the HoBos -- the homosexual bourgeoisie -- strikes me as good news.


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; Editorial; Foreign Affairs
KEYWORDS: homosexualagenda
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To: onyx

Do you remember when the word “gay” meant happy? Since it doesn’t anymore, only the word homosexual should be used and gay should be used for what it used originally


41 posted on 12/29/2010 11:49:16 AM PST by Kaslin (Acronym for OBAMA: One Big Ass Mistake America)
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To: rdb3

Hi you!
HAPPY NEW YEAR!


42 posted on 12/29/2010 11:49:27 AM PST by onyx (If you truly support Sarah Palin and want on her busy ping list, let me know!)
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To: Sherman Logan
So which person in a consensual relationship is the perp, and which is the victim?

Are you talking about the "pitcher" or "catcher"?

I understand that in some Hispanic societies that only the "catcher" is considered queer.

43 posted on 12/29/2010 11:50:15 AM PST by Graybeard58
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To: Sherman Logan

Less than you think, actually.
Homo marriage was struck down by vote in California, overwhelmingly crushed.
The homos screamed like stuck pigs.
(Squeal like a pig...)

The vast majority do not support it like you are saying.


44 posted on 12/29/2010 11:52:40 AM PST by Darksheare (I shook hands with Sheryl Crow and all I got was Typhus and a single sheet of toilet paper.)
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To: Graybeard58

Actually that’s a pretty common opinion across many cultures.

Also the notion that a relationship between a man and a pubescent or adolescent boy is not “queer,” while one betwen two adult men is.


45 posted on 12/29/2010 11:53:44 AM PST by Sherman Logan
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To: Kaslin
Yes, I remember, Kaslin, and that's one reason why I refuse to use the word *gay*. They're homosexuals or lesbians, not gays.
46 posted on 12/29/2010 11:55:44 AM PST by onyx (If you truly support Sarah Palin and want on her busy ping list, let me know!)
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To: Sherman Logan

So which person in a consensual relationship is the perp, and which is the victim?


It’s like baseball, you got one person thats the pitcher and the other person is the catcher, sometimes they change positions.


47 posted on 12/29/2010 11:55:56 AM PST by 23 Everest (A gun in hand is better than a cop on the phone.)
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To: Sherman Logan

So... it’s okay because other cultures think it is so?
Sorry, not buying it.
This is America, we have American culture here.


48 posted on 12/29/2010 11:55:57 AM PST by Darksheare (I shook hands with Sheryl Crow and all I got was Typhus and a single sheet of toilet paper.)
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To: DJ MacWoW

I won’t argue with you that it is deviant and sinful. But, it is a consensual adult deviancy ... which differentiates it from pedophilia (for instance). The victims are willing participants — as are all “victims” of their own sin.

True marriage has nothing whatsoever to do with tax breaks, hospital visitation, health insurance, estate planning, etc. All that stuff is peripheral (at best). Hospital visitation, estate law, and health insurance are not my concern.

SnakeDoc


49 posted on 12/29/2010 11:56:06 AM PST by SnakeDoctor ("They made it evident to every man [...] that human beings are many, but men are few." -- Herodotus)
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To: Darksheare

It is entirely possible to believe that marriage should remain between a man and a woman while also believing that two adult homosexuals should not be prosecuted for a consensual relationship.

I know, because this is my opinion.


50 posted on 12/29/2010 11:56:26 AM PST by Sherman Logan
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To: Kaslin
Obviously he's entitled to his opinion.

That doesn't make him right.

51 posted on 12/29/2010 11:56:30 AM PST by what's up
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To: onyx
I really don't care if homosexuals are born, made, recruited, choose the life or a combination of the above, - many modern day homosexuals have elected to be defined by their sexual behavior in an *in your face* manner,

Exactly!

I a normal marriage between a man and woman sex is a PART of the relationship, but it is not the primary focus of the marriage (it may be in the beginning, but not later). On the other hand, homosexuality is defined by sex and nothing else.

People need to realize that homosexuals already have EXACTLY THE SAME RIGHTS that everyone else does. Nobody has EVER denied homosexuals the right to marry. What they are asking for now are special rights that nobody else has.

Why homosexuals and not polygamists?

I can assure you that this will be next because from a historical point of view polygamy has a lot more justification than homosexual marriage does.

Here is something for the "multi-culturalist" crowd to ponder: until very recently, in the history of the world, regardless of cultural or religious beliefs, marriage has ALWAYS been defined as being ONE MAN (never zero and never more than one) and one or more women.

52 posted on 12/29/2010 11:57:00 AM PST by wagglebee ("A political party cannot be all things to all people." -- Ronald Reagan, 3/1/75)
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To: Sherman Logan

There are ‘consensual relationships’ as you put it between adults and underage children all the time.
Does that make it right?


53 posted on 12/29/2010 11:57:31 AM PST by Darksheare (I shook hands with Sheryl Crow and all I got was Typhus and a single sheet of toilet paper.)
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To: Darksheare

I didn’t say I thought it was okay. I just commented on what are common cultural memes, both across the world and across time.


54 posted on 12/29/2010 11:57:55 AM PST by Sherman Logan
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To: Darksheare

I didn’t say I thought it was okay. I just commented on what are common cultural memes, both across the world and across time.


55 posted on 12/29/2010 11:58:00 AM PST by Sherman Logan
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To: Sherman Logan

Here is a list of what many doctors refer to as “Lavender” diseases. They occur with extraordinary frequency among male homosexuals.

Anal Cancer
Chlamydia trachomatis
Cryptosporidium
Giardia lamblia
Herpes simplex virus
Human immunodeficiency virus
Human papilloma virus
Isospora belli
Microsporidia
Gonorrhea
Viral hepatitis types B & C
Syphilis

It is a FACT that 1% to 2% of the population are fudge packers yet this tiny minority account for over 50% of all AIDS cases. The cost to the health care system and the general public by way of tax dollars is staggering yet you will never hear a word about this from the MSM or the fudge packers and their supporters.


56 posted on 12/29/2010 11:58:42 AM PST by skimask
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To: Sherman Logan

But, it’s consensual as per your post 50.


57 posted on 12/29/2010 11:58:47 AM PST by Darksheare (I shook hands with Sheryl Crow and all I got was Typhus and a single sheet of toilet paper.)
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To: onyx

We all need to stop using the word gay until it comes back to his original meaning


58 posted on 12/29/2010 11:58:52 AM PST by Kaslin (Acronym for OBAMA: One Big Ass Mistake America)
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To: Westbrook
Christ can break any and all curses.

Amen, Hallelujah! And at the Name of Jesus, every knee shall bow, every tongue confess that Jesus is LORD to the glory of God the Father!

59 posted on 12/29/2010 12:00:44 PM PST by Faith
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To: SnakeDoctor
which differentiates it from pedophilia

No it doesn't. They are all sexual dysfunctions. Do you know what a chicken hawk is? A homosexual that recruits confused teen boys. Homosexuals RECRUIT. I've seen it.

Hospital visitation, estate law, and health insurance are not my concern.

If you're REALLY conservative it had better be. You ready to pay spousal benefits through SSI? Spousal healthcare to homosexuals? It WILL cost you. Ever hear of gay bowel syndrome? Shigellosis? Proctitis? You'll be paying for it.

60 posted on 12/29/2010 12:03:05 PM PST by DJ MacWoW (If Bam is the answer, the question was stupid.)
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