Saturday, June 11, 2011

Tracy Morgan Should Join God Hates Fags Church

Tracy Morgan thinks that being born homosexual is "bullshit", because "God don't make no mistakes". I suppose he missed the memo about all the kids being born with no arms or legs or eyes, or any number of other horrific birth defects. Not that I'm saying that homosexuality is a birth defect, or even a "mistake". That is Morgan's faulty premise, but it reflects the simple-minded thinking of a deeply superstitious person, brainwashed by religious extremists who spoon feed idiotic talking points like "god don't make no mistakes". I fully expected Morgan to bust out "God made Adam and Eve not Adam and Steve", but he spared us that one.

Of course Morgan has apologized for this and other comments, including the statement that he would stab his son to death if he turned out to be gay. The thing about apologies, though, is that you actually have to mean them for there to be in value. Granted, I'm sure that, on some level he is sorry that he offended people, especially to the extent that it might harm his popularity and his career. Also, I am also the first person to say that "a joke is a joke", and if he were merely joking, or playing a character, that would be quite a different matter. However, this is no indication that Tracy Morgan is completely joking. OK, he probably wouldn't really stab his son, but he does believe that homosexuality is a "choice", and because he sees it that way, certainly sounds like he would be angry and unaccepting of this "choice".

The thing about this ridiculous choice-only argument, as I have noted before, is that it doesn't stand up to reasonable scrutiny. If this were all a matter of "choice", uninfluenced by biology or hormones, then we would expect as many as 50% of men and women to choose to become homosexuals. Instead, we see very small percentages of the population being homosexual. If you tossed a coin and 99% of the time it came up one way (i.e. straight), I think you would conclude that something is biasing that coin. It's not all just culture.

Gender is, after all, determined chromosomally, but, as we know from the discussion of birth defects, things don't always proceed perfectly from fertilization onward. While most men will naturally develop hormonal based urges that cause them to seek females, and females will feel attraction toward males, it is conceivable that biological wires can cross. Most honest, rational men, for example, can easily admit that didn't just wake up one day and say, "after lengthy deliberation, and careful weighing of the pros and cons, I have decided that I like women". We just started liking women, and would have even if it hadn't been socially acceptable to do so -- whereas, before puberty, most young boys don't particularly care for girls one way or the other.

Of course, one of the groups which has the hardest times being honest and rational is doctrinaire religious adherents, like Tracy Morgan. They're in a bind because their Bible does say some uncomplementary things about homosexuality. However, if the basis of homosexuality were biological, it would seem rather unfair for God to punish people for things out of their control. It would be like punishing Tracy Morgan for being goofy-looking. He really had little "choice" in the matter, at least up until the point that he started making a lot of money and could afford plastic surgery.

Of course, it is conceivable that both sides could be partly right. This is another option that hardcore believers often fail to grasp in their 100% black or white universes. It could be that only some people are genetically and hormonally disposed to be homosexuals and others do it more as a matter of choice. Ever heard about what goes on in prison? Of course there too, those guys don't have a lot of choice in the matter either. Given their limited options they decide that some form of sex is better than nothing. However, outside of prison, many of those individuals tend to show more typical preferences.

This leads me to my last point, which is that Morgan should really have the courage of his convictions, like those Westboro Baptist Church people. Maybe he can join them and become a high profile spokesperson for their group. They could certainly use a bit of diversity, from the look of things. That way he could at least be "out" and honest about his anti-homosexuality, instead of hiding behind insincere apologies.


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