Godwin con Variazione
We’re all familiar with Godwin’s Law, that “As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches 1.”
Allow me to propose a few variations:
As a discussion goes on, the probability of a theist bringing up Pascal’s wager approaches 1.
and
As a discussion on gay rights goes on, the arguments against gay marriage will be pared down to “buttsecks is nasty”.
I think it’s safe to say that the corollary to Godwin’s Law applies in both of these cases as well: if you believe in God because you’re afraid of being punished for not believing, or if you think that your distaste overrides people’s civil rights, then you’ve lost the argument.
A few years back I ran across a letter in the paper to the effect that we know that homosexuality is immoral because we find it so revolting. I immediately dubbed this the Argument From Personal Sqeamishness — srsly, my personal hangups are a law of the universe? As John Stewart said: by that standard, your *parents* shouldn’t be having sex.
The kicker was that the letter was by an old friend of mine from back in evangelical days. Glad I don’t run with *that* crowd any more….
I’d be willing to bet that a lot of people in the middle east find eating bacon, shrimp, or crabs revolting (I mean, c’mon! Those things have way too many legs!). Does that mean that your correspondent shouldn’t eat those things?
Appendectomies and heart transplants are also gross. So clearly, those must be violations of God’s law too.
This one always confuses me. As far as I’m aware, anal sex is not restricted to homosexuals.
Ray:
Yup. And I’m sure if you ran the numbers, you’d find that there are far more heterosexual couples engaging in anal sex than gay ones, simply because there are so many more straight people.
And, of course, I bet there are a lot of gay male couples who don’t engage in anal sex.
But I’m pretty sure the real underlying reason for homophobia (and, by extension, opposition to gay rights) is “men have dangly bits between their legs, and like rolling in the hay with women. Women have lumpy bits on their chests and no dangly bits, and for all I know enjoy having sex with men. Gays, lesbians, transsexuals, etc. don’t fit this simple mold and make me uncomfortable. Therefore, they shouldn’t exist.”