Forget about Islam and the issue of homosexuality ? Maybe you don't understand because you don't want to understand. It doesn't matter to me what the year is, or who I am speaking with. As far as evils go, these are the absolutely two most important social issues for me and everything else I may say assumes that tolerance of homosexuality must be made to end and homosexuality itself re-recognized as a mental illness. Anyone who wants may disagree but that doesn't mean that I respect their basically uninformed opinions. This has nothing at all to do with public opinion, which as things have become in the past few years, is utterly wrong on the issue. But what can anyone expect ? The conservatives have dropped the ball on this badly, horribly in fact. But I have done the research, others have not, and there isn't the least question in my mind what I have to do about this. By research I manifestly do not mean reading a column written by a MAS pundit or a pamphlet written by a homosexual advocacy group or, much the same thing, by a government agency. I mean scholarly books, research articles, and a helluva lot of really good research findings now available on the Web but close to universally ignored by the "establishment" --which is only concerned with votes or money or approval by high status elites. Which, as far as my own values go, are pretty far down on the totem pole, near the bottom, not the top. Which is why I take such a dim view of Steve Jobs on social issues, or Bloomberg, or Hillary, or anyone else. They simply don't / didn't know what the hell they are talking about, are led by Leftist opinion on the issue, and then try to force it down everyone else's throats. To me this is war, nothing less. Win, or die trying. As far as Islam goes, while in US, politics this year and obviously in 2012 and doubtless beyond, economics must be a central concern, to "forget about" Islam would be ridiculous. All kinds of reasons. Do you really think that because economics is a necessary focus in politics that Muslim crazies will stop killing Christians, stop threatening Israel, and stop attacking Hindus in India ? More relevant to US politics, we have had a run of really good luck. Except for Ft Hood, there have been no major attacks on US soil since 9/11. But there have been about a dozen very serious attempts to cause major damage and deaths which have been stopped. What happens when, some day, someone succeeds in killing 100 people who are celebrating a Christmas tree lighting in Portland, or maybe 1000 people who are simply shopping in Times Square ? Islam, even if any case about a whole religion needs to be carefully stated and take into account entire classes of exceptions, is a lethal threat to all of us. No idea if it was ever a factor at Apple, but now knowing that Jobs had Arab background it would be easy to see that Apple policy might well have been pro-Islam in all kinds of ways that most people would not normally pay any attention to , yet could add up over the years and effect how employees think, and the values they have. Sorry, but since the Koran sentences me to death, I have no interest is any kind of appeasement of Muslims. Doesn't stop me from usually thinking well of Al-Jazeera or for appreciating Islamic art, etc., but the actual religion itself makes me ill to even think about. Because I am uninformed ? You know that the exact opposite is the case, that I know this stuff at close to an expert level. May as well tell me to forget about my right arm and left arm as if they are unimportant and can be sacrificed for some other "good." Lots of other subjects that interest me in a positive way FAR more. This should be very clear. The Bible. US History. Symbolic Art. Social movements. Psychology. Politics. Sometimes even the economy. Plus Mars and Existentialism and India / Asia. Etc. But these two social issues are not on the table for "editing." Also the exact opposite is the case. I am completely committed to this, not half way committed. Really would be futile to think that this will ever change. It won't. Be assured of that. Billy ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- - 10/10/2011 3:41:58 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time, [email protected] writes:
Hi Billy, On Oct 10, 2011, at 3:39 PM, [email protected]_ (mailto:[email protected]) wrote: I completely reject the current East Coast + California consensus on homosexuality. But this is one of the projects I need to get much further along than is the case now. Otherwise mostly what people hear from me is strong opinion. There is a helluva lot more than that, tons of empirical stuff, but its got to be written up and that takes time. Also as important is the issue of Islam. At least about this a book is far along toward completion. But like a football game, the last 20 yards in the red zone are the hardest. I think that is going to be the hardest barrier for you. In this cycle, what matter is economics and populism. If we want to win 2012, we're going to have to forget about Islam and homosexuality for a while. If you can't do that, you'll probably have to wait until 2016... E -- Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community <[email protected]> Google Group: _http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism_ (http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism) Radical Centrism website and blog: _http://RadicalCentrism.org_ (http://radicalcentrism.org/) -- Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community <[email protected]> Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org
