The American Spectator

Reader Mail

Hypocrisy Held Over

10.5.06 @ 12:01AM

PICKING UP WHERE WE LEFT OFF
Re: Ben Stein's Hypocrisy, Democrat Style and Reader Mail's La Cage Aux Foley and Knives Out for Ben Stein:

From the tone of the letters you are receiving in response to Ben Stein's missive on Mark Foley, it appears that Ben's statement about adult male gays and their attraction to young boys has the gay community in a tizzy. Several gay readers have responded that they, and their partners, would never dream about sexually abusing children and how no such attraction between adult male gays and young (teen and pre-teen) boys exists. Gay propaganda aside, all I know is what I see. Years back, I took my family to visit relatives in Massachusetts, and we took a day drip to Provincetown on the tip of Cape Cod for a whale-watching excursion. After returning from the boat trip, we decided to walk around town to take in the local color. We were well aware that Provincetown was an "artist community" with a primarily gay population. We may have been a little naive concerning how the good townsfolk would react to one of my children. At that time, one of my sons was thirteen years old and a very nice looking boy (he gets his looks from his mother). As the kids walked up ahead, my wife and I lagged behind. First myself, and then my wife noticed the heads turning, the fingers pointing, the wry smiles, and the lurid stares. This was not from one or two men, but from just about everyone we passed. Male couples would elbow each other and stop and check out the goods. I doubt that any good-looking woman walking past a construction site would have been checked out any more thoroughly. I was a little uneasy, but my wife was furious and we left Provincetown posthaste. So all this current indignation expressed by your gay letter writers rings kind of hollow with me. Also, could anyone in the gay community explain to me what NAMBLA is?
-- John Biernat
Saint Clair Shores, Michigan

Can a principled person of any political party believe Ben Stein's reality-free rationalizations about either Mark Foley or George Allen?

An intellectually honest editorial might have acknowledged that racists and pedophiles can have any party designation without laboriously ignoring reality to excuse the two recently discovered Republican examples.

And since he's conflating pedophilia with homosexuality, does he realize how offensive that might be to his "gay friend"? Since in Stein's lazy and erroneous moral calculus all gay men are pedophiles, doesn't it bother him that his many gay friends are also child predators?

It's sad to see Stein descend to such cheap and obvious hackery this late in his life. But it's another example of how Republicans, who will contort reality to the breaking point for the ends of political gain for its own sake, have left the electorate no other choice but the Democrats.
-- Tom Coffeen
Phoenix, Arizona

Ben Stein has responded all of his critics here with a dismissive quote from Bob Dylan. It turns out he used the exact same quote in a column last March about those who complain about high gasoline prices. Don't his "dear readers" here at The American Spectator at least rate an original putdown?
-- Glen Hoffing
Shamong, New Jersey

It's been a while since Win Ben Stein's Money, in which I developed a healthy respect for Ben Stein, both as a master of intelligent repartee, and a very decent human being. I suppose it must be true, though, that the television lies. What I found on your website today would not have been quite so appalling, but for the fact that Ben Stein wrote it.

Mr. Stein makes the following reference "...the Democrats, whose primary constituency, besides the teachers' unions, is homosexual men and lesbian women."

Is there a reputable dataset somewhere upon which Mr. Stein bases this assertion? Perhaps he would be so kind as to produce it? Perhaps he's just talking off the cuff? I have to wonder, given the blatantly inaccurate, sweeping generalization he then goes on to make. One which I hardly ever thought worthy of someone so erudite and meticulous as Mr. Stein.

"I hope it won't come as a surprise to anyone that a big part of male homosexual behavior is interest in young boys. (Take a look at anyone renting Endless Summer next time you are at the video store.)"

I realize, dear Editors, that part of any magazine/website's job is to provoke thought, and perhaps, make some outrageous claims, inflame your audience, just to get the readers in, and most importantly, sell subscriptions and ad space. But this is a gratuitously divisive claim, and ignores the larger societal, and ultimately anthropological reality.

Human beings are no different than any other mammals. Regardless of orientation, humans seek out the young, strong, and fit for sexual partners. In this respect, gay men are no different than straight men. Just take a look at the age difference between the hero and heroine of any Hollywood film produced since the 1960s. (Better yet, I wonder how many gay men rent copies of Lolita? How many straight men?)

Mr. Stein claims to have many gay friends... did he bother to ask them about this blanket statement before printing it?

Only he can answer that.
-- Tyler Clark
A (sadly) former fan of Ben Stein.

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