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The Spectacle Blog
I'm afraid David N. Bass misses the point of my critique of Rick Santorum's statement on DADT and the question from Stephen Hill which prompted it.
I challenged Bass' assertion that Hill's question was loaded. Bass begins his retort by stating he was approaching the question as a reporter and that as a reporter he would not have asked the question the way Hill did. But then Bass noted that Hill "isn't obligated to ask a fairly worded question." Yet I fail to see what was "loaded" about Hill's question.
The fact of the matter is that people were invited by Fox News and Google to submit questions to the GOP candidates and this is what Hill and thousands of other people did on a score of issues. One of those issues is DADT. The Obama Administration has repealed DADT so that otherwise excellent soldiers do not have to fear being thrown out of the military because they happen to be gay and lesbian. Should a Republican defeat President Obama next year, it is certainly a possibility that DADT will be restored. To borrow Hill's words it certainly would "circumvent the progress that's been made for gay and lesbian soldiers in the military." Given that Hill is a soldier serving in Iraq who happens to be gay, it is a matter certainly relevant to him and others in his situation. Bass might not have liked the question but it was certainly relevant and so was Santorum's answer.
Bass then reiterates his main point was that the debate audience was jeering Hill's question, not Hill himself. Yet I made no comment concerning the audience's reaction to Hill. My commentary was confined to whether Hill's question was loaded and to the merits of Santorum's answer.
With regard to Santorum's answer, Bass picks up on the issue of race and sexual orientation and notes from his personal experience how African-Americans do not care to have the aspirations of the gay and lesbian community likened to the struggle for racial equality. I am well aware of this dynamic. Indeed, as African-Americans in California voted for Barack Obama, they also voted in favor of Proposition 8 which deemed same sex marriage unconstitutional.
Notwithstanding this dynamic, Bass utterly misses the point when he states, "To equate a man having sex with a man being black is a stretch." My approach here is from a historical perspective. Santorum is arguing in favor of DADT on the basis that the U.S. military is no place for social experimentation. Seventy years ago, the U.S. military used that same argument in opposition to the integration of our armed forces. Santorum deserves to be criticized when he uses the sort of rhetoric justifying the prohibition of gays and lesbians from being in the military that was used to keep the armed forces segregated. Bass might want to familiarize himself with the history of the integration of our armed forces. So too might Rick Santorum.
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More Blog Posts by Aaron Goldstein
http://spectator.org/blog/2011/09/23/re-re-thoughts-on-santorum-dad
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NotALibertarian| 9.23.11 @ 5:02PM
"My approach here is from a historical perspective."
Your approach hinges on the presumption that race and sexuality are similar enough constructs to make these two social experiments analagous. Behavior is the central aspect of sexuality. It is not the central aspect of race. That's what makes your protest so weak.
NotALibertariaN| 9.23.11 @ 5:39PM
It also needs to be pointed out that the integration of women into the armed forces is a much more analogous social experiment, due to the shared sexual dynamic. Why don't we here about THAT comparison from DADT opponents more? Is it because, years later, many women soldiers milk their protected status and brazenly abuse the system, creating extra headaches for leaders?
Is it not brought up because these "professional" soldiers have demonstrated they are more than willing to carry on sexual affairs with their male colleagues, often requiring discharges due to pregnancy?
PCP Smoker| 9.23.11 @ 9:33PM
Excellent point. You would not be surprised at the number of pregnancies that develop prior to a carrier deployment.
CalMark| 9.24.11 @ 1:55PM
...not to mention what happens onboard an underway carrier.
Anthony| 9.23.11 @ 6:45PM
When I was !8 years old I enlisted in the US Army, as my father, my uncles and cousins did before me, if homosexuals were allowed to serve then, I wouldn't have enlisted. I also would encourage any young man who asked my advice not to enlist. The types of men who are willing to fight for their nation are usually not the types of men who like to shower with, share a tent with, or spend time with homosexuals. Now a man like Goldstein here, a man who never donned a uniform or spent a night on guard duty, he knows what's best for the miltary, Is there no political leader anywhere on the horizon who can put and end to this nonsense?
Bob K.| 9.23.11 @ 8:27PM
Morris J. MacGregor, Jr. who wrote the history of the integration of our armed forces, (You can find his name under the drawing of the statue of the 2 naked military men under the title) which you cite, does not mention (deliberately?) in that history that President Woodrow Wilson, who approved the segregation of the federal service in 1913, also encouraged the continued segregation of the Armed Forces in WWI. Over the years prior to this the military was attempting to segregate the military.
PCP Smoker| 9.23.11 @ 9:30PM
Race has nothing to do with perverted practices, you scumbag. America can actually get past these issues, if GUILTY WHITE MEN stop interfering with things.
Will| 9.24.11 @ 9:46AM
Mr. Goldstein notably repeats the idea that this soldier "happened to be gay".
Has the "gay gene" now been discovered? I know we talk of "orientation" all the time, but have yet to see the scientific evidence for this "natural happenstance"....
2Anglico| 9.24.11 @ 11:16AM
I will sleep better at night knowing homosexuals are now allowed to guard the gates. When we have to fight a real military power, it will be too late.
9th ID| 9.24.11 @ 8:17PM
WikiLeaks traitor Bradley Manning is the poster child for Goldstein's gay military...
Julian| 9.24.11 @ 11:35AM
Mr. Goldstein, thank you for your original post and for your response to Mr. Bass. I think that the historical parallels you draw are worth considering. Not every historical parallel assumes moral equivalence; every parallel assumes that we might learn something from at least reflecting upon it.
CalMark| 9.24.11 @ 1:54PM
Methinks the fool (Goldstein) doth protest too much.
louie9| 9.24.11 @ 6:09PM
To All Gentlemen Who Responded:
I applaud your comments critical of Goldstein's counterfeit logic on this matter. Convenient to his argument, he settles for calling "…the issue [one] of race and sexual orientation". Goldstein then faults Santorum for returning to the same criterion (no social experimentation) for evaluating the merits of the new liberal policy toward gays in the military, just as it was historically applied to blacks. Goldstein's a fraud. Hang in there, everybody -- the truth will out.
9th ID| 9.24.11 @ 8:18PM
Goldstein is a Log Cabin Republican...
Lisa| 9.24.11 @ 7:11PM
The irony is when a man or a woman wanted out of the service, he/she would tell their superior officer they were gay. Can't do that anymore!
Margie| 9.24.11 @ 7:18PM
FLASH!!!
Drudge Reporting Herman Cain wins FL. straw poll!
Go Herman!
http://www.washingtontimes.com.....traw-poll/
9th ID| 9.24.11 @ 8:19PM
After Perry shot himself in the a$$ over immigration and amnesty, I just might take a closer look at Mr. Cain...
Margie| 9.24.11 @ 8:44PM
Yes, sir. I believe you will.
And once you have, and have come on board backing him, will you keep him in your prayers?
Herman Cain 2012.
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