I really do think that the hierarchy - and some politicians - cannot fathom the fact that gays are getting uppity. Everything in their background leads them to think that all people should be deferential. Everything in their background leads them to think that gay sex is sinful and that one hides one's sins. So they are shocked when even the mildest criticism - or truth telling - occurs. On another level, I think that they believe that gays are "good victims." In other words, they think think that they should be able to say anything they want or take any action they want against gays because gays cannot, and will not, protest. After all, isn't that the experience of so many of them? The school yard bullies were not challenged, the gays in seminaries were silent to the point of social invisibility, and gay parishioners sat dumbly in the pews and never asked for ministries for them. So why now are gays uppity, critical, and organized? It must seem very unfair to them that the rules are changing.
Besides, scapegoats are inherently useful. They deflect attention from other matters like why attendance is falling and bills are unpaid. They "explain" why less and less attention is being paid to increasingly shrill political positions of hierarchs. Scapegoats are useful to explain failures and to rally the troops. The absurd statements (e.g. "gays are a powerful political force;" "gays keep us from speaking;" "gays are quasi facist") are absurd on the face of them. But I really think they are believed by those who say them.
Thursday, February 25, 2010
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4 comments:
This gives me a lot of food for thought. I suppose using gay people as scapegoats is useful to some in the hierarchy. So they think we are "good victims." I don't think it was like this when I was younger. At least I didn't realize it. It is hard for me to accept what is going on now.
The idea of gays being scapegoats is mine - not any well researched conclusion, just what I think. But it makes sense. I think many politicians are doing the same. Right wing pols can whip up the fervor of their followers by incendiary rhetoric. And if the country is going to hell in a handbasket, as most of them claim (even though there have been democratic presidents for only 9 of the 30 years since 1980), well, who better to blame?
People who should know better pander to their constituents rather than taking a moral lead and seeking to change attitudes.
As you say, scapegoats are so very, very useful for drawing attention away from real problems.
But it's not really about being Christian, is it? Rather, it's all about power and control.
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