Holy Gaybama
When I first saw this week's Newsweek cover I thought it was some kind of joke. Here was the cover that pretty much tapped into every single stereotype that the right has had about the left and their Obama worship. Had it been the cover of the National Review or the Weekly Standard, or one of the Jonah Goldberg's books, it would have been slammed by the left media and intellectuals in no time. And, of course, denounced as racist. However, putting aside their hypocrisy and myopia, there are a few very salient features of this cover that ought to by now convince all the reasonably minded people of the particular features of this strain of lefty mindset.
- Obama is a messianic figure. The left has put this man on a pedestal higher than anything I've seen in my life, save the personality cults of my youth under communism. For them Obama was never just a politician. He was a redemptive figure that would "stop the rise of oceans and bring all the people of the world together." He could do no wrong. Opposition to anything that he did was solely based on the dark evil tendencies. The only thing that was required for him to achieve the final apotheosis was the whole-hearted embrace of homosexuality. Once he's done that, there is absolutely nothing wrong that he could ever do. He's no longer a mere mortal man.
- Being gay is primarily a cultural thing. Aside from a few niche corners, most people don't think that Obama is actually "really" gay. By calling him the first gay president, they imply (aside from the reference to Bill Clinton being called the first black president) that there is something fundamentally cultural about being gay. It's an agglomerate of attitudes, values, ideas, and yes, behaviors. So it would be natural to call people, objects, and behaviors "gay" if they exhibit traits that belong to this cultural niche. And those of us who use that epithet disapprovingly ought not to be labeled "homophobes", "bigots" and worse. It should be a perfectly neutral term in principle, the only difference being what one decides to make out of it. In a perfectly rational world this would of course be the inevitable conclusion, but we all know that will never happen. You can only call things gay if you are approving of them. This brings us to the last, and most important, point.
- Gay is holy. Gay is sacred. It is untouchable and beyond any worldly criticism. Embracing gayness bestows, quite literary, a halo on someone. From the love that "dared not speak its name" it has morphed into the love whose "name thou shalt not take in vain." It is a value that has been exalted far beyond the usual liberal triumvirate of race, class, and gender. Those who espouse it have seen the light. Those who oppose it are infidels worthy of the highest contempt. And this is why homosexuality will increasingly become ever more divisive and contentious. It is because its champions, and not its opponents as it's always claimed, are the true religious zealots who can never accept any form of compromise, and who are willing to wage jihad until the whole world has embraced their monolithic faith. This week's Newsweek cover is just the most visible manifestation of that fact.