germloucks wrote:QUOTE (germloucks @ Apr 7 2013, 02:30 PM) I think its polite to let people know you didnt hear/understand them.
Not sure why... maybe I assume that the person has an understanding on the matter so that I can talk in shorthand and/or ironic. I am also trying very hard not to cause unintended offense and misunderstanding while not writing walls of text to do it. So its tap, tap, tappity tap, tap, tap creating Cronoesque walls of text and delete, delete, delete until it is smaller in length and readability takes one for the team.
This makes me fell old to write this but you probably weren't old enough at the time to be aware of society when Don't ask don't tell was introduced into law. At that time there was a real concern that allowing openly gay military personnel to serve would cause problems within the military. As a half step measure a policy (this is for others as I am quite sure you know this policy Germie ) was introduced to rescind removing someone from the military for being gay as long as they didn't tell anyone. Homophobia was much, much, much stronger then and gay service people would cause dissension within the ranks was considered a valid concern. The law was driving society vs. the society driving the law in a nutshell. As all half measure are I have to believe it wasn't what someone who was gay would think was the end all be all of laws. I understand but it was viewed as the best that could be done for the times. An unintended consequence was people who were gay were intentionally outted by others to ruin their careers. Along the lines of "separate but equal" (US Supreme court ruled that having two separate systems for color was ok as long as they were equal) a well meaning law that appears pants on the head stupid from twenty years in the future.
Same with blood transfusions, AIDs and being gay. Events like Rock Hudson's worries about coming out to the public and saying it must be blood transfusions from his heart surgery, at first, helped ramp up a worldwide hysteria about HIV and AIDS (only after he died did it cause others to begin to rethink things). People were afraid to kiss each other and mosquitos were equated with rattle snakes. Medical science was seen to be floundering around trying to get a handle on the disease and celebrities were dying horrible deaths as well. Myself, the ex, and meBoy were able to rent a
very nice house on a student's budget because it was very hard to rent it given one of the gentlemen living in it developed AIDs. (they moved back to be closer to their families). This was way less then two decades ago (after Magic Johnson contracted HIV). I, like masta, wasn't even aware there was a law banning anyone who ever had same sex male sex from donating blood. My read is it is a legacy from the early days of the HIV virus that no one is willing to take a stand and rescind given the hysteria times two of gay and AIDs.
Marriage/civil unions and gay marriage is another aspect of the same thing all over again. In this case it is religion vs. discrimination. I may think know that
louis farrakhan is hate mongering *#$@head in the same vein as the Westboro Baptist Church pinheads but there is a very strong vein of religious freedom that runs through American society that lets them operate. * shrug * Maybe breaking out the law from religious tradition is another half step measure in finding a way to balance religious freedom vs. personal freedom rather than a clever way to handle a very sticky wicket. Twenty years and we'll know for sure
