Marc Choquette
Assistant Perspectives Editor
While not an uncommon story these days, this particular pothole in the information superhighway caught my attention in that it had to do with the two-year old phenomenon Facebook.
The incident involved a Pepperdine student starting a global Facebook group named “The Truth about Homosexuality.” In the group description, the reasons the founder lists for being against homosexuality include, for one, that too much money is being spent and too many are dying due to homosexuals’ continuation of the AIDS virus.
It does not stop there. The group’s creator argues that homosexuals’ life expectancy is shorter, their fidelity rate is low, too many of them are alcoholics and that they are more prone to violence.
These accusations are backed up with statistics from five Web sites he lists, which are mostly organizations dedicated to supporting his own point of view.
The tirade continues in defense of his main point that these “facts” prove that homosexuals are detrimental to society. He insists he is not anti-gay, however.
The group’s creator lists God as one who is on his side, because “God says its wrong.” Apparently, humans can now understand God and his apparent hatred of homosexuality.
The kicker is when in one paragraph he says we must not “commit crimes” against homosexuals and must “treat them just how you would want to be treated,” the next paragraph states, “the government should do its best to legally prohibit this harmful lifestyle and its endorsement.” So we should respect homosexuals yet prohibit their lifestyle and still make sure they maintain their rights as citizens. That is a tall order.
Immediately, he smacks away any counter-argument with the ultimate punchline that, “this is not about civil rights, it is about morality and the security of society.”
So under this proposed “Plan B” to deal with homosexuals, rights guaranteed to all citizens in the Constitution will simply be thrown away because of security and this vague idea of “morality.” I’m sure every homosexual you know is practically as dangerous as a terrorist and as immoral as Satan himself. The best idea the group’s creator could give to answer to this “problem” would be for the government to somehow eliminate them.
“With God on Our Side,” a popular Bob Dylan song, makes the point that many of the most atrocious events in human history of violence and discrimination occurred with the aggressors claiming God was on their side. This entire situation reminded me of this scenario. This person insists that from scripture, God says homosexuality is flat out wrong. This cannot be the way “God” works, can it?
The subsequent back and forth messages spewing hatred and negativity on the group’s message board prompted Pepperdine senior Trent Allen to leave a message on the group’s board in response to the group’s agenda, saying, “I also know that we as humans are not fit to judge, even if we believe the other has judged us first.”
This global group, which students from practically any high school or college can join, lists a mere 52 members, with roughly half of them being Pepperdine students.
Of course, this sort of message getting out prompted a response from a group that immediately doubled the size of the original group. The 112 Pepperdine students banded together as Pepperdine students against homophobia and responded with their assertion that “Pepperdine is not a school founded on intolerance and bigotry.”
The group description asked to, “see those statistics backed by a reputable governmental or educational institution.”
Well done, response group. Just when I begin to think that some of us here in paradise have really gone off the deep end, a group twice the size comes back to pull us to safety. Scrolling down, you can see the group’s wall is filled with “mad props” to the group’s creator for countering such stupidity.
This issue is just one small issue in a million for the Internet and Facebook and what this all means for our generation. Sure, all of this instant sharing of information enables us to do amazing things. Yet, it also enables us to share discriminatory talk like this and even enable people to know everything about a person they have yet to meet.
The members of the first group should know that while you are fully entitled to your opinion as an American citizen and having discussion on campus is a positive thing, there are many more issues more pertinent to such strong views and opinions than in regards to a group that makes up exactly 1.51 percent of the US. population, according the National Health and Social Life Survey.
Maybe the creator’s “duty” should be to focus on real injustice in the world, instead of the classless act of trying to turn people against homosexuality.
09-14-2006