Slashdot Mirror
Russia Takes Down Steve Jobs Memorial After Apple's Tim Cook Comes Out
An anonymous reader writes Citing the need to abide by a law combating "gay propaganda," a memorial dedicated to the late Apple founder Steve Jobs has been torn down. This comes on the heels of new CEO Tim Cook coming out as gay. "In Russia, gay propaganda and other sexual perversions among minors are prohibited by law," ZEFS (a Russian group of companies that originally erected the statue) said, noting that the memorial had been "in an area of direct access for young students and scholars". "After Apple CEO Tim Cook publicly called for sodomy, the monument was taken down to abide to the Russian federal law protecting children from information promoting denial of traditional family values."
"Homosexual relationships are by definition sodomy"
This simply isn't true. Two famous homosexuals; Oscar Wilde and Noel Coward, apparently found the idea of penetration appalling.
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
and why was there a monument to Steve Jobs anyway? Seems like "today is monday" would be a good enough reason to tear it down. That said, this was a spectacularly bad reason, I'm just saying no reason was necessary. Doing something for the wrong reason doesn't make it the wrong thing to do - if I make a habit of drinking several glasses of water a day because I think the midichlorians need it for fuel, that doesn't mean I was wrong for drinking water...
I don't know. Ask members of the GOP. It is the same logic that says allowing gay marriage will mean fewer traditional marriages.
Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
Putin and the Russian Orthodox Church do a lot of favors for each other. The payback for the Church's pretty much unwavering support for anything coming out of the Kremlin is that the Kremlin make sure the ROC's nearly medieval social views be propagated into law.
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
If you're accusing a country of holding anti-gay views to the point of retroactively removing people from historical displays because they associated with a homosexual, then this might be one of the few situations where you're actually allowed to make a Nazi comparison.
allowing gay marriage will mean fewer "traditional" marriages.
To play devil's advocate, if bisexuality exists, then yes, it very well may.
Not that it's a reason against it. To me, a traditional marriage is where the partners stay together until death parts them -- gay/straight/otherwise.
-- Political fascism requires a Fuhrer.
What hostility to Russia? The American media is mostly indifferent to Russia. When they aren't indifferent they either tend to be rather laudatory about the culture: ice skating, gymnastics, art... or hostile towards Russia being uncooperative with the USA.
Now the Russian media is genuinely hostile and paranoid.
"However, to date there are no replicated scientific studies supporting any specific biological etiology for homosexuality."
A simple thought experiment to see if homosexuality is a choice: If it really is a choice, try being gay for a week. Try engaging in gay physical intimacy with another man.
Q.E.D.
Caveat: For a bisexual, this won't be a problem. For a heterosexual, it will be extremely difficult if not impossible. I suspect those who believe homosexuality is a choice are probably bisexuals.
The problem with your thought experiment is that many people engage in behavior that is socially disapproved of, may have serious negative consequences, and may involve disquieting physical aspects. Just look at the people involved with drugs, especially some of the more horrific ones. The outcome of meth addiction is well know, and rather ugly, but people do it anyway. Then there are the even more dangerous drugs that rot your body like Krokodil . And what about prostitution? People engaged in that are continually doing things that have a significant "ick" factor, but do it anyway.
And lets not forget the findings of studying the Pashtun.
Afghan Men Struggle With Sexual Identity, Study Finds
An unclassified study from a military research unit in southern Afghanistan details how homosexual behavior is unusually common among men in the large ethnic group known as Pashtuns -- though they seem to be in complete denial about it.
The study, obtained by Fox News, found that Pashtun men commonly have sex with other men, admire other men physically, have sexual relationships with boys and shun women both socially and sexually -- yet they completely reject the label of "homosexual." The research was conducted as part of a longstanding effort to better understand Afghan culture and improve Western interaction with the local people.
I don't think your thought experiment covers all the ground you think it does.
much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
You are looking at this through your own cultural lens. Take a step back and look at in the context of the broader culture and conditions in which these men live. Polygamy and much shorter lifespans for women has created a shortage of marriageable women in Afghanistan. This coupled with severe cultural taboos on pre-marital sex(in the case of Afghanistan, it's not just a taboo, it's illegal) means that for many men, especially those on the lower rungs of the economic ladder, other men are essentially the only way they can have sex.
This is not much different from any other situation where women are rare to non-existant(prison, the front lines of a war etc). In these situations men often engage in what is referred to as "trade", but of course none of them wants to label themselves homosexual because:
a) homosexuality is taboo and/or illegal where they come from and/or
b) they aren't actually gay, they are only engaging in homosexual behavior because that's all they have available to them.
It doesn't surprise me at all that men in Afghanistan are having sex with each other but not declaring themselves to be gay.....
Monstar L