Inflammatory Rhetoric under the Guise of Free Speech
Letter to the editor by David Muskera

A Huntington resident by the name of Jack Burnett was recently given a guest column in the Herald-Dispatch. He needed more than the paper's usual 200 word limit on "Letters to the Editor" to spew his misinformation, twisted logic and thinly disguised self-eroticizing hate towards gay people. Hate takes up a lot of words. I suspect the Dispatch published his opinion under the banner of free speech.

Still, it made me wonder: If Hitler were living today and attempted to publish one of his typical anti-Jewish diatribes, would his hatred and violence of speech be protected under our Constitution? Would he too be given a guest column? Would he be protected by the mantle of free speech? For Hitler, the answer is probably no! We now have civil rights laws that protect many of our citizens from such hatred: if you are Jewish, black, Hispanic, elderly, disabled, female, or a member of just about any other minority group someone inciting or doing violence to you because of your status can be held exceptionally accountable under the law. Instead of going to war and killing six million or so innocent human beings, Herr Hitler would have spent all of his time in court defending his inflammatory rhetoric.

However, Mr. Burnett wisely selects the one group for whom it is still OK to publicly blast and spew out misinformation and hate. Gays have no such civil rights protection. By now everyone knows they can say and get published all sorts of stupid and fear-inducing things about gays and have no concern at all about legal ramifications. Had Mr. Burnett written and managed to get published similar tripe about a racial group or religious minority, his proverbial rear-end would have been immediately in a legal sling as would have the newspaper that published these rantings.
We are certainly fortunate to still have the right to publicly bash gay and homosexual people. For Mr. Burnett and those who think as he does, gays are readily available as a scapegoat for all of society’s ills. Rather than focus on loving one another as we have been instructed, it’s so much easier to teach mistrust and hated.

Like a virus, hate and paranoia are easily transmitted. Sadly, when one reviews the violent history of many religious groups, these factors seem to be a part of the darker side of human nature.
Recently, we have all struggled to comprehend the mind of an individual that could pilot a plane into the side of a world class skyscraper in a suicidal religious ecstasy killing themselves and many others. We comfort ourselves by believing such things could never happen with our gentle religion. But is that really true? Just how gentle is Mr. Burnett? Has he thought about how many terrible crimes have been and are committed against all of humanity in the name of someone's religion and for the sake of belief in their god and righteousness? How many steps away is blind fanaticism when we single out any group as being proper fodder for human judgment and slander? Will the Mr. Bennett's of the world cross over the line and justify acting on their hatred by saying it was God's will? Will they claim that Leviticus in the Old Testament gives them the right? Haven't they already done so?

When we refuse to really become educated on a subject and we engage in misinformation and agitation we may in fact be neglecting another strong biblical injunction. Maybe Mr. Bennett should review Proverbs, 6 16-19. It reads (King James Version-The Gideon's): 16 These six things doth the Lord hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him: 17 A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, 18 An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, 19 A false witness that speaketh lies and he that soweth discord among brethren. Seems to me that this last admonition in particular, should be strongly considered by Mr. Bennett and company.

By the way, the Dr. Paul Cameron (founder of the Family Research Institute) mentioned by Mr. Burnett as a source (and presumably his source) of information about homosexuals, many years ago lost his membership in the American Psychological Association and found himself un-licensable as a health care provider. Apparently he could not hoodwink true professionals. However, he has been much more successful with the gullible. Don’t you think it a bit suspicious for a man like this to build an entire career on gay bashing? He needs to get a life! Relying on Cameron for complete or truthful information about gays is akin to asking Custer to lead the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

It’s unlikely that Mr. Burnett or Dr. Cameron will ever really bother to get fully educated on the subject. Apparently, they each have their own agenda. If the extreme varieties of heterosexual sex were used to condemn all heterosexual as these folks do with homosexual sex, then the world would be fully damned.

David J. Muskera, MA
Psychologist (retired)
Huntington, WV