This is the Texas governor that was caught on a DPS dash-cam telling a female trooper (who just stopped his limo for speeding) that she should just “git on down the road, [little lady?]” because he’s above the law the rest of us must follow with regard to speeding.
Now, he’s promoting his book On My Honor: Why American Values of the Boy Scouts are Worth Fighting For. I honestly haven’t read it, but, by his own words, the gist is that he’s mounting a “counter-attack” to support the bigotry and superstitious nonsense of the Boy Scouts.
Scouting ought to be about building character, not about sex. Period. Precious few parents enroll their boys in the Scouts to get a crash course in sexual orientation.
… [t]he ban in scouting applies to scout leaders. When you have a clearly open homosexual scout leader, the scouts are going to talk about it. And they’re not there to learn about that. They’re there to learn about what it means to be loyal and trustworthy and thrifty.
… The argument that gets made is that homosexuality is about sex. Do you agree?
…[if you disagree,] then why don’t they call it something else?
The above dialog was taken from an interview Perry did with Deborah Solomon of The New York Times. And his sentiment is representative of the fear and bigotry that exists among the “religious right” about people who are different than they. It also reveals an underlying form of ignorance that associates the word “sex” with human intercourse. Perhaps this is one of the reasons they have so much difficulty with scientifically established concepts like evolution which includes the notion of “sexual selection.” Like the 5th graders snickering at the back of the classroom when the biology teacher uses the term “sexual dimorphism,” Rick Perry leaves us to only wonder whether he’s Beavis or Butthead.
After Perry’s visit to the TCU (Texas Christian University) campus, promoting his book, Brett Larson wrote on the Daily Skiff, the official student publication for TCU, a brief critique that included these very pointed comments:
If children are the future, and the future is tolerance, how can an establishment with the sole purpose of building morals, justness and courage take a cowardly and offensive back road?
With a motto like “Always be Prepared,” how can the Boy Scouts fail to prepare for this undeniable disillusionment in the quality of difference?
Here’s a brief excerpt from the book:
If I see “Eagle Scout” on a yong man’s resume, I know immediately that he has been tested and has persevered; that he can stick to a task until it is completed; that I can trust him to give his full effort in the advance of our mission.
It wouldn’t be difficult to add that Perry would also know in his mind that the “young man” probably wasn’t a fag or atheist, or if he was either he was very adept at being extremely discrete about it. You see, one of the main things that the so-called religious right wants preserved is this unique and effective method of discriminating. Every Eagle Scout includes it on his resume.
If you have the chance, visit this Amazon Review and vote it up or even add comments. Or, if you’ve actually read the book, post a review of your own. But please vote this reviewer up so his comments might be moved to the top -he’s the only critical reviewer thus far and, to date, 37 people have voted that it was “not helpful” (which is a telling response by itself).
Filed under: Culture Wars | Tagged: boy scouts, bya, rick perry, scouting, scouts | 1 Comment »
Breaking Spells 