Comments on John Davison: Attitudes to sex and violence

"Sant Ander,Catholicism says that homosexuality is...

2008-05-18T19:24:00.000-07:00

"Sant Ander,

Catholicism says that homosexuality is a sin. What catechism class did YOU attend??

As for Christian bashing, let me clue you in on a little trend: that whole "Love your neighbor as yourself" thing that Jesus preached? It's been pissed on in favor of Paul's misogynistic, sex-fearing rantings that nowadays get passed off as the gospel of Christ. My ass. There's being Christlike, and then there's being Christian. These days the two seem to be mutually exclusive.

I'll stop Christian bashing when Christians stop bashing me. Literally. I've been harassed, verbally and physically attacked, and fired from my job just for being gay, with no legal recourse. If that happens to a Christian, they can sue in federal court. A law-abiding, taxpaying dyke like me has nowhere to turn. All because of the good Christian love that runs this country. IMO Christians deserve the bad name they're finally getting; they've brought it on themselves with their self-righteousness, their holier-than-thou sermons, their endless hate, their endorsement of thugs like Jerry Falwell (may he rot in hell) as their mouthpieces, their campaign money to enshrine hate in the Constitution. Screw you all. You did this to yourselves. Bed. Made. Lie. After all the hell you GOOD CHRISTIANS have personally put me through, I dare you to tell me my anger and bitterness is unjustified.

And believe me, if I had a decent way to emigrate to the Netherlands where I'd be welcome, I would. As it is, I have no choice but to suck it up and try to make things better in the USA. Leaving the City on a Hill to the mouthbreathing Paulines ain't so easy as you all would like it to be.

You want to show the goodness of Christ? Be nice to us. Show us some human dignity, in front of your other Christian friends. Encourage them to show the love of Christ, who hung out with sinners, and whores, and Samaritans even though the Jewish community shunned him for it. Advocate for simple human decency and equal treatment for all, the same as Christ did.

But if you're not willing to lower yourself to do that, then shut your yap about the hypocrisy and trendiness of Christian bashing. Go piss up a rope. It's laughable that you call Christian bashing hypocritical. In my circles we call it being truthful.

Have a nice day up on that pedestal. Be careful not to fall down.

- Gamer Lesbian"

So because some fundamentalist Christians constantly bashes you, it alright and justified to bash all Christians?

BS, according to your logic, the actions of one person dooms the entire group for no reason. I guess all Christians are on the level of the Westboro church. I guess if a peaceful Christian is attacked by a homosexual for being Christian, that Christian is justified in despising the entire LGBT community and going all fundamentalist if s/he chooses. Do you believe that a family should suffer for one person's irresponsible sins? Or to make a better example, that a person should suffer because of the actions of his/her irresponsible family?

I also like how you completely ignore the part where he says that he and his group accept homosexuality and find nothing wrong with it. Apparently, a Catholic either going against his religion to accept someone/thing, or being ignorant, but still accepting someone/thing, should still go "piss up a rope." I fail to see how accepting homosexuality isn't going by Jesus's "love thy neighbor." Which pretty much makes your last actually paragraph completely unjustified.

I'm sorry that you went through all that crap, but it doesn't help to become a "hateful Christian fundamentalist" version of a lesbian.

Seriously, it's like you're saying a soon as a nice, peaceful person chooses to be a Christian, you have the right to hate on them because they somehow went fundamentalist on your ass. Really.

ニュースキン

2008-05-04T08:57:00.000-07:00

ニュースキン

entaroadum: Yes, you definittely have a point ther...

2008-04-15T13:57:00.000-07:00

entaroadum: Yes, you definittely have a point there. It reminded me of a talk from Steven Pinker:
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/163
If you look at teh historical great picture, you're both right.
I know your comment had nothing to do with mine, but I just want to clear that I was refering to the presence of violence (and sex, for that matter) in the media, from video games to TV. It's more a matter of the representation of violence, not violence it itself. That said, and reconizing that real violence has been decresing along the centuries, yes, we still are one of the most ferocious and cruel species on earth. Not all of us, and not all in the same degree, certainly, but enough of us to make a pretty good mess...
And the fascination with violent entertainment has been with us way before the bloodbath shows in the roman Colisseum, 2000 years ago.

Why is everyone so damned shocked? Violence and c...

2008-04-15T11:55:00.000-07:00

Why is everyone so damned shocked? Violence and cruelty have always been acceptable in every society. All you have to do is dehumanize the other, and away we go. Dehumanizing people in other social classes, in the next village/region/state, has been the rule.

Historically, we are at an all time low for violence worldwide, especially warfare. The whole notion of equality, and of people on the other side of the globe having worth, is a very recent development.

Sex, otoh, is truly powerful, and must be controlled. All memes have evolved with this fact in mind, which is why every culture and religion has prohibitions and instructions over it.

Btw, all of the comments on homosexuality on this page have made all of the Google Adsense serve up gay ads (at least to me). LOL.

its amazing that it bothers them when 2 men kiss b...

2008-04-14T15:48:00.000-07:00

its amazing that it bothers them when 2 men kiss but when 2 woman kiss its ok! WTF

Santander, which I presume to be an european, is w...

2008-04-14T07:10:00.000-07:00

Santander, which I presume to be an european, is wrong in two main points: On chatolic morality (which is very curious, beeing him chatolic...) and on europeans.
The first one has been explained by previous comentators. The second is similar to other comments here, and it assumes that us europeans are a kind of breed apart, superiors in our high moral and cultural grounds... That is a wrongfull, generalist and maniqueist conclusion, and we have a lot more in common with the americans than some of us would wish to admit. I don't really take the poll very serious, but I have no doubt that the results would not be very different in Europe. It mostly shows a trend in western societies (and the rest of the world, as it becomes more and more "westernized") towards the banalization of violence in media and games.
But both in America and Europe, there's lot's of people who don't think and act that way.

Ya know, if we're going to talk about unnatural ac...

2008-04-13T19:55:00.000-07:00

Ya know, if we're going to talk about unnatural acts let me just point out that a girl giving a guy a blow job serves about zero reproductive use but you can damn me to hell if I'm going to stop enjoying getting them from my girlfriend!

You know my dog is gay so I really don’t have a pr...

2008-04-13T13:06:00.000-07:00

You know my dog is gay so I really don’t have a problem with gays. If God makes gay animals I am sure he makes gay people too.

And seriously, I don’t think God is the asshole some of you make him out to be. Just remember, “the good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.” Perhaps you should head our Savior’s words before going about casting stones upon your brothers and sisters. Just a thought...

Sant Ander,Catholicism says that homosexuality is ...

2008-04-13T03:23:00.000-07:00

Sant Ander,

Catholicism says that homosexuality is a sin. What catechism class did YOU attend??

As for Christian bashing, let me clue you in on a little trend: that whole "Love your neighbor as yourself" thing that Jesus preached? It's been pissed on in favor of Paul's misogynistic, sex-fearing rantings that nowadays get passed off as the gospel of Christ. My ass. There's being Christlike, and then there's being Christian. These days the two seem to be mutually exclusive.

I'll stop Christian bashing when Christians stop bashing me. Literally. I've been harassed, verbally and physically attacked, and fired from my job just for being gay, with no legal recourse. If that happens to a Christian, they can sue in federal court. A law-abiding, taxpaying dyke like me has nowhere to turn. All because of the good Christian love that runs this country. IMO Christians deserve the bad name they're finally getting; they've brought it on themselves with their self-righteousness, their holier-than-thou sermons, their endless hate, their endorsement of thugs like Jerry Falwell (may he rot in hell) as their mouthpieces, their campaign money to enshrine hate in the Constitution. Screw you all. You did this to yourselves. Bed. Made. Lie. After all the hell you GOOD CHRISTIANS have personally put me through, I dare you to tell me my anger and bitterness is unjustified.

And believe me, if I had a decent way to emigrate to the Netherlands where I'd be welcome, I would. As it is, I have no choice but to suck it up and try to make things better in the USA. Leaving the City on a Hill to the mouthbreathing Paulines ain't so easy as you all would like it to be.

You want to show the goodness of Christ? Be nice to us. Show us some human dignity, in front of your other Christian friends. Encourage them to show the love of Christ, who hung out with sinners, and whores, and Samaritans even though the Jewish community shunned him for it. Advocate for simple human decency and equal treatment for all, the same as Christ did.

But if you're not willing to lower yourself to do that, then shut your yap about the hypocrisy and trendiness of Christian bashing. Go piss up a rope. It's laughable that you call Christian bashing hypocritical. In my circles we call it being truthful.

Have a nice day up on that pedestal. Be careful not to fall down.

- Gamer Lesbian

Santander...hate to break it to you, but Catholics...

2008-04-12T23:38:00.000-07:00

Santander...hate to break it to you, but Catholics do believe homosexuality is a sin. Just ask the pope.

Funny how in the USA sex is worse than violence wh...

2008-04-12T18:13:00.000-07:00

Funny how in the USA sex is worse than violence whereas in Europe it is the other way around

Apparently bashing Christianity is becoming a new trend now, I find it hypocrite how someone who isn't a Christian talks about discrimination and then starts saying how Christians are the reasons for today's all prejudices, which I can see why they think like that, but isn't that discrimination as well? guess what not everyone is like that, I'm Catholic and we don't think homosexuality is a sin (as long as they don't force it upon others) because it isn't a persons fault to be like that.

Also it's so funny how the question actually reads "Two men kissing" and not "Two Gay man kissing", people that picked that option would be completely grossed out if they went to Argentina or Russia (I think) where two men kissing in the mouth is a common greeting for close relatives.

What, no one gets angry when a game has crappy plo...

2008-04-12T11:34:00.000-07:00

What, no one gets angry when a game has crappy plot terrible gameplay and was a waste of money because of it? You people are such tools. A game can have as much sex violence or gay men kissing as the game designers please but if it's gameplay sucks and the plot is boring, why play?

American attitudes toward sex and violence, and th...

2008-04-12T09:13:00.000-07:00

American attitudes toward sex and violence, and their depiction in the media, are based in historical attitudes brought over by various waves of English settlers:

- A horrific loathing of bodily pleasure, a lot of which is based in misogyny -- remember, the xtian tradition always considered women more "embodied," with weaker minds and "spirits," than they did men.

- Indifference to at best, and acceptance of at worst, casual violence as a way of "solving problem" -- and, more specifically, to "preserve the social order" (i.e., keep them uppity wimminz/homoseckshualz/cullud people/heathens in line).

When the fundies start bleating about how sex is saaaay-kred, they're full of it.
They're terrified of sex, because it's all about the body and it reminds them that they're mortal. The ones with strong libidos are the worst, because despite their belief that they should "control themselves," they can't -- and that's why they want laws enacted to prevent people from having sex unless they're married and "trying for a child." They project their prudery and their "lack of willpower" onto other people.

So if my kid walks in on me and my wife having sex...

2008-04-12T04:45:00.000-07:00

So if my kid walks in on me and my wife having sex, it would actually have been better if he had walked in on me cutting off her head? Those extreme christians freak me out more than terrorists, cause lots of people listen to them.

Everyone that voted it a (unt! There I said it!

2008-04-12T00:38:00.000-07:00

Everyone that voted it a (unt! There I said it!

So, according to that poll, it should be perfectly...

2008-04-12T00:17:00.000-07:00

So, according to that poll, it should be perfectly okay, if I was maiming a body, and my kid accidentaly walked in on me. Bot not if I was having sex with my wife??

Yeah, that makes perfect sense... @_@

Well, I find games with Christianity-sponsored vio...

2008-04-11T23:20:00.000-07:00

Well, I find games with Christianity-sponsored violence towards homosexuals to be the most offensive. Severed heads or any other kind.

Guess I won't be buying those disgusting "Left Behind" Dominionist propaganda games. Oh well.

- A Gamer Lesbian. No, you can't watch me and my girlfriend kiss. We're in an instance right now.

"they lead to many more social ills then violence ...

2008-04-11T21:08:00.000-07:00

"they lead to many more social ills then violence (adultery, STD's, divorce, misogyny, etc.) and to the very worst crimes in society"

No, I'm very sure if STDs were shown graphically in games it would benefit our society. Let's rethink game development.

"2 men kissing would be the worst! I play games to escape reality and crappy politics..not to have gayness forced on me by having to see that."

Just, um, don't buy the game then? I'm sure **good** christians don't make a habit of buying any T or M games. I personally don't buy games with guys and girls kissing (UGH VOMIT).

Sorry, I disagree with the poll...2 men kissing wo...

2008-04-11T17:48:00.000-07:00

Sorry, I disagree with the poll...2 men kissing would be the worst! I play games to escape reality and crappy politics..not to have gayness forced on me by having to see that. Sorry, but there's a political side to it pure and dimple.once that's accepted Mario and Luigi could take on a completely different meaning.

I have the perfect solution.You buy your children ...

2008-04-11T17:13:00.000-07:00

I have the perfect solution.

You buy your children all the violent videogames you want and I'll watch Link get it on with Gannondorf.

Everyone wants to pretend the gays don't exist unt...

2008-04-11T17:09:00.000-07:00

Everyone wants to pretend the gays don't exist until it happens to their child.

Snap out of your mullet fantasia.

If you haven't discussed a variety of aspects of human sexuality in a neutral or positive way with your child before they hit puberty then you fail as a parent.

Dunks, Australia

I am so sick of these pig-headed "puritan America"...

2008-04-11T17:05:00.000-07:00

I am so sick of these pig-headed "puritan America" remarks! Violence is worse than sex in real life, no one is disputing that. But sex is worse than violence in media because it can affect people. Look, no one in their right mind would go out and kill someone after doing it a game or seeing it in a movie, but nearly any male would become sexually aroused by sex or nudity. Now a person could make the "well what's wrong with sex, it's natural" argument, but then you would be dodging the issue of what you would want you're children exposed to; something that would affect them, or something that wouldn't. And besides, the most wide spread and hardest addictions to get rid of are the sexual kinds, and they lead to many more social ills then violence (adultery, STD's, divorce, misogyny, etc.) and to the very worst crimes in society. Just ask anyone involved in the rehab business.

Well, godwin's law... NAZIS.Sex (heterosexual or h...

2008-04-11T14:53:00.000-07:00

Well, godwin's law... NAZIS.

Sex (heterosexual or homosexual) is something in the real world, as is violence, and cursing, and what many of you consider sins.

Why hide any of them?

"Satan can put those thoughts in one's head"I've g...

2008-04-11T14:51:00.000-07:00

"Satan can put those thoughts in one's head"

I've got news for you: that's called schizophrenia, and it can be treated.

Maybe Satan deceived us into choosing an electorat...

2008-04-11T14:34:00.000-07:00

Maybe Satan deceived us into choosing an electorate that rolls back every environmental protection (hey, aren't we the stewards of this thing?) and recreates the largest wealth gap (isn't being rich far more likely to keep you from entering Heaven than not doing everything you can to stop two people you don't know from having insurance/social security benefits? Something about a camel and an eye of a needle?) in our nation's history and slashes veteran's benefits by distracting us with divisive 'social' issues in the guise of an unprecedented liberty -restricting- Constitutional amendment?