Culturologist: Our Second Public Health "Ally"

Apparently, the Opine Idiots aren't homobigots. They are merely interested in preserving the health of our nation's gay men who practice anal sex.

Well, why didn't they just say so?

Note Culturologist's latest attempt to rationalize his anti-gay stance:

"There is a LARGE literature in the medical health field demonstrating the specific health hazards homosexual men run by their behaviors. If you don't know it, you would do well to start reading some of it. I would happily send you pdfs of articles documenting higher anal cancer rates in homosexual men and higher rates of other anorectal disease as well as general anorectal dysfunction. And what about the well-known Cophenhagen study that showed clear and significant differences regarding rates at which the homo- and heterosexual populations they looked at showed evidence of various health problems? To quote it: ”The total burden of infections expressed as the actual number of infections was largest among homosexuals, 40.4%, 22.4%, and 5.3% having one, two, and three infections respectively.”As I said, I have a good deal of stuff in pdf form, should you actually be interested in looking at it. It's a grave mistake to imagine that simply waving your credential and your opinion is enough to settle the question of what the medical literature does or does not show. I've certainly never claimed that the sociological argument is settled simply by me noting that I'm a sociologist and I happen to think X. The material still has to be INVESTIGATED."

Culturologist, ever the classic authoritarian, will go to nearly any length to prove that he is the moral authority for every human being in this country (because in his eyes, he is the "do-gooder" of all humankind). Thus, no interpretation of statistics other than HIS interpretation will ever be enough. Because, as the all-knowing purveyor of good and evil in society, he will flick like a fly from his squinty eyes anyone who tries to counter his arrogant, narrow-minded claims. He really does think that he is making society a better place. His offer to send me PDF files of certain studies only further document his authoritarian stance: that no evidence is evidence unless it is interpreted the way he interprets it. That he already, without any evidence at all, assumes I haven't already read any scholarly works on the subjects in question is evidence enough.

He disregards the APA, the AMA, the American Academy of Pediatrics, et. al. as falling victim to some kind of "homosexualist propaganda" that advocates for the rights and equal treatment of gay people. He ignores studies in nearly every discipline that point opposite his bigoted belief-system. Unless it supports his view that homosexuals are dangerous to children and/or unhealthy, he disregards it.

This is my take on "The Culturologist:" he is a Right-Wing Authoritarian(RWA) thinly-veiled in the sheep's clothing of a "liberal(?)" college professor...well, some of his comments have indicated he sees himself this way. I guess he's just not liberal in regards to the "morally wrong."

Do any of these traits look familiar in regards to his comments and blogs? I've bolded the most common characteristics of his internet comments thus far(taken from "The Authoritarian Specter"):

1: Faulty reasoning — RWAs are more likely to:

Make many incorrect inferences from evidence.
Hold contradictory ideas that result from a cognitive attribute known as compartmentalized thinking.
Uncritically accept that many problems are ‘our most serious problem.’
Uncritically accept insufficient evidence that supports their beliefs.
Uncritically trust people who tell them what they want to hear.
Use many double standards in their thinking and judgments.

2: Hostility Toward Outgroups — RWAs are more likely to:

Weaken constitutional guarantees of liberty such as the Bill of Rights.
Severely punish ‘common’ criminals in a role-playing situation.
Admit they obtain personal pleasure from punishing such people.
Be prejudiced against racial, ethnic, nationalistic, and linguistic minorities.
Be hostile toward homosexuals.
Volunteer to help the government persecute almost anyone.
Be mean-spirited toward those who have made mistakes and suffered. (several times I have seen Fannie and myself attempt to make-nice with the Opine Idiots, and "The Culturologist" never accepts)

3: Profound Character Attributes — RWAs are more likely to:
Be dogmatic.
Be zealots.
Be hypocrites.
Be absolutists
Be bullies when they have power over others.
Help cause and inflame intergroup conflict.
Seek dominance over others by being competitive and destructive in situations requiring cooperation.
*I can't speak for his character attributes since I don't know him in person.

4: Blindness To One’s Own Failings And To The Failings Of Authority Figures Whom They Respect— RWAs are more likely to:
Believe they have no personal failings. (It's apparent from his blogs that he sees himself as a "Really Good Dad." And people who don't fit that mold are evil destroyers of society).
learning about their personal failings.
Be highly self-righteous.
Use religion to erase guilt over their acts and to maintain their self-righteousness.

I would LOVE to see his results on this test: http://www.anesi.com/fscale.htm.

Among the different variables tested are these:

Conventionalism: Rigid adherence to conventional, middle-class values.

Authoritarian Submission: Submissive, uncritical attitude toward idealized moral authorities of the ingroup.

Authoritarian Aggression: Tendency to be on the lookout for, and to condemn, reject, and punish people who violate conventional values.

Anti-intraception: Opposition to the subjective, the imaginative, the tender-minded.

Superstition and Stereotypy: The belief in mystical determinants of the individual's fate; the disposition to think in rigid categories.

Power and "Toughness": Preoccupation with the dominance-submission, strong-weak, leader-follower dimension; identification with power figures; overemphasis upon the conventionalized attributes of the ego; exaggerated assertion of strength and toughness.

Destructiveness and Cynicism: Generalized hostility, vilification of the human.

Projectivity: The disposition to believe that wild and dangerous things go on in the world; the projection outwards of unconscious emotional impulses.

Sex: Exaggerated concern with sexual "goings-on."

So you tell me? Is Culturologist an Authoritarian?

*Oh yeah, and his interpretation of the stats and literature on anal sex basically amounts to this: "anal sex is riskier than vaginal sex."

That isn't exactly new knowledge. Nor is it a basis for denying gay couples the right to get married.

When men like Culturologist and Jose Solano get so wrapped up in their own disgust and anal sex obsessions and telling the world how dangerous it is, it further proves that this is their MAIN and only real motivation in denying gay couples the freedoms they have with their partners. THAT. THEY. ARE. OBSESSED. WITH. ANAL. SEX. I feel that people will go to extreme lengths to defend that which goes against their initial knee-jerk reactions.

If this is his basis for denying gay couples the right to get married, then one can only conclude that lesbian couples are, in fact, the ideal type of couple. As their rates of STDs, HIV infection, and intercourse-related cancers are the lowest.

But I would never advocate for that because it isn't fair to those couples who wish to get married who aren't lesbians like me.

See how easy that is?

Giving rights to other groups or people doesn't have to mean that you are giving up your own rights.

I wonder what they are really so scared of.