This is bad, but this is not horrifying. In other parts of the world, right now, it is legal to hang gay men or burn them alive. Life imprisonment is practically humane.
Gays = 5%-10% of the populace at the highest reasonable estimate if one includes bisexuality. Homosexual teachers are 7x more likely to molest their students and account for 25% of pupil molestation.
Cohen's financially motivated to make gay people buy his services and become "straight" -- so no matter how he claims the core of his business is sweetness and light, and despite him maybe starting out with a love-everybody thesis, fact is he's got a stake in convincing gay people that there's something wrong with them, and that it can be fixed if you just pay him. And he's written that marketing strategy into his books, by making homosexuality sound depraved and unwanted.
Either he doesn't care that his book's subtext has become Ugandan TEXT, or he's so determined not to think about the negative side of his marketing practices that he's permanently blinkered. Which, considering the topic, is ironic.
I accidentally wrote the longest comment ever in the tips hash last night about this interview for various reasons, mostly because I couldn't sleep and I was totally riveted by the whole thing: [jezebel.com]
So it feels redundant for me to say anything else.
But because I am a hypocritical ass:
I hope that this issue gets coverage from the right, because when I told my mom about it, she scoffed and mumbled something about anti-American something something propaganda something something. General Republican dismissal. So please, forward this issue to the red staters in your lives.
Rachel Maddow is my hero. I guess it's a good thing that dude wasn't in the studio, because if I were interviewing him I would want to haul off and punch him in the face.
@PilgrimSoul: I can't watch this clip right now, but can I assume his line is the usual conservative trope in which the hate crime he was subjected to was being hated for his bigoted opinions? Or did he actually experience a hate crime?
@Atomic Bowling: Yeah it was the American Counseling Association's "intolerance" for him that motivated the "hate crime" of kicking him out.
They actually kicked him out for ethical violations involving financial arrangements with his clients in service of promoting his book. But truth, schmuth.
@lermanzo: Actually, what is so infuriating is that there is a cure for his stupidity: reason, rational discourse, critical thinking, getting one's head out of one's ass. Kindness is also a good inroad to combating stupidity.
This man absolutely has blood on his hands. May he realize it before the violence and hatred escalate further. (Sadly, I'm not holding my breath)
I'm watching the video and I CANNOT believe that Cohen just said that he was the victim of a hate crime when he was kicked out of the psychotherapist organization. This person is abhorrent.
@NellMood: I love the smug, self-satisfied tone of his voice when he said it too. It's like, um no, a hate crime is when you're executed because of your choice of life partner.
@bluebears: I know, right? He's the victim here, people! I can't believe he smirked and smiled the whole way though this interview. His book is being used to justify hate crimes on a massive scale and he's pleased??
I hereby request that David Cohen change his name. Based on admittedly limited information, he is not deserving of the level of honor and accolade from whence both his first and last name come. I also would ask my rabbi to not allow such a man into my synagogue. Jews pray collectively, and I don't think there's enough prayer amongst all Jews to right what he's implicitly supporting/giving life to/not denouncing.
How could a person with any morals live with themselves knowing that their words and theories were being used as justification to kill innocent people?
@bluewine: By cherry picking their morality from a really long, really old book full of some great stuff and some really horrible, backwards, old timey shit.
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03:02 PM
Gays = 5%-10% of the populace at the highest reasonable estimate if one includes bisexuality. Homosexual teachers are 7x more likely to molest their students and account for 25% of pupil molestation.
Ok, carry the one and divide by stupid.
I think my head assploded.
01:59 PM
Either he doesn't care that his book's subtext has become Ugandan TEXT, or he's so determined not to think about the negative side of his marketing practices that he's permanently blinkered. Which, considering the topic, is ironic.
01:19 PM
What are you doing?
Love,
Jinxy
02:32 PM
01:17 PM
So it feels redundant for me to say anything else.
But because I am a hypocritical ass:
I hope that this issue gets coverage from the right, because when I told my mom about it, she scoffed and mumbled something about anti-American something something propaganda something something. General Republican dismissal. So please, forward this issue to the red staters in your lives.
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Rachel Maddow: Mmm.
Instant classic.
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They actually kicked him out for ethical violations involving financial arrangements with his clients in service of promoting his book. But truth, schmuth.
10:45 AM
there he was telling a happily gay woman that gay is a "disease" and can be treated.
it was total double talk. he thinks there is a cure for gay? well, i can tell him with authority that there is no cure for his stupidity.
10:49 AM
This man absolutely has blood on his hands. May he realize it before the violence and hatred escalate further. (Sadly, I'm not holding my breath)
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If he had any semblance of self-respect, I might be sorry that he got OMGPWND on TV. How Rachel wasn't tearing her hair out after that is beyond me.
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