Tyranny of the Minority...

Cathy Young, a contributing editor to Reason magazine, contributed this column to the Boston Globe.

For anyone not familiar with the recent blog swirl over the term "heteronormative", she gives a brief primer:

"The latest brouhaha at Harvard, home of the perpetually offended, is over a motivational speech telling women that they can have it all: career, marriage, and children. The remarks, delivered by singer-actress Jada Pinkett Smith on Feb. 26 at the Cultural Rhythms show organized by the Harvard Foundation for Intercultural and Race Relations, were deemed too heterosexual by some. Or, in politically correct newspeak, ''heteronormative."

Here's a sample of what Pinkett Smith said, as recounted by The Harvard Crimson:

''Women, you can have it all -- a loving man, devoted husband, loving children, a fabulous career. We are a new generation of women. We got to set a new standard of rules around here. To my men, open your mind, open your eyes to new ideas. Be open."

On March 2, The Harvard Crimson reported that some members of the Harvard Bisexual, Gay, Lesbian, Transgender and Supporters Alliance had been offended by the speech and were calling for an apology from the foundation. In response, the foundation pledged to ''inform future speakers that they will be speaking to an audience diverse in race, ethnicity, religion, sexuality, gender, and class."

So what was the offense? In the words of alliance cochair Jordan Woods, ''Some of the content was extremely heteronormative, and made BGLTSA members feel uncomfortable." The other cochair, Margaret Barusch, explained that Pinkett Smith's comments, while not intentionally offensive, were insensitive due to their ''strong focus on how to effectively be in a relationship -- a heterosexual relationship."

"Heteronormative" apparently is a new phrase recently coined that means treating heterosexuality as the norm. Well, when did heterosexuality cease to be - in fact - the norm?

"Maybe it's not a sensitive thing to say at Harvard, but statistically speaking, heterosexuality is the norm -- which just might have something to do with the biology of mammalian reproduction. Researchers estimate that 2 to 5 percent of the population is exclusively or primarily homosexual. In the Netherlands, where same-sex marriage was legalized in 2001, fewer than 2 percent of new marriages are between same-sex partners."

Young does not mean to diminish the rights of homosexuals nor does she pass judgement on homosexuality as "wrong", but she correctly points out that the idea of demanding acknowledgement for every reference to relationships is utterly ridiculous. Based on Pinkett-Smith's comments, others could just as easilty be "offended" by implications of what is "normal", including women who choose not to marry and have children as well as those who choose not to pursue a career outside of child-rearing.

"Equality and inclusion for minorities -- religious, ethnic, racial, or sexual -- is without a doubt a laudable goal. But trying to eliminate everything that could make a member of a minority feel ''uncomfortable" can result in a tyranny as oppressive as the tyranny of the majority. You can't talk about Western culture for fear of offending people of non-Western background; you can't sing ''God Bless America" for fear of offending the nonreligious."

Such is the legacy of another minority - the elitist Left - who insist on imposing their ideas of what is "normal" on the rest of the population, and bully society into imposing a penalty on those who refuse to comply.

Posted by: Gary at 10:00 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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