The Evil Petting Zoo

There is a phenomenon, noted among the fantasy/science fiction fandom, known as "the Brain Eater." The specifics of the Brain Eater are vague, but many take it to mean when a writer, fueled by success and already bearing at least a few political beliefs that veer off from the center, spirals into full-blown political insanity and starts working these opinions into their writings. This is where you get things like Dave Sim, author of the successful independent comic Cerebus, talking about how women are intellectual voids that drain warmth and creativity from men, or the alleged quote from Anne McCaffrey, author of the Dragonriders of Pern series, where she explained how male dragonriders "turning gay" was based on the fact that anyone could be turned gay by a tent peg up the ass.

Orson Scott Card has obviously already been visited by some sort of illithid (why, yes, I am an absolute geek, how did you guess?), which supped mightily of his brain meats. But if his recent article says anything, it's that the Brain Eater came back for seconds.

Okay, so, it starts out like any other article by him on the topic of homosexuality: gay marriage infringes on straight marriage, legitimizes an illegitimate relationship, those homos are all the victims of sexual abuse who've been perverted in mindset and want to self-perpetuate, blah blah bullshit. Nothing new, I suppose...

Why should married people feel the slightest loyalty to a government or society that are conspiring to encourage reproductive and/or marital dysfunction in their children?

Why should married people tolerate the interference of such a government or society in their family life?

If America becomes a place where our children are taken from us by law and forced to attend schools where they are taught that cohabitation is as good as marriage, that motherhood doesn't require a husband or father, and that homosexuality is as valid a choice as heterosexuality for their future lives, then why in the world should married people continue to accept the authority of such a government?

What these dictator-judges do not seem to understand is that their authority extends only as far as people choose to obey them.

How long before married people answer the dictators thus: Regardless of law, marriage has only one definition, and any government that attempts to change it is my mortal enemy. I will act to destroy that government and bring it down, so it can be replaced with a government that will respect and support marriage, and help me raise my children in a society where they will expect to marry in their turn.

Biological imperatives trump laws. American government cannot fight against marriage and hope to endure. If the Constitution is defined in such a way as to destroy the privileged position of marriage, it is that insane Constitution, not marriage, that will die.

Yes, you just read a sci-fi author proposing the overthrow of the American government for, of all things, allowing gays to marry. Not torture, not the War in Iraq, not the abuse of civil liberties -- no, Orson has gladly lined up all of these things, as long as they protect us from the dreaded Mohammedans. Nope, righteous rebellion should be triggered because those "dictator-judges" are invalidating marriage by letting the queers get in on it.

Chad, who makes a perverse hobby of following Card's various brain droppings and dissecting them, of course delivers a point-by-point refutation of the many, many instances of bullshit throughout the article. So, really, there's nothing left for me to do here but point and laugh. Which I shall do, with much vigor.