Gays, lesbians, bisexuals

[Nurvingiel]

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I see now that I'm credited for starting this thread. Any Entmoot history buffs out there should note that TinuvielChild was the original thread starter, and it had over 300 pages (IIRC).
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I'm reading that interview with Dobson RÃ*an. It seems his Spongebob Squarepants comments were taken out of context - I get the impression he didn't like the cartoon characters being in the pro-gay video, not that he actually thought the characters were subtextually gay or something. Which begs the question, why is their presence a problem? I think it's the pro-gay video and its potential success that he really doesn't like.

DOBSON: I have here a page from the Web site of the organization We Are Family that produced this video that's going to be sent to 61,000 schools, and the purpose is to drive them toward a pledge of tolerance.

Now I want to read you two lines from that. I know you don't like people to read. But here's -- children, now, elementary schoolchildren going to be asked to sign this: "I pledge to have respect for people whose abilities, beliefs, culture, race, and sexual identity or other characteristics are different from my own."

If what he's saying is true, then I'd have to agree with him there. I don't think making kids sign a pledge is the best way to promote diversity. I do think establishing clear rules stating that bullying (for any reason at all) or prejudice will not be tolerated in the classroom or school yard is a good idea though.

DOBSON: Oh, it's Alan. OK. I -- I would like to put it in different terms.

Of course, I support respect for every human being on the face of the earth. I mean, everyone: those that we disagree with, those that have ideas that are really considered ridiculous by us. They're still entitled to those ideas, and they're entitled to their dignity and respect.

But the word "tolerance" and "diversity," those words are buzzwords for an effort to change the way children think. And we're going to speak up when we see that take place, and this is an example of it.

*bangs head on desk*

Tolerance and diversity are not just buzzwords, gah! Well, I suppose they have been used as buzzwords, but they are not meaningless jargon or just something to say to sound cool. They have deeper meaning than just "look at me, I'm tolerant." Though they have been used that way by some, it isn't fair to dismiss them out of hand as buzzwords.

Tolerance is a social, cultural and religious term applied to the collective and individual practice of not persecuting those who may believe, behave or act in ways of which one may not approve. Authoritarian systems practice the opposite of tolerance, intolerance. Tolerance is seen as a more widely acceptable term than "acceptance" and particularly "respect," where the application to controversial parties is concerned. Tolerance implies both the ability to punish and the conscious decision not to. It is usually applied to non-violent, consensual behavior, often involving religion, sex, or politics. It rarely permits violent behavior.

In the wider sociological sense, "tolerance" carries with it the understanding that "intolerance" and conformity breeds violence and social instability. "Tolerance" has thus become the social term of choice to define the practical rationale of permitting uncommon social practice and diversity. One only tolerates people who are disliked for their differences. While people deemed undesirable may be disapproved of, "tolerance" would require that the party or group in question be left undisturbed, physically or otherwise, and that criticism directed toward them be free of inflammatory or inciteful efforts.

Diversity

Social context

In a social context, the term diversity refers to the presence in one population of a wide variety of cultures, opinions, ethnic groups, socio-economic backgrounds, et cetera.

Planetary context

At the international level, diversity refers to the existence of many peoples contributing their unique experiences to humanity's culture. The preservation of our planet's formidable linguistic and cultural diversity in the context of world wide economic integration is the object of great concern to many people in the wake of the 21st century.

Politics

It is often used in conjunction with the term tolerance in political creeds which support the idea that such diversity is valuable and desirable.

Critics of diversity claim that in the political arena, diversity is a code word for forcing people to tolerate or approve people and practices they find repugnant. Critics also point out that diversity programs in education and business inherently emphasize minority groups (e.g. African-Americans, Latinos, and women) and do not give equal time to non-minority groups (white males). They claim that pluralism is a more accurate term for the presence of variation, and that, under the banner of "diversity," groups actually forbid criticism of protected groups by restricting what they call hate speech.

"Diversity" or the phrase "to respect (someone's) diversity" has also been used to refer to sexual orientation and appears in the name of Montréal's annual gay pride celebration, DiversCité (http://www.diverscite.org/).

"Respect for Diversity" is one of the six principles of the Global Greens Charter, a manifesto of Green parties from all over the world subscribed to.

In this political context, the word diversity is somewhat meaningless or differently understood outside of North America: for example in the UK the US concept of diversity does not wholly exist as there is no UK context for US affirmative action programs. This is not to say that others are not supportive of the underlying agenda of US diversity, but it is described with different words, such as using "respect", "tolerance" and "multi-cultural" as the context requires.

Buzzword

A buzzword (also known as a fashion word) is an idiom, often a neologism, commonly used in technical, administrative and political environments, consisting of an over-used word or phrase. Buzzwords appear ubiquitously but their actual meanings often remain unclear. A buzzword may or may not appear in a dictionary, but if it does, its meaning as a buzzword does not match the conventional definition. Buzzwords differ from jargon in that they have the function of impressing or of obscuring meaning, while jargon (ideally) has a well-defined technical meaning, if only to specialists.

Why do speakers use buzzwords?

A generous view allows that buzzwords have the same function as jargon in scientific disciplines: as newly-minted terms to describe new concepts, without the danger of over-simplification and confusion that can arise from using words and phrases with previously established, commonplace meanings.

Buzzwords can also function to control thought by being intentionally vague. In management, stating organizational goals by using words with unclear meanings prevents anybody from questioning the directions and intentions of these decisions, especially if many such words are used. (See also newspeak, Machiavelli.)

A less cynical interpretation might claim that the intentionally vague phrase may boost individual thinking and creativity by deliberately raising questions.

All three definitions are from Wikipedia.org Follow the links for their complete definitions.
Tolerance
Diversity
Buzzword

One final comment. This interview didn't really touch on the (apparently) major issues of the pro-gay video and what Dobson thinks about it.