Playwright Responds to North Carolina High School That Canceled Play Due to Gay Scene
John Cariani has released a powerful statement about a student production of Almost, Maine deemed inappropriate for ‘sexually-explicit overtones and multiple sexual innuendos.’
Brandon Voss
Texas-Sized Stupidity
Does sheer stupidity drive human history? According to the late, great historian Barbara Tuchman, it does to an alarming extent. Tuchman’s final book, The March of Folly, makes that case. Tuchman does not mean the Moe, Larry and Curly sort of petty stupidity; the follies of those who, alas, are just not very bright. She means the truly grand acts of stupidity, the intellectual malfeasance of smart, educated, and powerful people whose boneheaded decisions have sometimes harmed millions. She presents case studies of willful, obstinate stupidity that defied common sense and even self-interest. You might disagree with the details of some of her examples, but her general point about the pervasiveness and insidiousness of culpable stupidity can hardly be gainsaid.
Another name for willful stupidity is irrationality. What is irrationally? Perhaps the most illuminating analysis was made by the brilliant and tragically short-lived mathematician and philosopher W.K. Clifford (1845-1879). Clifford says that we have epistemic duties, that is, we have certain obligations with respect to how we hold our beliefs. If we hold our beliefs in a responsible manner, fulfilling our epistemic duties, then we are acting rationally. Epistemic duties require us to subject our beliefs to critical examination and willingly revise or release them when they are contrary to evidence and logic. On the other hand, we violate our epistemic duties when we believe irresponsibly, for instance, when we accept preposterous scenarios rather than plain facts, leap to conclusions in defiance of the most elementary canons of inference, or permit wishful thinking to substitute for sober judgment. To neglect your epistemic duties is to act irrationally, to be voluntarily stupid.
There is also a narrower and even more pernicious sense of irrationality that I wish to distinguish from the sort of dereliction of epistemic duty mentioned by Clifford. I make the distinction at the end of this essay, after developing a detailed example. I draw upon Texas politics, the wellspring for every type of stupidity and irrationality.
For those who live outside of Texas, the Republican candidate for Governor in next month’s election is the current Texas Attorney General, Greg Abbott. As Attorney General, Abbott has the duty of upholding Texas laws when they are challenged in court. Lately, of course, courts nationwide have been ruling in favor of same-sex marriages, and laws prohibiting such unions in many states have now been struck down. Texas laws unequivocally recognize marriage as between one man and one woman, and deny the legitimacy of all other unions. In a brief filed to the 5th U.S. Circuit Abbott, argued in support of Texas marriage laws.
The issue of same-sex marriage propels some Texas Republicans into paroxysms of bigotry (actually, with these folks just about anything will do that). The knuckle-dragger response to same-sex marriage is to declare that if we recognize same-sex unions, soon we will have people marrying horses or inflatable dolls.
To his credit, Abbott abjures such low-I.Q. rants. In fact, Abbott is a very clever guy. He knows that opponents of same-sex marriage have little to say when asked what harm it does. For instance, how is a happily-married heterosexual couple harmed by having a happily-married gay couple next door? In his brief, Abbott contends that “It is enough if one could rationally speculate that opposite-sex marriages will advance some state interest to a greater extent than same-sex marriage will.” Note what a light burden of proof he gives himself. He doesn’t have to prove anything about same-sex marriage, only “rationally speculate” that it is less beneficial.
What arguments support his speculation? First, he says that Texas law encourages procreation which is needed “…to ensure economic growth and the survival of the human race.” Odd. I was not aware that Texans needed encouragement to procreate. In fact, Texas’ population is booming. What about the world? The human population is projected to reach nearly 10 billion by 2050. Also, some same-sex couples do procreate. Surely, Abbott has heard of artificial insemination and surrogate motherhood. Further, if an essential aim of Texas marriage laws is to encourage procreation, and therefore to discourage non-procreative unions, then what about heterosexual couples that cannot procreate? Should not the law be written to deter unions between heterosexual individuals who are infertile, or elderly, or disabled in a way that prevents natural procreation?
Abbott’s second argument is that “…Texas laws reduce unplanned out-of-wedlock births and the cost that those births impose on society. Recognizing same-sex marriage does not advance this interest because same-sex unions do not result in pregnancy.” Pause to contemplate the sheer illogic of this claim: Same-sex marriages do not result in pregnancy (false), therefore, laws honoring the marital commitments of both same-sex and opposite-sex couples will be less effective in discouraging out-of-wedlock births. Logicians would call this a textbook instance of non sequitur. Everybody else will just scratch their heads and say “Huh???”
To be fair, Abbott only claimed to “rationally speculate.” He is speculating, but not rationally. This, then, is the narrow sense of irrationality I wished to identify. Irrationality in this narrow sense is not stupidity, whether willful or not. Irrationality in the narrow sense, the kind deployed by Abbott, is a conscious stratagem, an intentional effort to construct a counterfeit of reason. It is a deliberate effort to muddy the waters — obscurantism, in other words. Knuckleheads cannot produce such refined, artful irrationality. It takes a really smart person like Abbott to generate something that resembles logical argument but which is really just nonsense on stilts. It is bad when someone is not able to think rationally. It is worse when they refuse to do so. It is worst of all when they use high-level intellectual abilities to generate obscurantist claptrap.
Wyoming Marriage Equality Begins
www.hrc.org/blog/entry/wyoming-marriage-equality-begins?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss-feed
South Carolina Congressional Candidate Calls Gay People “Gremlins” Out To “Destroy Lives”
Culler and his wife, Renee.
When asked why he was running for the U.S. Congress in South Carolina’s 6th district, Republican candidate Anthony Culler replied: “God has asked me to run.”
Evidently, the married father of four, who claims to be a huge fan of Appalachian Mountain music, has God on speed dial and the two have late night gab fests all the time.
“When elected,” Culler wrote on Facebook last week, “I will consult the Constitution and God on every bill. Then I will cast my vote. I will strive to be a Godly servant to the people I represent.”
Last week, Culler wrote a hyperbolic diatribe calling same-sex couples “gremlins,” and “a pestilence that has descended on our society.”
“Do not buy the ‘cuteness’ and ‘What will it hurt?’ arguments whispered in your ears and marketed to our children,” he scribed. “Same-sex couples that seek to destroy our way of life and the institution of marriage are NOT cute and cuddly but rather (for those of you that are old enough to remember the movie), Gremlins that will only destroy our way of life.”
He continued by accusing supporters of marriage equaling for seeking “to destroy the traditional family and the values we cherish.”
Values that apparently include watching horror movies from the ’80s while texting with God.
Culler also called gay people “bullies,” “self-destructive,” and a “scourge on society” with “a strong tendency for substance abuse.”
He followed up last week’s Gremlin statement with this eloquent tweet this morning:
To the voters of SC-6 Vote Anthony Culler if you’re Pro-Traditional Marriage – one man and one woman. Vote @Clyburn if you’re for samesex.
— Anthony Culler (@AnthonyCuller) October 21, 2014
What a charming family man.
Related stories:
Antigay Christians Fear Losing Their Jobs For Being Homophobic At Work
Pastor Claims Gay People Are Possessed By “Fart Demons” That Can Drive Pigs To Suicide
Christians, Take Heed! Gays Are Demanding “Open Sex” And Threatening Your Businesses!
Graham Gremore
Theatre News: A New Hedwig, Pacino Back on Broadway, 'Once' Closing, Upcoming Sondheim Musical
This month in theatre news, Broadway gets a new Hedwig, Once sets closing date, Pacino teams with Mamet and Sondheim at work on a new musical.
> Michael C. Hall began performances last week in the title role of Hedwig and the Angry Inch, stepping in after Girls star Andrew Rannells completed his 8-week run as the trans rocker. Hall, best known for Dexter and Six Feet Under, was just on Broadway last spring in Will Eno’s The Realistic Joneses. No stranger to gender fluidity, he previously played several stints as the Emcee in Roundabout Theatre Company’s 1998 production of Cabaret. Hall will continue as Hedwig through January 4.
> Tony and Grammy Award-winning musical Once announced a closing date of January 4 at the Jacobs Theatre. Based on the acclaimed Oscar-winning film of the same name, the Dublin-set musical about a passionate and unlikely romance featuring an ensemble of actor-musicians, will have played 1,167 regular performances and 22 previews. The show’s U.S. national tour continues and a number of international productions are currently running or in development, including a West End production that will close in March of next year.
> Producers announced that Al Pacino will return to Broadway next fall in China Doll, a new play by David Mamet. In a statement, the playwright described it as “a play about a wealthy man, his young fiancé, and an airplane […] I wrote it for Al. It is better than oral sex.” The new play will be directed by Pam MacKinnon and produced by Jeffery Richards, Jerry Frankel and Steve Traxler at a Shubert theatre to be determined.
> Lincoln Center Theatre announced two new additions to its 2015 docket: Shows for Days, a new comedy by Douglas Carter Beane (The Nance, The Little Dog Laughed) set in a 1970s community theatre, to be directed by Jerry Zaks Off Broadway at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theatre, and Preludes, a new musical by Dave Malloy, directed by Rachel Chavkin (creators of Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812) about Russian composer Sergei Rachmaninoff at LCT3’s Claire Tow Theatre.
> Stephen Sondheim is at work on a new musical with playwright David Ives (Venus in fur) based on two films by Spanish director Luis Buñuel, The Exterminating Angel and The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, according to the New York Times. The Public Theatre and Scott Rudin are producing the new work. No timeline has been set; Oskar Eustis, Artistic Director of the Public, said in a statement, “We will do it whenever Steve tells us to.”
> Producer Kevin McCollum announced that Robert Askins’ dark comedy Hand to God starring Steven Boyer will open on Broadway at the Booth Theatre on April 7, 2015 with previews beginning March 12. Featuring a critically-acclaimed performance by Boyer as a young man whose hand puppet takes on a demonic life of its own, the play was previously produced at Ensemble Studio Theatre and again at MCC Theater earlier this spring. Moritz von Stuelpnagel directs.
Naveen Kumar
Transex Talita Oliveira critica movimento LGBT e ganha apoio de Marco Feliciano
Transex Talita Oliveira critica movimento LGBT e ganha apoio de Marco Feliciano. Transex Talita Oliveira solta o verbo contra o movimento LGBT e o pastor Marco Feliciano dá apoio.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=7sAYiCkaJlw&feature=youtube_gdata
Michael Sam, Cowboys Welcome Lull in Media Attention
The Cowboys practice squad member has stayed out of the media spotlight since the regular season began.
Annie Hollenbeck
www.advocate.com/sports/2014/10/21/michael-sam-cowboys-welcome-lull-media-attention
Meet New York's First And Only Trans Woman Firefighter
Brooke Guinan is someone you’d probably think of as brave because of her position: she’s a FDNY firefighter. Others are praising her bravery for something else: she’s the department’s only transgender firefighter, and one of its only 41 women firefighters citywide on a force of over 10,000.
A Promising Crossroads in the Fight Against AIDS
Gay Men’s Health Crisis Public Affairs and Policy Managing Director on the importance of PrEP
HRC.org
Shia LaBeouf Strips Down and Bears It Up For 'Interview': PHOTOS
Shia LaBeouf shows off his buff physique for Interview Magazine‘s latest issue. He talks with Elvis Mitchell about his dark upbringing and, among other things, that now-infamous run-in with Alan Cumming:
LaBEOUF: …Really I’m gaining control over myself again. I’ve given up so much control over myself to this industry. I felt like a slave who wasn’t allowed to read. That’s extreme, but it really is that debilitating when you have no say over it anymore. A lot of my actions in the public—and not all of them, because there have been some straight-up mistakes, like grabbing Alan Cumming’s ass and getting arrested in New York at Cabaret.
MITCHELL: Was that about you walking into a theater and turning it into a performance space?
LaBEOUF: I was reading about [pioneering performance artist] Allan Kaprow happenings, and performance art of the ’60s and ’70s. So I thought, “All right, I know a little about that.” We’re all involved here. It’s not just you on your stage. We’re all in here and we’re all part of this. I was wrong. The New York crowd didn’t see it the same way, and I totally understand that. So I see the error of my ways. But that moment actually saved my life, forced me to look at myself. And when you’re in a cell with a f–king mask on your face and a lead jacket, you can really see that some of your life choices were skewed wrong. And for some people it does take that. I still am a very stubborn, hardheaded person who is theatrical by nature. […]
LaBEOUF:…That’s partly what I’ve been doing for the last year, trying to reinvent myself, in very calculated behavior, and sometimes in very uncalculated behavior.
MITCHELL: What would be an instance of the uncalculated behavior?
LaBEOUF: Well, like, grabbing Alan Cumming’s ass and being a drunken buffoon in New York. But the way it gets construed in the media, I have no control over.
Check out a few more photos of LaBeouf baring his body (and bearing it up) for Interview, AFTER THE JUMP…
You can also read the full interview HERE.
Sean Mandell
www.towleroad.com/2014/10/shia-labeouf-strips-down-and-bears-it-up-for-interview-photos.html
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