Monday, December 14, 2009
Phil Bronstein: Screw Them Homos.
In this week's column, Phil Bronstein looks at the Salvation Army, and concludes that, yeah, they are gay haters, but they are nice and cuddly gay haters, so he can give them his money with no qualms.
The Salvation Army, the country's biggest charity, is taking it full on the chin from a social media network mobilized against the organization's position on homosexuality and other social sins. Twitter, Facebook and gay Web sites are lit up with protest and calls for donor boycotts...
...Before we take the predictable San Francisco, to-the-barricades view on all this, let's consider the Catholic concept of "proportionalism." This means (roughly, my interpretation) that bad conduct can be acceptable if a much greater good is being accomplished.
Ok, says Phil, so we can enter some fuzzy realm of moral relativism where you can do evil, as long as you do some good in some other place. Which leads eventually to Phil saying:
After weighing the moral dilemma, I'll be dropping some dough in that bucket myself.
So: anti-gay organization also does good work, Phil will donate to them. Also: that's the contrarian attitude to "the predictable San Francisco, to-the-barricades view," and Phil reflexively enjoys anything that pisses off San Francisco progressives, he's immature that way.
We wonder where Phil will draw the line, though: what if the Salvation Army also organized dog fights on top of being anti-homo, would he still give to them? Would Phil donate to Hamas, which, according to wikipedia has a charity overhead which rivals that of the Salvation Army: An estimated 80% to 90% of Hamas revenues fund health, social welfare, religious, cultural, and educational services. "Proportionalism" applies too, right?
Phil is being dense, as usual, because the fact that the Salvation Army offsets their intolerance with some good is no reason to fund them: there are plenty of other charities which do good, without hating on the gays. Phil does not care about the gays, and what do you expect, he's a conservative. But YOU should donate to the charity which will help people without forcing their hateful values on anyone. There are plenty.
The Salvation Army, the country's biggest charity, is taking it full on the chin from a social media network mobilized against the organization's position on homosexuality and other social sins. Twitter, Facebook and gay Web sites are lit up with protest and calls for donor boycotts...
...Before we take the predictable San Francisco, to-the-barricades view on all this, let's consider the Catholic concept of "proportionalism." This means (roughly, my interpretation) that bad conduct can be acceptable if a much greater good is being accomplished.
Ok, says Phil, so we can enter some fuzzy realm of moral relativism where you can do evil, as long as you do some good in some other place. Which leads eventually to Phil saying:
After weighing the moral dilemma, I'll be dropping some dough in that bucket myself.
So: anti-gay organization also does good work, Phil will donate to them. Also: that's the contrarian attitude to "the predictable San Francisco, to-the-barricades view," and Phil reflexively enjoys anything that pisses off San Francisco progressives, he's immature that way.
We wonder where Phil will draw the line, though: what if the Salvation Army also organized dog fights on top of being anti-homo, would he still give to them? Would Phil donate to Hamas, which, according to wikipedia has a charity overhead which rivals that of the Salvation Army: An estimated 80% to 90% of Hamas revenues fund health, social welfare, religious, cultural, and educational services. "Proportionalism" applies too, right?
Phil is being dense, as usual, because the fact that the Salvation Army offsets their intolerance with some good is no reason to fund them: there are plenty of other charities which do good, without hating on the gays. Phil does not care about the gays, and what do you expect, he's a conservative. But YOU should donate to the charity which will help people without forcing their hateful values on anyone. There are plenty.
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