If you're not outraged, you're not paying attention

[primroseburrows]

Two days ago there was a 20/20 special about the death of Matthew Shepard. My daughter Hannah watched it, and taped it (I haven't seen it yet). She did tell me a little about it, and what she was saying didn't agree with anything I'd read about Matt and how he died.

Well, apparently it didn't add up because 20/20 misrepresented facts all over the place. Now I have to show these pages to Hannah, because she bought the package, and I have to un-brainwash her.

Thanks, 20/20. Hannah's a bright, open-minded, non-homophobic person, and she believed what was on the special because it was pretending to be news, and succeeded. Imagine the effect on people who are homophobic, and maybe not so bright or tolerant? Yep. More hate crimes. I wouldn't doubt it at all. The Fred Phelps people are probably having a field day with this.


So what can be done? Talk. Talk to everyone, on or offline. Show them the websites. Show them the 20/20 message boards.

Especially show them the statement from Judy and Dennis Shepard, Matt's parents.

For more info on what you can do, go here.

If anyone can tell me where I can find a list of 20/20's sponsors, I'd appreciate it.

Comments

[robinhoo.livejournal.com]

Thanks, babe. :) *hugs you*

The Official Word regarding "abomination" -- nope, it's not the same as the word used for shellfish. The word in Leviticus 20:13 (and 18:22, which parallels 20:13 but is in apodictic rather than casuistic form) is to'ebah, and it's used 4 other times in Leviticus outside these two verses, all in chapter 18 and with reference to sexual wrongdoing (including incest laws and bestiality). It occurs 112 times in the Hebrew Bible outside Leviticus, but it's not limited to a sexual context outside Leviticus. Ezekiel often uses it in a sexual context, but that context is metaphoric and actually refers more to idol worship than anything else. (The word that refers to shellfish, in Lev 11:10, is sheqets, and it occurs 8 other times in Leviticus, always with reference to the laws of kashrut -- that is, laws regarding what it's not cool to eat. It occurs in 2 other places in the Bible, only one of which [Ezekiel 8:10] doesn't clearly specify the context of kashrut.) Although I haven't had a chance to do a careful analysis of how to'ebah is used throughout the Hebrew Bible, my quick look through its occurrences suggests that it occurs primarily in contexts wherein Israel is being differentiated from its non-Yahwistic (that is, not-Yahweh-worshipping) neighbours. In other words, Israel was given certain laws that defined them as "a priestly kingdom and a holy nation" (Exodus 19:6), set apart for the Lord from its Ancient Near Eastern neighbours (like Egypt, Canaan, Babylon, Assyria, and Persia). Leviticus is a specifically priestly book, reflecting the concerns of those who presided over Temple worship and cultic practice, and no study of the uses of to'ebah would be complete without a consideration of whether or not the word ever occurs in a text other than one which reflects such specific priestly/cultic concerns.

We know that homosexuality occurred to varying degrees in other Ancient Near Eastern cultures, such as the Hittite Empire and ancient Ugarit. Sometimes it was purely negative -- soldiers raping their conquered enemies as a final humiliation of war. But there is also evidence to suggest that some ANE cultures allowed for homosexuality. For instance, the Bible itself records references to male (and female) temple prostitutes, and other ANE evidence bears out the fact that Canaanite (and other nations') worship practices included cult-sanctioned prostitution of both women and men (the worshippers who would avail themselves of the prostitutes' services would've been exclusively male, as women were prohibited from extramarital sexual relations of all kinds, in pretty much every ANE culture). Also, some ANE law codes (including Lipit-Ishtar, I'm pretty sure, and possibly even the Code of Hammurabi, though I'm much less sure of that) contain legal prohibitions against only the passive partner in homosexual consensual encounters -- the active partner (that is, the fucker, not the fuckee :)) would receive no legal condemnation. We don't know to what degree homosexuality was accepted socially in the ANE, but it's reasonably clear that Israel's prohibitions against it were much more stringent than its neighbours'.

[primroseburrows.livejournal.com]

Thanks, darling. Lots of good info. *hug*