I’m reading the archives of Tabletmag.com and was amused by an essay from The Editors fulminating against Russia for passing a law banning “propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations.”
The Editors write: “No decent human being should stand for such blatant persecution, but we Jews should be tenfold as sensitive. What we’re seeing happen in Russia should remind all of us of the darkest periods in our people’s history. It should concern us, enrage us, and, most important, stir us to action.”
Yes, banning gay propaganda is just like genocide. I see the similarities. The history of Jewish law contains many condemnations of homophobia, it’s just that nobody can remember any.
“On our end, we at Tablet Magazine will practice the equivalent of tuning out. For the next two weeks, we will bring you no reports of the games at Sochi. As much as we are enamored with the Olympic spirit, and as much as we would have enjoyed covering such a multifaceted and moving event, we cannot help but hear, above the pomp and the circumstance, the cries of Russia’s systematically oppressed. We wish to take no part in legitimizing the Kremlin’s predatory policies, and we hope you’ll join us in denying it the visibility and approval it so desperately craves.”
Well, that will show them.
Denile comments: “A Jew in Russia can finally put on tefillon and study Torah in the land of his ancestors and yet you focus on the debauched lifestyles of people who publicly define themselves by their sexual practices. Talk about Jews versus Judaism, this is one hallmark issue.”
Elliot comments: “Your boycott seems to be a little over the top. I just looked at the Wikipedia page on the LGBT situation in Russia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_rights_in_Russia Homosexuality is not illegal. It is not a mental illness. Single persons in Russia, regardless of sexual orientation, can adopt children. Russia does not have sexual orientation discrimination laws, but does that merit your headline, “abominable persecution”? I think a little proportion is in order.”
Pinchas comments: “GO Putin– stop all this gay crap sweeping the planet! if Tablet bothered to look into the matter seriously, it would have learned that Putin (and the Russian Orthodox Church AND the majority of the population) are not against homosexuals per se, but against their constant propaganda and especially against pedophilia which is second-nature to many, many gays. The fear that schoolage pubescent boys will be targeted is a real and legitimate fear– not only in Russia but in family-centered America, Africa, etc. But you lefty irreligious shnooks at Tablet and probably also the jewish daily forward, etc., in Manhattan don’t give a shit about that, do you? Just call me, and Putin, and other resisters to the gay tsunami bigots, racists, meanspirited, blah blah blah– wow, I’m really bothered… too bad orthodox rabbis don’t speak out against the gay epidemic– they’ve as usual chickened out. as for the reform and conservative rabbits (that’s not a typo), well, we know where they stand, i.e., against the plain and eternal words of Torah that homosexuality is NOT just a minor lapse of one mitzva, a minor no-no, it’s an ABOMINATION.”
Geoffrey: “I am at odds with this article. What is the nature of the writer’s commitment to Torah and its Mitzvoth? An abomination for which there is no Teshuvah is an eternal abomination. I am equally disappointed with Tablet’s announced policy of not reporting the Olympic Games in Sochi. How dare the writer compare the refuseniks’ struggle for religious freedom with the Gay & Lesbian cause or to even seek the enlistment of Rabbis to support her views, but then there are Rabbis and those who call themselves Rabbis.”
Michael Walsh: “Selective indignation in the service of moral grandstanding -the progressivist rite- always leaves one tripping over some glaring hypocrisy or other. But forget that: just preen in front of the mirror, pat yourself on the back, and sleep the sleep of the righteous.”
Phillip: “Are you also going to boycott Yom Kippur services because you don’t like the Torah portion, you know the one that refers to male homosexuality as an abomination?”
John: “Editors: I greatly respect your magazine. Please consider: You state the Russian law bans “propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations.” This is untrue. The law prohibits propagandizing this information to minors! You condemn a nation that adheres to scriptural commandments regarding homosexual relations as immoral. You have it backwards. Many a good parent desires to protect their precious children from the promotion of homosexual relations as acceptable – even if it were only to protect from diseases, which those engaging in gay sex are much more likely to contact according to the Centers for Disease Control & prevention. That being said I support any efforts to eliminate any persecution of these people.”
