{"id":14771,"date":"2009-05-11T10:02:43","date_gmt":"2009-05-11T16:02:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/?p=14771"},"modified":"2009-05-11T10:01:21","modified_gmt":"2009-05-11T16:01:21","slug":"joe-the-why-is-this-guy-still-talkinger","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2009\/05\/11\/joe-the-why-is-this-guy-still-talkinger.html","title":{"rendered":"Joe the “Why Is This Guy Still Talking?”er"},"content":{"rendered":"

Joe (Samuel Wurzelbacher) the Plumber (not) was interviewed by Christianity Today<\/em><\/a>. The breadth and depth of his profundity can be found in this question:<\/p>\n

\n

In the last month, same-sex marriage has become legal in Iowa and Vermont. What do you think about same-sex marriage at a state level?<\/strong> <\/p>\n

At a state level, it’s up to them. I don’t want it to be a federal thing.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Which is consistent on his other statements (e.g., on abortion). It’s difficult to tell how sincere Joe is here, since social conservatives often argue for federal legislation when they think they have the majority there, but states rights when they’re losing the national stage.<\/p>\n

\n

I personally still think it’s wrong. People don’t understand the dictionary\u2014it’s called queer. Queer means strange and unusual. It’s not like a slur, like you would call a white person a honky or something like that.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

It’s not clear here whether Joe is suggesting that gay people are strange and unusual, that “queer” is not a slur because it’s descriptive (would “whitey” be better?), or that homosexuality is wrong because <\/em>we call gays “queer.” (Joe, here’s a hint: the dictionary is decriptive, not prescriptive.)<\/p>\n

\n

You know, God is pretty explicit in what we’re supposed to do\u2014what man and woman are for.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Joe, welcome to America, where we don’t actually make laws based on what someone pronounces God says.<\/p>\n

\n

Now, at the same time, we’re supposed to love everybody and accept people, and preach against the sins.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Fair enough, even nuanced. Accepting people as people, and loving folks, does not mean we check our conscience at the door or ignore wrongdoing.<\/p>\n

\n

I’ve had some friends that are actually homosexual. And, I mean, they know where I stand, and they know that I wouldn’t have them anywhere near my children.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Wow. Those are some … um … great friends.<\/p>\n

Let’s read that again.<\/p>\n

\n

I’ve had some friends <\/em>that are actually homosexual<\/em>. And, I mean, they know where I stand, and they know that I wouldn’t have them anywhere near my children<\/em>.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

So let me get this straight, Joe:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. You have friends who you wouldn’t let near your children. And they know this. And you know this. Do you often make friends with people you can’t trust near children? Why are these people your friends, if they are capable of such implied heinous crimes? I mean, I’d find it very hard to be friends with someone if I thought they were a child molester.<\/li>\n
  2. \n
    \n
    So these friends actually <\/em>homosexual — not just pretending <\/em>to be, or rumored <\/em>to be, or just a bit swishy, or maybe toying with the idea? <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/li>\n
  3. \n
    \n
    Should any gay people be let anywhere near any children, Joe? How do you propose addressing that? <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/li>\n
  4. \n
    \n
    And they’re actually your friends still? How would you feel if someone said, “Yeah, Joe, he’s a friend of mine, but I wouldn’t let him near my children”? Would you still actually consider that person a friend? <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
    \n

    But at the same time, they’re people, and they’re going to do their thing.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

    As long as the state they live in says it’s okay, and as long as they don’t do it around your children. Got it, Joe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Joe (Samuel Wurzelbacher) the Plumber (not) was interviewed by Christianity Today. The breadth and depth of his profundity can be found in this question: In the last month, same-sex marriage has become legal in Iowa and Vermont. What do you think about same-sex marriage at a state level?  At a state level, it’s up to … Continue reading “Joe the “Why Is This Guy Still Talking?”er”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[25,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14771","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gay-stuff","category-politics-law"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":26768,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/02\/29\/marriage-is-not-just-about-a-private-legal-contract.html","url_meta":{"origin":14771,"position":0},"title":"Marriage is not just about a private legal contract","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 29-Feb-12 8:53pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Well, in some ways it should be, or a personal religious commitment, or something like that. But here's a perfect case of how not having government recognition of a marriage leads to consequences that (yes, I'm looking at you, Rick Santorum) all the fancy, expensive, lawyerfied legal documents in the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":14773,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2009\/05\/11\/we-were-against-federal-control-before-we-were-for-it.html","url_meta":{"origin":14771,"position":1},"title":"We were against Federal Control before we were for it!","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 11-May-09 11:43am","format":false,"excerpt":"As I noted in the Joe the Plumber article, the Right plays a deft ongoing game with federal vs. local control. Basically, if they feel they have the votes to dominate in the national arena, or if they see some other grand political agenda they can push forward, they have\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "LGBTQ &c"","block_context":{"text":"LGBTQ &c","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/gay-stuff"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5479,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2004\/03\/04\/if_it_walks_dow.html","url_meta":{"origin":14771,"position":2},"title":"If it walks down the aisle like a duck …","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 4-Mar-04 10:12am","format":false,"excerpt":"John Kerry has (maybe) backed making state gay civil unions functionally equivalent to marriage as far as federal rights and benefits are concerned. \"It's the first time in history that...","rel":"","context":"In "Elections 2004"","block_context":{"text":"Elections 2004","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/politics-law\/elections-2004"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":15157,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2009\/07\/09\/go-massachusetts-go.html","url_meta":{"origin":14771,"position":3},"title":"Go, Massachusetts, Go!","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 9-Jul-09 11:20am","format":false,"excerpt":"The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is suing the Federal Government over the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). The federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) interferes with the right of Massachusetts to define and regulate marriage as it sees fit, Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley said. The 1996 law denies federal\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "LGBTQ &c"","block_context":{"text":"LGBTQ &c","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/gay-stuff"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":130833,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2016\/06\/09\/the-semantics-of-historical-sexuality.html","url_meta":{"origin":14771,"position":4},"title":"The Semantics of Historical Sexuality","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 9-Jun-16 2:39pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Very interesting article looking at how historians look for same-sex relationships in history, and the terminology (past and present) they use in doing so -- and how that terminology and search can both discern and distort the past.This debate sums up in a microcosm all debates about history: to what\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":41115,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2014\/02\/13\/virginia-is-for-more-lovers.html","url_meta":{"origin":14771,"position":5},"title":"Virginia Is for (More) Lovers","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 13-Feb-14 9:48pm","format":false,"excerpt":"\"Virginia law that bars same-sex marriage or prohibits Virginia\u2019s recognition of lawful same-sex marriages from other jurisdictions ... deny Plaintiffs their rights to due process and equal protection guaranteed under the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution. ... Government interests in perpetuating traditions, shielding state matters from federal interference,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14771","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14771"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14771\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14771"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14771"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14771"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}