Thursday, May 18, 2006
Standing Tall in the Land of Lies
Psychologist Paul Cameron is here to help homosexuals with their shortcomings.You see, gay folks aren't disgusting enough, and Cameron's life purpose is to create false statistics in order to make 'em creepier, scarier, more menacing in order to turn back the clock on the civil rights that they've gained in the past few years.
I learned about Cameron in the Intelligence Report, a study of hate groups regularly published by the Southern Poverty Law Center. His studies are cited by the minions of the radical right (including those with access to the White House, rest assured) to make sure that those in positions of decision making have the 'right' misinformation.
Cameron actually has a PhD from the University of Colorado, but whatever respectable research methods he may have used in the days of yore are gone. In fact, he was kicked out of the American Psychological Association and the American Sociological Association because, in the words of the ASA, he "consistently misinterpreted and misrepresented sociological research on sexuality, homosexuality, and lesbianism."
Not to worry, though... his natural audience is groups like Focus on the Family, the American Family Association, the Family Research Council, and the Traditional Values Coalition, all of whom use his "statistics" on their web sites. The Christian Communications Network publicizes Cameron's "findings" to religious newspapers and helps to distribute tens of thousands of his pamphlets to church congregations.
These pamphlets and his publications in a pseudo-academic vanity journal out of Montana called Psychological Reports constitute Cameron's body of work. PR will publish just about anything, as long as you pay 'em $27.50 a page. There are no peer review boards to guard against sloppy or malicious manipulation of research, of course. But $27.50 a page--that'll weed out the hacks for sure.
If Cameron's background seems downright comical, his influence isn't. His warped research has been used to turn back proposed ordinances for gay rights around the U.S. and is currently being used to fuel legislation against gay parents and would be adoptive gay parents.
Some of Cameron's greatest hits, statistically, politically, and scientifically speaking:
--advocacy for setting up concentration camps for sexually active homosexuals to stem the AIDS epidemic
--popularization of a fictional medical condition labeled "Gay Bowel Syndrome"
--creation of the homosexual profile as "of the lower strata; these are people who are waiters and busboys and bums and hobos and jailbirds and so forth"
--the phony statistic that "17% of gay people eat human feces"
--creator of a "study" that "found" that homosexuals are 10-20 times more likely than heterosexuals to molest children
--promulgation of the myth that the average life span for the gay man is 43 years
... and on, and on. It's interesting that Cameron characterizes gay sex as "irresistible" and marital sex as "boring." But then, look at how pretty he is in his suit against the blue skies of Colorado, his current base.
Unfortunately, Cameron's lies refuse to go away. The Christian Right publishes thousands of his "studies" for use in its political causes and "family education."
Just thought you should know. Get to know the SPLC, if you aren't already acquainted. Gotta go now and make dinner. Thursday is feces night here at the Ponderosa, and I must fire up the grill.
Add this to the human tendency to seek out "information" that confirms our prejudices, and you have renewable, recyclable bullshit.
: 4:50 PM http://www.familyresearchinst.org/
<< Home
