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Politics : To be a Liberal,you have to believe that..... -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: DJB who wrote (1023)	9/8/1999 11:39:00 AM
From: The Philosopher	Respond to of 6418

What taboo? Who decides what is taboo and what is the criteria? If I could answer the question where social taboos come from and what the criteria for them are, I would be rich and famous. Or something approximating that. Some taboos we understand the origins of and reasons for, and often find out that there were good scientific reasons for them. Others we don't yet. I don't contend for a moment that all social taboos are wise an appropriate. Society isn't as clean as that. But I do have a lot of respect for wisdom that has endured through the ages and don't discard it casually, even when I don't yet understand its origins or bases. (For just one example, we are finally taking folk medicine seriously and finding that indeed there is a great deal of validity in it.)

To: DJB who wrote (1023)	9/8/1999 11:50:00 AM
From: MikeH	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 6418

The origins of America's homosexuality taboo come from the truely traditional Christian culture. I'm not talking Catholics in the 1800's here, but the "Hard Right" religions of the early industrial era, the Puritans. This is why homosexuality is so accepted in mainland Europe, but not in America. (I hear the Brits are more tolerant then us, but they still have a somewhat stodgy culture on this issue.) The religions in America were mainly founded by people fleeing countries that accepted gays. Land of religious freedom. This is also why the Mormons sprouted up here, the Catholics were getting soft on some issues, not homosexuality, but allowing people to drink coffee, etx. So, old Joseph Smith comes up with a new hard line religion, gets a bunch of Norweigians and Catholics on his side, and promptly gets martyred. Brigahm Young takes control, moves to Nevada, and begins marrying every young girl under the sun. Twain had some really good and salient points in Roughing It about the Mormons. Oh, wandering again. Anyway, the freewheeling homosexual (and swinger too) cultures are not accepted by the mainstream, because our parents and church told us it was wrong. Keep trying, in a couple more generations, you'll probably get your way. Except in Utah.