I am puzzled by Dr. Cutchins’ repeated personal attacks against my honesty. He has pointed out, once again, that I mistook the implications of his language in his original column. But I have several times said that I acknowledge that was a mistake; I have made clear here and elsewhere how the mistake was made; and I concede this point entirely. Cutchins did not compare homosexuals to the Nazis. Let’s move on. I leave it to the reader to judge whether or not it matters that he only compared homosexuals (who have done nothing at all to violate anyone’s rights), not to National Socialists, but rather to murderous terrorists and the Communist tyrants of the Soviet bloc.
My words are available on the website. I leave it to the reader whether my questions concerning Chief Justice Moore’s position constitute a “question” or a “demand.”
Again, I wonder whether or not Dr. Cutchins will actually say whether or not he agrees with Chief Justice Moore’s position. That was, after all, the point of the letter in the first place, which Dr. Cutchins has studiously avoided throughout in favor of personal attacks against me.
Cutchins accuses me of having a ‘vendetta’ against him, and of making active efforts to impugn his name. Let’s not get too hung up on ourselves and our reputations; rather, let’s stick to the discussion at hand: that is, whether or not Cutchins supports Moore’s statements. His strange fixation on a single word in my entire letter, in spite of my repeated concessions and apologies, and to the complete exclusion of the point being made is, I should say, rather puzzling. Perhaps Scripture is in order. “He that speaketh of himself seeketh his own glory; but he that seeketh his glory that sent him, the same is true, and no unrighteousness is in him … Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment.” (John 7:18,24)
Dr. Cutchins wrote a column defending Roy Moore against ‘wall-building’ critics from the LGBT community, even though he had not read the decision by Moore which was being criticized.
I took the opportunity to point out a couple of passages from the decision by Moore which was being criticized, in which Chief Justice Moore apparently endorses using imprisonment and even execution against LGB people for nothing at all other than the gender of their consensual sexual partners.
I then asked Dr. Cutchins whether or not he agreed with the statements Moore had made.
Cutchins declined to say whether he agrees with these statements or not, and made allegations against my honesty.
I followed up with clarifications of specific points that Cutchins had taken issue with.
Keith Rice praised Dr. Cutchins for his ‘promoting morality.’
If there is anywhere that Cutchins has promoted morality in this correspondance, I fail to see it. Was it where he defended Roy Moore without actually having read the decision that was being criticised? Was it where he declined to say whether or not he agreed with the passages from Moore’s decision that have been quoted? The fact is that so far, Dr. Cutchins hasn’t said much at all on this issue.
Perhaps Keith Rice thinks that Dr. Cutchins agrees with Chief Justice Moore on this issue, and wishes to praise that. If so, Mr. Rice’s position is curious, since Dr. Cutchins has never affirmed or denied that he agrees with the passages quoted from Chief Justice Moore’s decision. Furthermore, it’s hard to see how it could possibly count as ‘promoting morality’ to endorse the mass imprisonment and State-sanctioned slaughter of innocent people who have done nothing but consensually engage in a sexuality that you disapprove of. Maybe Mr. Rice thinks that such outrageous crimes against humanity are moral, but he can hardly expect the rest of us to agree with him.
Or perhaps I am simply confused by Mr. Rice’s post. It’s unclear exactly what he wants to endorse, and what he wants to condemn, except that apparently he likes Malcolm Cutchins’ positions–and, perhaps, also Chief Justice Moore’s–and he doesn’t like mine. Fine, but one usually expects a response on correspondance about a specific issue to actually have something to do with that issue. I wonder what Mr. Rice thinks of the comments made by Chief Justice Moore?
Perhaps Keith Rice will take the time to enlighten us as to just what he meant by his comment. If so, perhaps discussion could move forward in a more productive manner.
]]>CUTCHINS NEEDS MORE SPACE TO FULLY EXPRESS HIS ARGUMENT
Malcolm Cutchins has my sympathy: 600 words are hardly ever enough room for everything you have to say. His most recent column complained that critics including myself had used ‘personal attacks’ rather than addressing points he raised. But 600 words was so short that (ironically) he only had space for personal gossip about us, and couldn’t fit in a substantial response to our points.
[[[ In February, Malcolm used the Berlin Wall to discuss those who use real or metaphorical ‘walls’ in “preventing the truth and the real sources of help from being presented.” He mentioned three ‘wall-builders:’ Soviet Communists and their Berlin Wall, the Iran-Iraq-North Korea ‘Axis’ and their ‘wall of evil,’ and the so-called ‘homosexual bloc,’ which Cutchins claims “is attempting to move their wall-of-ideas into our schools and force acceptance of their chosen lifestyle.” ]]]
[[[ I thought Cutchins also tacitly compared the ‘homosexual bloc’ to Nazis, because he took pains to explain that ‘bloc’ is a synonym for ‘axis,’ and the ‘Rome-Berlin Axis’ of Nazism and Italian Fascism was the basis for Bush’s ‘Axis of Evil’ catchphrase. If my interpretation was unfair, I apologize. In that case, Cutchins used the concept of ‘walls,’ not to equate peaceful people hoping to live free of terror and violence to Nazis, but rather only to terrorists and Soviet dictators. ]]]
Besides hermeneutical quibbles, Cutchins’ column lists details about me personally, some of them inaccurate. I was never “co-chair of a Lesbian/Gay conference.” Cutchins probably meant my work with Southern Girls Convention 2001, which brought over 500 pro-woman activists together in Auburn for a historic meeting on issues affecting women of all sexualities, including domestic violence, internet literacy, and healing after sexual assault. Critics focused on a select few workshops to play on anti-lesbian bigotry. Nevertheless, we proudly defended including lesbians and LGBT issues in SGC. Southern women are of all different sexualities; participants were lesbian, heterosexual, bisexual, asexual. Anti-lesbian bigotry was addressed because we work for the rights of all Southern women, not just those that fit Right-wing notions of women’s sexuality.
Malcolm also complains that my letter ‘vented anger’ rather than addressing what he said. The entire reason Cutchins discussed ‘walls’ was to condemn the ‘wall-building’ reaction to Justice Moore’s ravings against LGBT parents, even though he said he had not actually read the decision. So my letter helpfully quoted verbatim from Moore’s decision:
“Homosexual behavior is … a crime against nature, an inherent evil, and an act so heinous that it defies one’s ability to describe it.”
And also:
“The State carries the power of the sword, that is, the power to prohibit conduct with physical penalties, such as confinement and even execution. It must use that power to prevent the subversion of children toward this lifestyle, to not encourage a criminal lifestyle.”
I asked whether Cutchins, after reading Moore?s words, still supported him, and months passed with no answer. Now, he blasts my ‘attempting to dictate what he reads,’ and promptly changes topic to one 1987 editorial by one gay man (Michael Swift), describing itself as satire, “a tragic, cruel fantasy … on how the oppressed desperately dream of being the oppressor.” Swift never mentions anything remotely related to Moore’s decision, but Cutchins says that Swift’s satirical words make Moore?s serious statements ‘appear tame in comparison.’
Very well, but nobody asked about Michael Swift. The question was whether Cutchins supports Moore’s position that the State is within its prerogatives to imprison and slaughter people for being gay. Perhaps future columns will allow him space for an answer, rather than personal gossip and strange digressions.
Charles W. Johnson is an Auburn native and studies Philosophy and Computer Science at Auburn University. He can be contacted by e-mail at cwj2@eskimo.com
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