Tuesday 30 November 2010

In which I am really back

Posted by Tania Kindersley.

I'm back, and I have a question. My question is: why does the Right Wing hate poofs?

See? I'm back, baby.

This all came up because I was going to do a whole thing about the START treaty. This is so inexplicable and crazy-making that it is about to make my ears blow off. America is probably the country that fascinates me and baffles me most in the world, but this is too operatic even for them. The Republicans, the party of National Security and Law and Order and, oh you know, guns, as long as they do not belong to Kim Jong-il, are trying to sabotage a treaty which would MAKE THE WORLD SAFE FROM NUCLEAR WEAPONS. It's a treaty even Henry Kissinger loves, for God's sake. But not that old GOP, oh no. (If you think I am simplifying the thing, look it up on the Google. I am not exaggerating for comic effect.)

I genuinely do not understand, not one word of it. Pundits keep saying, vaguely, it's for political gain. Why would any party which has hopes of governing ever trash such a shiningly obviously blatantly good piece of legislation? Do they think all the voters will say, oh yes, I'll go with the people who want some crazy Afghan warlord to get his hands on all those loose nukes floating about in the Urals?

Anyway, it turned out I was so cross about it that I could not write anything coherent, so my mind wandered off into a contemplation of the Right in America generally, and how it is different from the Right here, and the nature of Republicanism, and what it is they really believe. I had a nice little riff about old school One Nation Tories and how they contrast with the Sarah Palin school of God, guns and gays right-wingery. And then I stubbed my toe on the old, old chestnut of Don't Ask, Don't Tell, which is back in the news. I found myself in another political cul de sac, with no good answers, but only the question with which I started this post.

Virtually every good army in the world lets The Gays serve. Even South Africa does, and that is not currently a place famous for its lovely liberal attitudes towards different kinds of sexuality. The Israeli army has had open homosexuals for years, and no one has noticed that it has gone to pot, sitting about listening to Judy Garland records instead of fighting people. In funny old Blighty, it's not even a thing any more. Army officers and naval commanders march in Gay Pride parades, and it does not make the news. It's exactly as it should be: if you want to fight and die for your country, it should not matter who you love. (This is so central and important and true that I might have to say it again: if you are brave enough to fight and die, love whomever you want.)

So it's not as if there is not absolute boatloads of evidence that putting an end to discrimination is a good thing. It's not as if it has not been tried anywhere else. It should not have even a sliver of controversy about it, because the empirical evidence is so damn empirical. There is no deleterious effect on morale or efficacy or any other thing. You would think, from the way the Republicans are going crazy over it, that the moment the policy was changed, every single soldier would start wearing pink, or singing show tunes instead of fixing bayonets, or something.

The only conclusion I can come to is that the Right in America hates poofs. I say this advisedly. Although there are social conservatives who are really not very keen on lesbians, there was even one charming fellow who appeared to blame Hurricane Katrina on Ellen DeGeneres, it is the male homosexuals who make them really, really cross. I do not know why this should be. (I really don't; I'm not being disingenuous. I would quite like answers on a postcard, if you have any clue.) The Right is the place for tradition, and you could not get a more storied tradition than that of homosexuality. Did no right-winger ever read Classics? In Ancient Greece, gayness was a very model of aristocratic superiority. The Symposium is, apart from a serious examination of philosophy, a wail of love for Socrates from his fellow men.

You know that I have given up tribalism. It was starting to make my stomach ache. I would still say that I am of the Left, but I am quick to criticise leftish ideas that seem not to work, and willing to embrace rightist ideas that make sense. I say that no side has the franchise on wisdom or goodness, and the reason I go on having faith in President Obama is that he represents the pragmatic, moderate middle, which does not sound terribly sexy, but is almost certainly what is needed, in these troubled times. I understand arguments about smaller government and bureaucratic over-reach, even if I do not always agree with them. There are some elements of the philosophy of the Right which make sense to me. (I like very much the Whiggish tendency of The Coalition, even if there are individual policies which make me fret.) What I do not understand is where in the Right Wing primer it says: And you must persecute The Gays. What did they ever do to you, Right Wing People? Go and do something useful, like bringing down the national debt, and leave the homosexuals alone.

And now, after all that, the moment you have been waiting for. THE SNOW PICTURES.

We have had another ten inches in the night, and it was still snowing when I went out. The whole compound is quite silent, as if someone turned the volume down.

The west avenue:

1st Dec-3

My beloved Scots pines:

1st Dec-5

My favourite old gateposts:

1st Dec-1

A young tree, its wooden surround so piled with snow it looks like a sculpture:

1st Dec-2

The rowan berries, slightly out of focus, but still rather lovely for all that:

1st Dec 1

The older niece, madly setting off through the weather, watched by a slightly puzzled Duchess:

1st Dec 2

That is just snow:

1st Dec 3

Suddenly, on my walk, I came across my sister, dressed in her high glamour cold weather gear:

1st Dec-4

We organised a photo shoot of all our dogs together, naturally:

1st Dec 7

And then off she went, to do some slow cooking in her slow cooker (she is experimenting with 24 hour lamb, in the manner of the Greeks):

1st Dec 9

My little robin, who spends most of his days among the rowans:

1st Dec 10

PB301368

The small beech trees:

1st Dec 11

And, of course, the rampant BEAUTY:

1st Dec 15

1st Dec 16

Oh, oh, I am happy to be home.

9 comments:

  1. Dear Tania, gorgeous snow pictures, as expected. I have exactly the same sheepskin hat as your sister. And how lovely to see a Robin! It's made me feel Christmassy for the first time this year. Have a great evening xx

    ReplyDelete
  2. You have a robin in snow. Just like on the Christmas cakes I used to decorate as a child.

    And then in a rowan and a snowy rowan.

    Oh I am so very very jealous.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Love the robin, he's beautiful. Its just grey and brown and cold here....

    Honestly, as an American, I don't understand either. I suspect that part of the problem is that lesbianism is less threatening sexually to the image of the red-blooded American Cowboy. (There is an odd intertwining of red-blooded American Male ideas, because there is the Cowboy, but also the Puritan ideal too...no wonder American men are confused!)

    I suspect that some of it is that in some 'mens magazines' here in the US, two women are often shown together, so that there is an implicit presentation of it as non-threatening and yet aimed at pleasing men, somehow.

    I think homosexual men, for some, tap into that same vein that the TSA has tapped into. I have no idea how to change or stop it.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thank you for today's splendid pictures in the snow.
    Couldn't resist adding the two of your robin in my Favourites in view of their quite perfect upliftingness!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Wow, isn't your sister vivid and glam in her winter gear? I love her jacket.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Oh the photos.....sigh....very heaven; have been looking forward to these for days. Thankyou! Anne.x

    ReplyDelete
  7. I love yr blog & shall read it always from now on, thanks and maybe see you around? Love Jane

    ReplyDelete
  8. Christina - shall tell my sister about the hat, she will be so pleased.

    Cal - the robin really is something else, isn't it?

    CatherineMarie - like the cowboy theory. Also think you are right about the sapphic thing; there are certain men who think they might just join in. Not to say that lesbians do not get prejudice, but that it seems to be of something of a different order, and when it is in general policy terms, it is always the men who drive the Right crazy.

    Violet - so flattered and pleased that the pictures uplifted you.

    Alex - she did rather shatter me with today's glamour.

    Stripeycat - so pleased you thought them worth waiting for.

    Jane - how lovely to hear your voice. So thrilled you found the blog. Are you ever in Blighty? Would be so lovely to set eyes on you after all these years. Come to Scotland! I have a tiny spare room, but the linen is very fine. x

    ReplyDelete
  9. From your mouth to EVERYONE'S ears. Too right!

    ReplyDelete

Your comments give me great delight, so please do leave one.

LinkWithin

Blog Widget by LinkWithin