General Public Busybody Theory | Hacker News Reader

General Public Busybody Theory

mikelevins.livejournal.com

25 pointsfogus9 comments

first of all, the majority of people are inclined to be busybodies.

this is one of the major roots of all problems anywhere.

>In general, I mean. Not everyone seems to have this impulse to boss people around, but it does seem to be very common, and it seems like a majority of people have it to some degree, some more than others.

Then the problem appears to be related to the problem of carseats: http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/steven_levitt_on_child_car...

What else can we unify with this?

I do not know if you can put homophobia in the same pot as the carseats. There's no harm to children involved in homosexuality. The mechanisms for inciting legislations seem different.

While rationale people know that there is no harm to children involved in homosexuality, the unfounded association of homosexuals and pedophiles along with fear of homosexuality can often be found in the rhetoric for legislation and policy decisions (like not allowing teachers who are homosexual).

> (like not allowing teachers who are homosexual)

Do you really have those kinds of laws? I heard that homosexuals weren't allowed in the military in the US, and that seemed bad enough. How backwards can it get?

It may not be a matter a law but of policy (legal or not), as I said.

Some interesting links: http://www.google.com/search?q=teacher+fired+for+being+gay

http://www.abanet.org/irr/hr/yared.html

Kind of old: http://www.aclu.org/lgbt-rights_hiv-aids/gay-teacher-wrongfu...

So, to answer your question: it can get pretty backwards.

I remember reading that one reason homophobia is so difficult to address is because it may be rooted in misogyny (e.g. they hate women and because of that they hate men who act feminine, like women).

Personally, I'm male and, sexually speaking, I like women.

I'm glad we established that.

I think this statement is far more ingenious than you are giving it credit for. I think that you could interpret this to say "I like women sexually, but not socially or mentally".

Now, I'm certainly not saying that this reflects his feelings, but that phrase certainly made me chuckle the first time I read it.

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