Can you say John Edwards? Ugh, the guy had me fooled. I would probably have voted for him and his ridiculously overpriced haircut—only to later learn that he not only cheated on his wife with a woman who proved to be a tool in her own right, but did so while his wife dealt with terminal cancer.
Tool.
Then there’s Mike Huckabee.
Ah, Mr. Huckabee, who came off so folksy and sweet—until he started saying shit like this:
“It is now difficult to keep track of the vast array of publicly endorsed and institutionally supported aberrations—from homosexuality and pedophilia to sadomasochism and necrophilia.”
“I think there’s been a real level of being disingenuous on the part of the gay and lesbian community with their goal of civil unions. You don’t go ahead and accommodate every behavioral pattern that is against the ideal. That would be like saying, well, there are a lot of people who like to use drugs, so let’s go ahead and accommodate those who want who use drugs. There are some people who believe in incest, so we should accommodate them. There are people who believe in polygamy, so we should accommodate them. Children are not puppies. This is not a time to see if we can experiment and find out, how does this work?”
LOUD RECORD SCRATCH
Now, according to an article in the Advocate, we learn the former Presidential Candidate cites an ‘ick factor’ as part of his reasoning for being against gay marriage.
In an e-mail exchange with the author of the article, he ‘joked’:
‘The only thing worse than a torrid affair with sweet, sweet Nancy(Pelosi) would be a torrid affair with Helen Thomas. If those were my only options, I'd probably be FOR same-sex marriage!’”
Ick factor, huh? Mike, I’m glad you didn’t become president. Because you’re icky. Really icky. (Not that I’m particularly fond of Nancy or Helen. Both have managed to tickle the sensitive gag-reflex of my personal ‘ick factor’ as of late.)
People like Huckabee and Leon Kass, former member of George Bush’s counsel on bioethics, became the ‘stimulating factors’ for my desire to write The Wisdom of Repugnance. (My as yet unpublished dark comedy exploring this 'internal shudder' we all supposedly have.)
Let’s explore this ‘ick’ factor. The term wisdom of repugnance, or the ‘yuck factor’ basically describes the belief that an inherent negative response to some thing, idea or practice should be interpreted as evidence that the thing in question is harmful…evil. Supposedly this ‘wisdom’ brings on feelings of disgust that should intuitively tell the person that the object of said disgust is morally wrong.
Mr. Kass’s comments against cloning-- “we intuit and feel, immediately and without argument, the violation of things that we rightfully hold dear.... Shallow are the souls that have forgotten how to shudder.”
Oh, I’m shuddering, Leon. I’m shuddering. According to your ‘theory’ if I’m repulsed by leaders of the free world who are unable to pronounce the word nuclear, George Dubya Bush MUST, then, be deemed amoral.
Okey dokey, works for me, Mr. Kass.
What this ‘theory’ fails to address is that my sense of repugnance at something might not equal or even mirror your sense of repugnance. Too many of our talking heads, politicians and religious zealots (SEE: Pat Robertson) with microphones and a pulpit from which to blather, seem to think that their personal sense of repugnance should be the standard the rest of us must adhere to. Unfortunately, these same folks all end up filtering over to Fox News, where they’re given a national stage from which to preach. (I guess the separation of church and state has gone by the wayside.)
Sigh. I long for the heady days when the only thing of import I was being ‘icked-out’ about was a Presidential blow job.
Mr. Huckabee, you are a tool. I find you repugnant. You and others like you cause me to shudder. Riddle me this: What remedy, then, am I to expect with regard to stupid comments that fly out of your mouth? (Water-boarding would work for me.)
Perhaps you should just shut up and worry about your own ‘ick factor’.
I think the Marquis de Sade said it most eloquently --
There is nothing either fundamentally good, nor anything fundamentally evil: Everything is relative, relative to ones own point of view. …something perfectly indifferent in itself may be indeed distasteful in your eyes, but most delicious in mine: and immediately I find it pleasing… amusing. Regardless of our inability to agree… would I not be a fool to deprive myself of it merely Because you condemn it?
--The Marquis de Sade, The 120 Days of Sodom
