Dan Savage the Sophist
photo: Bully by Thomas Ricker
Dan Savage recently spoke to a group of high school students in the JEA/NSPA High School Journalism Convention. He cited different passages in the Bible to persuade the audience to agree that homosexuality is normal and to denounce the Bible as holding any absolute truth. Savage used colorful expletives in a passive aggressive manner with a hint of anger around the edges. (As a concerned healthcare professional in training, I have to earnestly ask: when was the last time he checked his blood pressure? Hypertension kills if left untreated.)
One can only watch and listen to a person speak in a vacuum for so long. Numerous students vacated the auditorium as Savage devolved into a fit; remember in 2011, when the United States and other delegations in the U.N. also walked out as Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad denounced America—basically Western civilization.
Later on, Dan Savage called the self-aware students who left “pansy assed”. Touching. This is the bullied now as the bully.
I tweeted Savage’s diatribe as “hate speech; bigotry; and uncivilized.” A Twitterer replied:
“explain how correctly citing the Bible, and noting that ppl ignore other passages is hate speech? some of the words of the BIBLE qualify as HATE SPEECH. that is not bigotry… that is ridiculous to call it such.”
Please watch and listen to Jimmy Atkins, as he intelligently brings the cohesiveness of sacred scripture, in reply to Savage’s sophomoric understanding:
At best, Dan Savage is a sophist that even high school students know isn’t very good at commanding attention. How much weight does his words carry compared to Jesus Christ who is “the way, and the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). For Christians and especially those with same sex attractions, remember Matthew 5:11-12 when Jesus Christ says:
Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and utter every kind of evil against you [falsely] because of me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven.Thus they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Stay strong and keep the faith.
Further Reading:
LGBT: An Open-Minded Movement? by Ben Stevens at First Things
