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april,2004
The Marriage Business
by frank scott
Just as gays and lesbians develop a middle class and conservative
values which not only accept, but desire marriage and family, a
reactionary movement would deny them. In trying to stop unavoidable
change , fundamentalism will ultimately fail. Though the aging process
makes it seem desirable - and the cosmetic industry profits greatly from
that desire - time cannot be stopped. Nor can the changes it brings that
are both personal, and social.
American culture has moved from the 20th century TV Nelsons to the
21st century TV Osbornes. Both semi-fictional families were led by
patriarchs named Ozzie, but there the similarities ended. Many still
accept the family values popularized by the Nelsons, in opposition to
the threateningly “different” Osbornes. Such values, however
sanitized , do nurture the kinship supports that offer security in a
hostile marketplace world, where everything has a price. But they deny
the dysfunction , divorce and depression that plague many families, not
to mention the important role they play in developing consumers for the
multibillion dollar drug and therapy business.
But given the violence and sexploitation of much popular culture, it’s
understandable that some long for an innocent past, however imaginary.
Such rejection of the present helps provoke a fundamentalist religious
movement that pushes people to the political right , partly because
there is no political left .
The lack of a political party that stands for the majority’s material
needs helps create conditions that pass for a culture war. This
cultural divide is based on an income gap, but that economic chasm
is rarely mentioned in an environment that makes politics a dirty word
for the majority who don’t participate in its process, and a successful
career for a minority who work for corporate capital, and against
majority interests . The conflict isn’t simply between a liberal left
and a conservative right, but more between a reactionary establishment
that wants an unregulated marketplace - with protection for the rich -
and a more liberal establishment that tolerates some regulation -
with protection for the rich .
Reactionary marketeers fear and oppose anything new, while liberal
hustlers welcome all new groups as potential markets, so long as they
don’t threaten the system. Marriage, whether among people, their pets,
or their furniture, represents no threat to commercial values.
The gay-lesbian middle class has brought major changes in acceptance of
a previously closeted community, mainly through its marketplace power.
In some municipalities, gays have even more clout than racial
minorities . As in many cases , the changes that have brought progress
for gays and lesbians have been good for the larger society as well.
Nevertheless, reforms that only benefit specific groups, or specific
individuals within those groups, do not make substantial social
change. Affirmative action, for instance, has benefited many but
excluded most, and is still a sign of division as well as progress. Most
of our reforms enable groups to better participate in the marketplace
culture, while doing nothing to change the problematic substance of
that culture, which is its political economic foundation. The same sex
marriage issue is a case in point.
It will resolve in favor of gays and lesbians, who deserve the same
right to make a state sanctioned union of their relationships as do
heterosexual couples. The touching scenes of love and devotion that
have been witnessed in news coverage of same sex marriages have been
enough to convince most people that, as Martha Stewart used to say in
happier times, “it’s a good thing”. Any religious criticism of these
marriages belongs in a church , mosque or temple. It has no place in
the state market, where business is business, and marriage is really big
business.
Many oppose same sex marriage because of the fears of change that move
people to religious fundamentalism and the political right. But the
desire of some to amend the constitution to exclude these marriages is
hateful and stupid. It is based on reactionary belief in a god of
vengeance and pain, who punishes transgressors of “his” law. The
alternative god, inspiring a relatively silent majority to accept and
love without bias, is unfortunately still confined to imaginary worship,
and weak in material life.
Such differences related to belief in the invisible universal force
are what help tear the world apart. The patriarchal god of war and fear
fronts for the political economics of corporate capital; “he” offers
scriptural rationale for the worst human behavior , while condemning
anything that leans even slightly in the direction of peace and love.
That people wish to commit to love, marriage and family means little to
those who see only damnation if what they site as biblical law is
transgressed. A biblical passage can be found to cover anything, since
its books were all about everything that once happened, and became the
stuff of legend in telling, retelling and eventually being written long
years after these events allegedly took place. So it’s possible to find
biblical evidence of punishment and reward for just about everything:
incest, genocide, bigotry, market values , love, compassion,
brotherhood and socialism.
Uncritical belief in biblical tales makes even less sense than
uncritical belief in what goes on at present , some of which is
distorted and misunderstood as it is taking place. Relying on legends
relates to qualities of faith based on a vague “transcendence” which
needs no material foundation. So, pick a biblical tale and enjoy it,
but don’t use it to interfere with people who want marriage because
they care enough to make themselves a family.
And don’t forget that families buy more stuff than single people. And
that gays and lesbians deserve the tax , health care, insurance and
other commercial benefits that come to married, and not single people.
Political hypocrites who spout biblical legend as a defense for bigotry
will soon learn that In the present marketplace, they haven’t got a
prayer. And that’s probably a good thing.
Copyright (c) 2004 by Frank Scott. All rights reserved.
This text may be used and shared in accordance with the
fair-use provisions of U.S. copyright law, and it may be
archived and redistributed in electronic form, provided that
the author is notified and no fee is charged for access.
Archiving, redistribution, or republication of this text on
other terms, in any medium, requires the consent of the author
frank scott
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