I highly encourage y'all to check out the (not that new, but new in paperback) book by the brilliant and witty Ann Pellegrini (and Janet Jakobson) Love The Sin.
In short, they lay out how the religious value of "tolerance" (as it was passed down from enligtenment) is a dangerous way of saying that The Other (the gay's, the blacks, the women, the FTM clown fucking lefties, etc), can never be part of "America" in that they are tolerated but never accepted. The very act of toleration, the book argues, means that there is something to be tolerated, some deficency, which prevents the true practice of freedom and ability to realize the american ideal for those that are merely tolerated, but not embraced.
They go on to show how the first ammendment (in regards to the free exercise and disestablishment of religion) has been abused, and how linking a fully realized enactment of that amendments promise of the freedom to practice religion to a newfound freedom in sexual practice could be an important step in reimagining the project of freedom in these here states united.
The "meta-arguement" (if you will excuse that nasty conjunction) is that the actions that are taken by people; how they exsist, act, navigate, mediate, etc. are important in-and-of themselves, that is the space of meaning making, not just how the individual identifies (or is identified).
It's an intresting arguement (that I agree with) which is presented in a clear, concise and realitivly academic double-speak free manner. I highly, highly recomend it to all those intrested in religion, public policy, queer rights, or just good jargon-free writing.
Speaking of Jargon, here is a rough draft of a paper I am working on which seeks to link Judith Butler's arguments which re-read Freud's Mourning and Melencholia, with the idea of the Ephemeral (from JM) in looking at how Kurt Cobain's death was constructed and how his fans marked that event (which occured 10 years ago next week). It's in a pretty rough stage (ie- mad grammar issues and some organizational issues), but if you look beyond that I would love to hear what people think of some of the ideas I am playing with. Be forewarned that it is full of bad academic writing and is on the longish side, don't hold it against me.
Posted by thickeye at March 31, 2004 04:57 PM | TrackBack