It’s Pride Week at UMM, so it’s timely to mention the dissection of Paul Cameron’s latest mangling of science and statistics. Cameron, if you’ve never heard of him, is an anti-gay bigot who publishes sloppy analyses to ‘prove’ that homosexuals are bad people, and has recently published yet another of his screeds in the Journal of Biosocial Science.
Apparently, homosexuality is contagious. Am I at risk if I attend any of the gay pride events this week? Will Hedwig and the Angry Inch turn me into a transsexual? Knowing that the author is Paul Cameron reassures me that my wife and I have nothing to worry about.
Wow, so you really can CATCH TEH GAY!!!11!!1!!!!1
*sigh*
I thought it was girls’ cooties that was most contagious. Ah, whet I have to learn and re-learn in my old age…
Didn’t you know? It was broadcast via gay-waves emitted during Ally McBeal.
‘Will Hedwig and the Angry Inch turn me into a transsexual?’
No, but this Christian youth leadership group might.
(Via Chris Mooney .)
Oh llewelly! What girl wouldn’t want to be a Leaderette!
Hey! It’s true! A gay neighbour told me that for every 5 heteros they convert, they get a free toaster or other small household appliance! And at 100, you get a free gas barbecue! It’s proof they’re out to convert us all!
I half expect to see that turn up in one of ‘Dr’ Cameron’s publications. That was an excellent dissection.
Wow, that article is just FUCKED.
I know some scientists who are peer reviewers at JBC and probably some that are on the editorial committee. Something needs to be done about this asshole Cameron.
“Journal of Biosocial Science”? Biosocial Science? Sounds like some touchy feely thing those whacki leftist anthro/socio/psychologists would come up with. Granted, I’ve only been in academia fifteen years, and my discipline is Information and Computer Science, but Biosocial Science? Never heard of it.
A “sympathetic editor” on the staff of the journal, perhaps? I find it astonshingly hard to believe that a work of this poor quality could make it on its own merits. The ugly language and outdated bigotry (1956! way to keep current) certainly should have been a big tipoff that this was pure crankwork.
If biologists weren’t more notorious for fighting back against back-door crankery in journals, I might almost expect some emboldened creationists to try sneaking in more articles with similar language against “Darwinists”: Since ‘common sense’ dictates that evolutionists are Nazis…
[quote]Biosocial Science? Sounds like some touchy feely thing those whacki leftist anthro/socio/psychologists would come up with.[/quote]
I took a class called “Crisis Management” as part of the prerequistes for the college’s paramedic program. Unfortunately, the focus in class had nothing to do with managing crises you’d find in the field. Rather, it was all to do with internal crises. One of the strangest terms we bandied about was “biopsychosocial wellness”. We were also treated to a dozen or so emotional flowcharts. My one and only homework assignment was to come up with an “action plan for relaxation.”
THIS is what happens when ordinary people think “Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus” is scholarship.
Curse you, John Gray!
Psychoneurimmunolgy anyone- Look up the book WHEN THE BODY SAYS NO by Mate, to find how these people think. Biotheology- google it- there was some crazy article a few months back about it. Mind/body medicine…. biopsychology, biosocial science…..
I have a hate on for that stuff. An absolute hate on. Unless you have been told that someone you love is to blame for their illness or is to blame for not being able to move without pain from scar tissue enveloping nerves, because they didn’t try hard enough, or they did try but it just didn’t take….putting the responsibility of the medical problem onto the person who has the condition- MS cancer Rheumatoid Arthritis are all exacerbated and prolonged by people’s stress, so they go to thought school and don’t get, or choose to take, meds……….but they take relax and meditation and acupuncture and learn to deal with the stress of life…..guided imagery and lauyghter therapy anyone?????? How about medications that are not indicated by EVIDENCE BASED MEDICINE for use in a particualr circumstance, but they know better, so they do a “consensus” evaluation paper on the efficacy of that really expensive, worth less than two cents, drug.
Umm …rant here. Sorry. But this really is how these people look at life. Chronic pain, homosexuality, prolonged illness- these are all deviant behaviours which can be controlled by thoughts and actions. Don’t even get me started about secondary gains….these idiots are convinced that you are ill for attention. I am sure you are homosexual for attention too?????? I am raving and slobbering all over my computer now, so I will leave, but know these people are no more scientific than Freud- oh yeah, the modern purveyor of BS and crap, who they base their lies on, even though he has essentially been debunked by neuroscientists. Real ones who look at the brain rather than make stuff up.
I have been told by a reader of my blog that I have rages. This is one topic that blinds me with anger, so I apologize if I sound a bit hostile.
Go look at PBS The NEw Medicine site for more of their stupidity. THen know that this is the thinking that has infiltrated med schools and centres around the country.
Think Well…..
Unfortuneately, Cameron has a ton of twisted company. I am no longer interested in what insecurities put people up to this level to intolerance and illogic but groups with innocent sounding names like “concerned women for america” and quote garbling authors like Robert Knight are depressing to read and depressingly prevalent when you go googling for information on gay rights. The ubiquitity of this toxic foolishness among fundamentalists and the very real harms they feel licenced to work in service of their imaginary fears just boggles the mind.
Ummm, Biopsychology is the study of brain-behavior relationships, and both neuroscientists and psychologists study it. Nothing kooky there. And it sounds as if this journal is perfectly reasonable and the relevant story is that a crap article trickled through.
I think some of you need to settle down a bit.
In other news, while Hedwig and the Angry Inch won’t turn you into a transexual, if it was possible to be turned gay, John Cameron Mitchell might have managed it for me.
That guy just absolutely rocks.
I am “from Mars” in John Gray’s book (doesn’t talk about feelings, understands football, hangs around with guys, hates books in Oprah’s book club, wants to solve problems rather than emote, I’m thinking that my Mom’s engine sounds weird while she wants to communicate, etc.) So if I am a Mars attracted to other Marses, am I gay or what? Holy crap! Hanging around guys must have turned me into one!
Hey! It’s true! A gay neighbour told me that for every 5 heteros they convert, they get a free toaster or other small household appliance! And at 100, you get a free gas barbecue! It’s proof they’re out to convert us all!
At Twenty Five you can get one of those fancy latte making machines and enough orange syrup to make 3 months worth of Latte Valencias, or what ever Farbucks calls them.
I dunno… I’ve been exposed to gayness and I never converted. Is the immunity inherited? *wink*
PZ, I’ll vote for bigotry as an inherited trait. Most bigots get it from their parents and close relatives. I am amazed at the stories my kids have come home with. My kids ask us why some kids they know hate and distrust ethnic group X or social group Y. The budding young bigots rationalize their hate and distrust with “they’re just bad”. This is a suburban Chicago elementary school. One of my kids was told that he’d go to hell because he hadn’t accepted jeebus as his personal imaginary friend.
I like Cameron. He’s a great litmus test for what isn’t. Not too good about the what is… But definately good with the what isn’t.
Yeah, well he’s been divorced five or six times now so I’m obviously skeptical about any of his particular relationship building/accomidation claims.
[b]he’s been divorced five or six times now so I’m obviously skeptical about any of his particular relationship building/accomidation claims.[/b]
This fits right in with my experience. My “crisis management” instructor was a former paramedic who suffered “burnout”, quit, then became a part time teacher. The entire class was about how not to do what she did. Go figure. I’ll bet she reads John Gray. She definately is an Oprah fan, I’ll attest to that first hand.
Oh, and POX on Paul Cameron. Just thought I’d try to get back on topic. :)
If I took the idea of God seriously, I would beg Him/Her/It to forgive me for what I am about to say: Paul Cameron is a swishy, limp-wristed, mincing queen who seems about to clutch the pearls every time I see him interviewed. Someone is seriously overcompensating for the naughty thoughts in his head. Take all the stereotypes and bundle them with some serious emotional hangups, that’s how you get Paul Cameron. He’s a completely dishonest researcher who richly deserved the censure of the professional organizations in his field.
Cameron’s transgressions are too many to list, but a good start can be found at the UC Davis psych dept.
I think that indicates that they learn it, not that they inherit it. Your comment sounds awfully close to original sin to me. ;)
I’ve told many anti-gay crusaders the same thing: straight men really don’t have an issue with gays. Personally, I appreciate the reduced competition for chicks.
-jcr
The Daily Show skewered Cameron about a year or so ago during a story on gay penguins.
Cameron’s position was something along the lines of:”Gay sex is better than straight sex, men know how to please men better than women do, so how ya gonna keep em’ down on the farm after they’ve had the hot-hot gay sex?”
Cameron’s made a career out of protesting too much.
Wow, those pamphlets of Cameron’s would be pure comedy gold, if they weren’t so malicious.
Semen contains many of the germs carried in the blood. Because of this, gays who practice oral sex verge on consuming raw human blood, with all its medical risks.
Gives a whole new meaning to the phrase “I vant to suck your blood!”
…and does this dude know that straight people have oral and anal sex too?
gays average somewhere between 106 and 1105 different partners/year
Seriously. “Average” 1105 different partners/year?
QUOTE: Personally, I appreciate the reduced competition for chicks. /QUOTE
Right on. =) No offense to my gay brothers and sisters of course.
It’s truly tragic that we have these tired little scraps of the eugenicist movement determined to keep bringing up pathetic arguments that waste our time, and on top of that, public brain cells.
How about someone perform a study on the parents of historically dim people like Mr. Cameron? I’m sure we could put together a real study, with hard results, of the corruptibility of unfettered social hatred on the minds of precious youths.
Of course, that’s probably a false basis for a study, since it makes an assumption on the parents before it even gets started. Maybe we should just relegate our research to pointing out how wrong Mr. C and his ilk have always been, and will continue to be.
I like the instant association Cameron seems to make here: Oral Sex = Gay.
Heh, a gay vampire. That reminds me of a Kids in the Hall sketch.
Try 3-5, if not in a relationship
PZ, I’ll vote for bigotry as an inherited trait. Most bigots get it from their parents and close relatives.
I think that indicates that they learn it, not that they inherit it. Your comment sounds awfully close to original sin to me. ;)
I was hinting at learned behavior. I forgot to put my sarcasm light on… :)
The bigots and homophobes that I’ve known have come from environments where hate, bigotry and homophobia were the norm.
I like the “original sin” thing… We could go with that.
Bigots do not choose the environments they’re born into. They’re conditioned to hate. If given the chance of self-examination, rejecting the rational examination of their bigotry is a choice. I’m always hopeful that when a bigot is taken from a hateful environment and given the chance to examine the irrationality of their fears they’ll choose to reject their hate. Then again, I’m a hopeful person.
Seriously. “Average” 1105 different partners/year?
I thought that a bit of wishful thinking on Cameron’s part as well. I’m sure it’s there to prove that homosexuals have sex lives of gay abandon. (pun intended) Let’s face it. Fundies hate sex unless it produces more fundies.
I’m curious as to where that statistic came from.
My guess would be that Cameron is counting partners like McDonalds counts people served. Either that or he rented some gay orgy porn (you know, for research) and then did the math.
Details of how Dr Cameron gets “106-1105 partners per year”, for homosexual people is about halfway down this page also from boxturtlebulletin.com. Tt should actually read “106-110” but a typographical error turned it into over 1000. Even then, the sample he uses is not a representative sample, being a sample of people at an STD clinic. And the data from the Corey & Holmes study that he’s abusing doesn’t even support the finding of “110”.
I really hate this guy.
Regarding gays and promiscuity, of all the gay men I actually know, only one of them was into triple digits, and he may have just been bragging. My impression is that most of my gay friends get about as much action as most of my straight friends. A few of them have somebody new every month or so, but that’s pretty unusual.
-jcr
Semen contains many of the germs carried in the blood. Because of this, gays who practice oral sex verge on consuming raw human blood, with all its medical risks.
Gives a whole new meaning to the phrase “I vant to suck your blood!”
Also gives new meaning to the last supper…”This is my body. Take. Eat….This is my blood. Take. Drink.”
Personally, I appreciate the reduced competition for chicks.
So you only have problems with lesbians?
My guess would be that Cameron is counting partners like McDonalds counts people served.
I feel like being randomly pedantic.
The McDonald’s “90 billion served” or whatever it’s up to is actually reasonably accurate.
It’s not a count of people at all – it’s a count of meat patties.
Hmm… meat patties. In the context of this thread, that suddenly took on a new and faintly more disturbing meaning.
Shouldn’t there be something similar for atheists?
Then the gays and atheists could get together and convert each other, and thereby narrow the toaster and barbecue gap, a field in which heterosexual theists currently have a considerable lead.
I was gonna post a comment to this, but according to “Dr.” Cameron’s schedule, it’s about time for me to go out and get laid.
Yikes, if either of those “averages” is true (even the non-typo set), then there is somebody out there on the other side of the average from my partner and I –and he must be getting seriously chafed.
Go seeShortbus and finish the job! As added incentive, Mitchell is apparently somewhere in all the orgy scenes.
Be prepared to cry a lot, though.