Does Philosophy Matter?

DISCLAIMER: THIS POST IS NOT ABOUT WHETHER AMERICAN FOREIGN POLICY IS RIGHT OR WRONG

Apparently one of the Boston bombers, the Dzhokhar one, wrote a note in (on?) the boat he was hiding in before he was caught. In the note, he wrote that the victims of the bombing(s) were "collateral damage" in the same way Muslims are "collateral damage" from American wars. What did he mean, really? And if thousands of innocent Muslims die as a result of American foreign policy, does he have a point at all?

Sex and the First Amendment

Sheesh! I have the night free before the next final. If people don't know how law school works, you get one grade per class: the final exam. So if you screw that up, you're done for. That's why it's necessary to just disappear and study. Anyway, because it's on my mind, and because I have a couple minutes to say some things, I want to quote something from Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association, the not-that-but-sort-of-famous violent video games case. In determining whether the sale of violent video games can be proscribed, the Court says:

Our cases have been clear that the obscenity exception to the First Amendment does not cover whatever a legislature finds shocking, but only depictions of “sexual conduct."

Some Updates

Posting has been and will be light for a little bit here. I am buckling down for finals and, hopefully, graduation?! My family is coming into town, and I have to move by the end of the month. Then I have to immediately start studying for the bar. I'm also secretly a little bit down that I didn't win this writing award thing I was gunning for. I spent all last year on that thing. I would link it for everyone here, but that would kind of destroy the anonymity thing...

As far as future posts are concerned, I am doing some studying and research on some mind/body (and maybe some hylomorphic dualism stuff) and how it applies to the homosexual condition. I'm not sure where I'm going to go with it, but I have some ideas. I'm definitely not as proficient in this area, especially considering what I'm trying to do with it, so it's taking me a bit longer to formulate my thoughts. I'll let you all know when I do!

Anyway, I apologize for some of the light postings. I'm being stretched in a lot of directions, and it's difficult getting substantive stuff out there. I hope everyone is well.

Indifference and Love

There are two common ways by which people deal with those who say that homosexual behavior is "wrong," "bad," a "sin," or something similar. As I noted in my last post, I often get as annoyed by fair-weather "traditionalists" as much as I get annoyed by pro-gay folk, but that doesn't really change the focus of this post. That is, regardless of how unsophisticated a suburban soccer mom's convictions may be, I think her underlying desires are important to analyze. I'll explain what I mean.

A Futile Struggle

Being in law school, about to graduate, I have become incredibly discouraged with the state of the modern world, especially the legal world. Not because of the laws themselves necessarily, but how people approach issues. Especially moral issues. People rarely approach these issues critically. Worse, they rarely approach them with any understanding of foundational principles. The things that really matter are just assumed true, and people beg the question all over the place without even realizing it. Law probably represents a sort of quintessential example of this. Can't come to a philosophically consistent position? Doesn't matter. Just call a previously clueless position "precedent" and rely on it like it justifies your absurdities.

Conversion Therapy, Sex, and Women

Crude wrote something in the comments of the last post that I want to address; he said:

But I wonder about a therapy for expanding someone's sexual attraction being more feasible - such that, eliminating some man's attraction to men (or some man's attraction to women for that matter) may not be realistic. But what about a therapy that doesn't affect that, but does make women sexual attractive to that man?

I don't think there's anything wrong with what he says here. I just want to expand on it a little bit. And I want to do so with a story.

A Place for the Cure?

I've been putting writing this post off for some reason. Mostly because I've been busy, but also because it's been a little difficult to write. Because I know talking about sex and gender and all that is touchy but also because I'm working with a lot of unknowns. There's no such thing as a cure to homosexuality. In fact, with homosexuality, most people don't even know what's wrong, much less how to treat it. There are obviously a lot of things we think we know, but something like a "cure" is almost science fiction. (I will be doing a post on "conversion therapy" soon.)