Live Long & Prosper
Off topic: I’d like to congratulate George Takai and all of the California citizens taking advantage of this brief window of gay marriage acceptance in the Golden State. This issue is a family issue with me (my brother is gay) but also, for me, a human rights issue, and I’ve wanted to write about this a little bit for years now. Why would I chose George Takai as an opportunity?
It’s not because my brother is Korean – though it’s easy to substitute his smiling face for Takai’s in this photograph.
I like Star Trek, but it’s more than that. I really like Sulu. I wrote a letter I wrote to Paramount before Star Trek: Deep Space Nine was released suggesting they follow up Next Generation with a series from the movie era featuring Captain Sulu and the USS Excalibur (I still think that would have been BRILLIANT and a much easier way to get old school alumni onto the TV show without using transporter buffer accidents or DeForest in horrid makeup). I sent that letter again before Voyager was announced. (Oh yes, I was a geek who felt he ought to be listened to then too.) (And yes, I know there’s at least one book and an audio play about this very idea.)
Takai has a marvelously rich voice, which is why I chose to listen rather than read his late 90’s Star Trek memories book.
Oh and the State of California locked him and his family into internment camps during World War II. Yeah, really.
I was happy for him when he came out. Didn’t matter to me either way but seeing him revel in his newfound freedom was fun. He makes fun of himself well – appearing on Howard Stern and stuff like Shatner’s Comedy Central Roast.
And now he gets to marry the guy he’s been with for over 20 years. Live long and prosper indeed!
June 27th, 2008 at 12:42 pm
And of course he absolutely rocked on Heroes 🙂
At the gym right after the ruling I was watching CNN and they were talking about the impact in Massachusetts after 4 years of legal gay marriage.
Pretty much none.
Tempest in a teapot, really – just another way for some to put down something they find distasteful. And life is just too darn short for that!
June 28th, 2008 at 7:49 pm
Hmm… never realized that Gamerdad was this liberal.
June 28th, 2008 at 11:46 pm
Ah, but you see as mentioned, my brother is a gay man. Call it a “Family Values” issue if you like. GamerDad walks lockstep with no party on every issue and neither should you friend.
June 28th, 2008 at 11:53 pm
ChiefMors,
His brother is gay – and since he doesn’t seem religious then the Prince of Peace isn’ telling him to love – but also disenfranchise and discrimiate against – his own freaking brother.
From what I’ve read Gamerdad seems moderate and leans liberal with gays, guns, and that’s it. The issues he writes about – game violence and kids – get attacked by both conservatives anbd liberals. “Both the Culture Warriors and the Nanny State” (his words).
Does it bother you that he;s liberal on this issue? He does make it a point to warn anti-gay people when a game allows gayness. Sims, Sims2, Bully, GTA4, etc., He helps everybody. Even bigots.
June 29th, 2008 at 12:00 am
Wait a second – the man only wrote 8 words. We can guess the meaning or we can wait for an explanation. Personally? I don’t care much about your politics either ChiefMors. I do believe strongly in gay marriage and equality off all sorts, I don’t begrudge other creeds – I do in person maybe, but I don’t on the Internet. If you’re a parent, if you game, I’d like you to stick around. This is an “off-topic” post, and you won’t see me get political very often when it doesn’t relate to gaming.
And the DoorMonke is right (not when he said “bigot” but about me) I do call out homosexuality in video games because I call out what people find offensive. Not what I find offensive (I also call out occult stuff, and that doesn’t bother me).
Calling it out has the double benefit of warning those who might be offended.
And attracting those that might not.
June 29th, 2008 at 12:13 am
Homosexuality is an abomination to God. I may not think there’s anything wrong with it but that does not matter since I know what it is in God’s sight. So how many of you believe in Absolute Truth? What do you base morality on? Whatever you feel is right?
June 29th, 2008 at 6:49 am
Carlos, how do you know what god thinks about homosexuality? The bible may say it but the bible says all sorts of weird things. Exodus 21:7 states that it’s OK to sell your daughter into slavery.
You and Gamerdad are following the same religion and believe in the same god but have opposing views on homosexuality. What makes gamerdad’s interpretation of god’s message false and yours true?
June 29th, 2008 at 9:25 am
See, I would condemn a God who would condemn my brother for being himself. I would happily follow my brother into hell if that’s what my love and respect for him would reward me.
If Carlos is right, and our God is homophobic … then, I’m afarid, he is an abomination in the eyes of me.
Oh and Carlos, you do realize that miscenigenation (race-mixing – blacks and whites living together) was banned until the late 60’s in most states. You know why Carlos? Because religious leaders claimed for centuries that God hates race mixing. We no longer consider God a racist, I’m convinced someday we’ll stop thinking of him as a homophobe.
Meanwhile, lets all just do unto others and let God do the judging.
June 29th, 2008 at 10:54 am
@ Carlos: So how many of you believe in Absolute Truth? What do you base morality on? Whatever you feel is right?
Like NPR said (its in that fader thing on the front page) GamerDad does NOT moralize.
Personally I don’;t know what absolute truth is … but I base my morality on being a good and nice person as much as I can. I’m Agnostic, but feel like I’m easily just as moral or maybe moreso, than the Christians living next door. They love to quote the bible at me and stuff. It’s really fun.
Wait, no. He’s on his third wife … I’m on my first and only. And it’s not really fun at all.
June 29th, 2008 at 2:54 pm
I do not walk with any party (though the republican’s so seem to have a stronger perception of right and wrong than the democrats). I understand that having a homosexual brother would definitely influence your views on this particular sin. But according to the new covenant laid down in the New Testament Paul definitely states to the Corinthians that sexual relations between men are sinful and an affront to God’s design. Also this isn’t a war of persons; it is a war of actions and ideas; I’m sure both you and your brother are good people (for one you actually believe in actively parenting), but all good people are still sinners, homosexuality is just a type of sin in the vein of lying, incest, hatred, or any other you care to name.
Also God isn’t asking you to condemn your brother, he is asking you to condemn his sin as you would hopefully do your own an any other sin you come across. A common misinterpretation of Christianity is that it calls upon people to hate / condemn each other, but the real enemy is our fallen sin nature. Love is great enough to get around sin.
June 30th, 2008 at 7:05 am
ChiefMors – be careful when you take something written in Greek two millenia ago and translated and subsequently interpreted for special meaning out of context of the original intent. The image of man-man sex presented in that context in the Greek era meant two things – hedonistic orgies or forced rape of a weaker man by a more powerful one as an act of humiliation. That is very different than two men / women who have been living in a loving relationship for longer than 75% of marriages last!
I spent time at retreats and with a number of regional Catholic church leaders back in the late 70’s / early 80’s, and all of the discussions I had with them spoke of acceptance, tolerance, and of non-judgment. I have taken those teachings as a core of my morality – that which I have passed down to my own kids. The thoughts that we should meet everyone with an open heart, not a closed mind; that those who proclaim their righteousness most loudly are often those most in need of guidance; and that we are all flawed individuals who are tasked to do our best and live our best on this world.
July 11th, 2008 at 12:24 pm
Good post ChiefMors.
“Some Guy” – The reason that GamerDad and my beliefs are different is because I consider all the Bible as accurate and infallible. The Scriptures have been proven to be accurate. Do some research on the Dead Sea scrolls and you’ll find what I’m saying to be true. There were only a few errors found and the errors found did not invalidate from the whole of the message.
Gamer Dad – your judgment of God is really irrelevant since you will not have any say on Him in the End. It will be the other way around. What you are doing is no better than what Aaron did when Moses went to meet with God. Aaron made up his own god to appease the people and thats what you are doing by modifying what is clear in the Scriptures. As for what other Christians did in His Name, that’s irrelevant . The KKK also claims to be Christian. Why are you a Christian in the first place? IF that’s how you want to reason things? I’m a nobody and I’m not trying to look down on anyone here but you (gamerdad) should research more on this subject. What church denomination are you with? United Methodist? Whenever you try to treat the Scriptures like it’s a cafeteria and pick and choose what you like, you begin to put yourself on a dangerous foundation.
btw- can I post URLs here? I found some wonderful testimonies about homosexuals that were transformed by the Gospel. God can change anyone! He’s the same God from back in biblical times that gave sight to the blind and healed the demon possessed man.
July 11th, 2008 at 12:53 pm
Carlos … please reference how everything in the bible has been proven true beyond a reasonable doubt – as opposed to the things that say that the combination of the second law of thermodynamics and an interpretation of a Psalm are incontrovertible evidence that God created the Universe! But don’t send a bunch of links to ‘ChristianAnswers.com’, which is about as ‘fair and balanced’ a view as FOXNews …
Are you not picking and choosing by persecuting those of different sexual orientation, condemning them if not ‘fixed’ (i.e. ‘transformed’ by your phraseology? What about the bit that says ‘let he who is without sin cast the first stone’?)
July 12th, 2008 at 10:44 am
Carlos,
Is the reality that there are literally hundreds of Christian denominations, each of which has cherry picked what they want to use and disregarded what they haven’t? The tenants of your own Church was anti-“race mixing” for Biblical reasons as recently as 1967. And Leviticus, that section where Homos are condemned, also gives me license to sell my daughter into slavery.
Look man, even Churches evolve, which suggests that maybe mankind doesn’t have a grasp on the Divine. Maybe we’re just figuring it out and becoming better people.
I base my morality on being empathetic, sympathetic, kind, and loving. I BELIEVE that’s a stronger – and more Christ-like – basis for morality than citing texts and translations originating from mankind’s primitive infancy. Especially if those texts tell me that a just and loving God is going to condemn my brother for daring to fall in love.