Listening to Pat Robertson talk about the role of gays in America sounds like Mahmoud Ahmadinejad speaking about, well, gays in America: They’re the reason we’re in such despair!
Robertson says that “any country that openly embraces homosexuality through the history of mankind has gone down into ruin. That’s the historical record.”
Surely he must mean ancient Egypt, and the Romans and the Greeks, which all “embraced” same-sex relationships to some degree? And by that logic, any country that embraced, say, agriculture, technology, and art all went down in ruin, so PLEASE KNOCK THAT OFF, America.
Terry
I just want to bitch slap that dumb ass
andy
Onward christian soldier! God, I hate religion. It really is the opiate of the masses.
Sceth
@andy: “It really is the opiate of the masses.”
Time to pay off clergy members. If it’s the opiate of the masses, we have to drug the masses to our will.
jamesn
Maybe a few thousand of our transgendered bothers and sisters ought to send Pat a note telling him how proud they are.
Use postal mail; post cards and letters. Not email.
Yet another John
As a student of history I can tell you that this line of reason is firmly established but definitely wrong! The Greeks embraced institutionalized same-sex relationships early and flowered under them. The Greeks rose to greatness and were at the top for centuries. Homosexuality had nothing to do with their demise. The same is true of Rome. To be totally honest, it was Christianity that destroyed the western Roman Empire when the early Christian destryed all of the ancient instituions and knowledge. The eastern Roman Empire was destroyed when it was overrun by Islam. Pat probably honestly believes what he is saying and probably teaches this in his university, but anyone who objectively reviews history will notice this is entirely propaganda developed by the Christians during the Renaissance and afterward due to their shock at discovering the role of homosexuality in the Ancient World. The other argument I would make would be to question him about the inverse of his theory–societies that abhor homosexuality should flourish. They don’t. The Nazi denounced homosexuality, and sent gay men to death camps. Did’t turn out so well for the Nazi, did it?
RichardR
@Yet another John: Good rebuttal, YA John, and communism, too, hasn’t exactly flourished while repressing homosexuality. All countries eventually fail.
But these are facts, and Pats doesn’t deal in those. He’s increasingly irrelevant but still infuriates me.
Marius
“any country that openly embraces homosexuality through the history of mankind has gone down into ruin. That’s the historical record.”
Pat, Pat, Pat. Same ruined countries have produced quite a few of the world’s treasures and basically, kind of gave birth to our civilization.
Idiot.
Sarah
Correction: The Roman Empire didn’t fall until 100 years after it outlawed homosexuality.
Oops.
Jerry Priori
Jesus fucking Christ! The fucker is older than Moses; he can’t live much longer. True, there will be another loud KKKristian asshole to take his place when he’s gone (AmeriKKKa has no shortage of them), but I can’t wait until he goes the way of Jerry Falwell.
curt wilde
@Yet another John: completely agree with that analysis & don’t no y more ppl can’t see it that way. Acceptance is what allows a nation to grow not fall apart!
Jerry Priori
Rome fell after it adopted Christianity. Pat needs to re-think what makes a country fall. In America, jackasses using democratic principles to undermine democracy in the name of an imaginary sky-daddy who has to sacrifice himself to himself in order to appease himself, while lowering education standards with pre-scientific drivel will likely contribute to its fall faster than anything else. Equal rights for gays doesn’t even hit the radar. Besides, we don’t have equal rights for gays in America (we’re openly embraced, but we aren’t equal, so Pat must be doing some of that Christian math, Trinity-style: 1+1+1=1)–but we musn’t confuse Pat with the facts. Facts just make him nervous.
Jake the libertarian
What a fucking twerp.
Andrew
Holding on to that counter-top, he looks like he just took a dump in his pants.
dgz
there are days i wish the gay mafia a) existed and b) took hits out on people.
Jayson
Die already! I’m sorry, but I’m so sick of this old fool.
galefan2004
Damn, I think that Canada and most of Europe should come kick Mr. Robertson’s ass. Its funny that most countries that currently embrace homosexuality are the ones that are giving this country money while their economies excel.
galefan2004
@Jerry Priori: I think you just put religion in the best terms I have ever read. Thank you!
Dick Mills
Any country that ever conquered the known world, and then attempted to rule it, did in fact lose (eventually) the ability to keep the conquered under their control. That has absolutely nothing to do how much they did (or did not) “embrace” homosexuality. It had everything to do with the fact that it is impossible to own, and control everyone all of the time. The human spirit simply is too indomitable to be controlled for long.
Just look at Iran, today. Or the USSR of 20 years ago. Or the UK of 200 hundred years ago. And none of them (at least at the peak of their influence) “embraced” same-sex relationships.
The only government that can stand is one which embraces self-determination, not only of individual societies, but of individuals. Global domination has never been possible, and never will be. Global unions of associated, likeminded, peaceable, and inter-cooperating societies have, and will, stand the test of time. Ruthless, domineering totalitarian regimes will only stand to the extent that the governed put up with it.
Jim White
Yeah, just 1-2% of the nation is gay. Just 1-2%….rightttttttttttt
Whup-ass Master
Um…Pat?
We’re not asking for you to embrace us. Ew.
xox
AndTom
Why hasn’t god called him home yet, hmmm maybe he might not do the calling.
schlukitz
And the black chick is standing beside him, listening to him rant on about gay pride, with her arms up in the air and a speechless look that decries her ever possibly comprehending what gay pride and equality for all is about.
Wonder if she would have done the same thing, if Pat was expounding about why do the blacks feel that they should have civil-rights and full equality?
Ok. Bring it on, all you “But it’s not the same thing” crowd.
smudge
Maybe he should move to a differant country….
Dick Mills
@schlukitz: One thing that is very correlary to this, is that all of the same factions who most adamantly oppose us, also vehemently and viciously opposed desegregation and the entire civil rights movement. Jerry Falwell finally, just a couple of years before his lard choked the life out of the rest of his sorry ass, apologized to the African Americans for his many years of aggressive activism against civil rights. He was a vicious racist, and so were most of them.
schlukitz
@Dick Mills:
Thanks for your comments, Dick.
You’re right. There is not much difference between racism and blatant homophobia. They both reek of the same, foul odor.
And what is even sadder, is the realization that those who knew the sting of racism can now be so heartless in their condemnation of LGBT folks.
It seems that far too many people just never get the lessons that life hands us to learn from. đ
Prof. O. G. Whataschnozell
Back in the 1980’s in Lynchburg, Va. the history textbooks of children that were being homed schooled stated blacks were brought to america as settlers.
Lynchburg, Va. was the town where Jerry Falwell and his Moral Majority called home and this occured on his watch. You go figure.
Michael vdB
This is the same guy that blamed Katrina on the gays. Gays are in the news because they are fighting for their rights. It is funny how stuff like that makes news.
Jeremy
As you can see, he is about to croak anyways.
DeAnimator
He should be focusing less on homosexuality and more on the obvious black magic at work keeping his ass alive. Or the voodoo that allows him to continue to spitting out this crap as a walking corpse.
Dick Mills
@DeAnimator: The estimates of Pat Robertson’s personal wealth come in at between a hundred million and $1.2 billion. No one really knows due to the fact that religious organizations aren’t required to disclose much of their financial records or arrangements – which I (personally) consider to be outrageous. But, when you are that wealthy, and have access to the kind of medical treatment and pampering (hopefully literally) that he does, living to truly become decrepit is quite possible.
Falwell only had about $10 million at the peak of his reign of religious piracy. Of course, just prior to his demise, a contractor that he was working with to build a religious enclave of some sort in some mountainous region, managed to squander (swindle him out of) almost all of it. The loss of his horded stockpile of loot may have also contributed to his none-too-timely eventuality.