The hard question: the homophobia social experiment

I don’t know if it’s appropriate for me to post a link, but … ah, let me just get on with it.

There is a certain challenge that comes with accepting the seven laws of Noah or taking a moral stance against things which so many in society have accepted as being good, fine or to be protected. Can the Torah obeying individual truly stand up for God’s law and to make judgments that oppose the seeming majority of the people around them?

An old friend of mine shared a video of a social experiment where two young men in England are kissing each other intimately and petting in public places like on the underground (a subway train) or in a park and another one insults them and berates them for doing that sort of thing in public; he calls them words offensive to homosexuals, states that his religion sees homosexuals as pedophiles, and calls them disgusting. Both the gay men and the one insulting them are actors seeking to get a response from the public.

In the video shared, a lot of people express total abhorrence at the one offending the gay men. Some of them became verbally or physically confrontational with no offers of defence to the guy doing the insulting.

The person sharing the video expressed elation, saying that the reactions of the many who confronted or showed disgust to the insulting actor restored that person’s faith in humanity. The video has received millions of “likes” and a person I know has expressed not just acceptance but positive feelings towards the way do many stood up for the gay couple.

I looked at another side of things. I don’t subscribe to the “tolerant until intolerant” club, that part of society that commands all to be indifferent or even accepting to all forms of behaviour they deem acceptable yet won’t tolerate the views and behaviours that don’t fit into oddly limited bubble of accepted behaviours or views. Yes, I know they contradict themselves but that’s not the point right now. My worldview is supposed to be based on those core seven commandments we’ve been obligated to keep as a basic standard.

The seven commandments prohibit certain acts and those acts I cannot be ok with. And for me personally, and I’m not demanding you feel the same way, I can’t be ok with the support and protection of those immoral acts. That means that not only am I against the breaking of those basic moral precepts, I’m also against those acts that lead to the forbidden, that adorn and decorate those forbidden acts. I’m not just against murder, but I’m also against physical abuse and intentional damage to a person. I’m not just against the theft but against the covetous desire of some to take from those who have justly earned their wealth either for themselves or for others.

So with that in mind, let me consider the experiment.

The aim of the experiment was to measure the societal reaction. Some of the reactions included a woman saying that the two gay people could be having sex on the train and it would still be none of her business. One guy said that love is love, to say that any love is acceptable. Arguments like “it’s their life; it’s their business” came up. Some threatened to do the insulting actor harm and even made physical movements to do so. There was only one guy recorded as showing the same disgust.

Was the societal reaction a good one?

Let me get the obvious bit out of the way. It would appear that a huge number of people would defend actions that the Torah forbids. I’m not just talking about the public petting but also the full sexual act for homosexuals. This is not just the case for this but other acts forbidden. Many say that, even if they disagree with idolatry, everyone has a right to worship whatever they like. Whatever floats your boat, right? Abortion during any time of pregnancy is seen as the right of the woman, irrespective of the age of the unborn. Who would want to stand as a minority against such popular views?

The fact is that, in light of the seven laws, the popular consensus is the wrong one. Even if the world classes me as a homophobe, I choose, in this format, to say it. Society’s defence of gay sexual relationships is a symptom of the acidic quality of the absence of objective morality, where we do what is right in our own eyes.

But it’s one thing to observe the world go in such twisted way. But what does it mean for me personally? Is it just for me to observe, watch in dismay as such things are embraced? Those events are far from me, out of my reach. I don’t change a thing outside of me by watching such things.

Right now, one thing I can do is to use these observations to strengthen my resolve to stay faithful to truth. I don’t have to despair the inevitable downward spiral of world affairs. It’s gonna do what it’s gonna do. What I must do is remain focused on what I can change: myself. I must continue to prepare for the time, should it come, when I may be faced with such active truth-rejection and God-rejection, so that I not only know right from wrong, but that I also apply wisdom and integrity to that situation.

In the end, I must use what I see and learn to become a better person myself.