NO ONE IN MAINSTREAM MEDIA IS CONNECTING the dots, except for Cal Thomas (see WORLD, Dec. 6): "If a male child was fondled by Michael Jackson, as it is alleged, why shouldn't he and the boy be allowed the orientation of their choice? If you disagree, who are you to impose your morality on them?" Gay rights and pedophile rights and all sex rights kiss in the Jackson saga.
It's not the aging-rock-superstar story as such that's interesting here. Charges have been filed, bond posted, and arraignment set for Jan. 9-and for all I know till it's proved otherwise, all that is served up at Neverland Ranch kiddie parties is cake and ice cream.
It's this other phenomenon that's intriguing, and it's broader than the pedophile issue. Journalists seem unable to cross-pollinate insight between the occasional obligatory feature story on "the miracle of childbirth" (with glossy intra-utero photography of the journey from conception to birth) and their coverage of abortion rights. Does not compute.
This learning disassociation was famously noted by the late childhood expert Jean Piaget, who found that for infants, when an object passes out of their field of vision, it is to them as if the object no longer exists. Babies, however, outgrow this precognitive developmental stage, mastering something called "object permanence" by about 18 months. They begin to connect the dots.
Peruse the nonmainstream press and you will see that they connect the dots. They have the ability to put together in a coherent mental system (and political package) the morally amenable pursuits of a rainbow of sexual agendas. Representative Barney Franks of Boston is learning this the hard way. What thanks does that gay champion get for all his exertion on behalf of gay rights? OUTgroups.com website has posted a poll on the question, "Is Barney Franks Uncle-Toming the Trans Community?"
This arises because of the rep's balking at seeing "civil rights" through to its philosophical conclusion by including specific protections for Transgender types under the ENDA (Employment Non-Discrimination Act). The revolution devours its own, I guess. It's hard to argue with the pressure groups, though. After all, the "T" in LGBT does stand for "Transgendered."
As to pedophilia, NAMBLA, the man-boy love advocacy group, has sometimes had to connect the dots for its gay brothers in need of consciousness-raising. At the Semana Cultural Lesbica-Gay in Mexico City in 1998, David Thorstad traced the common history between soldiers-in-arms, saying:
"The issue of love between men and boys has intersected the gay movement since the late 19th century, with the rise of the first gay-rights movement in Germany. In the United States, as the gay movement has retreated from its vision of sexual liberation, in favor of the integration and assimilation into existing social and political structures, it has increasingly sought to marginalize, even demonize cross-generational love. Pederasty-that is, love between a man and a youth of 12-18 years of age-say middle-class homosexuals, lesbians, and feminists, has nothing to do with gay liberation. Some go so far as to claim, absurdly, that it is a heterosexual phenomenon, or even 'sexual abuse.' What a travesty! Pederasty is the main form that male homosexuality has acquired throughout Western civilization."
(NAMBLA may take consolation from such indicators as the tireless work of the Dutch magazine Paidika in "normalizing" pedophilia, and in the fact that many countries, connecting the dots between homosexual rights and children's sexual rights, have lowered the age of consent for sex: Britain: age 16; Germany and Italy: age 15; Canada: age 14; Spain, Holland, and Portugal: age 12.)
Why is mainstream journalism not connecting any of this into the seamless robe it is? It's because mainstream journalism is not about connecting dots, but keeping them apart when that movable target of political correctness is at stake.
Most folks are still thumbs-down about pedophilia, but give it a few years and Joel Belz's informal Wal-Mart survey participants will be as wishy-washy on rock stars sleeping with boys as they are today about gay unions. It's just a matter of connecting the dots.