Reply #49: Empathic or not, Bieber and Socarides weren't bigots [View All]

Yet, Bieber and Socarides were not what I think of today as bigots, in that it appears that their work was motivated by real empathy towards the homosexuals whom they treated and conducted their research upon. In fact Bieber, as a military psychiatrist, spent much of his time defending homosexuals against punishments (for their homosexuality) meted out by the military, arguing that homosexuality was an illness rather than a crime, so homosexuals should receive treatment rather than punishment and dishonor for their homosexuality. That was actually a progressive view at the time – at least within the U.S. military. After all, classification as a mental illness is a step up from classification as immorality or a crime. Therefore, I feel that it is unfortunate that Dr. Bieber later became the target of such hatred for his views.

They weren't bigots. It was 1952, and they didn't know any better, nor had the zeitgeist come around yet that they COULD have known better.

My argument's not about bigory towards homosexuals, btw, but defining previous eras in modern terms. It's a form of ethnocentricity. If it's generally wrong to apply our values to people of other cultures, it's equally wrong to apply our values to people of other times (highlighted in the quote above).

The word "bigotry" implies that a person should know better. Would it be fair to accuse someone of bigotry against gays in 1952, when sexuality of any sort was just barely coming out into the open (out of the closet?), of bigotry? Ignorance, maybe, but still the ignorance of a child.

Maybe this is why the right wing always gets so pissed about "moral relativism?"