Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Smokescreen

A smokescreen is a kind of distraction to keep people from seeing clearly.  It bothers me when I see people purposefully confusing or distracting from the truth in order to argue a point.  That's one of the reasons that I post about logical fallacies so much.



One thing that I dislike is when I hear members say things that imply that gay marriage is the primary front in the attack on the family.  I consider them to be victims of a smokescreen.  Long before any of the gay marriage arguments, attitudes were changing about marriage that make it convenient to divorce, that make children a liability, and that primarily focus on personal gratification, attitudes that erode family values.  Yes, many of the arguments in favor of gay marriage depend upon such attitudes, but these attitudes did not originate with gay marriage.  The fact that some members focus so much on gay marriage may be a sign that the smokescreen is working.  It may be better to focus on some of the foundational assumptions and try to remind everyone that the institution of marriage can (and perhaps should) be a covenant relationship between two people and the Lord, with a focus on serving the next generation, not a convenient relationship with a focus on personal gratification.  If marriage is something considered to be primarily for the convenience and sexual fulfillment of the participants, then it's hard to argue for the importance of traditional marriage.

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