ALEXANDRIA, La. (BP)–“It is the emergence of mass media which makes possible the use of propaganda techniques on a societal scale,” French philosopher Jacques Ellul observed. “The orchestration of press, radio and television to create a continuous, lasting and total environment renders the influence of propaganda virtually unnoticed precisely because it creates a constant environment.”
Homosexual activists and their apologists in the mass media have presented a continual and consistent message that homosexual behavior is anything but aberrant. In fact, the propaganda they have put forth is that homosexuality is natural, normal and healthy.
The message constantly parroted in print and electronic media is that homosexuality is biologically determined. As a result, a person does not choose to be homosexual and therefore cannot change.
The barrage of pro-homosexual messages has been successful. So successful that for the first time a CNN poll reports that a majority of Americans believe that homosexuals are powerless to change their sexual orientation.
Similar polls taken in the ’70s and ’80s routinely found 20 percent, or fewer, Americans that believed homosexuality was innate. The CNN survey, conducted in early May, found that 56 percent now believe homosexuals are unable to change their orientation.
What has caused this dramatic shift in Americans perception of homosexual behavior? It is not due to any groundbreaking scientific discovery. To date, no gay gene has been discovered. And there is no definitive study that has ever established a biological basis for homosexuality.
The change in Americans beliefs about homosexuality can be directly linked to the homosexual rights movement. Organized in the aftermath of New York City’s Stonewall riots in June 1969, homosexual activists have for three decades utilized classic propaganda techniques to hoodwink society into accepting their aberrant lifestyle as normal.
The now-defunct Institute for Propaganda Analysis developed several rhetorical techniques utilized by propagandists seeking to sway a society to accept to their way of thinking. The motive for employing the techniques is that the end justifies the means.
Among propaganda tools employed by propagandists are the demonizing of critics, including calling them names. Homosexual activists have used this technique early and often. Those who believe homosexual behavior is immoral are labeled homophobic and bigoted. Further, activists will accuse opponents of being latent homosexuals.
Many of those who publicly oppose the acceptance of homosexuality are articulate and fair-minded. Most are dedicated to their families and their communities. Regardless, homosexual activists will relentlessly sling salacious slurs. The goal of having homosexuality accepted justifies the means of destroying the opponent.
Another propagandist technique utilized by homosexual activists is junk science and disinformation. For years activists have stated that 10 percent of the American population is homosexual. These numbers are gleaned from research done in the 1940s and 1950s by much-maligned sex researcher Alfred Kinsey.
A study conducted in the 1990s refutes Kinsey’s findings. “The Social Organization of Sexuality: Sexual Practices in the United States” is regarded by many as the most thorough study of its kind ever conducted. According to Jeffrey Satinover, M.D., in his book “Homosexuality and the Politics of Truth,” “the authors found a nationwide incidence of male homosexuality of only 2.8 percent and of female homosexuality of only 1.4 percent.”
Distorted figures and discredited research nevertheless have provided homosexual activists a key means to the end of societal acceptance of their lifestyle.
Homosexual activists continue to repeat the myth that a biological basis for homosexuality has been discovered. As stated earlier, no study has ever definitively established a genetic link to homosexuality. All any study has been able to do is “suggest” a “possible” biological basis.
Never mind facts, homosexual activists continue to repeat their “homosexuality is genetic mantra.” The end of having society embrace homosexuality justifies the means of using bogus stats and questionable studies.
Another tool of propaganda is the use of celebrities. Perhaps the most gay-friendly spot in America, outside of San Francisco, is Hollywood. Celebrities constantly stump for their homosexual friends and their related causes.
Homosexual characters have become a staple on television. They are always attractive, glib and funny. One thing a good propagandist knows, if you can get someone laughing with you, you are likely to gain his or her acceptance. Homosexual activists know this all to well. Hence, they are even willing to tolerate campy and stereotypical characters if it will win societal acceptance of their lifestyle.
“The goal of modern propaganda is no longer to transform opinion but to arouse an active and mythical belief” was another observation by Jacques Ellul. Homosexual activists have made the French philosophers words reality. So much so that a majority of Americans now believe the myth that homosexuality is innate and unchangeable.
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Kelly Boggs, whose column appears each week in Baptist Press, is editor of the Baptist Message, newsjournal of the Louisiana Baptist Convention.
