[BRIEF NOTE] Those Gay Penguins
Sep. 18th, 2005 12:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rfmcdonaldOver at Positive Liberty, Ed Brayton observes that there seems to be a rather large number of gay penguins out there, establishing enduring partnerships and raising adopted chicks. since, as noted in The New York Times, prominent conservatives have seized upon penguins--as shown in the documentary March of the Penguins as paragons of proper morality.
As Jason Kuznicki points out in a follow-up post, this is all spectacularly ridiculous. Put simply, few if any species on Earth are conscious; humans may well be the only species composed of individuals capable of acting as independent moral agents. Penguins behave the way they do because that's how they evolved. We've got free will, it seems. Looking to penguins as a model, whether because theirs is a monogamous pair-bonding species or because they've no issue with same-sex bonds, is just silly.
"March of the Penguins," the conservative film critic and radio host Michael Medved said in an interview, is "the motion picture this summer that most passionately affirms traditional norms like monogamy, sacrifice and child rearing."
Speaking of audiences who feel that movies ignore or belittle such themes, he added: "This is the first movie they've enjoyed since 'The Passion of the Christ.' This is 'The 'Passion of the Penguins.' "
As Jason Kuznicki points out in a follow-up post, this is all spectacularly ridiculous. Put simply, few if any species on Earth are conscious; humans may well be the only species composed of individuals capable of acting as independent moral agents. Penguins behave the way they do because that's how they evolved. We've got free will, it seems. Looking to penguins as a model, whether because theirs is a monogamous pair-bonding species or because they've no issue with same-sex bonds, is just silly.
