Of the YPAP Blog

Ned was hoping to be able to take a hiatus to relax; however what he saw in Aaron’s and The Legal Janitor’s recent posts made him come out of his hiatus. It appears that the some YPAP bloggers have done it again.

The YPAP blog has been the site of many furious comments precisely because some of their posts defy logic or common sense. The latest by Nicholas Lazarus is particularly shocking, notwithstanding his profession his argument seems to be no different than that often employed by those homophobes who have been rearing their heads in the public sphere. And this is the same Nicholas Lazarus who employed one of the worst arguments for the ministerial salary hikes.

Now he believes that 377A must stay because:

1) Men will be walking down orchard road fondling and kissing.

But aren’t men and women also doing that?

2) Teacher’s have to deal with boy boy relationships.

Well while I may not be a homosexual I see no difference between BBR and BGR. And a commentor did mention that there are in fact GGRs. So why GGR can and BBR cannot? Sexist isit 😛

3) Homosexuals will descend upon Singapore.

This is similar to the argument that removal of 377A will result in the end of marriage, the end of society, the next apocalypse; thus flying in the face of the historical precedent of Ancient Greece and other civilizations. Furthermore, this argument suffers from the flaw known as the Slippery Slope. Anyway, what is wrong with them coming to Singapore? As long as they follow the law, things should be fine. In fact they can also help the economy!

Ah, but ridiculous reasoning notwithstanding, one must applaud him for trying to defend his views. Unfortunately it appears that he is digging a deeper hole:

1. They threaten the social fabric of the nation. Their ways represent an alternative for which we should not accept as being mainstream.

Oh dear, another vision of the apocalypse. Notwithstanding that concepts like democracy, and the various schools of philosophy were all products of societies which did not frown on homosexuality. And do not get me started on the slippery slope.
2. They cannot procreate and thus cannot produce offspring for our nation.

This reminds me of the JC student who said that he has to study hard so as to contribute to the economy. It appears that Nicholas believes that Singaporeans exist to reproduce for the nation. To extrapolate things further it appears that we must do everything for King and Country. Our lives are suborned to the state. Then bachelors, spinsters, people who take a vow of celibacy for religious reasons are by default traitors because they do not reproduce. So since Ned does not mind being a bachelor Ned is a traitor and must hang. Bollocks

3. They cannot serve as soldiers because instead of serving alongside our men in green, they are more keen to sodomise them.

Well there are homosexuals in the army but I daresay I have heard little of homosexuals sodomising other men. And given the way stories are passed in the army any case of sodomy would probably be known. Furthermore as Aaron pointed out by his logic women should not be in the army because heteros like Ned will want to rape them.

Ned must say he has seen the darndest things in the blogosphere and some of the posts on the YPAP do come under that category. In fact as per what Dan E, Han and Ben have said in the Legal Janitor’s comments, Ned is concerned of the ramificaions to society if such bigotry does make its way to the top echelons. As said elsewhere, such a situation would merely encourage the bigots and increase the level of prejudice in society; it does not bode well for Singapore’s aspirations of being a gracious society (however this aspiration may not exist, Singapore seems to be more concerned about being a hub of…everything).

That said, if such homophobia was checked, then Ned would have found the post humorous. Unfortunately this is not the case and thus there is cause for concern.

* Ned just had a talk with some friends. While they personally did not approve of homosexuality, they however believed that Section 377A was wrong.

** Ned just remembered abit of history. This in addendum to the point that homosexuals should not be in the military. Well now I shall present to you the Sacred Band of Thebes, the elite fighting force of the Greek City State of Thebes, which consisted of 150 Homosexual couples. Now who says homosexuals cannot make good soldiers? In fact Alexander the Great and Richard I the Lionhearted were both said to be homosexual.