Same-sex marriage vote
Australia’s recent vote on same-sex marriage proves the point that one cannot rely on the masses to bring sanity to this world. It also proves the point that politicians will do anything to buy votes and politicians cannot be relied upon to lead us towards improving the mental health of society. Yes, whoever said “The voice of the people is the voice of God” must have been a politician in my mind.
You see I have nothing against same-sex marriage. Yes, as far as I’m concerned, same-sex couples should have the same privileges as heterosexuals. But they must use a different label for their union. Why? Because the way we use words in our minds has a direct effect on our mental health and the way we feel.
The word “marriage” means the union of a man and a woman. If we include same-sex couples in this definition, we redefine marriage and create a contradiction. Now, conflict is always bad for our mental health. It distorts our perceptions. It’s like a bug in a computer program that causes the program to crash.
Please allow me to explain how words affect our perceptions.
Now everyone knows what the word “accident” means. It is an unfortunate event that can happen to anyone, at any time and in any place, no matter how much care and precautions a person may take. In fact, it is never a preventable event when it happens. Therefore, all accidents are unavoidable. But in hindsight, all accidents are preventable.
So when we use the term “preventable accident,” the words immediately distort our perceptions. And we might respond with “You shouldn’t have done that.” However, the person involved in the accident knows that he shouldn’t have done it and leaves the consequences to himself. It was really an accident.
Please let us give you one more example in today’s society of how the word “self-regulation” has been corrupted and twisted in the perceptions of medical and other professionals to include self-regulation on behalf of the government or other higher authority. Self-regulation, in my opinion, means regulating yourself from within without outside help or coercion. How can anyone protect their own professional interest if they are going to work for an outside body that does the dirty work for them? There is clearly a conflict of interest. This is a mentally ill role of Porky Pig, who sells pork chops and pork sausages on behalf of the government. Do you consider it an acceptable position?
So may I appeal to all my academic friends and politicians that if you care about improving the mental health of society, please stop creating more controversy? Why don’t we use a different label for same-sex marriage, and I’m sure the majority won’t object to what’s being proposed?
#Samesex #marriage #vote