The Wrong Sort of Stories

Explanations

I use a lot of symbolism in my writing, but sometimes I think I have been too cryptic. Here are some hints:

The Mascot: The donkey with a cardboard tube duct-taped to its head represents same-sex marriage, which we are expected to pretend is a real unicorn, male-female marriage.

The Honor Code on Trial: With the current direction of our society, BYU and other religious universities that expect their students to reject same-sex sexuality are under looming threat. If you understand my essay Identity Shells and How They Are Used Against You, then you should understand this story.

Invest in Oxygen Masks: One of the ways in which state marriage laws that limited marriage to male-female couples were attacked is by claiming there was no rational basis for states to have those laws and that they were therefore invalid. But the inability of a judge to identify a rational basis for a law favoring male-female couples (the only pairing of humans actually needed for the human race to survive) reflects a deficiency in the rationality of the judge, not the law.

Dandelion Seeds: The dandelion patch are those who claim to have been born gay. The grass is everyone else. The dandelions are same-sex attraction. And the dandelion seeds that have been spread all over the yard? You decide.

Excerpt from "The Mascot"

"Are you the right sort of student, Winston?" she asked. "Do you think the right sort of things?"

Excerpt from "The Honor Code on Trial"

Professor Carroll patted his arm. "Of course, Professor Walsh. You try so hard. You really do." She opened her leather book again, flipping through pages until she came to the one she was looking for. "Now, let’s see," she said. "What rating on the sexism scale would you say that was?"

Professor Walsh turned a fearful glance to Ms. Hursh, apparently too scared to even open his mouth.

"Alpha Five at a minimum," Ms. Hursh said. "And you have to intersect his white-male-truth-capable privilege as well."

"Yes, yes, Ms. Hursh. It’s not my first time at the scales." Professor Carroll fiddled with her scale for a moment, loading various weights on both sides.

Excerpt from "Invest in Oxygen Masks"

"Well, what if it’s the judges that are being irrational? What if irrational judges are declaring that rational laws are irrational? What do we do then?"

Excerpt from "Melvin the Protester"

They were marching for justice, adjective justice. Melvin didn't know what the adjective was, but he was sure it was something impressive!

Excerpt from "The Planner's Utopia"

"Freedom is greater than equality. If you have freedom without equality, you can use that freedom to achieve the goal of equality. But if you have equality without freedom, you have nothing and you can do nothing. All you have is a sterile hell. Equal? Sure. Equal in nothingness."

Excerpt from "Fitting In"

You try to follow the conversation at your table, but it’s difficult given the mixed-up speech of the braindrippers; yet you laugh when everyone laughs, and you scowl when everyone scowls, and you’re doing a wonderful job of fitting in until the sparkling water arrives.

topics: sexual identity | gender identity | dehumanization