By William J. Bennett
Published: May 21, 1996; Date accessed: October 17, 2011
Summery: In this article, Bennett agrees with the marriage choices however, gay marriage can bring long-term social damage. Even allowing a same-sex marriage would cause a change in the definition of ‘marriage’. According to Bennett, marriage is a “complementary nature of men and women. How they support, encourage, and complete one another.” Gay marriage would also ruin the social family structure, which then will become very complex and confusing for the rest of straight people. In addition, making laws about relationships would become very difficult to be passed due to different conditions depending on what kind of marriage exists. Gay marriage would also impact the teenagers for how they act/ pretend to be homosexuals even they are not. Lastly, Bennett believes that “some things are right and others are wrong.”
Response: I personally think that being different or wanting different things from what society thinks as ‘normal’ is a perfectly ok thing. However, society would not agree with this statement. Like in Cuckoo’s Nest, the combine (society) sends people to an asylum to get ‘fixed’ before they can again rejoin the combine. This article deals with the same issues. Gays are considered ‘broken’ and society need them to be ‘fixed’. So for the society not wanting to illegalize gay marriage is a way the society hopes to ‘fix’ the ‘others’. By suggesting many negative reasons that argue against the society is the key for the society to persuade other people in the society not to change their way of thinking from the original thoughts that the society wants them too. To conclude my opinion, being different is not wrong but can also be dangerous and complicated.
Vocabulary
1. Monogamy (n.): practice of marrying only once during a lifetime (www.merriam-webster.com)
“Advocates of homosexual marriages even make what appears to be a sound conservative argument: Allow marriage in order to promote faithfulness and monogamy.”
From Greek: monogamous, gamein- to marry
I am sure that the students at Woodstock
2. Poignancy (n.): Noun for poignant; painfully affecting the feelings (www.merriam-webster.com)
“Now, anyone who has known someone who has struggled with his homosexuality can appreciate the poignancy, human pain and sense of exclusion that are often involved.”
From Latin: pungere. First known to be used in 14th century
When Mr. Plonka handed back our test, poignancy increases within each students.
3. Oxymoron (n.): A combination of two contradictory words (e.g. cruel kindness) (www.merriam-webster.com)
“We are engaged in a debate which, in a less confused time, would be considered pointless and even oxymoronic: the question of same-sex marriage.”
From Greek: oxymoros; oxys (sharp) + moron (foolish). First used in 1657.
In English class today, we learn how to use a oxymoron into our sentences.
