A quick update to yesterday’s posting about Rachel Maddow and Bob Hunter of The Family: but before I get to it, I want to say that I hope readers don’t think I’m beating a dead horse with this Ugandan coverage. As Rachel Maddow said in the clip from last night to which I will link in a moment, the situation in Uganda is unfolding day by day, and deserves constant monitoring (she calls it a “fight” that she remains in the midst of).And valuable coverage is now, for the first time, spotlighting the Ugandan situation in the American mainstream media. I’ve noted the recent articles by Jeffrey Gettleman in the New York Times, and the powerful editorial with which the Times followed them.
Yesterday, the Washington Post went on record with an equally powerful editorial statement calling the Ugandan kill-the-gays bill “an ugly and ignorant piece of legislation.” Like the Times, WaPo characterizes the Ugandan proposal as “barbaric” and says that Uganda will be a “pariah among nations” if it proceeds down this path.
And Rachel Maddow remains fearless in her pursuit of the truth about the involvement of the American religious right in Uganda. Last night (click down to the “Uganda Be Kidding Me” section of the article), Rachel interviewed Jeff Sharlet, author of The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power.
It was Jeff Sharlet’s extensive research that broke the story of the thick ties of the American religious right to anti-gay movements in Africa. Rachel’s interview with him is a must-listen item. It sets the record straight regarding several claims made in the Bob Hunter interview to which I linked yesterday.
Note, in particular, how organized (and well-funded) the right-wing American neocolonialist attempt to use Africans in Western culture wars is. Sharlet reports that Hunter has told him that The Family has deliberately wooed African political leaders in a well-planned attempt to draw their countries into the web of right-wing American political interests. As Jim Burroway reports at Box Turtle Bulletin, Hunter brazenly admits that the U.S. government is at the beck and call of The Family (and see here).
As I listen to Rachel Maddow relentlessly pursue the truth about the involvement of the American religious right in Uganda, I have to agree with Liz Newcomb’s recent recommendation at Americablog Gay: Rachel Maddow should be made our hero of the month.
Meanwhile, for any readers who may be interested, my dialogue with Maazi at the National Catholic Reporter site continues. Note my posting yesterday and his responding to me today. I’ve just posted a response to Maazi’s statements to me today. Whether NCR will grow tired of the back-and-forth here (and I wouldn’t blame them, if they did) or will post my response remains to be seen.
What I really want to say to Maazi, in conclusion: hate is hate is hate. Anywhere it occurs in the world.
