Re: CHAT: closet conlanging >> definitions?

On Wed, 13 Jan 1999 10:25:30 +0200 vardi <vardi@...> writes:
>Perhaps that's why we (I'm also gay) get into conlanging?  As a kind
>of
>lightening conductor to convert homophobic flak into conlangophobia!
>As for sodomy, I agree with Christophe that sodomy (in English, as in
>French) refers to anal sex, regardless of whether it's male-male or
>male-female.
>Steg was right to give the origins, in the Biblical story of Sodom.
>But
>it should be noted that homosexuality / homosexual abuse was not, I
>believe, originally seen as the main or only sin of the Sodomites.  As
>I
>recall, their main fault was total regard for others, so that someone
>could die on the street without being helped (Steg can maybe help in
>terms of whether this is Biblical or Talmudic in origin - I don't have
>time to check). In that sense, how ironic that many of those loudest
>to
>condemn sodomy (especially among the American Right) are the same who
>promote just such a society, on the pretext of encouraging enterprise
>or
>protecting the basic human right to own a gun and kill people with it.
I don't think that homosexuality was considered the Sodomites' sin at
all.  As Shaul said, it was a complete reversal of normal human empathy
behavior.  It says in Genesis 18:20 that God heard "the scream of Sdom
and `Amorah" - if they were homosexual and did that for pleasure, there
wouldn't be any screaming.

There are a few Midrashic legends describing the Sodomites' evil
behavior.  They would not help the poor, eachother, or passing travelers.
 If a traveler wanted to sleep somewhere in the town, they would bring
out a standard bed, and measure the traveler against it.  If it was too
big, they would strech him/her (like the medieval "rack" torture) until
it fit.  If it was too small, they would chop off his/her feet.
I don't remember exactly what she did, but there's another story about a
girl who was uncharacteristically righteous for a Sodomite, and she
either gave charity or let someone stay at her home.  The "court"
convicted her and sentenced her to death - she was covered in honey and
left out in the sun for the insects to eat her.
The people of Sdom also were wanton muggers.

One view in the Pirqey Avot, the Mishnaic ethical text, says that "one
who says 'what is mine is mine, and what is yours is yours' is
characteristic of Sdom", meaning that the Sodomites were the epitome of
selfishness, and had an attitude of "everyone for themself".


-Stephen (Steg)

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