[HOME ] [ABOUT] [PHOTOS] [VIDEO] [BLOG] [HOUSTON] [TEXAS] [U.S. NEWS] [WORLD NEWS] [SPORTS] [POP CULTURE] [CONTACT]
The Media hypocrisy regarding anti-homosexual law in Uganda
by Joseph Ernest December 20, 2010
Newscast Media --There is a controversial bill in the Republic of Uganda that has caused several advocacy groups to brand Uganda as a homophobic nation because these groups allege that the bill would impose the death penalty on gays who are serial offenders and would give life imprisonment for touching someone of the same gender in a sexual way, or trying to seduce a straight person into gay sex.
The sponsors of the bill beg to differ with what they say is the media's distortion of the bill. They say the death penalty is only applied to those who sodomize infants because in some African nations there are some who believe if someone has AIDS or is HIV positive and that person has sex with an infant (virgin) that person will get healed. So the practice of pedophilia is being discouraged because if someone with AIDS has sex with a young child, the child will eventually contract the disease and die. This article by the UK Independent details the grotesque practice of the virgin sex cure. (pop-up) There is also a very severe problem of human trafficking and sex trafficking that the government is confronted with. As a deterrent, the Ugandan bill inserted a clause that would make it a capital punishment to engage in such behavior. The law was already written in the books, it was simply amended to cover areas that were neglected at the time it was written.
Homosexuality is also considered a crime against nature because a culture that does not reproduce will end up becoming extinct, so this encourages the population to reproduce and replace the older dying generation with a younger one. One journalist said, "I think we should cut off their financial aid, until they drop the bill." What this journalist doesn't understand is that the west benefits from Africa more than Africa benefits from the west. With the rich minerals like copper, gold, silver, oil, uranium, limestone including the largest fresh-water lake in Africa, America knows that if they do not fill that vacuum, China will. In the next five to ten years, water will become the hottest commodity, so there are a lot of players who are willing to do business with Uganda if the west doesn't.
Also the parents in Uganda are concerned that the United Nations has introduced literature and is spreading it in schools as a way to encourage homosexuality. According to the "Observer newspaper", the government is investigating how 15,000 copies of a book called The Teenager's Toolkit, found its way into schools. Michael Mubangizi of the Observer said the Uganda Minister of State for Ethics and Integrity, Dr. James Nsaba Buturo told the Observer that the UN agency had since apologized and offered to withdraw all copies of the book from circulation. The apology followed a meeting that UNICEF (United Nations Children's Emergency Fund) held with three ministers; of Health, of Gender, Labor and Social Development as well as Buturo.
"We met them (UNICEF) and they expressed regret. They also agreed to withdraw the books and work with us in producing the right material," Buturo said. The book, is specifically written for teenagers (between 15-19 years) and says that people with sexual feelings for people of the same sex are often unhappy because, "they do not understand their own feelings."
The 120-page book reads on page 86: "Many people are sexually attracted
to people of the same sex…we are born with these feelings about who we
like sexually, and who we do not like sexually. It is natural.
The book adds: "It is quite normal when you are growing up to fall in love with some one of your own sex.
Homosexuality is okay where one is, forced to have sex with someone of
the same sex because the other person is violent or because they need
money or food."
This kind of literature is troubling to a culture that feels foreigners from the United Nations are trying to thrust their beliefs upon and indoctrinating their children. The UN has indicated it regretted the approach it took in teaching Africans about homosexuality, but by the time they offered to withdraw the books, it was too late and parliament was forced to hold a special session to discuss the impending perceived threat.
One activist George Oundo shocked parents and the press when he publicly admitted in this confession, that he paid youths and recruited them in a program to teach them homosexuality. (pop-up)
Oundo asserted that he had been a renown gay and lesbian activist for five years and had operated under the umbrella group, Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG). He said he had taken on the female role and his name was Georgina. What the government of Uganda is preventing from happening, are incidents similar to the one in Haiti where an American man admitted to sexually molesting boys at a school he founded. Douglas Perlitz, 40, from Colorado admitted in court that he was taking advantage of these young boys. "I began losing my mind...I was using you. I mistreated you because you were afraid. Perhaps you were confused. Perhaps you thought, 'How could this man, Douglas, who's protecting me, be touching me like this? I wasn't thinking about you or your feelings or how my actions would affect you, I'm asking for forgiveness," Perlitz said his courtroom testimony (pop-up)
The media is not concerned with how many innocent orphans are killed to justify the practice nor does Amnesty International or the Human Rights Commission care about children who lose their lives, they seem to be more concerned about the rights of those who engage in such acts. Not once will you hear or have you heard the media defend the little children that are being raped. The act is acceptable in their eyes so they just wink at those who engage and practice such actions and human rights violations.
One has to look at the history of this small Christian nation to see why they find homosexuality abhorrent. This practice is considered taboo not just in Africa, but also in the entire Muslim world. It's only in the west that the behavior is considered normal. I once heard a pundit on MSNBC publicly condemn an African dignitary because of this bill and suggested something to the effect that the west should sever ties with such a nation.
Of course this shows how hypocritical the media is when it comes to such issues. They pick and choose which countries to bully. Think about it, Saudi Arabia is one of the closest allies of the U.S. but even though the same act of homosexuality is punishable by (death) hanging, not just in Saudi Arabia but also in nations that honor Islam, you never hear anybody in the media condemning the "House of Saud" or saying the U.S. should sever ties with Saudi Arabia. You never hear any media practitioner condemning any other Arab country or Muslim leader for allowing this to happen. Which shows you the level of absurdity the media exhibits when handling such issues. You never see any media practitioner protesting at the United Nations in front of Arab leaders demanding that they stop hanging gays, nor will you ever hear or see gay organizations condemning Islam or Muslim countries for allowing this practice to continue. This shows that it is more of a political issue than a behavioral or cultural issue that the media is more concerned with.
In 1800s Uganda existed as the Kingdom of Buganda under King Mwanga II. The Baganda are the largest tribe that make up Uganda and are very, very proud people, headed by a ruling king, Kabaka Ronald Mutebi. During King Mwanga II's reign, the European missionaries asked for permission to preach the gospel to the people of Buganda and neighboring kingdoms. Around that time the Africans worshipped many gods so when Bishop James Hannington came and preached the gospel, many accepted the gospel and were committed to their new-found Christian faith. In the south of Uganda, the Germans were waging war in Tanzania (Tanganyika at the time) in an effort to colonize it, to the north, the Egyptians had also launched their invasion, and now King Mwanga II had to deal with the suspicion that the white missionaries were in his kingdom as double-agents.
On October 29, 1885, King Mwanga had Bishop James Hannington murdered, because his subjects had embraced another religion introduced by the white missionary. The death of Hannington strengthened the resolve of the Baganda Christian converts who refused to be part-takers in the hedonism of their day. The King demanded that they denounce their faith but they refused. This was unheard of! The King's word was law, but even the lowest of his subjects refused to be corrupted. One of the courtiers was Joseph Mukasa who condemned the King for his actions, when he heard that Bishop Hannington was killed for preaching.
Angry at Joseph Mukasa's condemnation, the king ordered his execution. Joseph Mukasa knew he was going to die and refused to be shackled. "Why bind me? Do you think I shall flee? Flee where, to God? A Christian who gives his life for God is not afraid to die," Joseph said. The executioner took pity on him and before he was burnt alive, he cut off Joseph's head. But before he died Joseph said to the executioner, "Tell Mwanga this -- I forgive him for killing me without cause, but he must change his life. Otherwise I shall speak against him at God's tribunal."
On hearing this, Mwanga the king panicked and got very scared, so in an attempt to confuse God, King Mwanga II killed a servant and mixed his ashes with those of Joseph so that God would not be able to recognize Joseph, and talk against the king at God's tribunal. Of course Mwanga failed to realize that it is the soul that departs the body, when one loses one's life. Joseph Mukasa Balikuddembe (which means "man of peace") was put to death near a river on November 15, 1885 and became the first Ugandan Catholic martyr.
The King then proceeded to kill 44 other martyrs, 22 of whom were Catholic and declared "Blessed" by Pope Benedict XV in 1920. On October 18, 1964 they were canonized by Pope Paul VI during the Vatican II conference and are now recognized by the universal church as being worthy of being honored as Saints. This was a first for modern Africa and a source of pride throughout the continent.
This background explains why Ugandans are steadfast in their cultural beliefs and faith, and what journalists and the media do not understand is that you cannot argue your case among a people who have a history of dying for what they consider virtuous because it is engraved upon their hearts. In the 1800s they stood up to the tyrannical King and refused to be part of what they considered hedonistic, and they were castrated, beheaded and burnt alive, some were even fed to hungry dogs, do you really think a journalist or media practitioner with a microphone can make them nervous?
In America alone, homosexuality is a death sentence if you are at the wrong place at the wrong time. According to Amnesty International there are 83 nations that condemn homosexuality, so Uganda is not an aberration since other countries with such laws exist. Not a single person, according to our research, has been killed in Uganda for homosexuality. Nigeria and the United Arab Emirates are among them but you don't hear the media or gays protesting against these countries and the reason is because they are Islamic nations, and media together with gay advocates won't touch anything that might be offensive to Muslims. That's where they lose all their credibility.
Most Muslim countries invoke Sharia Law to punish such crimes and according to H.A.R. Gibb in Mohammedanism, An Historical Survey, in the Sharia courts, "Law is not a product of human intelligence and adaptation to changing social needs, but of divine inspiration, which makes it immutable."
The way to argue this is not to attack a nation's culture and impose a foreign culture upon it using threats, otherwise foreigners will just be dismissed as colonialists since Uganda gained its independence not too long ago in 1962. The way to do it is to actually go there and live in that culture for a while; learn the language and their way of life. Once you have assimilated, argue from a point of view of someone offering solutions that can create a win-win situation.
Sources:
UNICEF
The Vatican
New Vision
The Observer
The UK Independent
Amnesty International
The Kingdom of Buganda
Mohammedanism A Historical Survey
Uganda Minister of State for Ethics and Integrity
|
|
Join the Newscast Media social networks
for current events and multimedia content.
Copyright© Newscast Media. All Rights Reserved. Terms and Privacy Policy