Queer Theory Brain Dump

Don't quote me on any of this.



We, us and them: key terms to run across in queer theory, in which the writer, if they are queer, identifies themselves as separate from the society which they criticize and part of the community within which the reader belongs, if the reader too is queer.  It brings to mind the pilgrim-Native American Indians relationship when the English first set foot in the Americas, a cultural difference that was not necessarily dissolved, but acclimated.  One can argue that the assimilation did not create a social structure of incomplete-dominance between the two cultures, but one of co-dominance, stripes and spots, in which the Americans ultimately dominated over the Indians, but in which the Indians never became American.  Many Indians today still feel connected to their ancestral roots, despite having built families with American people, and passionately defend their ancestral properties using American-Indian identities.

I do agree that we should stop defining queer theory as the battle between sexuality dominance in society and bring the focus more to the individual's ability to differ from the majority and yet not become a minority.  This results in a disassimilation of the majority rule, in which there ever was one prevailing ideology.  Religion has seen similar disassimiliation entering the 21st century, catholicism once having a prominent place in the majority of the invidual's thoughts, leading to now a lack of catholicism, a lack of faith and a weakening of the social support structure.  Members of religious groups are some of the most self-secure individuals I've ever met, having learned that the word of God guides them to be more kind and caring to others and to themselves.  While religion should never be imposed upon the individual, many grow up today estranged from the support system of the social church.

The point is that there needs to be some sort of central ideology within any society to prevent its structure from crumbling.  The founding fathers of the United States did a fine job writing a constitution which created an organizational structure whose core values are justice and equality.  How individuals of power have interpreted these guidelines have given us the inequality we see today.