Tuesday, December 13, 2016

Darth Vader Is A Homophobe


In his 1972 book, Society And The Healthy Homosexual, the psychotherapist and gay activist,  George Weinberg,  coined the term "homophobe" - arguably one of the most powerful rhetorical turns of the past half century. As Darth Vader is about to return to cinemas for the first time in decades, it is important to remember that he is not a Nazi, and the Empire isn't Germany, or Russia, or any foreign power. The Empire is, and will always be America, and Vader is and always be the Ugly American. While I'd like to have believed that America had changed since 1977, it hasn't. I thought it might be interesting therefor to remember who exactly Vader is, and who we are, by revisiting Weinberg: