Stossel: the myth being gay is a choice & can be cured (clip from audiobook)

Replace "homosexuality" with "alcoholism" and "Exodus International" with "AA" and the tone of this doesn't change at all. It also makes Stossel sound like an ass. I've heard that alcoholism is incurable and I have no problem believing that; but the fact that you are attracted to take a drink doesn't mean you shouldn't try to change your life. And if you are trying to give up alcohol and you give in to temptation once or 100 times, that doesn't mean you are a failure or a hypocrite as long as you keep trying. I am not very familiar with Exodus International or its methodology, but if it's in the business of helping people that want to be helped on a nonprofit basis, I don't see any reason for attacking it.
 
Replace "homosexuality" with "alcoholism" and "Exodus International" with "AA" and the tone of this doesn't change at all. It also makes Stossel sound like an ass. I've heard that alcoholism is incurable and I have no problem believing that; but the fact that you are attracted to take a drink doesn't mean you shouldn't try to change your life. And if you are trying to give up alcohol and you give in to temptation once or 100 times, that doesn't mean you are a failure or a hypocrite as long as you keep trying. I am not very familiar with Exodus International or its methodology, but if it's in the business of helping people that want to be helped on a nonprofit basis, I don't see any reason for attacking it.

Or maybe you are homophobic?
Ayyyy?
 
if homosexuality is a "choice", that means we are all born bi-sexual and we choose to be either straight or gay (or stay bi)
 
Sex is voluntary unless you are raped. It is a choice.

attractive qualities can be determined by environmental factors.
the act of sex is voluntary, the choice of who you want to fuck is determined by your preferences.
 
attractive qualities can be determined by environmental factors.
the act of sex is voluntary, the choice of who you want to fuck is determined by your preferences.

If you prefer to have sex with a guy, you still have the choice for girls only. Even though it goes against your preference; it is still your choice. You also have the choice to not have sex at all.
 
If you prefer to have sex with a guy, you still have the choice for girls only. Even though it goes against your preference; it is still your choice. You also have the choice to not have sex at all.

what does that have to do with the origins of homosexual preference?
 
Replace "homosexuality" with "alcoholism" and "Exodus International" with "AA" and the tone of this doesn't change at all. It also makes Stossel sound like an ass. I've heard that alcoholism is incurable and I have no problem believing that; but the fact that you are attracted to take a drink doesn't mean you shouldn't try to change your life. And if you are trying to give up alcohol and you give in to temptation once or 100 times, that doesn't mean you are a failure or a hypocrite as long as you keep trying. I am not very familiar with Exodus International or its methodology, but if it's in the business of helping people that want to be helped on a nonprofit basis, I don't see any reason for attacking it.

you are comparing homosexuality with alcoholism?

And who looks like an ass again?
 
If homosexuality were a choice, it looks like we would have some pretty gay options.

Seriously though, I'm glad Stossel is covering this.
 
I am not very familiar with Exodus International or its methodology, but if it's in the business of helping people that want to be helped on a nonprofit basis, I don't see any reason for attacking it.

You make yourself look very foolish by taking a non-neutral stance after admitting you are not very familiar with them or their methodology. John Stossel has a reputation for approaching issues fairly and investigating them rather thoroughly.
 
You make yourself look very foolish by taking a non-neutral stance after admitting you are not very familiar with them or their methodology. John Stossel has a reputation for approaching issues fairly and investigating them rather thoroughly.

You don't have to be an expert on a topic to be able to question a writer's objectivity and conclusions. It's called "critical reading". Whatever Stossel's reputation is, if this report is typical of his work then he is not a source that I would consider reliable and objective. His conclusions do not flow from the evidence he provides and his prejudices clearly shine through. He is willing to conclude that Exodus International is an utter failure because of anecdotal evidence of one graduate of the program who relapsed. Obviously if this standard were applied to any other rehabilitation program, none of them would pass. Every program will have relapsers, in fact I think it's reasonable to assume that most people trying to recover from drugs and/or alcohol will suffer at least one relapse.
 
I recommend you do some research. Not sure where you get your link between alcohol and drug addiction with homosexuality. There really is no comparison. You missed the whole point of Mr Stossel's report. He was not talking down about Exodus. He was making the point that homosexuality is not a sickness that needs to be cured. The simple fact that Exodus does not keep records is very telling. Of course, no one believes they do not keep records, they just do not share them with anyone. If they were doing such a good job certainly they would announce their success rates.
 
I recommend you do some research. Not sure where you get your link between alcohol and drug addiction with homosexuality. There really is no comparison. You missed the whole point of Mr Stossel's report. He was not talking down about Exodus. He was making the point that homosexuality is not a sickness that needs to be cured. The simple fact that Exodus does not keep records is very telling. Of course, no one believes they do not keep records, they just do not share them with anyone. If they were doing such a good job certainly they would announce their success rates.

The work they do is very sensitive, so it's not surprising that they don't keep or share records. If I was a client of theirs I would appreciate the fact that they respect my privacy.
 
I recommend you do some research. Not sure where you get your link between alcohol and drug addiction with homosexuality. There really is no comparison. You missed the whole point of Mr Stossel's report. He was not talking down about Exodus. He was making the point that homosexuality is not a sickness that needs to be cured. The simple fact that Exodus does not keep records is very telling. Of course, no one believes they do not keep records, they just do not share them with anyone. If they were doing such a good job certainly they would announce their success rates.

If his point is that homosexuality is not a disease to be cured, the evidence he provides does not support or even relate to that conclusion. His argument is that Exodus is not an effective program. Even if Exodus is completely ineffective, it doesn't follow that homosexuality itself is incurable or untreatable.
 
If his point is that homosexuality is not a disease to be cured, the evidence he provides does not support or even relate to that conclusion. His argument is that Exodus is not an effective program. Even if Exodus is completely ineffective, it doesn't follow that homosexuality itself is incurable or untreatable.

Let's get this out of the way: What is your opinion of homosexuality?
 
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