The Left can’t resist propagandizing…Zogby military survey regarding homosexuals
The Left side of the web is giddily abuzz with the “news” that war-weathered troops “support” dropping restrictions on practicing homosexuals serving openly in the military. 73% support scrapping DADT! Well, I’ve got to go Lee Corso on that…”Not so fast!”
Zogby: Opinions of Military Personnel on Gays in the Military
Asked whether they agree that gays and lesbians should be allowed to serve in the military, respondents were closely split with a plurality (37%) disagreeing with the idea, and 26 percent agreeing they should be allowed.
So does this fit with the conclusion, “Soldiers Okay With Gays in Military?” All it took was to honestly read the final report of the survey to dig this out. Too much to ask I guess when you’re trying to invent reality.
Here is the real headline:
Zogby: Only 26% of Troops Agree That Open Homosexuals Should Serve
(Note: I would guess that a high proportion of the “neutral” responses were from active duty troops that were nervous about answering any question perceived to be overly political or in defiance of their “tolerance” training with a wide majority of those opposed to changing policy (even if we simply split those and apply the proportions to the reported positive response numbers, we’re still at 60-40 opposed to policy change). As a former Marine Corps Public Affairs Officer who has attempted to coax a word or two for the camera out of many hyper-cautious Marines, I can tell you first hand that Marines would rather not give an opinion when on the spot in front of someone he doesn’t know and trust… fear of violating the UCMJ will shut a Marine up. This applies especially to more junior troops, the bulk of those participating, and an anonymous pollster would fall into that “unknown” category.)
Either way, the 73% number trumpeted by Zogby and by those who imagine that the advancement of the radical homosexual agenda is on the deployment checklist of our Armed Forces is nothing but a cheesy sleight of hand. What that 73% represents is those servicemembers who happen not to be especially uncomfortable in the presence of someone they know to be, or perceive to be, actively practicing homosexual behavior. Bottom line…I served 10 years and am not uncomfortable in the presence of people living a homosexual lifestyle, but I am opposed to opening the military to people who think it is necessary that their anomalous sexual preferences be broadcast. That probably would have put me in the” 73%,” right?
Getting beyond the agendamongers who have screamed these phony conclusions from the rooftops, the methodology and the color of the questions of the survey are easily criticized. No time to go into intense detail, but of those surveyed, it “just so happens” that the groups most likely to approve in a change on Pentagon policy were oversampled. Example: Women make up about 15% of the armed forces, and nearly 18% of respondents of those who answered the gender question were women. Not huge disparity unless you take into account that this was a survey of those who’d been deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan. Male troops have deployed at a rate far higher rate than their proportional representation in the military taken as a whole, as a higher proportion of combat arms units, which obviously include far fewer women, have been deployed in support of those missions. I think it is legitimate to survey only those who’ve deployed as the greatest impact of the introduction of homosexuals would be in those circumstances, but such a survey should accurately reflect the subject community. More importantly, findings of a survey conducted by a major polling organization should be honestly presented, even if its conclusions don’t line up with the pollster’s agenda.
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Posted by Greg Scott on December 20, 2006 2:40 pm
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One Response to “The Left can’t resist propagandizing…Zogby military survey regarding homosexuals”
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Syndicate Me
Homosexuals can, and certainly do, currently serve in the military. That’s not enough, though. The activists want them to be out and proud, holding pride parades on Camp Pendelton and Fort Bragg.
I’m tired of hearing this “It’s so difficult to live a lie” BS. Every time some openly homosexual person leaves the military, you will invariably hear that.
I was in the Marines for four years. Some guys had girlfriends, others, to my knowledge, didn’t. Some may have even been gay. If straight guys can live just fine without talking about who they are dating, why can’t gays?