Bones: Gays are good for heterosexuals because they reduce competition for mates
ONE of my favourite TV characters is forensic anthropologist Dr Temperance “Bones” Brennan (Emily Deschanel) from the series Bones – a super smart, rich, confident, and liberated woman.
Every time I watch the show, I wish that the real world were as coldly rational as Brennan views it. With African big men, from Nigeria, Gambia to Uganda (and Arizona), having pulled out their spears, bows and arrows to chase down gays, I was struck by Brennan’s views on homosexuality a few nights ago.
She said that gay-hating is not rational at all. On the contrary, heterosexuals should be celebrating at the fact that there are homosexuals, because it “removes competition”. Every gay man, is one man less that heterosexuals have to compete against for the affections of a straight woman. And every lesbian is one woman less that straight women have to compete with the eye of an eligible male.
Makes perfect sense, except that we are not terribly rational—partly because it’s very hard work. So the great philosopher Aristotle was only half right – man is not always rational.
Secondly, we tend not to respond to things in linear ways.
High heels tend to go up when we expect them to go down, and to go down when we expect them to go up
I am reminded of those studies and reports that were popular three years ago on the heel height in women’s shoes, that rise in hard economic times as people seek escapism in difficult times and compensate with dramatic fashion. You would expect that in lean times, rational beings would be cautious and not splash money on flamboyant fashion. You would be wrong.
Thirdly, we are often foiled by complexity. The Turkana region in northern Kenya is a harsh arid place that is often plagued by famine – as it currently is. But it also has its good fortunes. In the last three years, every hole exploration companies have dug in the area, has turned out to hold millions of barrels of oil!
The Nation Media Group (NMG) has had a long association with Turkana around the matter of food security. It does all sorts of things with communities there over the years. Just over two years ago, it brought a group of schoolgirls from Turkana to visit Nairobi on a project.
The girls were checked into a three-star hotel. On the second day the hotel manager called the Corporate Affairs manager at NMG. He was in a panic. “The Turkana girls”, he said, “have
A Turkana girl smiles: It is counter-intuitive, yes, but in famine-troubled Turkana, the survivors are the ones who eat the least
refused to eat”.
Alarmed, the manager quickly rushed to the hotel. In his mind, he was thinking that perhaps the girls found the hotel food too unfamiliar.
He found the girls in good cheer, not looking a single bit hungry. He asked them what was going on, why they were “refusing” to eat. They said they were not hungry. In Turkana, they explained, those who survive are the ones who learn to live on one meal a day. If you get used to eating two full meals a day, you will die.
Over time, some small-time evolution had worked its magic. The most successful Turkana folks are the one-meal-a-day types.
“There is a lot of food”, he pleaded. “You can eat as much as you like while you are here”.
“And what happens when we go back to Turkana at the end of the week?” they asked. The conversation ended there. In this case, the Turkana girls were very rational. Eating two meals a day can be very bad for you – if you are from Turkana (and such harsh climates).
Filed under: Rogue Stuff Tagged: Arizona, Bones TV series, competition, famine, fashion, flamboyant, Gambia, gays, hard economic times, Heterosexuals, high heels, Nigeria, queer haters, rational man, survival, Uganda
