The Slubgob Correspondences: Letter IV

My Dear Screwtape,

     You amaze me! Just when I think you’ve got yourself facing the right direction, you do something so absurd as to encourage the public’s growing acceptance of homosexual marriage. The students for which you are responsible are out there whispering to their subjects that marriage equality is the way to go.  

A bit of advice before you once again embrace a trend for which your actions played no part: Consider the source! You must ask, “Who benefits?” And don’t be so quick to say Our Father Below just because of some cliché about the abomination of such a lifestyle. Most abominations work toward our advantage but when an abomination ceases to be abominable, we find ourselves on slick footing where the slightest misstep may result in inadvertent treason. You should know – inadvertent or not – punishment for such treason is severe.

Infidelity, promiscuity, pederasty, rape, and incest are all admirable expressions of human sexuality. What we want to avoid first and foremost is anything resembling love. It’s dangerous to us because we know so little about it. And this is so because it is the exclusive domain of the Enemy. When operating within the area of love it is easy to get lost in the very moral haze we’re seeking inflict on the humans. They must be subject to the haze while our direction remains clear. If we lose our way, how can we ensure the safe arrival of our victims?

     What we do know is that there is a certain aspect of humanity which actually desires – regardless of how perverse it sounds – to preserve the comfort and dignity of others. Even the worst human being of all time possessed a modicum of what is called compassion. Don’t ask me to define it because I couldn’t, but it has something to do with an aversion to loneliness coupled with a need to make others happy – another concept completely alien to us.

     The best we can do in such foreign territory is direct our subject toward lustful pursuits where the subject’s focus remains on the self. Back when homosexuality was still a taboo among your students’ subjects, this was very easy to accomplish. All of that wonderful sexual repression resulted in some spectacular triumphs over the Enemy. We managed to introduce a level of shock into mainstream society by encouraging aggressive confrontations between the hetero and homosexual populations. Since homosexuality was unfamiliar to the mainstream, introducing it so frankly caused feelings of disgust and promoted a prejudice that all homosexuals are selfish, lustful, degenerates. Children were disowned, friendships severed, and families disintegrated. Some homosexuals would even take a spouse and have children just to hide that very fact. It was a glorious sight when such urges got the better of them. Ah! So many innocent victims, it makes the mouth water.

Alas, those days are over and we have little choice but to continue promoting prejudice among the withering population still disgusted by homosexuality. When homosexual marriage didn’t exist, turning homosexuals toward Our Master was much easier. It used to be that the extreme social isolation to which they were subject gave them no choice but to have a heightened sense of self. When humans are alone, what else is there to occupy their attention? That condition was most useful to us.

But with marriage now becoming a part of the homosexual community, we’re severely handicapped by the possibility that they will now be able to live happily being legally and singly obligated to another person. The legal acceptance of such an institution is a symbol that mainstream society no longer finds itself disgusted by homosexuality and therefore is more accepting. I hardly feel it necessary to point out that greater acceptance equals less isolation. Rather than encouraging this acceptance, we would be better served by your students promoting hatred among the few remaining allies we have left.

Your Merciful Master,

Slubgob

P.S. I require no lessons in the biological processes of human procreation. When has the bearing of offspring ever proved a certain defense against our snares? In many ways procreation works to our benefit, children provide such excellent leverage.