CQotD

(Chesterton was against votes for women. Obviously I don't agree with him on that; he clearly didn't know that in the mediaeval European towns and villages on which he looked back so fondly it was quite normal for women to be able to vote. He does say (and I'd love to have confirmation on this) that it was only a minority of women in Britain at that time who wanted the vote, and that it struck him as oddly undemocratic for a minority to expect to overthrow the will of the majority on the question of becoming part of the democratic process. This raises the interesting question of how much allowance we should make in our democratic dealings for the majority not really knowing what they want and having to be told what it is by the minority. But anyway. This is just background for the following quote...)

"But for the moment the essential point is that in self-governing countries this coercion of criminals is a collective coercion. The abnormal person is theoretically thumped by a million fists and kicked by a million feet. if a man is flogged, we all flogged him; if a man is hanged, we all hanged him.* That is the only possible meaning of democracy which can give any meaning to the first two syllables and also to the last two. In this sense each citizen has the high responsibility of a rioter. Every statute is a declaration of war, to be backed by arms. Every tribunal is a revolutionary tribunal. In a republic, all punishment is as sacred and solemn as lynching."

*And one might go on thus; if a country is invaded we all invaded it; if a prisoner is tortured we all tortured him; if a wire is tapped we all tapped it, and so on. [Footnote mine.]

Homophobia

Now that I have your attention... (oh, I don't. Never mind, I'll just ramble anyway.)

Strange word for something that, while it may be based on fear, doesn't behave like other phobiata. If you're claustrophobic you don't go around smashing up lifts. If you're acrophobic you don't blow up tall buildings. The things I am scared of (and they are many and various) I treat with respect, at least in the sense of staying away from them. Confronting the thing you fear is supposed to be the way to get rid of the fear, not the normal way to express it. Also, you do not attempt to communicate your fear to other people. I don't go around remarking on how scary moths are and trying to get people to be as scared of them as I am. (Who'd put them outside for me then?) I tell myself what an idiot I am for being scared of them. People who are homophobic, I guess, don't do that so much.

It's also a strange word in that, unlike most other words for a phobia, it's a mix of Latin and Greek, rather than pure Greek. Strictly translated, it means "fear of men." If it were pure Greek, the closest thing it could be would be "fear of that which is like oneself." Indeed all truth is contained within language. (EDIT: except this paragraph, which as fleetfootmike points out below is utter tripe. Sorry about that.)