Splainin' Enthymemes

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Attacking the enthymemes in Obama's interview about same-sex marriage, I think one of the most obvious examples of logical argument is that gay people are everywhere. They are our coworkers, our friends and our family. They fight for our country, prepare our taxes and teach our children. They make our laws and fix our cars. They are a part of our society. They have jobs. They have families. They are useful. And they are just like you!

Indeed, same-sex couples do all the things that people in heterosexual relationships do. They wake up, they go to work, they raise children, they eat dinner, they go to sleep. And (gasp!) they might even have sex with their partner before the day is over. In other words, they have completely normal lives. There is nothing out of the ordinary that takes place in same-sex relationships, unless you believe that what they do in the bedroom is not ordinary. And a majority of Americans now think that what they do in their own bedroom is their own business.

So Obama, in using the "they're normal" enthymeme, then invokes a second enthymeme, which is that since gay people are normal, they should be able to do all the normal things that people do, one of those things of course being legal marriage. It is implied here that marriage is "good." In fact, marriage is considered one of the milestones of a person's life. And it has all sorts of legal and ethical implications. It's funny - the day after I got married, I didn't feel any different, other than the feeling of the ring on my left hand. But over the years I have seen how being married is very different than simply living with another person, having sex and splitting the bills.

I think the enthymeme Obama is invoking basically asks the question: "why not?" Why should gay couples not be able to experience what my wife and I experience, namely the feeling of security and commitment that marriage brings?

Of course, what I can't get past here is that the answer to Obama's enthymeme is that lots of people think that gay sex is deviant sex. They believe it is morally wrong, which is based primarily in their religious views, which just so happen to be the lens through which they view their world. For these people, to allow gay marriage would be to condone homosexuality and to violate their religious views.

I suppose this is where enthymemes fall short. They are based on the idea that many people think similarly. In Obama's case, he is counting on the fact that many people have come around (as he seems to state he himself has done) to the idea that what people do in the bedroom is up to them (as long as it doesn't break any laws of course). The fact that a majority of America now accepts gay people as (almost) "equal" and "normal" gives this enthymeme its power. Without that I think he would have had to do a lot more "splanin stuff" as 'ol Slick Willy would say.

Source: cbsnews.com  Obama never mentions these statistics.

I think that what is most threatening to those that think gay marriage is "bad" is that it counters their argument that gay people are just a bunch of promiscuous perverts that live in sin and will bring about the destruction of our society via the wrath of God, a la Sodom and Gomorra. To them, the argument gets harder to control when you can no longer cast gay people as "others." The idea of the "other" has always been a cornerstone of the hate argument. Obama's enthymeme is meant to counter this. It takes this idea of other away and lays bare the logic. In effect, he takes away the emotion.

It's amazing when you really drill down on this stuff. Less than 60 seconds of argument can spur hours of debate. I'm starting to see how enthymeme is a very powerful tool.