Utterly Meaningless

I saw that yesterday on feministe.us …

Her name is Sally Kern, by the way. She’s insisted that those comments don’t make her a homophobe.

I have to wonder if she knows what the word means, heh.

Mea culpa. She didn’t claim she’s not a homophobe. Although according to a CNN interview she doesn’t apologize at all for what she said.

cnn.co...4hours

Hate speech should not be protected speech because it DOES have an effect. It starts small: jokes, slang words. Then it’s “Well, it’s just what I believe.” Then it’s garbage like this woman spews. But kids hear it from their parents, the media, their friends, etc. and they grow up thinking it’s okay to hate, and maybe not just hate, but okay to punish those that aren’t like them. Harass them, beat them, kill them.

I’m not a Christian, but I’m pretty sure the Bible tells some stories about Jesus hanging around with people that weren’t like him, that most of society didn’t want anything to do with. I haven’t ever been able to find where it says “No Gays” in there though. Maybe I don’t have the right Bible…

You’re reading the wrong testament. The OT is all about gays being an abomination. But, then again, so are shrimp and clams. And cross-dressing. And birds with four feet?

Shut up or I’ll kill you.

I’m of two minds about hate speech. One, it’s ugly and it is hurtful but two, if it’s not out there in the open we can’t point it out, ridicule it and make people like Miss Kern look like blathering idiots.

Does it have more power when it’s in the open or when it’s hidden away? I guess that’s what I wonder.

I tend towards believing criminalizing hate speech would be a bad thing. We already have laws to cover actual incitement of violence, etc against anybody – and I don’t think we want to travel further down the road to criminalizing thoughts, even when they are spoken out loud. I also think these episodes tend to do more good than bad for the cause of diversity.

However I’m a white male, so what the hell do I know about prejudice?

. . . life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness . . .

That’s an amazing and powerful phrase. That’s one of those basic tenets on which I’ve been led to believe our nation was founded on. But really, there are levels of equality when it comes to each of us finding our way to those three simple things.

I’m a white male, married with two kids. At the same time, I’m also finally okay, at thirty five, that I’m gay and am working to figure myself out, finding a balance between where I was and where I need to be, but I am reminded fairly often how not okay I am.

At the same time, when I go to the grocery store with my kids, people aren’t looking at me thinking “gay guy.” I’ve even developed more friendships since I’ve been out. I can’t say that I’ve really faced any of the myriad horrors that exist for so many gay people. I’ve certainly never been shot by a classmate for being gay.

So, why exactly does it bother me that an elected representetive compares something I’ve come to recognize as fundamental to me living in a way that guarantees me those three simple ideals as being equal to the very death of this freedom loving country?

I like how the more the rhetoricl spirals upward into hysteria, the more the word “they” is used as a perjorative.

Living in the bubble that I live in, I don’t often hear crap like this. Good to be reminded that people outside my little universe are still asshats.

BTW, I don’t agree with numbers 2 and 3, either. If I were to list my top three threats to the US I’d put them at

#3 Endless war
#2 Enormous budget deficits (directly related to #3 above)

And the #1 threat to the US…

GWB (direct cause for #2 and #3 above)

Fortunately, GWB will (hopefully) be gone next January. Unfortunately, the idiot Republicans are attempting to elect McCain to fill the 3rd Bush term. McCain is even more in love with #3 than Bush is.

It would be bad enough if she was only trying to “fix” Oklahoma. But she feels free to include all of us.

Asshat indeed.

But I’m not sure I’d bother to attack this as hate speech. It’s just plain stupid speech.

Nance

P.S. Daryl, don’t worry. 🙂

Nance, I lived there for 12 years. NO one can “fix” Oklahoma. 🙁

Maybe the Universal Number #1 threat we all could agree on would be:

#1 People running around trying to FIX other people!

Aside to Audrey – love that icon, every time I see it.

Avatar. Damn I am old.