Question for Hetero- and Bi-sexuals.

[Tiassa]

I really don't know who is suggesting that we try to make the next generation gay

You know, it could be that homophobes are still frightened by the classic Michael Swift piece.

Seriously. Check this out:

Sharp, Randy. "Homosexual activist predicted takeover of nation". American Family Association Online, June 10, 2004. See http://www.afa.net/homosexual_agenda/takeover.asp​

It looks like they're still stuck in 1987.

 

[Mystech]

You know, it could be that homophobes are still frightened by the classic Michael Swift piece.

Seriously. Check this out:

Sharp, Randy. "Homosexual activist predicted takeover of nation". American Family Association Online, June 10, 2004. See http://www.afa.net/homosexual_agenda/takeover.asp​

It looks like they're still stuck in 1987.

I'm not sure what's more amusing about that, the fact that Michael is such a little drama queen (Too bad they didn't have LiveJournal back then or I have a feeling that's where that would have been printed) or the analysis with it's half-truths, muddled facts and reactionary sentiment to fairly mundane and non-threatening events. Of course I qualify the later just to try to deny this cathartic little smile creeping across my face as I read the article again.

Over all, however I'd say that this piece displays a very common mistake made among many gay activists; We use irony to try to help illustrate our point of view and how ridiculous it is that we should be treated as we are. . . but those who we'd hope are listening don't understand irony! Seriously, don't even get me started on gay pride parades, shortly it seems to me that they have generally had this effect:

Us: "Oh no! look at us we're big bad homosexuals who are out to destroy your way of life and corrupt your children with deviant behavior!"

Them: "Oh no! Do you see? they're big bad homosexuals out to destroy our way of life and corrupt our children with deviant behavior! We've got to do something!"

Sort of like a black man calling his friends a nigger in the 18th century, you know? A white person overhearing would probably figure he's admitting racial inferiority, perhaps it's the same way with the homosexuals, a little too early to revel in the stereotypes and labels thrown at us for the casual observer to feel that we don't really mean it.

I suppose it would be rather boring if they were just "Gay Solidarity" parades, but come on. . . assless chaps in public? The American people take cowboys very seriously and that's just pie in the face to them!

 

[Tiassa]

Over all, however I'd say that this piece displays a very common mistake made among many gay activists; We use irony to try to help illustrate our point of view and how ridiculous it is that we should be treated as we are. . . but those who we'd hope are listening don't understand irony!

It's hard to measure the cash value of irony, and that seeming confusion on the part of conservatives faced with ironic truth is the bane of American liberals and leftists. We do have a sense of humor. It's just that when we laugh at some misfortune on Fear Factor, it's a contemptuous assessment of what we feel we're up against in terms of changing the fundamental attitude of the country toward such long-despised notions as reality, society, and truth. Because our senses of humor don't rely nearly so exclusively on a punch-line in which someone is hurt or defamed, liberals are characterized as elitist. To the other, when we are willing to show that "Joe Sixpack humor", people get really pissed. Try getting lectured by a provocateur punk on what's wrong with giving the people what they seem to demand in a given marketplace. It's funny, to be sure, but it's also sad.

Remember also that when the article was read into the Congressional Record, it was edited to remove its original identification as satire. Yes, these conservatives have a sense of irony. It's just a very childish one that acts as if they have a say in who gets hurt by the necessities of humor.

Talk about arrogant; the pretentious conservative fear of elitism is mere Freudian projection. In fact, American conservative politics seem characterized by Freudian defense mechanisms.