I'm just wondering if anyone else saw the Palin breakdown

[johnaries]

on CBS.

She repeatedly talked about her "best friend" who made a "choice" to be gay. Although she loved this person dearly, she just decided not to make the same "choice" her friend made.

:puke:

I'll admit, there was a time in my life when I asked a close friend of mine "why did you choose to be gay?" Luckily, he was very understanding of my ignorance, and he gently replied "John, when I 'came out', my family disowned me and my own father kicked me out of the house. My own church turned against me. I lost every friend I ever had. If I had a CHOICE,I would NEVER have chosen to be gay."

It took a while for that to sink in, because all my life I had been "brainwashed" to believe that it was a "choice".

But once I let it sink in and "let go" of my preconceptions, all of a sudden everything made sense.

And then I saw Palin saying "I don't judge them for their choice". I could swear I heard her say "I don't blame Obama for being a n*gger, Some of my best friends are n*ggers".

And I'm WHITE!

Am I out of line here?

[Dammit Ann]

1. No, you are not.

We have the power to ridicule these people.

Now is the time to use it.

I'm tired of being told who is good enough to love and respect, I'll make that decision one on one, day to day.

I have stopped listening to "cultural conservatives". Fuck them, what are they afraid of?

BTW: cultural conservative= racist, homophobic, low-information fucktard.

At least, that is what I call them (to their face, as often as posssible.)

[thunder rising]

2. Yes you are ... I'm quite tired of concern trolls finding ways to say "that" word.

[ColbertWatcher]

6. Which word? Christian? Republican? n/t

[snake in the grass]

8. Who is the concern troll?

In the context it was used it was entirely appropriate and even necessary. The poster had the decency to edit the word to protect your sensitive eyes. I hear statements like that quite regularly and I think it is important to bring it out in all its ugliness. Words like 'fag' and 'bitch' should be treated equally so, because they are the language of denigration.

[Divine Discontent]

3. wow - you should have got to give the intelligent person's response to Palin's bullshit!

great writing for such a small post. and thank you for being aware of GLBT rights.


MORE AT www.cafepress.com/warisprofitable

[Dangerously Amused]

4. You could have made your point just as effectively

...without dragging the "n" word into it.

[tavalon]

5. I don't think so, actually

That was the punch that made the post pop. It's not okay to use racist language anymore but it's still okay to call gay people "fags" and "bulldykes" and yet, it shouldn't be. To equate homophobia with bigotry and racism is important. It needs to be as revolting to hear someone say something derogatory about gays as it is to hear someone say something derogatory about blacks.

But, hey, what do I know? I chose to be heterosexual and white.

[lynnertic]

11. I think so, actually. it's a very racist word and you can't use it.

Not if you want to be accepted by anyone other than bigots and trash.

Enjoy your slumming I'm outta here

[tavalon]

14. I'm the one who slapped my grandfather around when I was 14 because he used the "N" word

so, while you might like to paint me that way, you are wrong. How about you look at the substance of what I wrote? If we allow racism to be in a different catagory from homophobia, we will have to fight the same civil rights over and over and over again. Let homophobia be equated with racism and it will stop all the sooner.

[lynnertic]

15. So what?

It's not mainstream language, it's shunned language, and decent people shun those who use the shunned language.

Period.

[tavalon]

19. The OP put an asterisk in the word, I only alluded to it and yet, you paint with a broad brush

and ignore the very salient point behind what we both said. Why?

[lynnertic]

25. Your 'salient points' are no excuse for using the language.

I didn't ignore, I dismissed.

Again, shunned language is shunned language.

Any use, allusion or hint is still perpetuating the racist philosophies behind the language and it is not tolerated by decent people in public forums.

It didn't need to be used, its use was purposefully provocative. It was not used by accident. You and the OP act like you have a right to use the language, but you also have a right to be called out for it.

[tavalon]

26. Are you always this obtuse?

If you are, let me know, because I can put you on ignore and make both of our lives more serene. I only do that in very unusual circumstances but if this interaction and your willful refusal to get what's being discussed is usual for you, I think it would make both of us happier to have you off my radar.

[noamnety]

27. I think you are reading past lynnertic's point.

I'm speaking as someone who has used that word on DU in the past in the same sort of context you used it - so I do understand your point.

BUT. I don't use that word any more at all, unless it's phrased as "the N word" as opposed to writing it out (with or without asterisks). After a lot of reading, especially by folks here, what I came to understand is that it's a trigger for many people - even if it ISN'T a trigger for you. You're trying to use it in a distanced academic intellectual way, which denies the very real experiences of actual people who have been victimized by the word. For them, it is not an academic distant thing. Your asterisks don't erase the emotional impact of the word.

People are asking you to respect that.

[Dangerously Amused]

21. WTF?! Since when is it "still okay" to call gay people "fags" and "bulldykes"?!

I sure don't do that, nor does any other decent person I know.

[tavalon]

24. Not by me or by polite people, but it's more okay than the "N" word and it shouldn't be

[qanda]

13. I agree

The OP definitely could have left that out or even just said black.

[geiger]

7. you're being compassionate; I like that, plus, there has been enough

beating up on Sarah Palin already. She's naive and a true believer.

Her life is fucking over. She's the sacrificial lamb they have put out there. Anyone else with any ounce of earned credibility on the national scene would have been insane to be McCain's running mate.

[bigscott]

9. I was in the same boat

when i came out I lost my family, my friends, my wife (along with my house and 1/2 my savings!)and almost my sanity.

Why the fuck would anyone CHOOSE that!?!?!

happily, my family has come to understand why i did what i did and my ex-wife and i get along great (she still has the house and $$ LOL:rofl:

I can now look my son in the eyes and tell him honesty is the ONLY policy.

it is not a choice -

peace

[lynnertic]

10. yes, you're out of line.

and I came here thinking you saw S* cry.

[tbyg52]

12. I heard that, and screamed at the TV.

She may have a gay friend, but she obviously doesn't really understand.

[marew]

16. The more I see her---

The more I detest her! Her ignorance knows no bounds! I tend to see people in terms of their personality and no matter what she looks like on the outside, she is freaking ugly!

[brazos121200]

17. Realizing the truth that homosexuality is not a choice

is indicative of a fundamental intelligence in a person. So, too, is the understanding that evolution is how we got here in the first place, not "creationism", which Sarah also believes in. This is deal breaker for me, if someone still believes in creation over evolution, here in the 21st century, I question their basic intelligence, and I don't think they should be entrusted with any important public positions.

[adamuu]

18. you're spot on.

she doesn't have a gay friend or at least if that's how she talks about her, she's not really a friend. Its a stinking lie either way.

[Stinky The Clown]

20. That is exactly the mindset of what I call the "soft racist"

The ones who treat people they hold as beneath them with as much syrupy kindness as they can muster.

They're disingenuous fucks.

[tomg]

22. I think your point could have been

made better by using "negro" or "colored," in that that language might more aptly describe her attitude. Of course, she has a ( as in singular) "gay" friend. She also has a ( as in singular) "negro" friend, and she also has a (as in singular) "Jewish" friend and "you betcha I would even have an 'oriental' friend if any lived in Alaska -but since the first dude is part-Eskimo, and the Eskimo's came from Asia - I guess you could say my best friend is an oriental."

In short, in her universe, she has collected the whole set of 'others,' as though they are dolls, or "friends" of convenience,the kind that were once necessary to complete a "liberal" dinner party. By having one, one claims to be free of prejudice and therefore policy decisions and the like can be presented as objective. Unfortunately, that means that her underlying attitudes, and prejudices and false assumptions that are the true source of those policy decisions can go completely unquestioned. That being gay is a 'choice' is, to her, simply one of those unquestioned assumptions.

Oh, and she is an idiot.

[dgibby]

23. I so wish she'd been asked:

Well, exactly when did you CHOOSE to be heterosexual?

[Poseidan]

28. who cares about a stupid word

People give too much of a fuck about words. Where does this ridiculous obsession with 'bad' words come from anyway? If someone didn't tell you these words were 'bad', would you consider them bad?

Even in America, where Freedom of Speech is #1, people still attempt to suppress speech. It's like a child who closes their eyes and believes the problem is gone. The real solution is to use the word more, until it no longer has any effect, like Lenny Bruce showed.