Category: homophobia

When Hate Comes to Town

I was recently reading the musings of a Buffalo, NY blogger about the recent appearance of “representatives of the Westboro Baptist Church when they showed up to protest the services for the victims of the Continental Airlines plane crash. Nice to see that these nitwits got nowhere with their shenanigans, thanks to lots of local people who showed up to basically marginalize them and make them invisible,” including said blogger’s parents; more Clarence Center pictures here.

Now Fred Phelps and his sorry band are making their way to Albany and Plattsburgh, NY on Friday, March 6. There is a silent vigil planned for Thursday, March 5 at 5:30 p.m. in front of the Albany City Hall. (Don’t know how “silent” it will be as there will be a rally against the severe budget cuts at the State Capitol – and across the state – at 4:30 p.m. on that same day.)

Then Friday, the WBC is planning to spread its message of hate at Albany High School at 7 a.m. and at SUNY Central (353 Broadway, the old D&H building) at 8:15 a.m. Regarding the former, I have it on reasonably good authority – as I suspect the folks at this website believe, Phelps will be thwarted at the high school. As they write, “This is NOT going to happen.”

Whereas Phelps WILL likely do his thing at SUNY Central, where the counter-demonstration should take place. The folks at God Is Love Albany are recommending gathering at 8:15 a.m. on March 6. I plan to come down as soon as I can, on the theory that the WBC people will end up there early as well.

There has been a lively debate on the Facebook page called A stand against the Westboro Baptists Church coming to Albany about the appropriate response to Phelps’ presence. As one person said, “I would advise nobody to actually show up. You’re giving him exactly what he wants: attention. Let him and his followers stand out there all by themselves and be humiliated.”

I appreciate the sentiment but strongly disagree for a couple reasons. I don’t think them standing by themselves humiliates them. There are, for instance, people who have demonstrated for peace in front of the state Capitol every Wednesday at noon pretty much since 9/11/2001. Sometimes the group is large (e.g., in the run-up to the Iraq war in the fall of 2002 and early 2003), and sometimes it’s just a handful of people. In no case do I think the group does, or should feel humiliated.

Moreover, how does one measure the difference between ignoring Phelps and mere indifference? I feel an obligation, as a Christian, as twice a SUNY graduate, and as a person to respond to the hate, to address the hate. Now it is true that Phelps wants attention. My recommendation is that people not address him or his group – they’re notorious in looking for grounds to sue someone – but to be present, ignoring the WBC, but expressing sentiments of love and justice.

It is not quite equivalent, but I’m reminded when the Springboks rugby team from South Africa came to Albany in 1981 and a number of people – yes, including me – came out to protest the match. (Albany writer Paul Grondahl has a great chapter about this incident in his book about long-time mayor Erastus Corning.)

To paraphrase some Kentuckian, history will little note nor long remember the number of people who “ignored” hate; history will only note the number that stood up against it.
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Yes, the title is a takeoff of probably my favorite U2 song: When love comes to town, with B.B. King.


ROG

ROG

Knocking at the door

Why do we never get an answer
When we’re knocking at the door
With a thousand million questions
About hate and death and war?
– The Moody Blues (written by Justin Hayward)
LINK.

So the old winter or summer solstice has arrived, depending on where you live. It’s once again time to Ask Roger Anything. Anything at all, and I’m honor-bound to answer it honestly. It has to be the truth. It does not have to be the WHOLE truth; to the surprise of some, I do have my limits.

One person I do not know asked:
“Surfing around looking for old copies of ‘keynotes’, the Capitol Record Club catalog, I came upon your references.
Any chance you have old issues with which you’d part?”
Why, no, I don’t. I was a member of the Capitol Record Club in 1965 for a couple years, which is where I originally got all my pre-Sgt. Pepper albums, save for Yesterday…and Today, which I bought from the Rexall for $2.99. I also got Daydream-Lovin’ Spoonful; the Best of Herman’s Hermits; and most notably, Pet Sounds-Beach Boys. Most of the albums I still have, except for the LPs that were stolen in the Great LP Theft of 1972. But anything like Capitol catalogs? Long gone.
(Hey, anyone out there have ‘keynotes’ you’re willing to part with, e-mail me and I’ll hook you up with the collector.)

I’ve had people ask about the Barack Obama/Rick Warren thing. Well, I wouldn’t have done it. A gay friend of mine felt “hurt” by it.
Still, this little piece from Steve Bissette’s blog gave me some perspective.
…while liberals are howling over President-Elect Obama’s decision to include homophobic pastor Richard D. “Rick” Warren (founder and senior pastor of the evangelical Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California) in his upcoming inauguration ceremony [and conservatives are howling that Warren accepted],, the far more damning news that “alone among major Western nations, the United States has refused to sign a declaration presented Thursday at the United Nations calling for worldwide decriminalization of homosexuality” is being ignored..

So, questions, please.
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“Inspired by Christ is an apparel company formed to convey the Good News of Jesus Christ while providing the world with an alternative in today’s popular fashions. Inspired by Christ’s goal is to propagate the Word of God via style and stimulated discussions brought about through our Christ inspired designs.” WWJW?
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Artificial Virginity Hymen. WTF?

In the old days, it was not called the ‘Holiday Season’; the Christians called it ‘Christmas’ and went to church; the Jews called it ‘Hanukkah’ and went to synagogue; the atheists went to parties and drank. People passing each other on the street would say ‘Merry Christmas!’ or ‘Happy Hanukkah’ or (to the atheists) ‘Look out for the wall.’ – Dave Barry

ROG

ROG

Feeling crummy


I’ve been feeling lousy pretty much since Election Day. (Not feeling lousy BECAUSE of Election day; much to the contrary.) But I’ve had a sore throat and insomnia for about a week and a half. So I’m going to take a nap.

Meanwhile, you can read what I wrote here about racism, sexism and homophobia.

I’m also going to suggest reading this article by conservative columnist Kathleen Parker. While I don’t know that I subscribe to the conclusion suggested in the title, “Relief from weight of our racial burden”, I found the story touching.
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RIP, Miriam Makeba. My father was a big fan, and he infused that appreciation into me.
or here.
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Pic from the Star Trek pic next summer.
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Urban Dictionary : New Entry
Palin
An applicant lacking even basic job skills
Someone supremely un-self-aware or lacking any relative sense of what he/she does or doesn’t know.
HR sent me another Palin for the marketing manager job.
Palin v.
to abandon one’s principles for short term gain
Tom, a devout vegan, palined when he consumed a happy meal solely to obtain the collectible toy it contained.
Palin n.
Pejorative term that refers to an incompetent, impractical, irrelevant or incapable person who has been appointed to a position of great importance.
A person who holds authority disproportionate to his or her requisite ethics and qualifications. Derived from John McCain’s controversial 2008 Vice Presidential pick, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin.
John was recently made principal, but everybody thinks he’s a Palin who can’t do the job.
My new boss is such a Palin – he took my deserved place because the CEO is his personal friend.
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Finally, I thought this post by Mr. Frog was terribly snarky. And terribly funny.
ROG

ROG

1000 Cuts

Have a feeling that we just don’t understand.

On a business librarians listserv I’m on, someone was seeking information about the expenditure of single women – the “Carrie Bradshaw” types. (That’s a reference to the lead character in Sex in the City for you guys who poo-pooed the series’ social significance.) Unbidden came these testimonials of women who went shopping for a new car or other large purchase with their father/husband/boyfriend, made it clear that the woman is the customer, and yet all the customer service people directed their attention to the man. In fact, one of the storyteller was the father, who notes that his daughter is the car nut and all he knows how to do is open the hood and sigh when something’s not working. To a person, the purchase was not made.

There was a Snicker’s ad in the UK that got axed as potentially homophobic. I can only imagine some people crying out, “it’s only an advert,” and that people are being “politically correct” or “don’t have a sense of humor” or “how to you even know thee protagonist is supposed to be gay?” Well, I remember the Snickers Super Bowl ad where they toy with a “Brokeback moment”, so I tend to be suspicious. The ad did bother me, especially the tagline, “get some nuts.”

Disney is working on its first black princess. Imagine my ambivalence about THAT. But the vitriol that shows up in the comments, especially those of the “get over it, it’s only a cartoon” variety, as though images don’t matter I found profoundly disturbing and annoying.

I guess what I wish for is that people try to see things from a perspective that’s not their own.
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Someone on a Methodist listserv wrote this: “I get so much junk email from so-called ‘friends’ that I am a frequent user of snopes.com and truthorfiction.com. Unfortunately, when I confront these ‘friends’ with what I found out about the emails they have forwarded me, they act as if I have insulted their religion. Which
makes sense, because I have. The emails that they forward have become their religion.
Junk email has replaced whispering as the means of spreading false rumors. It is time for the Church to take a stand against this sort of thing. Sermon anyone?”
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From my spam e-mail folder: “New reports show men are sex hungry”.
Mingle2 – How Sexually Experienced Are You?21

ROG

ROG

Happy Odd Couple Day

HAPPY ODD COUPLE DAY!
Here’s a tease for the movie version showing on TCM

And here’s the original TV intro; the voiceover part was dropped in later seasons:

I’m recalling a Mark Evanier post of six months ago, addressing that TV opening:
“On November 13th, Felix Unger was asked to remove himself from his place of residence. That request came from his wife. Deep down, he knew she was right, but he also knew that someday he would return to her. With nowhere else to go, he appeared at the home of his childhood friend, Oscar Madison. Sometime earlier, Madison’s wife had thrown him out, requesting that he never return. Can two divorced men share an apartment without driving each other crazy?”
Specifically, the part about Felix returning to his wife: was that inserted because of fear that Felix and Oscar might be perceived to be…(horrors) gay by the American television viewing audience? Yet that concern apparently DIDN’T exist in the movie version or the play that was produced, of course, in an earlier time.

If his observation is accurate, and I believe it is, why was that done? I suspect it’s because the producers’ thinking was that people go to to the theater and the movies, but TV comes into one’s house, and delicate sensibilities needed to be protected from such “untoward inferences”.
ROG

ROG
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