Re: Willow Palin's homophobic Facebook rant

> Um, isn't the whole point of saying it that it *is* unacceptable? The
> author expects reasonability to enter into this sea of insults?

Reminds me of Kaylee on Firefly: "The whole point of swearing is that
it ain't appropriate."

I have strong feelings about this. Last year, I was pummelled by a
group of friends on Facebook when I used the word "gay" to describe
something negatively. People that are dear and close to me, people
that I've known for decades, who were on the verge of de-friending me
because I said the word "gay" in a context they didn't find
acceptable. One of them told me she was in tears, and that she thought
she knew me better than that, etc.

These are people who know how I feel about homosexuality, how I've
campaigned loudly (and sometimes obnoxiously) to de-stigmatize it in
our local church, who know that I was the sole support for a suicidal
youth minister and dear friend who came out to me after 20+ years of
secrecy and shame.

I was flabbergasted. It became clear that it really didn't matter who
I was, what my actions were, or how I felt. It only mattered that I
expressed myself in a way that has been arbitrarily rendered
"inappropriate." I was not only stunned and hurt, I was outraged and
indignant. Words have multiple meanings whether we like it or not, and
this is one of them.

I don't know Willow Palin (though I must say she sounds like a
*lovely* girl), but if she's anything like most modern teens, she very
likely uses these words without a moment's thought devoted to
homosexuality. It's a word, get over it.

Louis CK's bit about this is not only hilarious, but insightful:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IFloXOuLgA

-- 
-pcg
 [email protected]

-- 
dadl-ot mailing list
http://mail.thehood.us/mailman/listinfo/dadl-ot_thehood.us
http://news.gmane.org/gmane.music.dadl.ot