The
phrase “I hate gay people” is the second most popular search that directs
people to this blog from Google. The
most popular search is “critically pissed” for obvious reasons, but it is quite
telling that “I hate gay people” is second (it directs them to the past post: 'I admit it...I hate gay people' by Scott Walkeresque).
If
you found this blog because you googled, “I hate gay people,” you are welcome
to hang around, but I beg you to answer me one question. Why do
you hate gay people so much? I’m
pretty perplexed because I cannot fathom why someone else’s sex life and object
of affection matters so much when it does not affect you. Homosexuality is not ruining America, it is
not breaking down families, it is not spreading some disease, and it does not
spread hate.
I
keep coming to the conclusion that your hatred of gay people is (among other
things) what is hurting America, hurting families, and spreading hate. Please tell me how I am
wrong, because your view just doesn’t make sense to me.
I don't understand gay people. They can feel free to do whatever they want, however, as long as it isn't me.
ReplyDeleteYou sound like a straight guy who doesnt want to be approached by gay guys. Ok. Most people don't like being approached by people they are not interested in having relations with. So I dunno, get over it.
DeleteIt is probably because people are googling articles about Scott Walker and his view on gay marriage and the post you are talking about probably just showed up within the first couple pages of hits, and now that it has so many hits, it continues to show up.
ReplyDeleteDoubt it. I don't think people are curious at all about Scott Walker's stance on gay marriage. It hasn't come up at all in any of the recall stuff. Just saying.
DeleteOne question is Why can't gay people hate gay people? (You ask about interest in someone else's sex life.) Self hatred is not some unachievable condition, in fact since we live in a mostly Christian society, I would think that self hatred is quite common regardless of the label one chooses or has implied upon them.
ReplyDeleteAnother idea I would like to attack, which goes much broader than the question you fielded, is are people gay? If a man ever finds himself in the company of another man, is he gay. I would argue that such labels are almost meaningless. The only time you're really homosexual is when you are having sex with someone who is of the same sex. When the sex is over you are in a state of A-sexuality. You could never have sex again and also suddenly decide you are attracted to the opposite sex, but then when you find yourself having sex whoops dick just slipped into my boyfriend. So are we labelling people by a preference or an action? Mind set? Lifestyle? Clothing chioces? What is a gay person and likewaise what is a straight or bi-sexual person? If someone makes a choice to have sex with a particular person, does that incurr such a label? I don't think so. This goes to the heart of issues I discussed in an existentialism class. The label causes you to either conform or rebel against the steriotype if you accept it (the label). Whether or not I have sex at all, have sex with a particular person, or group of people (lets not disregard orgies) does not impact my radical freedom to always have to make any choice. Even the having been gay does not make one gay. The act is left in the past as well as the ideas you had. If you wish to consider yourself gay then you have accepted a label, objectified yourself.
I hate that we even have these labels. All they do is try to box people in and keep them from growth and change. Whether you are interested in sex with men, women, or others and whether you actually take part in such an act should have no bearing on your choices in the future other than to take into account information about those experiences.
I suppose I could say that I hate gay people, but not the people, rather the label. I can just as easily say that I hate straight people as a label as well. What I really hate is speaking in negatives. Let's not speak of who I hate, but rather who I love. I love people who let me know what they believe or think. I love people who take the time to listen. I love people who are interesting to me. I love people who help me. I love people who need me. I suppose I shouldn't make an exhaustive list, but it does go on. It seems to me that the terms "gay" and "straight" are in themselves very negative. To say one or the other is to make a negative declaration about the list of people with whom you would have sex. If you say you are gay then what you are saying is "I never have sex with women, and there is likely a very limited number of men with whom I would have sex." The same can be said for lesbians, and straight people with regards to they're preferences. I believe the label of bi-sexual is more honest and perhaps a more positive meaning: "I may have sex with a man or woman depending on that person's individual qualities." By honest I mean that anyone at any time can decide to have sex with any other person, and this is true for anyone who believes that they have free will.
I'm lead now to a question about whether, in daily language, we speak in implications or in truths. In other words if I call you gay, do i mean "you are behaving in a gay manner" or do I mean "you are concretely and permanently gay"? Perhaps you'd like to respond on that issue.
-Free Willy
Some people openly identify themselves as gay because it means they are sexually attracted to the same sex, and desire a relationship with someone of the same sex. Other than that, the rest of what "gay" means, to me anyway, is a bunch of stereotypes. The term "gay" doesn't have to be negative, but of course it is used negatively as in, "that's so gay", stuff like that. And it doesn't have to "box people in". Sure the label does objectify and make oneself concrete in an abstract way, but sometimes labels are necessary for practical purposes. Also, language confuses most things more than it has to, one could say, "you're acting gay", or "you are gay" and those could mean basically the same thing, depending on the context and who the speaker/recipient is. I'm not really sure what you're trying to say, much of it seems besides the point of the original post, which was that there are a number of people, most presumedly straight people, that hate gay people, which is unreasonable, not to mention just mean and terrible.
DeleteYes, much of what I said is besides the point of the original post, however, being that I don't fit into the category of "people who hate gay people because they are gay" I felt that what I said was representative of my particular position. Just because I can't answer directly doesn't mean I have no thoughts on the matter. What I said was a reaction to the post rather than a direct answer to the intended question. I do have a particular view that I am trying to express and it is applicable to the conversation. The view is "people aren't and shouldn't be confined to labels"
DeleteThis applies to everyone. We are all changeable and dynamic. If someone says something negative about others it doesn't mean that they are bad. It doesn't mean they are unreasonable (although I admit people can be difficult) they simply said something. What I want to focus on is the mindset, the emotional state of the people involved and how that influences their behavior. What we consider poor behavior is often perfectly reasonable behavior if we consider the emotional state of the actor/actress. Thinking on this I wonder about "cool headed cruelty". That seems the most offensive to me, and yet I wonder if it is in fact "cool headed" or informed. There are people we consider sociopaths and psychopaths. I'm not sure how to think about those folks. Would I even consider them sane? ...I guess the idea that I would like to submit is that intolerance of intolerance seems hypocritical and counterproductive. Can't we lead by example? Rather than attacking the purpotrators of intolerance, can't we invite them to become more tolerant by showing them how people can accept eachother even though they don't understand eachother?
What I mean is that if you call some group of people unreasonable, mean and terrible how are you working to resolve the issue? I would suggest raising the bar of what it is to be considerate. Ex:Someone throws a rock at you, why pick it up and throw it back if what you want to accomplish is for people to stop throwing rocks?
Well, I like your openmindedness I suppose, and what seems like good intent, but your ideas are scattered and they are hard to follow, to be honest. And labels don't have to be confining. People willingly label themselves all of the time. I know people who have no problem calling themselves all sorts of things. So basically, a label to me is only confining if you let it be confining. If someone labels you as something, do you accept it? Do you refute it? Do you ignore it? There are lots of things people can do with labels, and a lot of ways to handle being labelled. But labelling is besides the point. And I never called some group of people unreasonable, mean and terrible; from my statement, I said that to hate gay people is unreasonable, mean and terrible. I attacked the position, not the people themselves. If anyone who says "I hate gay people" wants to come defend their position, then OK, but they sure have a lot of explaining to do, because I can't think of one good reason to truly feel that way; homophobia is extremely irrational to me. Of course we could rationally explain why people are homophobic, but that does not rationalize the behavior, and it certainly doesn't mean that we should just agree to disagree or accept that we don't understand each other and get along anyway, becuase that REALLY gets nothing accomplished. And by the way, I don't think there is anything wrong with being intolerant of intolerance. If we all tolerated intolerance, then no one would be compelled to tolerate anyone that they felt strong emotions against, despite being on irrational grounds. What you're saying is just hairbrained. Lay off the pot. Or smoke more. One of the two.
DeleteLay off the Pot? Is that really necessary? I apologize if you find my reasoning difficult, I myself find it difficult. I never claimed anything about this was easy or even reasonable. As much as I would like to be able to make real sense of everything,the world really is a fucked up place. Anyway, I though about what you said in regards to labels. I touched on the issue of whether a label reffers to an act or a state of being gay. You can't dodge that you are attacking someone. A group of people who you have labeled "people who say 'I hate gay people'". You yourself say that "one could say, 'you're acting gay', or 'you are gay' and those could mean basically the same thing". So in a practical manner you are attacking a specific group of people. I believe homophobes is the popular term. I suppose that my use of "intolerance of intolerance" was innapropriate phraseage.
DeleteI don't think anybody should simply ignore abusive behavior. I also completely understand retaliation. The problem as I see it is that we continue to polarize the situation when what we really want is to bring everybody together.
On the boxing in by labels: the reactions themselves are the boxing in that I'm talking about. You become oriented towards the label: ignore IT, refute IT, accept IT.
A further admition: I haven't though any of this all the way through. That's why I'm engaging in conversation. I hope to learn and grow through this thought process along with you, my "adversary".
What I'm asking is that we look beyond the exteriors of the homophobic and try to get a hold on the piece of their mind that agrees that what they are doing is hurtful and unnecessary. I think that if you point directly at it they will deny it. It will fade from even their own belief.
I'll admit that everybody is different, and that there's no one solution. I applaud you for even asking the question "why" hate gay people. It seems to me that you also answer the question for them. "because it's mean" because "they are mean".
Why are people mean?
-Free Willy
On a side note: There's this comic (can't remember his name but he's part of the "blue collar comedy" crew. The "you might be a redneck" guys), he tells this joke about "everydody's a little gay". It goes like this: you like watching porn huh? "yea." Well do you like porn where the guys have tiny little dicks are great big dicks? He says "I like great big dicks! oh, I did not know that about myself...." Get it? So back to my original question: Why can't gay people hate gay people?
Delete-Free Willy
No I did not imply the answer is "because it's mean" or because "they are mean".
DeleteI'm sure there is a REAL answer out there why some people hate gays.
And I'm sure this answer would reveal that there is no rational basis upon which one would take the position of hating gays.
So, we don't have to ask the question "why are people mean?" becuase it is irrelevant, not to mention the idea of what is "mean" is not going to be the same for everyone.
And so far as the labels, you say it's the reaction that matters, and I said IGNORE, ACCEPT, or REJECT, which are all possible reactions.
Anyway, it's seeming like you're really just arguing to argue. Most of what you say does not make any sense at all.
I apologize if I gave you the impression that I'm merely being agrumentative. If you really want to make sense of the gay hate situation, just think about history a bit. The foundations of anti-gay thought are rooted in economics. There was a time when regular people were expected to reproduce and feed the powerful with new peons. Who knows where precisely it began, but in the past children were considered more a commodity, like chattel/slaves. Even today kids are still treated like property in many ways. Initiating negative propaganda about homosexuality would at least be rational in this context. I'm not saying it was or is right, but this is what I believe is the origin of homophobic behavior and sentiments. Why does it continue? Status quo bias perhaps? Is more than 50% of this making sense?
Delete-Free willy
Are you talking about even before the religious idea that it was wrong to be gay being the reason that people hate gays?
DeleteHate is a strong word. I never googled I hate poo pushers but I did google I hate people. I seen you wrote hating gays was the second most common I bet hating niggers was #1. But that is understandable as the whole world hates blacks.
ReplyDelete"The whole world hates blacks." Man, are you narrow minded. There are so many more brown people in the world than whites, and the white population is shrinking. The future is brown.
DeleteI.. Why, man? Do you have some form of cognitive impairment? The author wrote "” the second most popular search that directs people to this blog from Google. The most popular search is “critically pissed” for obvious reasons". Come on bruh, step your reading game up.
DeleteI was one of the Christian commentors on that post a few years back. Believe it or not, it was at that post where I intially began to question why I held the views I did about homosexuality. I understood it to be condemned by religion, but I couldn't bring myself to understand why it should be condemned. Furthermore, I couldn't understand why everyone drew the erroneous correlation between societal ills and the cultural acceptance of homosexuality. I simply saw progress. Beautiful, heart-warming progress. As it is with most everything I've witnessed that works to rid itself of blind intolerance, bigotry and mindless traditions. Since then, I've gotten rid of the shackles of religion and I've become a secular humanist. It's a much brighter worldview. I recommend that anyone who questions their beliefs to pursue that questioning.
ReplyDeleteI sometimes search things like 'I hate gay people' or 'bisexuality in males is a myth' to see what comes up. Thankfully what usually comes up in the results are articles stating otherwise, or satire (like the post mentioned in this one). It is out of curiosity as to what will show up rather than my actual thoughts on the subject.
ReplyDeleteI did read that article but it isn't because I hate homosexuals, its because I don't know how I feel about them. I have pro-con thoughts... I'll admit that most are con, but I'm not happy about it. I know one thing for sure though. I wish people would call it something other than marriage. I, as of now, don't even know my own sexuality. I am most likely straight, but because most of the guys I know are complete butt holes, I just don't know. However I am still young, so there is plenty of time for me to find out.
ReplyDeleteAs for that post. It does seem satire. But I still think it should never have been posted. It is pointless and makes the author look like the butt hole guys I know. And that is not a good thing.