Bwaaahahaha.Slate shines a light on the extremist bigots at Free Republic.

[sufrommich]

What Do Homophobic Bigots Really Think?


There were thousands of comments in response to my last piece at Slate, in which I lashed out against Chick-fil-A president Dan Cathy’s policy of funding anti-gay causes. I tried to dip in and out of the comment thread as often as I could while they were piling up, scanning them for interesting points (of which there were many). But I quickly lost track and had to get back to work on other projects.


Then a reader sent me a link to a discussion of my article at the popular conservative website Free Republic. It’s pure masochism for someone like me to wander such halls; I don’t need to read their posts to know just what ultraconservatives think of my “homosexualism” and me. But curiosity got the better of me. And my, my, my, they really do hate us queers over there. It’s not just Free Republic, of course. Similar anti-gay sentiments are a staple of many gathering places online, not to mention those in the real world.


People are free in this country to say what they will, nasty though it is, about gays and lesbians. What to do about it, then? I believe that treating bigots as scientific specimens is the best way to disarm their hate. I can’t tackle all such propaganda in a single article (I won’t be able to cover the all-gay-men-are-pedophiles argument, the-all-lesbians-just-hate-men argument, or the next-thing-you-know-we’ll-all-be-marrying dogs-and-horses argument), but for now I’ll dissect some of the other common rhetorical devices deployed by those with an anti-gay mindset.






So without further ado, let’s put these mean bastards under the psychological knife.



http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2012/08/anti_gay_bigotry_online_analyzing_homophobic_comments_can_disarm_the_hate_.html

[Lionessa]

3. Demonizing those that are slow to come to acceptance is useless.

Those that will remain till their death bigots, are happy to be demonized by those they hate.

Those that might reconsider and evolve, as has been the case with sexuality be it LGB and T in really pretty amazing strides the past 10-20 years, will be unnecessarily causing withdrawal from consideration when suggesting a saw rather than a knife, and implying brain damage instead of slow to unroot the learned bigotry of their lives.

Just my opinion, do as you wish as it's a reflection on you and no one else.

[renie408]

10. Demonized, maybe. Ridiculed, never.

Nobody likes to be ridiculed, ESPECIALLY by the objects of their bigotry.

I do not disagree with the point you are making, but do you think it is absolutely necessary to point out the flaw in every light hearted comment? Down thread I asked if I could manage to kill my Republican neighbor, per the laws of nature did that mean that I could keep his stuff. It might not be obvious to you, but I do not ACTUALLY want to kill my Republican neighbor. I am not inciting violence nor do I condone violent solutions to situations. That was my possibly weak effort at a joke. If someone comes along and says, "Violence is NEVER the answer.", they are obviously correct. But is that really necessary?

[Lionessa]

20. Sorry, not buying it. Killing jokes (particularly to steal their stuff) to me are like

dead baby jokes, racial jokes, LGBT jokes, pedophilia jokes, sexist jokes,... when said "light-heartedly" particularly, as opposed to a skilled use with a reasonably comic venue, need to be called out.

No one has to agree with me, but imo, that's a reflection on them.

[The Doctor.]

32. The you have entirely missed the point of it.

Dead baby, racial, LGBT, pedo, and sexist jokes are intellectually pointless. They are strictly for the purpose of eliciting some form of revulsion and are seldom ever clever.

A joke about killing a Republican in a way or for a reason that reflects their own values makes a point, and while it may not be funny to everyone, it actually has intellectual value. In Renie408's case, it is a valid reflection on the uncivilized mindset of Republicans. I didn't even see it as a joke, but as a legitimate point.

[renie408]

35. Well, then, I am sure you are a lot of fun at a party. n/t

[Lionessa]

36. Apparently not the bigotry hidden in humor parties you go to, no I wouldn't be.

That said, the OP was nothing at all similar to a party atmosphere. As I said originally, unless it is presented in the proper comedic venue, which is NOT this thread, imo, which began with an intelligent, non-snarky article, not a comic or humorous or even satirical.

Perhaps you wouldn't be much of a fit in a room full of political activists trying to find solutions. I'd rather be useful in such a group than being fun at one of your parties.

[chknltl]

16. I agree

After reading what you posted I am reminded that I support the notion of not demonizing those who are firmly entrenched on the right. Some are close friends of mine-some I hope to bring out of the darkness.

My weak attempt at humor post is deleted, thank you for the reality check.

[Lionessa]

21. Thank you so much for your reconsideration, it's so rare on line. HUGS!

[chknltl]

40. An example of why you have it right:

This DU link is to an OP essentially created by a Republican. When one of these voters decides to switch their precious vote from Republican to Democrat it is like we gained two votes for the price of one! (Republicans lose a vote and we gain a vote).

In my opinion these precious votes can be chased away by a bad attitude on our side. Screaming at or making fun of those on the right will never gain us anything but a measure of self satisfaction, (at best).

Otoh the very policies set forth by the corporatist run GOP leaders will affect everyone including those who support them. When someone on the right gets stung hard enough by those policies the Left begins to look a whole lot different.

Where others HERE might have offended this guy should he have ghosted through here for even a week prior to his transition, there are a few of us hoping to have shown him a different side thereby encouraging that transition. This is just one example, there are tens of thousands, maybe even millions more of these voters out there like him. Read his post and you will know that YOU Lionessa have it right.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021135316

[Lionessa]

43. Yes, we are thinking the same thing.

Also I used to be a Repub, till Bush won the 2000 primary. So had Dems been snotty to me, it'd be hard to still be. Instead I've moved even farther left than most on here because I was allowed my time to consider and reconsider my past positions. Once one talking point starts to fold it becomes very easy to question the next, and the next, and viola! a liberal progressive is achieved.

[DaveJ]

29. Considering them "specimens" has a specific purpose, IMO

Since a writer has the idea, I would say that he is proposing this as a rhetorical technique. Writing about these people as though they have curious issues. These are not mental problems, but a way of thinking that threatens peaceful existence. Beyond just being a threat to GLBT community, they are a threat to everyone since they tend to vote Republican.

[Lionessa]

2. This is very good, and great ideas for upending their talking points.

One of my favorites to Bering's #1- Homosexuality is a choice, is to say okay fine it's a choice, we are supposed to be a country free to make choices that don't harm others.

I like Bering's much better.

The homosexuality-as-choice argument: Those who repeatedly make this claim are actually revealing something about their own sexuality: they are bisexual. Since human beings use a form of mental analogy whenever trying to understand another person’s behavior, the “choice” argument reflects the reasoning process of an individual who has experienced notable arousal to the same sex in addition to the opposite sex, but has chosen to act only on that inspired by the latter. A true heterosexual, by contrast, has never experienced meaningful same-sex desires and understands that one cannot choose to act on what is simply not there.

The secret bisexuality of those who just cannot seem to grasp that being gay is not, in fact, a choice also helps us to understand the intense hostility that some males feel for openly gay men. Research has shown a positive correlation between a man’s loathing of gay men and his own repressed same-sex desires. “Since homosexual behavior violates both their moral code and their sense of identity,” explained the psychologists Donald Mosher and Kevin O’Grady long ago, “homosexual threat is experienced as men become aware at some level of their … arousal to homosexual stimuli. This awareness can be avoided by anger, disgust, and contempt directed against homosexuals, as a means of bolstering hypersexual identity.” The psychologist Henry Adams has used a device called a plethysmograph that measures penile arousal to show that the more aversion a man says he feels toward gay men—and even more disturbingly, the more willing he is to inflict pain upon them—the more intense is his erection to gay porn.

At Slate there are numerous links within the text, don't stop here, or you'll miss a lot.

[arcane1]

28. That's similar to my $1,000 choose-to-be-gay-for-a-day challenge

Fortunately, I've never had to pay up

[sinkingfeeling]

4. Excellent article. I live in a natural world.

[renie408]

5. One of the points he made got me to thinking...

It was that thing about freepers saying that homosexuality was unnatural, and therefore shouldn't be given any credence. If we are going to go strictly by the laws of nature, does that mean if I can beat my Republican neighbor to death, I can have all his stuff? Cause I am a pretty stout woman and strong as an ox and mean as a fucking snake on top of all that and he is not a big guy. He has a big mouth, but he is NOT a big guy and has some age on him, too. I think I can take him.

[LittleGirl]

22. LOL eom

[Arkansas Granny]

6. Great read. Unfortunately, those who could learn something from the info available in it

will not allow themselves to be educated. They prefer to stick to their hidebound prejudices and hate anyone who doesn't agree with them or their beliefs.

[Lionessa]

12. May I suggest then, this is more written for us, not the bigots, it's logic to shut down

their talking points.

[Hydra]

14. It's more for us to laugh at

And to remind us of the scientific backdrop.

I only say this because I wound up outing one of my co-workers when he was ranting about people choosing to be gay. I asked him if this was Iran, and it was illegal to be straight, would he take a male lover or a bullet?

I never heard that line out of him again, but I doubt I changed any minds that day. Logic isn't effective when someone wants to believe something.

[Lionessa]

38. With so many changing their support over the past couple of decades,

I don't think your co-worker should be your example for all who are slow to the table. Sounds like he's going to be part of the 20% that are just plain bigoted against probably all sorts of stuff, and intends to remain so. To disregard the huge change in public (which means many who used to be bigoted) gives me hope that these types of logical, rational, non-accusatory responses and rebuttals will be very useful for those folks that simply haven't been able to shed the bigotry of their time, but will given some sensible replies.

[Hydra]

41. That's mainly why I pointed it out

The sea change is coming from people who are open minded and not listening to the bigots. I was telling one of my friends that I think the Chick-a-filet thing was a turning point, where the unaffiliated people stopped supporting the status quo and basically said "Quit it! We're tired of hearing how you hate gays!"

Will these bigots change their minds? A lot of them will have to deal and evolve, but look at how much racism and sexism there still is there still is after 100 years of dragging basically the same people along toward civilization.

[Lionessa]

44. You're missing my point entirely.

So long as you continue to call those that are not yet evolved bigots, they have no reason to listen to you. Surely not all will evolve, but to suggest that everyone still with bigoty attitudes are hopelessly bigoted is to deny recent history.

[Hydra]

47. *Confused*

Are you suggesting that because I don't think they can change, that I'm fossilizing them in their particular place?

I simply let them know that I don't agree with their position and that treating other humans badly is not something admirable.In the case of the person asserting to the office about "choosing" to be gay(with others nodding sagely), I thought that calling him on it was the appropriate way to keep the stupid from spreading.

By all means, hope for people to evolve and come around, but they have their preferred viewpoint for whatever reason they believe is valid, and they don't welcome us to point out that their POV is groundless. It'll have to become mainstream and shunned to be hateful for it to stop a lot of these people...and as I saw on FB the other day, even then they don't stop. Post against Obama invoking race, Kenya and insult all in one- stunningly stupid and hateful...just like Akin's comment.

[Arkansas Granny]

30. The big problem with that is that the bigots don't respond to logic.

[Lionessa]

37. If that were the case, LGBTs wouldn't have come so far in the past

couple of decades.

Yes, some won't respond and still won't respond regardless of what's said positively or negatively, but many have, and many are inching closer. It would be a shame to lose them rather than welcome them to a new and better world.

[hifiguy]

7. Excellent article

and a thorough disembowelling of the Fweeper mindset in all its batshit forms.

[closeupready]

8. This tidbit is another sample of self-revealing psychobabble:

>>* If your personal identity revolves around your lust for other men’s stinking anuses, a particularly disgusting form of depravity that spreads horrific diseases, the chest swells with self-satisfaction. What a sick world we live in.<<

Reveals much about the poor regular and ongoing personal hygiene of those making the remarks.

And what's most ironic is probably, these are the same people who think those about whom they are speaking are going to want their "stinking anuses". Um, no thanks. Plenty of men with good hygiene who are openly gay and, guess what, plenty of straight men also have better hygiene than you do. In fact, gay men have the best hygiene, for lots of reasons.

[renie408]

11. OMG! When I read that, I said to myself, "Huh, I wonder how he knows what an anus smells like?" n/t

[Berlin Expat]

25. Freepers seem to have a most

unhealthy obsession with anal intercourse, as well as coprophagia.

I suspect that a good many of them have some "sekrit yurnings" that they dare not admit to, much less attempt to confront in an intellectually or emotionally honest manner.

[alfredo]

13. Damn. I always thought that coronal ridge was to keep my hand from slipping off.

[Hydra]

15. DUzy!

I got a good chuckle out of the section, especially about the study on competing sperm.

Who'da thunk it?

[alfredo]

23. It makes sense. Passing on our genes is the reason.

[Hydra]

33. I know, but the fact that our bodies are so versatile

Back in my biology days, it was all static- you ran as fast as you can run from the tiger, and it either caught you or you got away.

The details are fascinating- feel threatened by another guy impregnating the lady you want? Use your sperm boosters!

[alfredo]

34. Or in this case, a vaginal squeegee.

[Warpy]

42. Looks like rubbish to me

If it's meant to clean anything out, it's the normal, acidic secretions that are hostile to sperm, semen itself being alkaline to counteract what's left.

[emulatorloo]

31. Lol

[DiverDave]

17. I really cannot go to fr. any longer

it gives me a headache to try and unravel what answer went to
what post...
I found this site:
http://vikingkitties.blogspot.com/
It saves me the headaches.

[AlbertCat]

18. Again???

These arguments again? (the arguments, not the article's dissection of them)

But, y'know... the Freeper types are a minority in decline. My niece and her friends just don't care if anyone is gay or not. Look at that arbiter of public opinion: TV

The gay characters (that aren't psycho murderers!)
I mean... RuPaul has TWO shows on TV!



The people have spoken.


Prop8 took tons of money from outside to pass
The NC thing only passed because it was in a primary election with no Dem candidates to vote for.

They are the last flailing of a dying creature.

[patrice]

26. e.g. Nate Berkus! I wonder if homophobic men are jealous of how comfortable hetero- women

are with LGBTQ?

[formercia]

19. It's in there Genes

assholeism is a hereditary trait. If only there was Gene Therapy for the likes of RimJob.

[Skittles]

24. don't they have any gay relatives, friends, coworkers?

they're so over-the-top ridiculous

[Diclotican]

27. sufrommich

sufrommich

I once had a friend - a good friend of my by the way, who had a troublesome idea about his own sexuality, a father of two kids (who is great by the way) But at least as long as I know him, not a good father.. and was always talking about his own libo (yes he did) and the rather open ideas about homosexuals - he often used swearwords that I guess most would find offensive when he was irritated - and I guess anyone who was homosexual would find them outright distasteful to say at least... I suspect him to be a closed gay, as he was little to offensive about it... But I guess, compared to what is the norm there in US, he would have passed for a rather liberal homofob...

Diclotican

[RainDog]

39. excellent article n/t

[chknltl]

45. Great read, great info. bookmarking

[KnR too.

[Blue Owl]

46. Jeepers Freepers

What a bunch of Creepers!