“Online-enabled voice chat” has become my biggest videogame turnoff ever; I’d rather spend the next three days of my life whacking at overlarge forest rats with my Stick of Beating than listen to a fourteen year-old’s desperate insistence that I’m a.) a faggot, b.) a nigger or c.) a faggot-ass nigger for five minutes. Kotaku interviewed a couple of mental health professionals who revealed the obvious: it’s about the power dynamics at play, and there’s a common dynamic whereby many young white men feel most empowered by reducing everyone they encounter to demeaned scum.
The post discusses methods of dealing with the abuse, which basically focus on ignoring it and/or calling out the psychology behind the epithets. But what I’m more interested in is why the need for dominance so readily expresses itself in sexual and racial terms, particularly when such terms would be completely anathema in real life. It’s not just shitty trash talk, aggression when your everyday life calls for restraint. It’s wholesale cultural warfare, lived out through commandos, space commandos and other forms of fantasy and/or science-based commandos.
It’s striking how much the politics of cultural resentment resemble the feelings of constant victimization that accompany puberty. If you’re asking whether or not this means the Corner is a glorified reliving of the angry kids in your high school who read the first hundred pages of The Fountainhead and refused to smoke not because it was bad for them, but because it was the vice of their intellectual inferiors (read: people that were actually liked by others), then yes. Yes, it is exactly that. The blame and hatred that occurs here isn’t just about meaningless abuse, it’s about a very meaningful form of abuse that lumps together and transfers a set of real-life cultural grievances, transferred and taught, onto what functions as far more than just a game for the people in the abuser’s seat. The irony is that, despite the anger, it’s precisely because the targeted groups are so inherently powerless over a white male majority that they feel so free to heap abuse on whoever comes their way.
Reactionary social conservatism may not be best explained through the backlash to civil rights movements of the past 50 years, the rise of Ronald Reagan or Rush Limbaugh’s call queue, but instead the nastier end of a Counter-Strike tournament.
It’s nice to see rapist/murderer-releasing ex-governor, Baptist minister-without-a-theology-degree and failed GOP prez candidate Mike Huckabee engaging in the Oppression Olympics when it comes to doling out civil rights. In this appearance on The View, the former Arkansas chief executive thinks homos should get a taste of the Bull Connor violence in order to rise to the level of respect to beg to receive the same rights as other Americans. (h/t JMG):
HUCKABEE: It’s a different set of rights. People who are homosexuals should have every right in terms of their civil rights, to be employed, to do anything they want. But that’s not really the issue. I know you talked about it and I think you got into it a little bit early on. But when we’re talking about a redefinition of an institution, that’s different than individual civil rights.
BEHAR: Well, segregation was an institution, too, in a way. It was right there on the books.
HUCKABEE: But here is the difference. Bull Connor was hosing people down in the streets of Alabama. John Lewis got his skull cracked on the Selma bridge.
Here I am about to kick back and relax my weary bones and then this completely deranged document lands in my inbox.
After today’s news about the California Supreme Court’s decision to review Prop 8’s constitutionality, we got wind of this amicus brief filed in support of letting Prop 8 stand from some outfit called The Kingdom of Heaven World Divine Mission. You have to read it to believe it…it’s filed on behalf of God and His Plan. I’m not sh*tting you.
I. OVERVIEW STATEMENT OF FACTS
Throughout the world, each and all countries have constitutions and federal laws. These laws must be enforced accordingly. In the United States of America, we have the United States Constitution and federal laws. In addition, each and all states in the Union have State Constitutions and State laws.
Whether a law is created under the United States Constitution or an individual state’s constitution, the enforcement of all laws is vested to the people!
The House and Senate members represent people, and they must always act on the desires of the majority of their constituents.
Throughout the world, it is the responsibility of judges and justices to interpret the laws accurately, and they must then issue their opinions based on the laws and the merits of these cases. Judges and justices are prohibited from making laws from the bench.
The power of making laws in the United States and State of California is vested to the people, not to judges or justices. On November 4, 2008, the majority or 52% of California voters voted “YES” on the Proposition 8 initiative and Constitutional Amendment: Marriage between one man and one woman! These 52 % of voters obeyed the order of the Almighty Eternal Creator of the earth and human race as recorded in the Holy Bible in Genesis 1: 26-27.
The Almighty Eternal Creator created all planets, including the earth and all living creatures, including human souls. Through elections and appointments, Global government leaders and officials are selected by the Almighty Eternal Creator to serve the people. The Almighty Eternal Creator is the sole owner of the earth and everything above, below, and in it. Global government leaders work under authority of the Almighty Eternal Creator. Therefore, throughout the world, government legislatures and people must make laws under the Almighty Eternal Creator’s Laws. Global government leaders, judges, justices, and law enforcement officials must practice the sole owner of the earth’s Laws in their daily practice.
The Kingdom is just getting warmed up. The unhinged document continues below the fold, as it goes into detail about why the Almighty Eternal Creator’s Laws overrule global government laws when it comes to the homos.
This column is so ludicrous, given that the aging action star makes a living pretending to kick ass. More importantly, Chuck Norris is a hypocrite calling for mob rule at the ballot box. I’d love to see how he’d feel if the rights of his fellow “Christians” were subject to majority rule.
[T]he tolerance-preaching activists also have taken their anger to the blogosphere, where posts have planted ideas ranging from burning churches to storming the citadels of government until our society is forced to overturn Prop. 8. You even can find donor blacklists online. The lists include everyone who financially backed Prop. 8—even those who gave as little as $46—with the obvious objective that these individuals will be bantered and boycotted for doing so.
What’s wrong with this picture? Lots.
First, there’s the obvious inability of the minority to accept the will of the majority. Californians have spoken twice, through the elections in 2000 and 2008. Nearly every county across the state (including Los Angeles County) voted to amend the state constitution in favor of traditional marriage.
Nevertheless, bitter activists simply cannot accept the outcome as being truly reflective of the general public. So they have placed the brainwashing blame upon the crusading and misleading zealotry of those religious villains: the Catholics, evangelical Protestants, and especially Mormons, who allegedly are robbing the rights of American citizens by merely executing their right to vote and standing upon their moral convictions and traditional views.
Wow. Even better, he compares protests over the act of civil rights being taken away from a group of citizens to the right’s dismay over the election of Barack Obama.
There were many of us who passionately opposed Obama, but you don’t see us protesting in the streets or crying “unfair.” Rather, we are submitting to a democratic process and now asking how we can support “our” president. Just because we don’t like the election outcome doesn’t give us the right to bully those who oppose us. In other words, if democracy doesn’t tip our direction, we don’t swing to anarchy. That would be like the Wild West, the resurrection of which seems to be happening in these postelection protests.
I agree with Prison Fellowship’s founder, Chuck Colson, who wrote: “This is an outrage. What hypocrisy from those who spend all of their time preaching tolerance to the rest of us! How dare they threaten and attack political opponents? We live in a democratic country, not a banana republic ruled by thugs.”
The ignorance takes your breath away - how have his rights been removed in any way by the presidential election? Perhaps someone should point him to The Blend McCain mob files, where there are a ton of incidents of good, hard-working Christians turning into anarchists as they saw victory slipping through their fingers. How soon he forgets.
As you can see, the meme of the violent gays is out there, and Newt Gingrich and Co. are more than happy to stir the pot. He’s the last person who needs to talk about protecting marriage.
From the November 14 edition of Fox News’ The O’Reilly Factor:
O’REILLY: OK, now, the culture war. I know you’ve been flying around the country, and you’re doing stuff. In the last three or four days, this is really nasty stuff. I mean, you know, hyper—we’re gonna show you some of the video. A woman getting a cross smashed out of her hand. We had a church in Michigan invaded by gay activists. We’re gonna show you the video on Monday of that—we have exclusively. We had a guy in Sacramento fired from his job. We had boycotts called on restaurants.
I mean, it is getting out of control, very few days after the election. How do you assess that?
GINGRICH: Look, I think there is a gay and secular fascism in this country that wants to impose its will on the rest of us, is prepared to use violence, to use harassment. I think it is prepared to use the government if it can get control of it. I think that it is a very dangerous threat to anybody who believes in traditional religion. And I think if you believe in historic Christianity, you have to confront the fact. And, frank—for that matter, if you believe in the historic version of Islam or the historic version of Judaism, you have to confront the reality that these secular extremists are determined to impose on you acceptance of a series of values that are antithetical, they’re the opposite, of what you’re taught in Sunday school.
OMFG. He’s at it again—recloseted homosexual and anti-gay activist James Hartline is ensuring his place in the nutbag hall of fame with another one of his rants on Acts of GodTM being caused by TEH GAYZ.
God keeps trying to get their attention. They, for their part, are shouting so loud for the acceptance of homosexuality, that they cannot hear the thunderous warnings of God: “Repent! For the judgment comes soon!”
Each time homosexual activists attempt to force their agenda on California, there have been raging, massive, incinerating fires sweeping across the California landscape.
Today, people are running for their lives as 800 California homes have burned down and the firestorm is spreading like a nuclear holocaust. Yet, the radical homosexual anarchists rampage upon the streets of this state demanding the destruction of marriage and family, and the establishment of their socialistic dark vision for society.
You see, the problem is this: God has plans for California in the near days ahead. Thus, these attempts to force an ungodly tyranny on this state are being met blow with blow by God. God is saying, “California shall be a refuge for America when the catastrophes come. California belongs to Me, not the advocates of sexual anarchy.”
The more that homosexual activists press their battle in California, the more there will be great calamaties in this state.
You know, this bleating seems very familiar…oh yeah, he did this same sort of nonsense last year, same time, same bat channel, in the “homosexual stronghold of Hillcrest” over the fires in San Diego.
They shook their fists at God and said, “We don’t care what God says, we will issue our legal brief to support gay marriage in San Diego!” Then Mayor Jerry Sanders mocked the Christian vote and signed off on this rebellious legal document to support same-sex marriage.
And then the streets of La Jolla under the Mt. Soledad Cross began to cave in.
They shook their fists at God and said, “We don’t care what the Bible says, We want the California school children indoctrinated into homosexuality!” And then Governor Schwarzenegger signed into law the heinous SB777 which bans the use of “mom” and “dad” in the text books and promotes homosexuality to all school children in California.
And then the wildfires of Southern California engulfed the land like a raging judgment against the radicalized anti-christian California rebels.
How many ways of wrong is this? CEO of Cinemark, Alan Stock, who gave $9999 to Yes on 8, be allowed to earn one dime on the back of Harvey Milk’s legacy by running Gus Van Sant’s “Milk” in his theaters (it opens wide on Nov. 26)?
If 1,000 of us commit to see MILK at a competitor’s theater instead of Cinemark, at an average cost of $10 per ticket, that’s $10,000 of lost revenue.
Boycotts work. A boycott of a Sacramento theatre company resulted not only in the resignation of a Yes on 8 contributor, but a public apology and donation to Human Rights Campaign! We can do this again.
You can find an alterative theater using the links on the left, and join our facebook group below to spread the word! Help us reach 1000 members so we can send a message to Mr. Stock: YOU WILL NOT PROFIT FROM HATE.
The movie houses to avoid are “Century”, “CinéArts”, and “Tinseltown” theater chains.
In the end, Protect Marriage estimates, as much as half of the nearly $40 million raised on behalf of the measure was contributed by Mormons.
That was the statement confirming the extent of the financial involvement of the members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to pass Prop 8. That is mind-blowing.
The extent to which this church felt the need to involve itself, not only with cash from its faithful, but by marshalling an army of Mormon volunteers to participate in phone banking, canvassing and disseminating propaganda and lies to remove a civil right from a group of citizens in California is beyond disturbing.
In the NYT article, “Mormons Tipped Scale in Ban on Gay Marriage,” the details emerge about the win-at-all-costs strategy that seems less about pure belief and faith than political activism and bullying.
First approached by the Roman Catholic archbishop of San Francisco a few weeks after the California Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage in May, the Mormons were the last major religious group to join the campaign, and the final spice in an unusual stew that included Catholics, evangelical Christians, conservative black and Latino pastors, and myriad smaller ethnic groups with strong religious ties.
And the bottom line is that the full-frontal assault by Yes on 8 came down to the fact that the Mormons were willing to go door to door in a systematic manner—to make the difference. See how they did it below the fold.
Marjorie Chrisoffersen, the manager of eatery El Coyote in Los Angeles, is a Mormon who donated to “Yes on 8.” With a large gay clientele, the owner should not have been surprised when they decided to boycott the establishment. In an attempt to explain her position she held a lunch to “personally speak” with her regulars. Well, it didn’t go so hot for Margie. Timothy Kincaid of Box Turtle Bulletin was there and he had this to say about it:
Although Margie is usually a spry woman, today she was breathless, and distraught and appeared fragile, not an easy task for a woman of her height. She stood supported between her daughters and read a prepared speech - most of which had already been released.
She praised the restaurant as a beacon of diversity, people from all places and where everyone doesn’t have to agree, where they can get along even with differing views. She credited her aunt for being sympathetic to the plight of the “gay individual” before there was support and how the restaurant became a safe haven for “that community”. She told of visiting sick people and providing “a healing place”.
She explained that she had been a member of the Mormon Church all her life and that she had responded to their request with a personal donation. She shared that El Coyote had contributed to many gay interests and charities.
Margie told of the 89 employees whose families relied on their job. She expressed how customers were part of the Coyote family. She lamented that this situation could harm a place with such diversity and harmony and joy and mutual respect and diversity of viewpoints.
“It saddens me that my faith will keep some from coming to the Coyote. But I cannot change a lifetime of faith in what I believe deeply. And I cannot and will not change my love and respect for your views”.
Out of the 43 men who have been raised to the office of the presidency, exactly 43 have been some version of professed Christian. How genuine or thorough their beliefs were or are is, of course, an area of debate, but it’s simply inarguable that each of them claimed to adhere to some belief in Christ as a divine savior. According to Ken Blackwell, American Christians are to this day persecuted, and should rise up and take to the streets to fight for their beliefs and representation in our public discourse.
Out of the 43 men who have been raised to the office of the presidency, exactly one has been black. We can be pretty sure of that. According to Ken Blackwell, racism’s pretty much dead, and black people should stop whining about how hard things are for them.
Again, to clarify: Christianity being a de facto qualification for the highest office in the land is indicative of how many obstacles there are to Christian advancement in public life; one black president in nearly two and a half centuries means that all barriers to black advancement have fallen. There is one thing about Blackwell’s argument that deserves a deeper look, though, and it’s this:
There was no mandate to change our social culture.
The most visible social issue in this election is marriage. State constitutional amendments protecting traditional marriage passed in all three states where it was on the ballot. While such measures passing in Florida and Arizona is no surprise, the fact that it also passed in California, a liberal state, is proof that the vast majority of Americans regard marriage as a union between a man and woman.
Another cultural measure is racial preferences. The U.S. Supreme Court has struck down racial quotas as unconstitutional. In 2003, the Court also struck down a race-preference program that resembled a quota by giving extra points to the college applicants because of race. And in 2007, the Court also struck down a public-school districting program that made race a major factor in determining which school a student attends.
The thread of thought inherent in Blackwell’s remarks hearkens back to this famous passage:
The argument also assumes that social prejudices may be overcome by legislation, and that equal rights cannot be secured to the negro except by an enforced commingling of the two races. We cannot accept this proposition. If the two races are to meet upon terms of social equality, it must be the result of natural affinities, a mutual appreciation of each other’s merits, and a voluntary consent of individuals.
That’s Plessy v. Ferguson.
It’s hard to look at modern-day arguments against such steps as affirmative action and same sex marriage and not come to the conclusion that this same principle of culture superceding rights still governs the right today. Sure, they’re willing to accept those steps which are universally agreed to have been good for us after the fact (who didn’t support desegregation - except for the parts where they actually made people desegregate?), but Blackwell openly mirrors this rationale. Society (by which we mean his brand of Christian) cannot be forced to recognize the rights or even, necessarily, the humanity of those against whom they are bigoted until such point they decide to do so. Anything else is an unfair incursion upon their liberties, answerable only by social action focused on preserving their right to refuse the recognition of others as full members of society.
You could almost appreciate the originalist adherence to one of the most shameful moments in our nation’s history if it wasn’t coupled with the embrace of a totally ahistorical victimology. We’re supposed to resist the revision of our social history while guided by an even larger and far more dangerous revision of the exact same social history. Being a lying, hateful jackass isn’t justified by the fact that the lie would make your hatred the national pastime.
Here we have Keith Olbermann, a straight ally, putting the whole Prop 8 mess into perspective. He noted that at one point in our history, blacks couldn’t marry one another, as slaves were property and those unions were not legal. He is assertively harsh on the bible beaters and anyone who voted Yes on 8.
Finally tonight as promised, a Special Comment on the passage, last week, of Proposition Eight in California, which rescinded the right of same-sex couples to marry, and tilted the balance on this issue, from coast to coast.
Some parameters, as preface. This isn’t about yelling, and this isn’t about politics, and this isn’t really just about Prop-8. And I don’t have a personal investment in this: I’m not gay, I had to strain to think of one member of even my very extended family who is, I have no personal stories of close friends or colleagues fighting the prejudice that still pervades their lives.
And yet to me this vote is horrible. Horrible. Because this isn’t about yelling, and this isn’t about politics.
This is about the… human heart, and if that sounds corny, so be it.
If you voted for this Proposition or support those who did or the sentiment they expressed, I have some questions, because, truly, I do not… understand. Why does this matter to you? What is it to you? In a time of impermanence and fly-by-night relationships, these people over here want the same chance at permanence and happiness that is your option. They don’t want to deny you yours. They don’t want to take anything away from you. They want what you want—a chance to be a little less alone in the world.
Here we go, people. The marriage amendment wins for the bible-beaters in 2008 has convinced the dim bulb wingnuts in the Republican party that the way to remake its tattered image is to focus on social conservatism—womb control and same-sex marriage.
The Republican brand is still alive and well, Rep. Mike Pence said on Fox News Sunday.
When asked by Chris Wallace what “conservative solutions” the GOP would bring to their current minority-party status, Pence said social issues like “the sanctity of marriage” will remain the backbone of the Republican platform.
“You build those conservative solutions, Chris, on the same time-honored principles of limited government, a belief in free markets, in the sanctity of life, the sanctity of marriage,” Pence said.
The Indiana representative cited the ballot measures against gay marriage that passed on Election Day as evidence of the continuing presence of conservative values.
“There were three state referendums on marriage ... all three carried. The vitality of the conservative movement around the country is very real,” said Pence.
I hate to break it to them, but this defeat is not going to stop progress on the LGBT rights front, they are on the wrong side of history. We will emerge from this debacle re-energized to fight religion being used to remove the civil rights of gay and lesbian couples. We do, however, need to do a post-mortem on what can avoid repeating mistakes that made it possible for these amendments to pass.
Speaking of the whole amendment debacle, those of you in Massachusetts who think they are immune to an attack, the fundies are training their scopes on you. Read below the fold.
Hypocrisy much? The Church of Jesus of Christ of Latter-day Saints is unhappy about the fact that the media spotlight is trained on its participation in making Prop 8 happen.
It is disturbing that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is being singled out for speaking up as part of its democratic right in a free election.
Members of the Church in California and millions of others from every faith, ethnicity and political affiliation who voted for Proposition 8 exercised the most sacrosanct and individual rights in the United States — that of free expression and voting.
While those who disagree with our position on Proposition 8 have the right to make their feelings known, it is wrong to target the Church and its sacred places of worship for being part of the democratic process.
Once again, we call on those involved in the debate over same-sex marriage to act in a spirit of mutual respect and civility towards each other. No one on either side of the question should be vilified, harassed or subject to erroneous information.
Bzzt. Wrong answer. The people protesting the church’s significant role in an another state’s democratic process—members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints gave millions of dollars to remove the civil rights of human beings—are merely exercising their right to free speech to highlight that role.
And what is this “erroneous information”? Who knows, the church doesn’t say. The amount of hot air and vapid defensiveness from an institution that has a history of bigotry and oppression against black people has earned every second of this bad press brought on by this media exposure and demonstrations. That the Mormons have trained that bigotry onto gays and lesbians families only confirms that the LDS is what is erroneous and it is repeating that sorry history.
UPDATE: the openly gay president of People for the American Way, Kathryn Kolbert, has released a statement. It’s below the fold.
You could see this coming, and this is what I’m talking about when you ignore the elephant in the room. Rod McCullom of Rod 2.0 blogs reports on the escalation of the “blame the blacks” meme that has been swirling about the blogosphere and the MSM.
A number of Rod 2.0 and Jasmyne Cannick readers report being subjected to taunts, threats and racist abuse at last night’s marriage equality rally in Los Angeles.
Geoffrey, a student at UCLA and regular Rod 2.0 reader, joined the massive protest outside the Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Westwood. Geoffrey was called the n-word at least twice.
It was like being at a klan rally except the klansmen were wearing Abercrombie polos and Birkenstocks. YOU NIGGER, one man shouted at men. If your people want to call me a FAGGOT, I will call you a nigger. Someone else said same thing to me on the next block near the temple…me and my friend were walking, he is also gay but Korean, and a young WeHo clone said after last night the niggers better not come to West Hollywood if they knew what was BEST for them.
Los Angeles resident and Rod 2.0 reader A. Ronald says he and his boyfriend, who are both black, were carrying NO ON PROP 8 signs and still subjected to racial abuse.
Three older men accosted my friend and shouted, “Black people did this, I hope you people are happy!” A young lesbian couple with mohawks and Obama buttons joined the shouting and said there were “very disappointed with black people” and “how could we” after the Obama victory. This was stupid for them to single us out because we were carrying those blue NO ON PROP 8 signs! I pointed that out and the one of the older men said it didn’t matter because “most black people hated gays” and he was “wrong” to think we had compassion. That was the most insulting thing I had ever heard. I guess he never thought we were gay.
The backlash is upon us, and it’s going to get uglier unless our organizations step forward and say something. The desire to scapegoat blacks for Prop 8’s defeat has exposed the now not-so-latent racism in our movement.
I have already blogged a lot about why the lack of effective communication (and I’m not even talking about outreach on gay issues to socially conservative blacks) between white people in general and people of color. That dearth of understanding and mutual respect for difference, and lack of desire to seek common ground through personal relationships ultimately leads to what we are seeing here.
Thousands of people protesting Prop 8 are filling the streets and disrupting traffic during rush hour. Here is a link to live coverage of protests going on right now in Westwood (above).
Journalist Karen Ocamb was at the protests today and shares photos.
From earlier in the day: Protesters line Santa Monica Blvd in front of the Mormon Church - and Rabbi Denise Eger and Pastor James Boline from St. Paul Luther Church in Santa Monica.
“Online-enabled voice chat” has become my biggest videogame turnoff ever; I’d rather spend the next three days of my life whacking at overlarge forest rats with my Stick of Beating than listen to a fourteen year-old’s desperate insistence that I’m a.) a faggot, b.) a nigger or c.) a faggot-ass nigger for five minutes. Kotaku interviewed a couple of mental health professionals who revealed the obvious: it’s about the power dynamics at play, and there’s a common dynamic whereby many young white men feel most empowered by reducing everyone they encounter to demeaned scum. 
Hypocrisy much? The Church of Jesus of Christ of Latter-day Saints is unhappy about the fact that the media spotlight is trained on its participation in making Prop 8 happen.
