Posted by Isis at 132.236.35.61 on August 01, 2001 at 14:29:30:
In Reply to: but here's the thing posted by sean on August 01, 2001 at 13:31:28:
Not for nothing, but my proposal to enter the word "hetwhitmo" into the slang lexicon as a term for people who behave in typical, whitebread macho fashion, was NOT considered a joke though obviously it was. People who belong to priviledged groups tend not to joke about themselves and certainly don't take it kindly when the tables are turned. There are some things it's just not funny to joke about at all and you wouldn't know how badly it hurts unless you had been the target of such shit. Rape jokes aren't funny, the movie "Bubble Boy" isn't funny, the word "gay" used to mean bad isn't funny in the least. If you think they are, you need to honestly question yourself, and so does Kevin.
And just a simple question, if you truly don't feel that you are in the least homophobic, why is the word fag funny? And why is it any funnier than homosexual? Please explain.
I knew your post was a joke and don't worry, I wasn't offended. I just started flipping because I don't want people from this board sending what they think are funny messages to GLAAD, unless we want to prove their point. Yours was the closest post. All apologies.
-- i
have a sense of humor, but i also have my limits
: : I am really worried about people making jokes about this, however. I can see the distinct possibility of all these yuksters deciding this is a great moment to e-mail GLAAD with their favorite fag jokes.
: Here's the thing ... I felt like my post was obviously a joke. The problem with Glaad, with you, and with many other people, is that they can't take a joke for a joke. It's not enough that the jokester didn't mean anything by it, or even that there's nothing apparently offensive in it. They have to go in and dig and decide that using words like 'gay' is wrong. There are three types of statements that all get lumped into one big barrel of homophobia:
: 1) Jokes. These should be ignored or, at best, laughed at. Responding to them as if they were meant seriously is retarded. And queer.
: 2) Truly ignorant people saying ignorant things. Again, these should be ignored (ignore ... ignorant ... clever, right? RIGHT????), because you can't change the small minds of fools and are wasting your breath to try. I know there will always be people who stand up to this kind of thing (those who counter-protest godhatesfags.com, for instance) but, for the most part, it seems pointless to me.
: 3) When jokes go too far. I'm trying to think of good examples, but I really can't. It happens a lot ... Eminem does it sometimes ... but how often does somebody say something that genuinely offends? Really, this game show thing (above) ... how many homosexuals were watching that and said "I'm really hurt by that comment." How could you be? it was made more than twenty years ago by somebody who's (a) probably dead and (b) just using a word to get a joke. It wouldn't be as funny with the word 'homosexual' in place of 'fag', but they're all just words.
: I'm offended by the perpetuation of the stereotype that all white twentysomething males hate gay people, which is what GLAAD seems to believe. [Kevin is saying it too, and it highly offends me, but he already owes me ten grand because I hung out in a mall, as I said elsewhere above.]
: : Just trying to stop that trend before it starts, not that anybody particularly cares what I think.
: I'm not going to E-mail them; I doubt they'd care what I think and I sincerely doubt they'd like to hear a well-rationed argument why they're full of shit, even while their shit is full of cum.
: Okay, that one was wrong. But you know what? I bet people laughed. Not you, Isis, but you're not my target audience for that joke. However, if it actually truly offended you, or anybody else, then I'm sorry. [You shouldn't be, though, there's nothing actually derogatory in there.]