Confessions of a Litigious Mind

The random, irrelevant musings of a law school graduate.

Sunday, March 04, 2007

some people just dont get it

Did you know that 'gay' used to mean happy? When I was growing up it meant 'lame'. And now it means a man who makes love to other men.

posted by josh @ 3/04/2007 12:11:00 PM

9 Comments:

At 3/04/2007 2:37 PM, Blogger Butterflyfish said...

I had a sneaking suspicion about Barney and Fred having a "gay old time" all these years...

 
At 3/04/2007 3:27 PM, Blogger angela said...

Personally, I don't really think that what she said was all that bad.

 
At 3/05/2007 12:41 AM, Blogger josh said...

really? you cant be serious. you dont think calling edwards a faggot was bad? that's like calling a black person the n word. it's something that a person cant help that others use to discriminate against them or demean them. she was calling him gay as an insult...insinuating that there's something wrong with being gay. and to top it off, he isn't even gay. she disagrees with his political views, so she calls him a faggot...talk about the weakest ad hominem attack i've ever heard.

statements like this in the public arena is why much of backwards america thinks it's ok to hate gay people or black people or [insert obvious difference here] people. in case you haven't looked around lately, this is the last kind of thing americans need to be more exposed to. and if you dont see the problem, then you're a huge, bigoted part of it.

but maybe, angela, you just dont like gay people because a lesbian raped you once. i dont know. but i'll tell you one thing, ann coulter had it coming.

 
At 3/05/2007 5:30 PM, Blogger angela said...

I didn't say there wasn't anything wrong with what she said, I said that I didn't think it was all that bad. The statements she made were inappropriate, but in the grand scheme of things, there are worse. I mean, is this really all that shocking? It's ANN COULTER. She is known for saying the most outlandishing things in order to grab media attention; this type of ad hominem attack is textbook for her. She wants people to make a big deal out of it so that she can get publicity. And personally, I feel that when someone enters into politics, they should expect all sorts of attacks on their character, beliefs, sexuality, and God knows what else. It doesn't necessarily make it right, but mudslinging comes with the territory.

 
At 3/05/2007 6:00 PM, Blogger angela said...

Also, just one more thing that I wanted to add -- maybe it was just my interpretation, but I didn't take what Coulter said as her necessarily attacking Edwards's sexuality as much as I took it as her calling him "gay" in the sense that she was calling him a lameass and simultaneously making light of the situation where that one [Grey's Anatomy?] guy went to rehab for calling someone else a "fag" or whatever.

 
At 3/05/2007 7:26 PM, Blogger josh said...

of course she wants publicity, but i dont think a person's statements or acts should be judged on a sliding scale. if guy A rapes and murders a woman and guy B just rapes one, we wouldnt say what guy B did wasn't all that bad. we'd say it was deplorable. sure, it wasnt as bad as what guy A did, but there's no other specific point of reference in the coulter scenario. and just because ad hominem attacks are coulter's bit doesn't mean we have to accept or put up with them.

i also agree that when one projects themselves into politics they open themselves up to public criticism, but calling edwards a faggot is completely irrelevant to any political notion of edwards. that's not criticism, that's name-calling. there's a huge difference. besides, even if it was some attack on his sexuality, he's NOT gay.

it shouldn't matter whether she meant he likes men or that he is lame. assuming she meant the latter, do you think that comforts gay people out there who see their sexuality thrown around carelessly as an insult? i sincerely doubt that it does. and condoning her remarks sends a message to americans that it's ok. it says that gay people are a lower class than straight people. say it's a joke, sure, but many americans dont get it.

i dont care if you call something you think is lame gay when you're talking to your friends. it's not right, but i wouldnt argue with it. but as she has injected herself into the public sphere, coulter as well should be subjected to a heightened scrutiny and is herself open to criticism.

and if she was referencing grey's anatomy (i dont know that she was), that's just stupid. lamest.show.ever.

 
At 3/05/2007 7:50 PM, Blogger angela said...

I don't watch Grey's either, but it was all over the news (here, at least) when that happened.

LINK


I'm pretty sure her remarks, while poking fun at Edwards, were making light of the Grey's situation.

And, just to be clear... if my first comment made it seem like I was condoning what she said, that wasn't my intent. When I said it wasn't that big of a deal, I meant it more in an apathetic sense because to be honest, I kind of don't really care about Coulter or Edwards.

 
At 3/07/2007 12:08 AM, Blogger josh said...

i dont get the bill maher reference, or how thinking bill maher is funny sometimes is hypocritical.

all priests arent child molesters, but some are. if you molest a child, you're a child molester. pointing out the irony of the prestige or importance of a priests supposed position and the deplorability (word?) of the act can be funny. until edwards sodomizes/is sodomized, he's not a "faggot". but saying a priest is a child molester isnt nearly as offensive to child molesters as calling edwards a faggot is to gay people (or is it?).

besides, i have a problem with everyone. you know this, holmes. i even dedicated my post about how lame bleeding heart liberals are to you (in my mind).

 
At 3/07/2007 12:27 PM, Blogger josh said...

oh ok, i missed that. yeah, i enjoy bill maher for the most part, but not everything. i would agree that's a bit much.

the dedication was my pleasure.

 

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