Posts tagged “social commentary”
Yes, I want to expose your children to homosexuality. Not for political correctness, but because some of those kids are gay, and shielding them from any depiction of it tells them something is wrong with them. Explaining two boys kissing is no harder than explaining a prince kissing a princess.
A fun comparison of "awful gays" and "awful nerds" with my friend Isaac, mapping the worst stereotypes of both subcultures side by side. Turns out misogyny, relationship failures, and Goth high school phases transcend orientation and interests alike.
Gay teens denied normal adolescent development become emotionally stunted adults, making "gay culture" seem dysfunctional. But that dysfunction is our doing, not theirs. Things improve as kids come out younger and just live their lives. Stop tolerating gayness. Stop noticing it. Just love your kids unconditionally.
Went out in the Castro last night and was reminded why I don't do that anymore. It was like a religious right fever dream of gay stereotypes. I know better than to generalize, but wow. Note to self: those are not my people.
(I am way below quota on blog entries this month folks; sorry!) This weekend was my first Gay Pride weekend in San Francisco, and as is customary around this time, one stops to think about the whole concept of being "proud" of one's sexuality. What's it about, really? For one thing, having a big parade where everybody goes overboard with stereotypes -- dykes on bikes, muscle marys, leather daddies, drag queens and twinks (sexy though they may be) -- doesn't exactly send the right message about what gay people are really like. Of course, a parade that accurately represented homosexuals would be 90% completely ordinary people, and that would make for a pretty dull parade ("...and here come the gay accountants!"). For another, having a big parade where people go over the top to show how WONDERFUL it is to be gay smacks a little -- no, a lot -- of over-compensation. There is no reason life as a homosexual cannot be absolutely as fun, fulfilling and happy as life as a heterosexual can be. Going...
V for Vendetta earns its title: the word "vindicated" captures everything this film attempts. It's an American movie disguised as English, a live-action comic book unashamed of its stylisation, and ultimately a moral argument about freedom, justice, and whether a terrorist's revenge can ever truly be justified.
I saw a young, privileged couple on the tube this morning and immediately loathed them. Not for their wealth, but for their effortless, inherited confidence: those intangible "soft skills" that propel mediocre people past better-qualified ones. I hate them most because I worry I might be one of them.
I'm sick of Bob Geldof's self-congratulatory crusade. Live 8 is just guilty liberals convincing themselves that watching Keane in a field somehow saves African lives. It doesn't. If you actually care, do something real. The wristbands and the concert are just ego and nonsense.
Went to the dogs at Walthamstow for a friend's birthday. Thought we'd be in the posh enclosure. We weren't. Instead: frozen scampi, 1970s decor, and wall-to-wall Essex. Never again.
Depressing statistics from Bob Harris reveal that huge swaths of American adults are dangerously misinformed, fundamentalist, or just plain stupid. Not uniquely American problems, really. Except the Elvis truthers. Obviously he's still alive.
A portrait of toxic masculinity's vicious cycle: the lad who knows better but can't stop, drinking, fighting, hurting people he loves, becoming his dad, raising another just like him. Bleak, sardonic, and depressingly inevitable.
A poem about a beautiful boy who coasts through life on his looks, never developing personality or skills, only to find himself adrift at 35 when a younger face steals his crown. Beauty without substance leaves you with nothing when the beauty fades.
A perfect Onion quote: why bother cloning when most Americans are already identical?
Not all my content comes from Slashdot. Some comes from Ed. Also: marijuana is 3-4% of Canada's GDP, and I'm on board with banning heterosexual marriage and reproduction.
Disappointed by London's May Day anti-capitalism protests. Five thousand protesters, six thousand cops, and everyone behaved themselves. Germany had firebombs, Australia had riots, but London managed nothing but cyclists. Anarchism has really gone downhill.
I'm angry about Columbine. America's conformist moron majority makes life hell for anyone different, then acts shocked when those kids snap. I was bullied, gay, and miserable in school. Until America stops punishing nonconformists and starts holding bullies accountable, my sympathy for shooting victims is basically zero.
