Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Dan Savage: Christians Bully Gays, Gay Bullies Christian

In an interview with Beth McDonald, Dan Savage discussed Christians who bully gay teens into committing suicide. A Christian listener sent Savage a letter within which she informed Savage that his comments hurt her feelings. Savage replied in the predictable sort of way:

I'm sorry your feelings were hurt by my comments.

No, wait. I'm not. Gay kids are dying. So let's try to keep things in perspective: fuck your feelings.

Christians bully a faggot who then kills himself. This pisses off Dan Savage, who decides to bully Christians. A Christian woman asks Dan to stop bullying Christians, and Savage then...bullies her.

Which is why, on this topic, Dan Savage needs to go fuck himself.

I realize that in an ideal world everyone would be respected by everyone, have equal rights, and never be bullied or harmed for their lifestyle. I realize that in an ideal world no one would ever hurt anyone's feelings; we would all stand around, hand-in-hand, singing Kumbaya. But we do not live in an ideal world, we do not live in a perfect world. We live in this world, and this world fucking sucks.

So Gays, Straights, Bi-s, Christians, Whites, Blacks, Latinos, Asians and the collective peoples of the world need to just fucking grow a pair and deal with it. We don't need to end bullying. We need to end people being bitch-ass whiny pussies.

Being told that they're sinful and that their love offends God, and being told that their relationships are unworthy of the civil right that is marriage (not the religious rite that some people use to solemnize their civil marriages), can eat away at the souls of gay kids.

Well, then, fuckers need to grow a pair and deal with it. If someone tells me that God is offended by my lifestyle, that I am sinful and unworthy? I tell them to go fuck themselves. It is what I did through my life; it is what anyone with a fucking spine does. Gay kids are not the only group of teenagers who are bullied; everyone gets fucking bullied. Gays are bullied by Straights, Blacks are bullied by Whites, Nerds are bullied by Jocks, Latinos are bullied by Blacks, and everyone bullies the Jews. The miserable, worthless little weak-willed shits kill themselves. The human beings stand up and fight back. So, Tyler Clementi needed to fight back.

That's what this is all about. Tyler Clementi, a student at Rutgers, committed suicide after his roommate broadcast a video of him having sex with a man. This pissed off Dan Savage, who decided to try to do something about it. This pissed off the Christians, or something, which then resulted in this whole mess.

Now, I am not saying that this is all Tyler Clementi's fault; that would be heartless. What I am saying is that Tyler Clementi is a bitch-ass pussy; evidenced by his killing himself. Yes, it was tragic. Yes, he oughtn't have had to deal with that. But we exist in a world within which we each need to deal with that which is hurtful, and Tyler couldn't fucking do that, which makes him, by definition, weak.

Only the weak commit suicide.
Tyler committed suicide.
Therefore, Tyler was weak.

Q.E.D.

Ought we try to stop bullying? Well, I don't know; ought we try to stop objects from tending to fall down? Ought we try to stop water from quenching thirst? In a magical happy unicorn-filled world no one is ever mean to anyone else. But we don't live in that world, so why the fuck do we maintain ideals which are fundamentally contrary to the world in which we live? It would be fantastic if no one ever bullied anyone. But it would also be fantastic if the world were full of magical wood nymphs who gave free blowjobs and cunnilingus.

And am I the only person who understands the fundamental absurdity of this situation? Dan Savage is pissed that Christians bully gays, so he's bullying Christians. If the goal is to stop bullying...then oughtn't we stop bullying? Or are we fine with bullying Christians and the goal is to prevent gays from being bullied? What about the Jews or the Nerds or the Ugly People? Is it fine to bully them? Can we only bully bulliers? Instead of trying to articulate the hierarchy of bullying in order to discern who gets to bully whom, how about we stop trying to stop the unstoppable and, instead, try to get people to fucking stand up for themselves.

In a perfect world Tyler Clementi would never have been put through any of this. But, again, we don't fucking live in a perfect world. So, instead, this is probably what ought to have happened.

Rutgers Asshole: Hey, Ty. I saw that video of you banging a dude! That was fucking gay.

Ty: Congrats, you know the definition of gay.

Rutgers Asshole: Ha! You're gay!

Ty: Yes, I am. And so is your dad.

Rutgers Asshole: No he's not!

Ty: Then why was he gargling my jizz last night?

That is how a person lives in this world. Ideally, everything is happiness and rainbows. But this world is full of mean-spirited assholes. Christians belittle faggots, so faggots belittle Christians; it is the circle of life. We can try to end this, we can strive to make objects tend to fall up, or we can accept how things are and deal with reality as it is, modifying our behavior to compliment reality. Take your pick.

If you want, you can follow Dan Savage and try to decrease the bullying of gays. But since that is, most likely, a completely ineffective waste of time it is probably better to follow the example of Dan Savage: If someone is an asshole to you, then you be an asshole right back. Sure, Christ told us to turn the other cheek...but we nailed that fucker to a tree. So, it is probably best to keep your cheeks unturned and just reciprocate what you receive. And if you cannot fucking live that way, if you are completely incapable of discerning the nature of society and its foibles, then just kill yourself already. Because you are not equipped to live in this world.

Just like Tyler Clementi.

7 comments:

Andrew said...

Didn't read all of it... but her is my comment. Honestly everyone is going to be bullied and it will not stop. Some kids are dicks, and they grow up to be our bosses.
The major issue with gay teens killing themselves is that we have created a society where it is not ok to be gay, that it is better to die than come out. In most minority groups you have the support of your family. Being gay, your family may disown you and put you out on the street. So bullying will not stop, what we need is support networks that actually work.

Ohthebill said...

wow, I've never seen a more explicit case of 'blaming the victim' for the crime. as if Tyler Clemente should be blamed for his own suicide. The behavior by his roommates is what should be prosecuted here.

Roscoe said...

Seneca's got a problem w/ your "Only The Weak Commit Suicide" thesis, J.

You've got a problem with it, too, but it's unstated, because you're using weak as a perjorative term, but your argument uses it as a statement of fact. You've got an implication that weakness is in one's control.

Roscoe said...

Also.. and this is a broad response to your broad generalization, when the situation... really is more complex than either of our statements...

It's kinda obvious that the actions Savage is decrying aren't equivalent to the ones he's engaged in. The roommate, his friends? Targeted at the student, personally.
Savage's, implicitly, was targeted at someone other than even a casual reader of his.

Similarly, outrage doesn't equal bullying, and Savage's retort is no different from the one you've just written. Word for Word, Pound for Pound.

Never thought of you as an R. Lee Ermey type, either, honestly.

Roscoe said...

Third thought? For a man so frustrated by the status quo?

You defend it with a shocking regularity.

Caleb said...

Roscoe's on fire!

In the most general of ways, I'd like to somehow argue that there is a difference between the way things are and the way things happen to be right now.

Also, there's enough bullshit going around about gayness that it is probably worth being an asshole to assholes on behalf of gay people. At least, until being gay is only as embarrassing as not being a white, middle-class, American male, you know?

Roscoe said...

Most people now days say that whole rant by way of Haters Gonna Hate, J.