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re: When will gay jokes from student hecklers become unacceptable?

Posted on 5/15/14 at 10:25 pm to
Posted by Prof
Member since Jun 2013
42721 posts
Posted on 5/15/14 at 10:25 pm to
quote:

I didn't want to be the one to bring up race, but are the two on equal playing fields?


Depends on what you mean by that. If you mean in terms of the US declaring the speaker a persona non grata, ostracizing him/her and/or the backlash then a public figure who denounces black folks and to a lesser extent other people of color is typically a far bigger pariah than someone who is equally bad about gays and women.

That said, George Lincoln Rockwell (founder of the American Nazi Party and heavily influential among White Nationalists and the Christian Identity Movement), stated he'd "rather gas a homo" than a communist or black person (and he very much hated both black folks and what he deemed commies). Gays were holocaust victims - hunted by the SS seeking to find them and ship them off to the camps, executed, and persecuted by Hitler. Sadly, in many countries the worst crimes you'll see (things that would make anyone's skin crawl) are perpetuated against gays and lesbians and those suspected of being gay or lesbian. And of course groups like the Klan and other home grown groups hated gays every bit as much as black folks, mixed folks, so-called race traitors, Jews, Catholics, and alleged communists.

However, in the US there's not just chattel slavery but laws designed to systematically discriminate against American people of color and it took a great deal of blood shed and pain (not just in the Civil War) for things to become the way they are today and the results are still far from perfect tho' miles ahead of even just a few decades ago. But the biggest thing is that it's often been easier to spot a black folks on sight and easier to direct extreme racism against black folks, even those most wouldn't see as black would get similar treatment because in the days of small towns word got around even if you were just a one-dropper.

In the US, the horrible treatment gays and many women have endured has been largely unspoken of and less systematic. I don't think it's any easier but it makes the horrors people of color have endured undeniable while the history of others is less commonly known and probably less universal than things like Jim Crow and redlining which victimized ever identifiable person of color (and some not as identifiable) in both the North and South. Also Lynchings are well known for their horrors while crimes like what happened to Matt (?) Sheppard (that kid in Wyoming) are less well known, harder to formally ID as a hate crime (tho' that one was obvious) and don't often involve modern hate groups.

I think hatred and bigotry are pretty awful no matter who you are/what group you belong to. Even something like non-group members telling jokes/shouting slurs is harmful. Imagine being reminded you're a 2nd/3rd class citizen that people hate.
Posted by SwayzeBalla
Member since Dec 2011
19456 posts
Posted on 5/15/14 at 10:27 pm to
I really don't feel like reading that
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