Because the world is confused and people are wounded?
Some of us more wounded than others.
Look, this demand that I be careful with my words is a tactic designed to derail the discussion from the main point (the oppression of queer people) to something inconsequential (my grammar). It's much easier to police my words than to actually focus on the oppression.
For one thing, as I pointed out in my main post, no one seems to expect the politicians and televangelists and activists who are fomenting the hatred to watch their language. To even suggest it seems silly and discarable. Why? Because everyone knows it is not in their interest to be polite. They are making a lot of money off of this, and public opinion is in their favor. So no one is going to police them.
But *I* am hounded ALL THE TIME to watch my language, to be the good dignified victim who might eventually be thrown a bone if I behave. It comes up every time. And every time it does, it succeeds in derailing the discussion and making me look like the bad guy, when the real bad guys are the ones profiting from my pain.
I don't really think that's actually true. Do you?
Yes, I do. I honestly do. I examine the question of oppression from the standpoint of economics, to which it all boils down. If each queer person is even slightly more likely than a straight person to lose their job, or to live on the streets, or to be expelled from their family or home, then those hypothetically slight disadvantages add up across the whole queer community to an economic advantage which is taken (usually blindly) by straight people.
Unfortunately, those likelihoods are not slight but considerable. I posted the percentages (cited by major news and activist organizations) here.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2005-06-19 04:51 am (UTC)Some of us more wounded than others.
Look, this demand that I be careful with my words is a tactic designed to derail the discussion from the main point (the oppression of queer people) to something inconsequential (my grammar). It's much easier to police my words than to actually focus on the oppression.
For one thing, as I pointed out in my main post, no one seems to expect the politicians and televangelists and activists who are fomenting the hatred to watch their language. To even suggest it seems silly and discarable. Why? Because everyone knows it is not in their interest to be polite. They are making a lot of money off of this, and public opinion is in their favor. So no one is going to police them.
But *I* am hounded ALL THE TIME to watch my language, to be the good dignified victim who might eventually be thrown a bone if I behave. It comes up every time. And every time it does, it succeeds in derailing the discussion and making me look like the bad guy, when the real bad guys are the ones profiting from my pain.
I don't really think that's actually true. Do you?
Yes, I do. I honestly do. I examine the question of oppression from the standpoint of economics, to which it all boils down. If each queer person is even slightly more likely than a straight person to lose their job, or to live on the streets, or to be expelled from their family or home, then those hypothetically slight disadvantages add up across the whole queer community to an economic advantage which is taken (usually blindly) by straight people.
Unfortunately, those likelihoods are not slight but considerable. I posted the percentages (cited by major news and activist organizations) here.