Rick Perry's new campaign ad unleashes a blast of homophobia

[Alyrium Denryle]

More to the point, I can't speak for the LGBT members of the board, but I would have found your 'arguments' downright insulting for the reasons I outlined. If I am out of line there or it didnt bug them they're free to correct me (I'm sure I can count on someone like Mr Coffee to set me straight in that regard) but that alone earned you alot of the responses you get.

You're good. Though not for the reasons you think. It is not insulting because it is bigoted. No. Bigotry is just funny these days. It is sooo 1998. It is offensive because it disregards a skill-set every gay person has to learn at a young age. Namely, being a circumspect and otherwise sly motherfucker (or... brotherfucker, for all the gay men). You learn things when you are a young gay or bisexual man. How to not look. How to look without being noticed. How to walk like you are straight (it is all in the hips and shoulders) to pass among normals. How to disguise the voice (if applicable). How to read straight guys to see how homophobic they might be through casual conversation. How to use passive and active gaydar without being noticed.

It is like calling the KGB incompetent.

[Connor MacLeod]

I'm cool with that. It's not exactly a topic I am qualified to speak definitively on after all *shrugs*

[Mr. Coffee]

It's the same jacket!!!

And next week on TLC's Queer Eye for the Wannabe Cowboy Guy...

[Count Chocula]

He has a point. I don't know if you have this idea in your head that you're scoring points for "nobly defending your position against all comers" or what, but you deserve the backlash. Yes, you conceded the argument (because I am sure you are going to point this out) and it's good you did that, but this coudl have ended much sooner had you not been so bloody stubborn. Particulariyl since you were engaging in a great deal of speculation without a shred of proof.

More to the point, I can't speak for the LGBT members of the board, but I would have found your 'arguments' downright insulting for the reasons I outlined. If I am out of line there or it didnt bug them they're free to correct me (I'm sure I can count on someone like Mr Coffee to set me straight in that regard) but that alone earned you alot of the responses you get. Fuck, you were pissing me the hell off with your stubborness and I wanted to flame the hell out of you too. Seriously, did it ever occur to you you might be annoying people or offending them?

You're not going to salvage your reputation if you keep acting this way on the board if such things matter to you. Next time you're faced with an argument you aren't certain about don't persist in arguing the goddamn point, hold back until more information at the very least if you can't concede for lack of evidence.

You're right, I do deserve it. I was making a theoretical argument, based on ignorance but what I thought was reasonable speculation. I pursued what I thought was a reasonable line of argument, that turned out to be wrong, and my relative lack of interaction with homosexuals put me in a position of ignorance that I didn't realize until I had reached Page 3. At which page, Spoonist, Alyrium, and Pint0 gave plenty of reasons why my off the cuff notion would be inadvisable. In the future, I'll set a goal to go no more than three posts into a position without third party backup, which I should have done this time.

[Spoonist]

In the future, I'll set a goal to go no more than three posts into a position without third party backup, which I should have done this time.

Why?
This would be a boring place if all act and think alike. It would also lead to less discussions and thus would give us less insight into other ways of thinking. If you hadn't brought up that moronic way of looking at things you wouldn't have had the opportunity to get to the other side of how to think properly. Plus we wouldn't have the opportunity to try to make arguments which would reach someone with that perspective.

Me, I don't want you to change or start thinking too much, that will lead to less interesting board. While I still consider you to be an idiot for having such views in the first place I respect your willingness to subject yourself to the kind of abuse you get on a regular basis here and still try to slug it out. I know I wouldn't. I also respect your willingness to change opinions if presented with an argument that makes sense even if it doesn't necessarily square with your worldview. I know I usually don't.

So just like with Zor and all the RAR thingies, sometimes inane stuff leads to interesting paths of discussions which we wouldn't touch upon if it hadn't been for all the teenagers, the socially inept, the morons and the overeager members of the board.
Which I find much more interesting than all the other inanity we get from testingstan which doesn't provide as many opportunities of interesting paths.

[UnderAGreySky]

Guess who was the inspiration behind the music in Perry's Ad?

While Perry bemoans the fact that openly gay men and women are now allowed to serve in the American armed forces, the soundtrack gestures toward the "Americana" style of Aaron Copland, and in particular his immortal Appalachian Spring. You can see what I mean by comparing the ad itself — if anyone has moral qualms about accumulating hits for Gov. Perry, there is the option to vote "dislike," as more than half a million people have already done — to the opening and closing sections of Appalachian Spring. This observation is now making the rounds, although it's been somewhat distorted in the process: the music is not by Copland, although it certainly attempts to get close.

Edit: Copland was, of course, openly gay.