Opinion of anti-gay bullying

[A cowboy always follows his beard]

This is a stupid question, so I'm voting FF (like how most forumites vote FF in an "Opinion of Hitler" poll)

[asexual trans victimologist]

Not for the faint-hearted.

See and some people think I'm crazy for being so disgusted by suburbs.

There are good and bad suburbs, politically. My distaste for suburbs as a construct is primarily aesthetic and sociological.

Not for the faint-hearted.

What utterly horrible people.

It's a good thing we have religion around to prevent things like this as it teaches people to be rational and compassionate.

It depends on the religion.

[angus]

I feel a little sick in my mouth after reading that. Bachmann is a total c-nt.

So it's not okay to call little Brittany a cunt but it's okay to call Michelle Bachmann a cunt?

I see.  We can bully people for their political views, but not for being fat or being a lesbian.  Glad we got that straightened out.

[asexual trans victimologist]

I feel a little sick in my mouth after reading that. Bachmann is a total c-nt.

So it's not okay to call little Brittany a cunt but it's okay to call Michelle Bachmann a cunt?

I see.  We can bully people for their political views, but not for being fat or being a lesbian.  Glad we got that straightened out.

Bachmann has, one imagines, choices regarding whether or not to actively make life worse for people who are not like her.

[angus]

I feel a little sick in my mouth after reading that. Bachmann is a total c-nt.

So it's not okay to call little Brittany a cunt but it's okay to call Michelle Bachmann a cunt?

I see.  We can bully people for their political views, but not for being fat or being a lesbian.  Glad we got that straightened out.

Bachmann has, one imagines, choices regarding whether or not to actively make life worse for people who are not like her.

...and here I was thinking that all bullying was bad.  Apparently sometimes taunting and name-calling and public degradation is okay, so long one understands which groups we're allowed to beat up on.  I'm not defending Bachmann, just trying to understand the new moral fashion.
 

[angus]

In another article, which you can link to at the bottom of the Rolling Stone story posted herein, Matt Taibbi of the Rolling Stone writes,

"...Bachmann is a religious zealot whose brain is a raging electrical storm of divine visions and paranoid delusions. She believes that the Chinese are plotting to replace the dollar bill, that light bulbs are killing our dogs and cats, and that God personally chose her to become both an IRS attorney who would spend years hounding taxpayers and a raging anti-tax Tea Party crusader against big government. She kicked off her unofficial presidential campaign in New Hampshire, by mistakenly declaring it the birthplace of the American Revolution..."

That's all fair.  It's accurate.  It doesn't amount to bullying.  

However, "Bachmann is a cunt" is a very different sort of statement.  It's degrading.  And I find it particularly ironic since the posted Rolling Stone articles uses the exact same language to describe how young Brittany was unjustly taunted.  Either Bullying is acceptable or it is not.  But if it's not--and I'd agree that it should not be--then we must apply the same rules to everyone.  

Does Bachmann want to make life worse for people not like her?  It has never been clear to me that Bachmann has the goal of making life tougher for anyone.  Sure, she probably wishes more poeple thought like her, just as we all do.  She has some unorthodox ideas, and she's much too traditional for my tastes, and she is unyielding and, worse, misinformed.  She would be the sort of President who would take us into nukyular war with Iran to save Israel.  Or the sort who would build a big fence around the United States.  It's good that the GOP recognized the danger that she poses early on, and now she's out of the spotlight, but it is her prerogative to initiate legislation that she thinks is in the best interests of the people of her congressional district, for as long as the people of her district decide to re-elect her.  

haha.  Okay, it occurs to me that the next time I call Michele Bachmann a cunt, someone is going to throw this little diatribe in my face.  Fair enough, but I just wanted afleitch to appreciate the irony he created.

[Insula Dei]

haha.  Okay, it occurs to me that the next time I call Michele Bachmann a cunt, someone is going to throw this little diatribe in my face.  Fair enough, but I just wanted afleitch to appreciate the irony he created

You realize Afleitch knew what he was doing when he called the Bachmann a cunt, right? The whole point is that it's the same language, yet now adequately applied.

[angus]

You realize Afleitch knew what he was doing when he called the Bachmann a cunt, right?

yes, the thought had occurred to me, but I decided that it merited comment.  

(I was a bit mystified by the taunts of "cock muncher."  Shouldn't it be "rug muncher?")

[asexual trans victimologist]

I feel a little sick in my mouth after reading that. Bachmann is a total c-nt.

So it's not okay to call little Brittany a cunt but it's okay to call Michelle Bachmann a cunt?

I see.  We can bully people for their political views, but not for being fat or being a lesbian.  Glad we got that straightened out.

Bachmann has, one imagines, choices regarding whether or not to actively make life worse for people who are not like her.

...and here I was thinking that all bullying was bad.  Apparently sometimes taunting and name-calling and public degradation is okay, so long one understands which groups we're allowed to beat up on.  I'm not defending Bachmann, just trying to understand the new moral fashion.
 

It's also not so much because of Bachmann's beliefs as because since she is a US Congresswoman she is a public feature by virtue of those beliefs and in a position to impose them on other people. If she was not a public figure, or a public figure for some other reason, I'd have a problem with it.

[angus]

Okay Nathan, that's fair.  Peace.

[The Mikado]

Yeah, could we avoid that word?  I realize it's more common in the UK, but...

[Vermin Supreme]

All bullying is bad.

Period.

[Sibboleth]

So we shouldn't mention Country Matters here? It's a little odd that it's not censored given that Americans tend to react to it even more than people here.

[The Mikado]

So we shouldn't mention Country Matters here? It's a little odd that it's not censored given that Americans tend to react to it even more than people here.

I mean, again, I realize the word isn't nearly the big deal in Commonwealth countries as it is in the US, but it's treated as a pretty vile slur here.

I mean, I wouldn't go out of my way to infract its use when it's not being used as a personal attack, but I'd argue that it's pretty much universally regarded as more "offensive" than the Anglo-Saxon euphemism for sexual intercourse that begins with the letter f that we do censor.

[I'm JewCon in name only.]

All bullying is horrible. Nobody deserves to be treated like trash.

I got bullied a lot in Middle school, and even as a HS Senior my self esteem is still feeling the effects of bullying. I mean bullying has so much effects on a person.  My self esteem collapsed, and still has yet to recover.

Anyone who votes FF for this needs to be examined.

[I'm JewCon in name only.]

All bullying is horrible. Nobody deserves to be treated like trash.

I got bullied a lot in Middle school, and even as a HS Senior my self esteem is still feeling the effects of bullying. I mean bullying has so much effects on a person.  My self esteem collapsed, and still has yet to recover.

Anyone who votes FF for this needs to be examined.

[Progressive Realist]

Though all bullying is bad, anti-gay bullying has taken on a level of personal viciousness and violence not seen since hating blacks was en vogue. It's truly one of the most disturbing and sad trends in society right now, and unfortunately is directly and indirectly justified by the usual suspects.

Word.

[opebo]

So we shouldn't mention Country Matters here? It's a little odd that it's not censored given that Americans tend to react to it even more than people here.

I'm pretty sure you, Mikado, and afleitch can mention anything you like.  However, for the rest of us, no fannies (sp?) allowed.

[Vote UKIP!]

Same as anti-nerd, anti-black, anti-white, anti-Jew, and every single form of bullying---HP.

[Comrade Shmoo]

What exactly do FF and HP stand for? I know FF is good and HP is bad, but what exactly are they?

[Reginald]

What exactly do FF and HP stand for? I know FF is good and HP is bad, but what exactly are they?

FF = Freedom Fighter
HP = Horrible Person

But obviously, these acronyms have come to be used to describe non-persons here as well.

[Secretary Polnut]

Any form of victimisation or verbal or physical abuse against anyone for who they are is flat-out wrong and should be punished.

From my experience with gay friends in high school, thankfully, most had a pretty decent trot, but one or two were abused, mostly verbally, for years. I got picked on for being a nerd (thankfully never a geek, I wouldn't have put up with that) and especially during the middle years, chubby. When someone picks on you, just for you are, not only makes you feel like garbage, but makes you fundamentally hate yourself. In some ways you start to believe you deserve to be bullied and only "if I were different" they'd like me.

I have a few mental scars, but in the end, we need to educate kids that bullying is wrong, but sadly what we saw on the playground came from the home.

This is why I think things like the 'It Gets Better' project are so important, kids who are dealing with daily hell, need to know that despite how awful things are now, the best revenge is a good life.

[realisticidealist]

All bullying is terrible. It doesn't really matter the reason. I actually have been at the recieving end of extensive anti-gay bullying, and I'm not even gay; everyone just seems to think I am. It really hurt, so I can only imagine what an actual gay person would feel in that situation.

[oakvale]

Seems like a silly question, who on earth is going to vote "FF"?

[A cowboy always follows his beard]

Seems like a silly question, who on earth is going to vote "FF"?

In protest. This question is super obvious that anti-gay bullying is horrible, so I voted FF in protest to how stupid this topic is.