Hate Pride

"So," I said, "what's the deal with the Confederate flag?"

"Hah?" said the guy with the truck.

"Why are you flying a Confederate flag from the back of your truck?" I asked. "I mean, are you a Civil War recreationist, or what?"

"Um... 'cuz I'm proud to be a Southerner," he said.

"So," I asked, "the Confederate flag implies a Southern identity, and you identify with that, and you're proud of it?"

"Um... yeah. If you mean what I think you mean," he said.

"Are you aware that to a lot of black folks, the Confederate flag is a symbol of how half a nation was willing to go to war to keep the right to own black people?" I asked.

"Huh?"

I repeated myself.

He thought about it for a minute. "Well, the hell with them," he said. "It's also about southern pride. And if anyone asks me, I'll say so."

I did not necessarily agree with his reasoning, but I did respect his willingness to admit that he might be offending someone... and that he did not necessarily care. At least, I respected it at the time.

***********************************************

"So," I said, "do you want to KILL black people, or do you just want to run them off?"

"Huh?" said the klansman.

I repeated myself.

"No, no, you've got it all wrong," he said. "The Klan is about pride, first and foremost. We also feel that we should not be forced to live with people we don't want to live with, regardless of race, creed, or color. We are against being forced by the government to share our communities with people we don't wanna."

"Because you hate them."

"No," he said. "We don't necessarily HATE anyone. We just don't feel we should be forced to live with them if we don't want to."

"So... who's forcing you to share your home with people you don't want to?"

"It's not just housing. It's communities. And schools. We are generally against racial and cultural mixing, is all, and we don't feel it should be forced on us by the government. Let other people build their own communities, and stay with their own kind, or join communities that want them. Don't force us to mix with them."

"And why the white robes and pointy mask things? Are you aware that black people in particular find this threatening and wildly offensive?"

"We're not threatening or trying to offend anyone. We're just standing up for our rights."

"And the costumes?"

".....tradition."

I didn't have much respect for this guy. I felt like he was trying to snow me. You can't wear a Klan outfit in a march with a bunch of other Klansmen through downtown Austin and tell me you're not trying to offend or intimidate anyone. I might have had some respect if he'd just said, "Yeah, we hate anyone who ain't white, and this is an effort to drum up enrollment and screw around with the black folks a little, tweak their noses. Ha, ha!"

Lie to yourself if you want, but don't piss in my face and then say, "It's raining!"

*************************************************

Had several discussions lately about Teh Ghey.

Gay folks seem to feel that they should have the same rights as anyone else. Legally speaking, it's hard to argue against this, justly. If they have the same responsibilities as me, they should have the same rights... or at least, that's my thinking. If they can't get married or own property, well, that's unjust. Maybe they shouldn't have to pay taxes or something... but the politicians won't go for that, so, fine, give them the same rights as anyone else.

A lot of people are arguing against that mighty hard. And a lot of the arguments are kind of weird.

"Gay marriage will destroy traditional marriage!" Yes, but no one seems to be able to tell me precisely how this will occur.

"Gays should be suppressed because most of them are child molesters!" This one seems to be a case of cherrypicking your citations. Every proof I've seen of this comes from church groups or wingnut websites. The federal government and the shrinks' organizations say it ain't so.

"BECAUSE GOD SAYS SO!!!!!" ....and this one, well, can't argue with faith. Tried bringing up the fact that Leviticus prohibits other things like shellfish and divorce, and ALLOWS slavery, but the churchy folks don't care about that -- it prohibits teh ghey, and God says it, and we believe it, and that settles it. Freedom of religion, and all that. No ghey, no ghey, no ghey.

In short, "My religion gives me the right to discriminate, and I am GOING to discriminate, ACTIVELY, and be an ACTIVIST for withholding gay rights, and the hell with you anyway."

I think I'd respect it more if anyone had the guts to put it that way, but you don't often hear that. I've tried pointing out how one interpretation of the Bible also says that black folks are the sons of Ham, who made fun of daddy Noah, and so God turned 'em black and made it okay to kick them around. For some reason, not a whole lot of churchy folks are willing to stand up for that interpretation, the way they did back in the early sixties. It ain't fashionable now, for some reason.

And when I bring it up, I am told, "No, no, not applicable. Totally different. NO parallels between keepin' the blacks down (which was wrong, and we don't do that any more) and keepin' teh gheys down (which is necessary and justified by God's Law). TOTALLY different thing."

No, it ain't. It's discrimination against human beings, period. Only difference is what you believe and what you don't believe. It'd be the same if it were discrimination against brown skin, blue eyes, blond hair, or color of socks. Although, in all honesty, one can change one's socks. Or hair color, for that matter.

"Well, they have a choice. They can stop being gay," I am told. And therein lies another can of worms. I've KNOWN some gay folks, is my problem. In particular, I have known some gay folks who took some MAJOR HEAT for being gay. You hear about teenagers killing themselves, because they'd rather be dead than gay, or because they simply cannot fade the heat any more.

Does this sound like they could just quit bein' gay?

I don't think so. And, therefore, I am told that I am not only wrong, but naive for my beliefs. To which, my response is "well, at least I went out and got my information from the source. How many gay people have YOU spoken to? How many gay folks have YOU gotten to know and understand as best you could?"

Most churchy folks -- and most racists -- don't do a lot of this. Perhaps teh ghey is catching, or something. I dunno. But I am a firm believer that you can't really KNOW a topic without going the hell out and immersing yourself in it. An hour on Google don't cut it. Reading up on it is one thing, but there is a hell of a difference between classroom and field. Perhaps some gay folks can suddenly undergo a conversion and be straight, but the vast majority seem unable to do so... and therefore would seem to have no choice but to be what they are.

So... do me a favor, okay? If you're this kind of person, just ADMIT it. "Yeah, I hate gays for bein' gay. I believe they are evil, sinful, poisonous people, just for being what God made them. I believe they should be suppressed, oppressed, repressed, and possibly gassed in death chambers. I am aware that in twenty or thirty years, they'll just be ordinary people, protected by law, same as anyone else, and I will look like a hateful old bigot, but I gots my pride, and I won't recant now. Maybe later, for the sake of not looking like a hateful old bastard in front of my grandchildren... but for now I got my pride."

I can't say I agree with you, but I can at least respect someone who doesn't lie to me.

Or to themselves.