The 4-minute post

[dotinthesky]

I'm unprepared for today's cold spell, my lips are chapped, and I'm wondering why perfectly intelligent breeders straight people insist on using the word gay in a derogatory form:

Did you see her outfit last night? She looked sooooo gay!

Oh my God! Backstreet Boys are soooo gay!

I was, like, on the phone to my friend Chad and he said the gayest thing!


We are not amused. By "we", I mean gay people who have grown up knowing that something was slightly different about them, who had effeminate voices (like myself) and had to put up with other kids calling them names. Why do you want to squash us like that? In any case, "gay" means happy - so why try to bastardize the word and make it negative?

Are you one of those people that reads Vice magazine because you are soooo cool, and you feel soooooo post-modern and above caring? The people who I've seen using the word "gay" in a pejorative form are people who have gay friends. Maybe everyone is so sophisticated and beyond caring. Maybe I'm guilty too because I've made mix tapes for my friends with Patti Smith's song "Rock and Roll Nigger".

Should you and I not care about words anymore?

Comments

[sparklielizard.livejournal.com]

Nobody has done anything scandalous or exciting for weeks. Haven't even had a livejournal deleation for some time! It must be the summer holidays; i.e. Not February.

Don't worry, the lull will pass, and we'll be back to the usual scandal and horror on a daily basis within a few months.

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

I hope so. Cybergoths are a lot more entertaining than Brazilian soaps.

:P

[sparklielizard.livejournal.com]

It could also be that the scandal has moved over to Big Brother. With all that's (apparently - I hate the thing!) happening over there, the scandal part of the brain is being fulfilled, so nobody sees fit to start anything, or investigate anything further. Tis a darned shame :-/

Roll on the end of Big Brother!

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

Oh no! Then it must be my Summer goal to convert you to Big Brother!

[sparklielizard.livejournal.com]

I sincerely doubt you'll succeed. This is the fifth one, after all, and for most of those, most of my friends have been really into it. I've watched it, found it tedious and false and all-consuming, and decided there are better ways to spend my time, like sticking my fingers in a plug socket. Really! It is just not my "thing" at all. Even if the impossible happened and I did get addicted to it, I would not want to as I have lots of things I need to do and I can't really afford to spend time on a trashy TV programme ;-)

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

Hmm... you have a good point about this being the 5th one for you. This is only the 3rd one for me, so I'm not as jaded perhaps.

[sparklielizard.livejournal.com]

I did give it the time of day at first; in so much as I vaguely followed who was doing what, and would occasionally watch it at friend's houses. But as C4 seeked better ratings as the viewers switched off, it just became too contrived and too false. The idea has gone a little stale now, so they have to do increasingly unrealistic and wacky things in order to keep people's attention, which has ruined whatever reasons I might have had for watching it (i.e. how *normal* people react being locked up, not attention-seeking, acting drama queens) The celebrity/jungle thing is quite fun because it's an original variation, but I dare say that will go a bit shit very shortly too. New Stuff Needed!

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

It's the same problem with Wife Swap. Interesting idea at first but now it seems to attract only shouty couples.