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

[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.