Monday, February 14, 2005

Terrors of the American Taliban

In Thailand, homosexuality is very open and very tolerated. Perhaps its the Buddhist perspective of live and let live. Perhaps its the laid back nature of the Thais. I don't know. But as a result, there are a huge number of out-of-the-closet gay men in Bangkok. On occasion, one will hit on me.

I respond, "Sorry, I'm straight".

They say something like, "Oh, I'm sorry"..... or maybe joke with me.

I say, "No problem".

And that's it. That's the big fucking terror that has Americans and rabid Christians in such hysteria? How many times have I heard some macho idiot say something like, "If one of those queers hits on me, I'll fucking kill him".

The Christian Taliban argument goes something like this: If we tolerate gays, morality will collapse and a 1000 year reign of Satan will commence (or something like that). Yet Thailand is as "moral" (and "immoral") as any other country I've visited. Nothing has collapsed. Even the most macho of Thai men deals with gay guys with a shrug or a laugh.

So what is the big deal? Where does all that hatred come from? What exactly are they afraid of in America? My hunch is that they fear themselves... that they might harbor some "gay feelings" or "gay inclinations". Or that their friends or family members might. Rather than confront these issues within themselves, they prefer to spew venom upon that which they fear.

Its sad. Sad and pathetic. Whatever happened to "live and let live"? How do we get these vermin to crawl back into their holes and leave us alone? I'm open to suggestions!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Came here from Corante.com's Brandshift and I'm happy I did. Love this post. Encapsulates for me the main idiosyncray of the moral majority here in America: hypocrisy.

If all religions preach tolerance, why are the practitioners of 99% of religions so intolerant?

I'm perplexed by this everyday, but I meet it head on by forgiving those, tolerating them, who would judge me first. Treat others who you'd like to be treated and all that jazz.

Anonymous said...

Seth,

Good point about tolerance. I try to walk a tightrope. On one hand I'm a Taoist-Anarchist-Libertarian "live and let live" person at heart. Honestly, I don't like the right wing Christian groups but I don't care what they do. Its their life.

But when they start attacking others and passing laws that restrict my or others freedoms.... and generally create an atmosphere of conflict and intimidation: then I feel compelled to attack back. Because turning the other cheek doesn't work with them... it just emboldens them to be more aggressive. Its time, I think, for "liberals", "progressives", etc. to stop being so nice and stop taking it before they steamroll us all.

--AJ/Skald