The Malcontent

Burning Obstinancy

With the long (eternal) weekend at a close and Mal consumed with putting the finishing touches on Malcontent 2.0, why not jog back into blogging momentum with a little political correctness run amok.

A plan to require English translations on foreign-language signs on stores, bakeries and other businesses has caused an outcry in Sterling Heights that could put the city in the midst of a national debate. Councilwoman Barbara Ziarko recently asked the city's legal staff to prepare an ordinance requiring the translations on exterior signs. "This is for the safety of our residents as well as our police and fire (personnel)," Ziarko said. "If emergency crews can properly identify a location, they can know if there are chemicals or dangerous substances (on the premises)." But in one of Metro Detroit's most diverse communities, critics say the idea is ill-timed at best and racist at worst.

I propose a new law for Sterling Heights. If during the time it takes fire and police to run various store names in the area through a google translator, your business burns to the ground, you're not allowed to sue anyone.

It's win-win-win. Ethnic communities living around Detroit won't be tainted by our filthy language, municipal workers won't be endangered, and the rest of the neighborhood is granted delightfully random pyrotechnic displays throughout the year. What's not to love?

Quick, To ACLU Cave!

My hometown paper of choice really hasn't grasped the subtleties of the GLBTQQXRIDFHA agenda. I expect them to be mauled by wild packs of fabulousness any second now.

We'll start with the title: "Cross-Dressing Teen Barred From Senior Prom."

Moving on to the story: "But when Kevin Logan, a transgender and gay student at Gary’s West Side High School, arrived last Friday at Avalon Manor in Hobart for his prom, he was banned by Principal Diane Rouse."

He's a cross-dresser, or gay, or transgender. One of those. All of the above? The paper has absolutely no idea, and they don't seem to particularly care about the infinitely subtle and rigidly enforced labels of the alphabet soup community. God love 'em for it.

Furious letters to the editor incoming.

Gay Left-Coast Kookiness

I'm sure there are more such reports to be found in California alone, but a casual perusal of blogs this afternoon helps underscore the dogged determination of some gay liberals to alienate the rest of us who might otherwise support them on issues that concern us all.

BoiFromTroy writes about a trip to his local gay bookstore, during which he had hoped to find a copy of gay American Mary Cheney's new tome.  But the shop was good enough to carry plenty of copies of straight American, and frothy socialist, Noam Chomsky's new book.

Perhaps these are wise business decisions for someone with a West Hollywood clientele.  But why, then, call yourself a "gay" bookstore?  Answer: Because a disturbing number of gay Americans naïvely consider ultra-leftist politics part and parcel of the homosexual experience.  For millions of the rest of us, this just doesn't compute.

In a somewhat related story, Queerty reports that the California State Senate has passed a bill "that would require textbooks in public schools to instruct students on contributions by gays and lesbians in the state's development."

Normally I would decry the balkanization of education by officious politicians.  But the bill already reads like a laundry list of aggrieved groups — "men and women, Black Americans, American Indians, Mexicans, Asians, Pacific Islanders, and other ethnic groups, and people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender" — so gays might as well join the hit parade.  (It's similar to my thoughts on hate-crimes laws: They're stupid and pointless, but as long as we have them, gays should be protected by them.)

But why can't they just teach students about Californians' contributions to the state, regardless of whatever preferred group to which they belong?

Gimme My Special Rights!

Gay Americans are quite rightly engaged in a historic battle for our rights.  It is unconscionable that we should be denied legal status for our families in most places, or the ability in some states to adopt children – or, as of July 2004 in Virginia, to enter into private contracts that are even remotely reminiscent of the appurtenances of marriage.

But even as we demand these rights, we consistently slip on a banana peel that we ourselves have tossed carelessly onto the kitchen floor.  We play into the hands of those who fear that we want not equitable treatment, but "special" rights.  In fact, we often give our foes more than ample reason to conflate our desire for equality with homo-favoritism.

Case in point.  Two, actually.

A 17-year-old student from Trumansburg, N.Y., was kicked out of school for wearing a T-shirt protesting yesterday's Day of Silence, which is meant to draw attention to the bullying and harassment of gay students.  (He was followed out the door by several others.)  And what was this hateful, intolerable message on his chest, this unforgivable offense that the superintendent said was making other students feel "threatened"?

"It's Great To Be Straight."

Acro-Nimwits

I'm sorry, but this is just fucking retarded:

"As more LGBTQ [lesbian, gay, transgender, bisexual, queer] people have children, there is an inherent tension between preserving that adult community and shifting towards a culture that includes children - and in some ways that means altering the meaning of the Castro to include the needs of children."

I don't mean that what's happening to the Castro is retarded, but what's happening to our language.

I know I've used "GLBT" before, but I'm more than a little concerned that the activists are Balkanizing us by acronym.  We really must stop looking for differences between us, or inventing new ones.  (Listen up, Mike Rogers!)

Apparently feeling that no letter of the alphabet should go unused, some of the more militant among us are even trying to elbow "LGBTQQIP" into the vernacular.  Is anyone aware of even longer acronyms?  (There is even a subtle and objectionable statement of political correctness in putting the "L" in "LGBT" first, even though there are roughly twice as many gay as lesbians.)

As an American, I have internalized the "Melting Pot" from a very early age.  I am always more interested in that which unites, rather than divides, us.

So from now on, when I mean "gays," I will say "gays."  When I mean "lesbians," I will say "lesbians."  When I mean "bisexual" or "transgendered," I will say "bisexual" or "transgendered."  And if I slip up, please sic the language cops on me!

But They're Diverse Labia

I love American universities.

Three days before his 10-piece exhibit -- Portraits of Terror -- was scheduled to open at the Patterson Building, Stulman (senior-painting and anthropology) received an e-mail message from the School of Visual Arts that said his exhibit on images of terrorism "did not promote cultural diversity" or "opportunities for democratic dialogue" and the display would be cancelled.

The exhibit, Stulman said, which is based mainly on the conflict in Palestinian territories, raises questions concerning the destruction of Jewish religious shrines, anti-Semitic propaganda and cartoons in Palestinian newspapers, the disregard for rules of engagement and treatment of prisoners, and the indoctrination of youth into terrorist acts [. . .]

Charles Garoian, professor and director of the School of Visual Arts, said Stulman's controversial images did not mesh with the university's educational mission.

Well, the exhibit is certainly no Cuntfest!, but give the man a chance, eh?

h/t QC

Sly Matt & Trey

Mohammed has actually been on South Park all season long!

Jon Stewart Tosses the Racial Salad

Recently, the Daily Show examined the Afrospanicindioasianization of America in a program devoted entirely to race relations. Stewart and his correspondents not only highlight the vast differences in subway etiquette between the ethnicities, but raise objections over the simplicity of the current vocabulary used in racial classification.

When something this hilariously unPC is aired, I'm afraid my hand is forced in posting it.

(edit: Video should be fixed now)

[Watch video – 10:22, WMV format, high bandwidth]

[Watch video – 10:22, WMV format, low bandwidth]