From: dbshapco@undergrad.math.waterloo.edu (Brad Shapcott)
Subject: Re: The War Between Us (Long)
Organization: University of Waterloo
Date: Fri, 31 Jul 1992 01:18:47 GMT

In article <LIZ.92Jul30160210@kropotkin.gnu.ai.mit.edu> liz@kropotkin.gnu.ai.mit.edu (Liz Highleyman) writes:
>
> dbshapco@undergrad.math.waterloo.edu (Brad Shapcott) writes:
>
>  >	At the risk of appearing politically incorrect on the matter, I would
>  >     like to publicly voice my support for Judge Payne's decision in the
>  >     Gwen Jacobs case, and my opposition to the Walk-a-Breast protest, both
>  >     for its means as well as its motives.
>
> [long idiotic screed by right-wing homophobe continues at length...]
>
>
> >  Against such, how can I help but feel (and with a little helplessness)
> >  that queers (homosexuals and bisexuals) are more insightful.  

Eeeeeeek!  Please, when I quote material from a second source, please
remember to leave in the part that says I'm making a quote.  I stand a good
chance of being flamed as the author of that piece of crap, and then having
to spend time explaining to people that I wasn't the author.

>I think your problem is conflating cluelessness and bigotry with 
>sexuality.  I can't be the only one who knows truly clueless homo
>and bi people and truly enlightened hetero people.  Just because it
>would make sense that those who have suffered bigotry would be more
>insightful, does not make it the case, no matter how much we might
>wish it were so.  How much stake do you really think a poor black
>mother has in preserving the current heteropatriarchal status quo?

Well, I think we might both be extrapolating from personal experience into a
general model.  I'm not wholly convinced that there isn't a general pattern,
despite exceptions.  But I'm also equally inclined to think of it as a bias.
Although I only copied one letter, there were a few others of the exact same
bent, so that it looked like a barrage of clueless hets had taken over
the letters to the editor section.

For example (and I quote, and please leave this line in any follow-up):

	What the hell were "walk a breast" promoters thinking of?  I went to
	their silly little demonstration with my camera, hoping to get some
	nice shots of tits, my camera didn't even click once.  I guess Gwen's
	supporters are all fat and/or ugly and this is the only way they
	can get men to look at them.  Nice try -- to bad they only attracted
	hoards of onlookers like myself.

	PS -- To the guys with the video camera -- can I get a copy of the tape
	in case I missed a nice set?

	Kevin Wherry


	Editor's note: Visitors to the campus of either gender, please note
	that assholes such as Kevin are not *that* common.  Let this letter
	remind you that three years of university education can, in fact,
	be useless against extreme ignorance.


Well, I wish the editor were more correct.  Last day at lunch one fellow was
telling me about a friend who was talking to him about how cool it would
be to be married to two lesbians.  "What the fuck?  What would two lesbians
have to do with the guy.  What is he, clueless?"  The worst part is that
I couldn't in any way convince the guy that lesbians aren't really aching
to get into threesomes with het males.  I think he meant bisexual (though
not sure), but I wan't about to encourage the whole thing (especially when
I couldn't even get the guy to clue in on how lesbians really didn't belong
in the picture).

Against such fine examples of cluelessness, it's hard to rein in prejudices.

> >  Find me a queer that can come up with such a clueless attitude, 
> >  and I'll be genuinely suprised.
>
>If you really want, I can bring in and post an article from an
>old OutLook that quoted gay men from Louisiana praising David Duke
>and telling why they planned to vote for him, but I think that
>just knowing that they exist should be enough!

Unfortunately, I know just enough of American politics to be dismayed at that.
And as I predicted, suprised.

>-Liz


Brad
Newsgroups: soc.bi