
Cross-posted on Rising Up...
Highlighting the "hypocritical liberal" is a regular meme of Stephen Miller's Indegayforum CultureWatch blog. Miller's contention is that when conservatives bash gays, everyone goes nuts, but when liberals reveal their homophobic stripes, nobody notices. So he points out the hypocrisy. Fair enough. Sounds like a reasonable enough blogging project to me. But does it work?
Unfortunately, the most recent three examples from Miller's posts that I can find are positively loopy. First, there was his critique of Maureen Dowd's "hateful Brokeback column." It seems that she said jokingly that now John Wayne "sounds like a guy who might get arrested in a bus station bathroom." In Miller's eyes, this makes her "hateful" and "mean-spirited." He is shocked, shocked, that none of the liberal "gay watchdogs" has criticized her column. Criticized her for what? For besmirching John Wayne? For suggesting that men who frequent bus station bathrooms might be less than completely savory? Or should we criticize her for mentioning a gay stereotype in the column, specifically playing off the stereotype that gay men are fashion-conscious and therefore concerned about having a "bad hair day"? I'm sorry. I'm not feeling the outrage yet.
Then Miller went after this cartoon by an "Iraq-war opposing, Republican-despising" cartoonist, Jeff Danziger. A joke between two cowboys concludes with one cowboy acknowledging an intimate relationship with his (talking) horse. He's working on a screenplay. It's a clever cartoon that parodies the slippery slope argument about gay marriage (let two cowboys marry, then you won't be able to stop them from marrying a horse!) Once again, Miller doesn't think it's funny. He thinks the cartoonist is comparing homosexuality to bestiality, and that the only reason nobody's complaining is that the cartoonist is liberal. Does that sound like a sensible response to you? I'm scratching my head.
Most recently, Miller attacks this parody of homophobes by Larry David. David, in his best deadpan style, says:
I haven't seen "Brokeback Mountain," nor do I have any intention of seeing it. In fact, cowboys would have to lasso me, drag me into the theater and tie me to the seat, and even then I would make every effort to close my eyes and cover my ears.
Later in the piece, David goes on to mock several other homophobic memes, including the ever popular "I have many gay acquaintances" defense. Miller seemed to miss the humor, implying that David should be called to testify about his presumably "unimaginably neurotic and puritanical" attitudes about sex and/or gays.
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