I do not agree with what you have to say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it.
The above quote is often attributed to Voltaire, but who knows...
So I got in a ridiculous war on a thread here on DKos today. The diarist had used the word "fag" which is obviously offensive in a bare-naked context. The context was not bare naked, however. Below the fold, I will explain.
The diarist, speaking of a time when he was a macho military buck believing the right-wing propaganda so prevalent in that sub-culture, stated this:
I knew that physicians working in the private sector were superior to military physicians because everyone told me so. I was assured by everyone that any intelligent physician would have to be crazy, a complete fool or a total fag to choose to be a military doctor.
To my mind, this was pretty much the same way Twain used the n-word in
Huckleberry Finn, i.e., to expose the stupidity of the Southern bigots. I mean, this sentence doesn't need much parsing. It's blatantly ironic from the beginning statement, "I knew that physicians working in the private sector were superior..." So saying someone would have to be "a total fag" to want to be a military doctor is, in this context, also clearly ironic (and I applaud the diarist for not changing it despite the hellfire that erupted in the comments about his use of the word.
Many of our LGBT members are apparently irony-impaired and thought the use of the word -- even in this flagrantly ironic context -- offensive. You know what? It's not. It's not. He's making a point sympathetic to your cause (that stupid people use the word "fag" as an all-purpose perjorative), and you're too stuck on yourselves to see it. Sad. Heartbreaking, really.
Even if it were offensive -- tough shit. This is America, and we have the right to say whatever we want. Nobody called anybody a fag. Nobody slurred anyone here. A particular word was used in a particular context. That's all. That the context was lost on the Puritan Thought Police is the problem of the Puritan Thought Police, not those of us more concerned with the meat of the diary, which was the diarist's eventual "coming to Jesus" and stopping being the kind of person who thinks the private health care system is better than public services (and, presumably, the kind of person who uses "fag" as an all-purpose slur.)
I was called all kinds of names in the comments in attempting to defend the diarist -- homophobe, bigot, etc. I was directly called these names. Being comfortable with myself, it doesn't bother me that much. What bothers me is the Puritan Thought Police's complete missing of the point. What bothers me is that we're no longer allowed to use an offensive word in a non-offensive context to make a point. What bothers me is that some people seem to think that they are more equal than others in the sense that they are above reproach, above ribbing, above slurs.
Guess what, guys and girls and guygirls -- you're not. You can marry, kiss in public, do whatever you want. I don't care. Nobody cares. But when you start FUCKING with the freedom of speech, you lose my sympathy. Everybody can be called names. Hurtful words don't just stop being used. Welcome to equality.
I hate the n-word. I hate the b-word. I hate the word "fag." I hate lots of words. I hate whole schools of thought. But you know what? I'm not going to tell people to stop using those words or stop thinking those thoughts, even here at DKos. If someone starts hurling around insults, I will HR them for it, but I will defend their right to use offensive words and expound on offensive ideas, and I will not apologize for that.
Despite the abuse heaped on me in that other diary, I continue to support LGBT rights, and I certainly won't assume that any gay person wants to curtail the freedom of expression. It was just a few hypersensitive, irony-impaired ninnies. I get that. And I defend their right to be hypersensitive, irony-impaired ninnies just as I defend the right of the diarist to use the word "fag." No apologies from me.
That's all I have to say about this.
