narcimund

Theoretically, yes. But unrestrained skepticism leads to really tedious freshman philosophy student conferences. One can -- and should -- tentatively adopt pretty well justified assumptions when going through life. It's best not to cement them in stone of course. I've never heard of "Dr. Phil" but I can just guess -- since he's called "Dr" and he's on TV and popular -- that he talks about fairly easy topics and gives them just a slight punch of thoughtfulness. I'm going to GUESS that his book "Smart Sex" is about making sex better in a way that daytime TV will promote. If I'm wrong, I'd very gladly put aside that tentative guess and be glad for more accurate info. Very few people know how to do that. Very very few. First Class Citizen Twice Over

Not worth responding to for the zillionth repetition, but I did think it funny enough to add this: There's a really charming play called The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told which is about exactly this :) It deals with "the lives of Adam and Steve — and Jane and Mabel — from the Creation to the first brunch." First Class Citizen Twice Over

PROUDLY! I never forget that for a minute. Your mind has argued that irrational revulsion, oppression, discrimination, and hatred of minorities is inevitable. My mind has argued that it's not. And now anyone who reads our words can compare our minds and choose their favorite. First Class Citizen Twice Over

No, that's not what I said at all. I told you what "homophobia" means. I also very carefully explained that its meaning is NOT traceable directly through its roots nor does it need to be. Please go back and read my words again if you actually want to know what I said. But I don't think you misunderstood at all. I think you're just pretending to not understand so as to cause irritation. I won't play. First Class Citizen Twice Over

Where did this spontaneously come from? Nobody asked you to imagine it. That's very odd... You might want to dig deep down and discover why your mind is going there. That's kinda pathological, don't you think? This reminds me of something a gay friend's father said when his son came out to him. "The thought of what you'd look like getting fucked by another guy makes me SICK!" All I could wonder is why a father's imagination is stuck on images of his children having sex. Does he spend a lot of time visualizing his girls having sex too? There's something very SICK in that family but it's not the children. Are all movies with minorities insulting to the majority? Is every movie with black people a slap in the face of whites? What neurosis brings on such a reaction? I'm sorry I have to say that the rest of your post doesn't interest me enough to respond. Sorry, I know you worked real hard at it but it's old, old stuff. Been there, got nowhere, shrugged it off. First Class Citizen Twice Over

That 'gay porn' sample got thirty downloads yesterday. Makes you think, doesn't it? First Class Citizen Twice Over

Like I said two posts above, But that doesn't change anything. And nobody is fooled. Which reminds me of my favorite quote from Fight Club: First Class Citizen Twice Over

Linguistic etymology of the word "homophobia" is misleading. It's not "fear of same" or "fear of man" or even the looser "fear of homosexuals". Homophobes love to wiggle a knife into the chinks of the word to score rhetorical points. It's definitely a word defined by usage as RL says. It means nothing more specific than people who harbor strong bias against gay people. If you don't like how the greek or latin roots relate to that meaning, sorry. There are many things that make a word stick in a language OTHER THAN their pure derivative roots. First Class Citizen Twice Over

If fear is the trigger that turns an ignored minority into a tormented one (and you're probably right!) then it's interesting to trace that fear. Why are straight people (in general) scared of gay people? What danger do we represent? Don't say that gay people would underpopulate the world. That's like an immensely (and growing) obese person who won't diet for fear of starvation. Besides, there's no similar oppression of people who get sterilization surgery or use condoms. Don't say that gay people spread AIDS. That simply doesn't explain hundreds (thousands) of years of systematic trouble. Don't say that gay people recruit. We don't (except for some odd aberrations) and everyone knows it. And even if we did, so what? People recruit for all sorts of things (religions, military, career fairs) and that rarely causes problems. And finally, on the opposite coin, why would gay people FEAR straight people if the roles were reversed? Maybe it would happen but I just can't see why. First Class Citizen Twice Over

Oops. Forgot to address this fascinating question. Yes, there's DEFINITELY that fear, although it seems to fade over the years, at least in the extremely decent places I've lived. In horrible communities where gay people still get strung up on barbed wire it might be more prominent. But this is important: I've never (NEVER!) met a gay person who harbored generalized hatred of straight people where it wasn't DIRECTLY traceable back to specific events of discrimination. Edited for spelling of a word I can just somehow NEVER get right. First Class Citizen Twice Over

Honestly, I don't claim to know. My original one-liner showed far more confidence than I really have. However, I choose to believe that hate and torment of the minority by the majority are not inevitable. To prove it, think about all the thousands of minorities that DON'T get institutionally tormented now. They're the ones that you don't even notice: People with freckles People who like their steak well done People who part their hair in the middle Stamp collectors Scuba divers Skydivers These are silly divisions to call "minorities" but that's what they literally are. And nobody notices -- or oppresses. Imagine a world where the same thing is true for color and race and religion and everything else. First Class Citizen Twice Over

BULLSHIT This teaches us more about how your mind works than it does about the word "breeder". First Class Citizen Twice Over

Those who ASSUME gay people would turn on them in a gay world make me understand how their minds work just a little more than I did before. There's a pervasive assumption of conflict in their minds. They simply can't imagine a world where the majority doesn't torment everyone else. How revealing. How sad. First Class Citizen Twice Over

Of course not. As I wrote above (but it deserves repeating) in the real gay world, "breeder" is generally NOT an insult or at most (in odd rare cases) it's a mild one. Can people understand that? Some slang words for a group don't imply hate and revulsion. I'll say that again cause it's not going to sink into some people's brains: SOME SLANG WORDS DON'T IMPLY HATE AND REVULSION. Gay people have endured enough horror that I'm surprised we DON'T (generally) hate and revile straight people. I find that fascinating. First Class Citizen Twice Over

Thanks. There was something in it I think. Now I'll ruin it by getting wordy. Some people pointed out (in opposition to my one-liner) that there are examples of gay people not respecting straight people in the current world. Those examples are insignificantly mild ("Breeder" isn't exactly a term of respect but neither is it hateful. It's not-quite but nearly neutral. The only time I've heard "breeder" used angrily was in movies.) I'm sure there are isolated cases that show much stronger disrespect, although so rare and contextually dependent as to be just silly. The question arose of whether or not my hypothetical gay world's population would bring with them the memory of having been harassed in the real-world. Who knows? It's a critical question but it gets so rarified as to be silly again. How many angels can dance...? One fellow joked that breeders would get great respect. I think he meant that if there were few breeders the human race would depend on them for continuity. Of course he might be right. As long as we're bringing up movies, I saw "Nearly Normal" recently. It's a campy, low-budget comedy in a topsy-turvy gay world where closeted straight people suffer harassment. It's a gay person's fantasy romp and shouldn't be taken as anything else, but I suspect some here might call it evidence (or even proof) that straights would suffer in a gay world. Just the act of imagining it for a few seconds might be the closest some homophobes will ever come to understanding. First Class Citizen Twice Over

I've had this musical gem sitting around for 4 years and never found a good occasion for it before [url "http://ds1.downloadtech.net/cn1079/singwil1.mpg"]NSFW[/URL] (1.5MB) First Class Citizen Twice Over

In a gay world, straight people would be treated with respect. First Class Citizen Twice Over

Has this thread been authorized? First Class Citizen Twice Over

You misread me. I wasn't saying all cops are that way. I was suggesting that YOU might be that way. Evidence: Lying to protect yourself. Evidence: Rationalizing that the other party deserves it/would get you first if they could/wouldn't be seriously harmed/has lots of money. Evidence: Assuming a civilian must be guilty of a crime if they don't trust police. Integrity is the only thing that will prevent someone from letting that power go to their heads. You were unintentionally making a strong argument against integrity. Now you've changed your mind and said you'll take the honest path. That's a great big change and a welcome one. Edited to be slightly less inflamatory. First Class Citizen Twice Over

Actually, because of the power of the position she's seeking that's not true. We all get to live with the consequences. First Class Citizen Twice Over

Wow. Just wow. I'm speechless .... Wow. Um... wow. I don't know what to say ... other than in a perfect world, the academy would better at weeding out people who aren't suited to wield power over others. First Class Citizen Twice Over

Of course you do. That's the deal you're choosing. You're going to be walking around with a gun and a license to push people around. The rest of us would all rather have cops who think about RIGHT and WRONG instead of who they can lie to in order to make their lives and jobs easier. Edit: Just read the rest of your posts that went up while I wasn't looking ... I'm giving up. God help the people you police. First Class Citizen Twice Over

Are you willing to have your new employer know how you treated your last one? I have an idea. Why don't you ask the manager of the police academy what they recommend you say to your current employer? First Class Citizen Twice Over

Nobody said this was cold. Everyone said it was dishonest. Your original request was for a legitimate excuse. I think what you really meant to say was: In other words, a lie. One can only hope the police academy weeds out people who lie before they become cops. Experience says they don't. First Class Citizen Twice Over

I would have said this much, much more strongly but I'm feeling tactful this morning. First Class Citizen Twice Over