When I wrote ““Faggot,†“Nigger,†“Baby-Killer,†“Boo!†Welcome To The New GOP,†I had planned to do a follow-up, explaining why I used the actual slurs in the title and body of the piece, rather than refer to them in other ways.
Surprisingly, I did not get a single negative response to the use of the words. One person on Twitter did write, ‘Where’s the proof anyone said that? Even if a few did how does that represent a whole group. Completely illogical.”
Not “Completely illogical” at all. To which I referred him (and you) to Keith Olbermann’s “special comment” last night, “GOP Self-Destruction Imminent.”
My friend Ed Kennedy, who writes at After Elton, ran into a bit more of a confrontation than I did on Sunday, when he wrote, “Dear Media: In This Case, If You Mean “Faggot” Then Say “Faggot.” I agree with him. We need to call things as they are, not shroud them in mystery. Here’s why.
If you read my work with any regularity, I think you’ll agree that I’m fairly well-informed. I try to keep up on politics, certainly LGBTQ-related politics, but politics in general. And yet, a few days ago I came across some actual, unedited, uncensored photos from Abu Ghraib. And I will confess I had never seen them. Amazing, huh?
Now, before you start screaming, no, I am not comparing the atrocities that took place at Abu Ghraib to the Tea Party calling Congressmen and Congresswomen “nigger” or “faggot.” I am simply saying that if we shroud our discussions of these events we can’t put an end to them.
The media “protected” us from seeing them, all the horror and atrocity. While the photos didn’t change my position on torture (I’m against it,) they did reinforce my position, and they did make me sick to my stomach. And they did embarrass me to be an American, to live in a country that committed these heinous acts of inhumanity.
The person who posted those Abu Ghraib photos (which you should look at, but be warned) wrote,
“Posted here because sanitizing war perpetuates war and the insane, sadistic, fascists that perpetrated this foreign policy, must be jailed for life to protect humanity, and the apathetic, indoctrinated sheep of America must know what they have done, what they have agreed to, and what they have allowed to happen in their names.
“The neocons and their PR stooges in the corporate media want us to debate whether or not waterboarding is torture (a debate only a desensitized sadist would even consider) and these photos show the effects and application of torture on POWs, in violation of every law of civilization.”
We need to shine the spotlight on all acts on violence, bigotry, and hatred, and call them as they are. As Ed Kennedy wrote,
“When ugly things happen, you need to be able to talk about how ugly they are. Cleaning it up to polite Sunday brunch discussion doesn’t convey what happened, nor the intent. And if you can’t face what happened, you’re never going to prevent it from happening again.”
I agree.