Nutwood Junction: Carl Paladino homophobe

Monday, October 11, 2010

No More Mr. Nice Guy

Maybe I'm just "in a mood" tonight, but I'm feeling rather fierce.

Not stabby or anything, not ready to rip someone's head off. I'm actually in a pretty good mood...it was a beautiful, sunny weekend, and my Irish and my Colts both won. A few hitches along the way, but all in all, it ended up being a good weekend. Got some stuff done, some things tidied up, and that always makes me feel good.

However, I read a few things tonight that have made me more than ready to rumble. New York Governor candidate Carl "Hair Trigger" Paladino made some remarks concerning homosexuals, saying that he didn't want children...

"...to be brainwashed into thinking that homosexuality is an equally valid or successful option," compared to heterosexuality. "It isn't."

"I just think my children and your children would be much better off and much more successful getting married and raising a family." Paladino also slammed his Democratic opponent, New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, for marching in New York's gay pride parade in June. "That's not the example that we should be showing the children and certainly not in our schools," he said.

More in a moment, but one quick thing about that. I've never had children. Does that mean that I am somehow "lesser" of a person? Does that make me any less of a citizen?

Then I read something from a family member:

Gays expecting special treatment pisses me off. They say they want equality, but what they really want is preferential treatment. Kind of like feminists. They want the same pay, same benefits, and all else, but they want to be treated better. I say, to BOTH feminists and homosexuals, if you want the pay and benefits on an equal basis with heterosexual men, you had better be willing to be treated the same way we do.

Yeah. There's a very good reason I'm not friends with some people on Facebook.

Okay. Let's get this straight. So to speak. Ha! Gays and feminists don't want to be treated "better." We want to be treated EQUALLY. Do you comprehend that term? EQUAL to others. Same pay for the same job done; the right to love whoever we happen to love and the right to marry them; the same rights guaranteed to everyone under OUR Constitution.

That family member's comment is also interesting in that it implies that heterosexual men are somehow treated badly...that any gays or feminists expecting equal rights should be willing to be treated the same as straight men. Oh...you mean like...being treated well? Treated fairly? Treated as if gender or orientation doesn't matter?

I made a couple of disparaging remarks about Paladino on Facebook. I believe it involved something about how he can shove his homophobic views right up his ass. Someone called me out on it, said that was hateful, stooping to Paladino's level, and no better than the tactics that Paladino was using.

That is where the "No More Mr. Nice Guy" thought came in. I'm a little tired of being nice. I'm tired of sitting back and letting these people say whatever they want, while the rest of us just sit back and say, "Ohhh, well...you know...they're entitled to their own opinion." Of course, they are. And I am also entitled to stand up and say that they are a sack of shit with no compassion and no understanding of other human beings, someone blinded by their own narrow dogma, and someone who is setting themselves up as judge and jury of humanity. People like Paladino don't want a dialogue. They are not going to listen to our impassioned pleas to understand where we're coming from, or try to see things from our point of view. They are firmly implanted in the concrete of their own self-righteousness, and they don't believe that homersexticals are "normal." And apparently some people would add feminists to that.

I don't want to play nice anymore. Paladino went on to say that he believes in "live and let live." I guess as long as those dirty homos don't have the same rights as the rest of us do! I read several comments tonight about how homosexuality is a choice. Right. Because everyone wants to be bullied and picked on and treated as less than equal to others in their own country, even those who served as soldiers in defense of it. I honestly see no reason why we shouldn't stand up and call these people the bigots and hatemongers they are, and I have no problem with using strong language to do so. They certainly don't respond to reasonable discourse, so a "shove it up your ass" here and there seems warranted.

By no means do I advocate violence. Quite the opposite. But I'm also not going to sit quietly while hearing people like Paladino make such remarks against a number of our citizens, people that I love dearly and value highly. If I am violent, it is with my words. Sometimes that is exactly what is needed. I make no apologies for that. If anyone...ANYONE...ever fucks with my loved ones and friends who happen to be gay, I'm here to tell you that I will fuck your shit up. Please make a note of it.