Monday, October 11, 2010

Expert Celebrity Panel Concludes; Conservatives In Favor of Gay Suicide

Hollywood has found a new cause. A string of recent suicides by gay teens has jolted the entertainment community into action and sparked a new movement meant to curb instances of bullying against gay teens. This is a positive development.

However, it didn’t take too long for Hollywood’s finest to pinpoint the cause of the recent high profile instances of gay teens driven to take their own lives due to bullying and teasing. Obviously, conservatives are to blame. Duh!

You would think that teen suicide would be one of those issues that the American public would pretty much be unanimously opposed to. Like breast cancer or child sex trafficking or Ben Affleck. But, apparently there is a large segment of the American population which is actually pro-gay teen suicide.

I was made aware of this fact the other night while watching video clips of a segement from Larry King Live. Larry had invited a panel of psychology experts to explain why bullies were suddenly picking on gay teens at such an alarming rate instead of going after fat kids and gingers like they usually do.


“I believe there's a connection between Prop 8, Don't Ask, Don't Tell, and now the string of teen suicides. It's almost sanctioned to bully gay people and treat them as second-class citizens. There's a lot of very right-wing conservative people that absolutely sanction this behavior.”

That was the conclusion of comedian and behavioral scientist Kathy Griffin, reached after hours and hours of deep analysis, no doubt. A rare, anti-bulling sentiment coming from someone who once said that she would “...like to push Sarah Palin down the stairs.”

Former N-Synch member and aspiring astronaut Lance Bass’s extensive study into the minds of those who bully gay teenagers had similar findings.


“You know, once we finally get rid of Don't Ask, Don't Tell, when everyone is equal and being able to get married, that's what's teaching our younger generation, you know, what is right and what is wrong.”

You know?

Comedian Sarah Silverman, who is apparently still famous, conducted her own experiments and not surprisingly reached the exact same conclusion as Dr.’s Bass and Griffin. She announced the results of her study via a poorly made video.

"Dear America, when you tell gay Americans they can't serve their country openly or marry the person that they love, you're telling that to kids too, so don't be f**king shocked and wonder where all these bullies are coming from that are torturing young kids and driving them to kill themselves because they're different -- they learned it from watching you."

Classy.

Clearly a global warming-style, celebrity consensus was forming.

So when America’s pre-eminent authority on societal and cultural attitudes, Joy Behar put in her two sense on ABC's "The View," she left no doubt as to the casues of the mindset that drives bullies to pick on gays.


Behar blamed conservatives and specifically targeted South Carolina Senator and Tea-Party favorite, Jim DeMint for ratcheting up anti-gay sentiment with his rhetoric.

“[Bully’s] hear someone like that preaching against it [homosexuality] and they think they’re entitled to do something about it.”

Well, I’m sold!

It seems pretty obvious that Jim DeMint endorses gay bullying and wants gay teens to kill themselves. Behar’s conclusion makes even more sense because it’s well known that teenage bullies who pick on gay kids are huge Jim DeMint supporters. They also have voracious appetites for political news involving policies like Don’t Ask Don’t Tell and Proposition 8. Those bullies are wonkish followers of what’s going on in the political world. If only Alvin Greene could make some inroads with this highly informed demographic he might not be 40-points behind DeMint right now.


But seriously, the willingness of Behar, Bass, Silverman and Griffin to exploit this terrible tragedy in order to further a political agenda is disgusting and exhibits the same level of immaturity as the bullying that led to the tragedies themselves.

As a former member of the show business community I can tell you first hand that actors and artists in general are overly passionate and tend to have a knee-jerk emotional response when it comes to any political issue involving homosexuality. There are two reasons for this.

First, because there are so many homosexuals in the entertainment industry, actors and actresses, comedians and rock stars are far more likely to know and be friends with people who are gay. This personalizes gay issues for them raising them to a level of importance in their minds that most Americans reserve for issues like 9.6% unemployment or the War on Terror.

Second, celebrities have always been anxious to interject themselves into political subjects, but unfortunately most artists lack the political sophistication to chime in without sounding exceptionally dim and being laughed at by those of us who actually know what’s going on in the political world.

Most political issues are far too complex for the average actor or actress to wrap their heads around without experiencing major cerebral hemorrhaging. You’re never going to see Kathy Griffin on Larry King Live talking about the causes of the financial crisis. Sarah Silverman is probably incapable of posting a video explaining the benefits and constitutionality of Obamacare’s health insurance mandate.

By contrast, on the surface, issues involving the LGBT community seem relatively simple when viewed by the naked celebrity eye. Especially given the narrative that the Left has created in which opposition to the Left's gay agenda stems from nothing more than mindless “bigotry” and “homophobia.” So Hollywood does not hesitate to jump into these conversations head first, even though their notions of what drives the majority of Americans to oppose redefining marriage and what has led a majority of military personal to balk at allowing gays to serve openly in the military, are overly simplistic and, for the most part, dead wrong.


It is this lack of understanding of how a majority of Americans outside of the entertainment industry view these controversial issues that leads celebrities to make irresponsible and insulting statements such as those uttered last week by Behar, Silverman, Bass and Griffin.

As a result, these self appointed representatives of the LGBT community have alienated the very people whose minds they need to change in order to win support for their pet causes.

Last week’s celebrity pettiness on the matter of gay teen suicides, which both conservatives and liberals agree is a heartbreaking trend which should be universally condemned and on which awareness needs to be raised, can only serve to divide us further on LGBT matters. In the future, proponents of the gay agenda should tighten the reigns on these unsophisticated B-listers, lest they find other ways to squander the goodwill and sympathy that terrible tragedies such as these foster.

What makes antagonistic, agenda driven comments such as these even more upsetting is that they are completely counterproductive to the goal of putting an end to this anti-gay bullying which all common sense Americans agree is a noble and worthwhile goal.

Alienating conservative Americans by insulting their values as these celebrities have done, makes it less likely that we will all come together as a nation, regardless of our political ideology and push schools to put a stop to the bullying epidemic. How does that help anyone?

-Dan Joseph

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6 comments:

bartonb said...

I'd chime in, but I is lacking the political sophistiocation cauz I is just a dumb artist.

Falling Panda said...

Ironically, I had a few mutual friends of ours in mind, but not you.

Falling Panda said...

Come to think of it, it's really not "ironic" in the least.

Curse you Alanis Morrisette for leading to widespread misuse of that word!

Anonymous said...

Do you find anything "antagonistic" or "agenda driven" about Paladino's comments on homosexuality.

"I just think my children, and your children, will be much better off, and much more successful getting married and raising a family. And I don't want them to be brainwashed into thinking that homosexuality is an equally valid or successful option. It isn't."

Is this rhetoric helpful in unifying people, Dan?

Instead of putting on your own typical knee-jerk reaction, you... oh no wait, that is what you've done. Again. And never an original conclusion goes through your mind.

You're simply falling into the morass of idiots who are politicizing kids killing themselves rather than finding a support system that will help them cope with dealing with aggressive jerks.

And from what I've heard, it's pretty funny that you try to say that you were in show business.

and ps: Alienating liberal Americans by insulting their values as you always do makes it less likely that we will all come together as a nation, regardless of our political ideology and push schools to put a stop to the bullying epidemic.

You're a thoughtless moron just like the pundits you attempt to ape.

-You Know Who, Jr.

Anonymous said...

Oh, ps, Blog Moderator Danny, the fact that you still see this country in terms of Liberal vs. Conservative is very sad.

You poor, sad Panda.

Falling Panda said...

*sigh*

Well it's good to see the comments section of this blog heating up again. Even if the childish bully-like name calling has as well.